the greatest pork i've ever had.

As I've mentioned before I found this pork recipe that is out of this world good.  I am OBSESSED with this pork for 2 reasons:

1.  It's deliciousness.
2.  It's so stinkin easy to prepare.

I call it my 4 x 2 recipe because it has 4 ingredients besides the pork and the measurements are all 2's.

What you need:

-  1 1/2 pound pork [I usually use a loin but whatever you can find works and trim off the excess fat]
-  2 cups salsa [I use store-bought]
-  2 T dried oregano
-  2 T chili powder
-  2 T cocoa powder [unsweetened]


Combine the ingredients and stir them together in the crockpot.

 

Oh yeah, did I mention it's a crockpot recipe?  Even easier.

 
Then add the pork and flip it to make sure it's coated.  Cook on high for 4-5 hours or low for 8-9 hours.  Easy peasy.

The recipe suggested pork tacos so we usually do that because who doesn't like a good taco night.  It's also awesome over rice.  Cilantro lime rice.  Really awesome that way. 

*This recipe is approved by all members of the Morgan Family. 

This recipe is from Real Simple and can be found here.

recipe: black bean deliciousness.

Back here I posted about my black bean cake fail.  The flavor was awesome, but because I didn't use an egg the cakes didn't hold together very well.  I used Emeril's recipe which you can find on this website.  It is really super easy and doesn't take much time! 

photo via 

 I didn't use his Essence or Seasoning because I don't own them, and the flavor was still fantastic.  Enjoy!

it's the most wonderful time of the year.

It's the season for fresh from the farm produce, and it makes my heart oh so happy!  This year for the first time we joined a CSA.  I've wanted to ever since I saw how great they were in DC a couple of years ago.  If you don't know, CSA stands for Community Share Agriculture.  You buy a share of the farm and thus support a local farm.  You pay a fee for the whole season [ours is 25 weeks long!] and you get produce once a week from this farm.  It's really cool because you're forced to try some things that you normally wouldn't [bok choy and swiss chard anyone??], but you also get some delicious favorites like fresh-picked sweet-as-summer strawberries.  The idea is that the community shares in the bounty and struggles of that farm-- not to mention the farm-to-table benefits, the delicious food, and the connection of knowing the family who grew the food you feed your family.  That also makes my heart very happy.  As you know, I'm a huge farm-to-table fan!  I don't think a CSA is right for everybody, but for my produce-loving, fruit and vegetable consuming family-- it's a good fit. 
 
We found a great farm down here.  It's about an hour and a half away from where we live, but it's actually very close to Tommy's work.  We pick up on Thursdays just five minutes away from our house.  Thursday has come to be my favorite day of the week! I so look forward to what we're going to get each week, and it kind of feels a little bit like Christmas each week.  [I know I'm a huge nutrition nerd but I can't help it.]

 

 Week 1's bounty!  Oh I was so excited.  I have to confess, I wasted some of this by not using it.  It makes me very sad but I was not prepared to handle all of this produce.  We got broccoli, radishes, bok choy, garlic, red lettuce, swiss chard, and strawberries.  Can you see how red and beautiful those strawberries are??!  Be still my heart. 

I decided we had to use everything we got.  I'm done being wasteful.  [That was before I wasted half this week's produce].  So I googled swiss chard-- I learned about it and I found what looked to be a decent recipe.  It was actually really easy to make and the recipe included garlic, lemon, and top it with a little sea salt.  Sounds pretty good, right?  Honestly, it wasn't half bad, but I'm not a fan.  We tried it with the whole family.  Yes, I invite my who family to participate in my cooking adventures-- lucky them!  It got a surprisingly good response.  Tommy actually did like it; I would eat it if forced to.  But we're all glad we tried it.  

 This pork, however, is the greatest thing I've ever put in my mouth.  Ever.  And so super easy.  I should post that recipe sometime soon. 

I added some produce from the grocery store to my red leaf lettuce to make the most amazing salad ever created.  I had never had red leaf lettuce before and honestly, y'all, it tasted like it was coated in butter.  It was the sweetest, softest lettuce I've ever come in contact with. Bet you didn't think you would feel so uncomfortable  reading my blog, huh? 


We're in week 3 now, and you know I'll be blogging about this A LOT.  Happy FRIDAY everyone! 

bean cake fail.

Before I start this post, I'm sitting here working in t office and it just started pouring those huge rain drops out of the blue with a clear blue sky above.  A rain shower that is completely laced with the heat of summer, and it makes me so excited for this summer season that is just getting started.  Not excited, thought, that I actually did 2 craft projects today and they're outside probably getting ruined.  Oh well.

Last night our good friend ZM was over.  He prefers to live a vegetarian lifestyle, and we like vegetables so it worked out well.  I've been wanting to make bean cakes for awhile, so I thought this was the perfect opportunity to give it a try.  After about 25 minutes in the kitchen, I explained it to Zach this way-- we have good news and bad news.  The good news is that you like vegetables and we have a lot of those, the bad news is that our bean cakes died.  He didn't care.  He's pretty cool like that.

The black beans should be mashed up pretty good- that was the longest part of the meal prep. 

I shouldn't say they didn't make it at all-- because they kind of did, just not how Emeril said they should.  So I used this recipe that I watched Emeril make on his show while we were on vacation.  It was super easy!  And this is seriously so healthy!  Mine didn't turn out quite right because of eggs.  I compiled all my ingredients and had everything going.  The last thing I needed to add was 1 egg.  I went into the fridge and pulled out the eggs only to find the expiration date was May 5th.  I know some people use them, some don't.  Some say it's an "expiration date", some a "sell by".  I was tempted but ultimately decided not to use them because I didn't want to make a baby and a guy leaving the country for Africa sick.  So I googled replacements for eggs and came up with some weird things and some interesting things.  Applesauce seemed like it could work with this recipe, so I added 1/4 cup of applesauce.  It didn't ruin the flavors or anything, but it didn't hold my bean cakes together like the egg would have.

So when I went to cook them on the skillet, they fell apart.

 

I hated to throw all of that yummy bean goodness out, so I plopped them on a cookie sheet and baked them at 375 for about 12 minutes.

 It worked fine.  They weren't crispy like they would have been on the stove, but they were still good.  And everyone liked them. 



Tommy is not a fan of beans, but he loved these.  I think this would be a great meal to get the kids to help with, and one that they'll like to eat, too!

breakfast of champions.

Continuing on in the spirit of healthy dieting/weight loss, let's talk about the importance of breakfast.  I already feel like I sound like a commercial.  Sorry for that.  Seriously breakfast is so important.  It kick starts our metabolism, it gets the body going, and keeps us from binging later on.  Having balanced meals and snacks is key to successful weight loss-- breakfast is a big part of that.

Jack and I wanted to demonstrate a healthy breakfast.  My new favorite thing for breakfast is plain yogurt, and I add in fresh fruit and a little honey to sweeten it.  I don't need a lot in the mornings/don't have time to sit and eat, so it's perfect for me.  Jack's still going with the old standby-- the classic oatmeal and milk.  He wanted me to mention he has fruit, too.

My point with all this is breakfast doesn't have to be a huge meal where you sit and eat for 30 minutes.  It can be quick, light if you wish, and healthy!  Some mornings I would just have toast.  [Would being the operative word here, since I can't use my toaster since it's full of mouse poop.  And still sitting on my counter.  What's wrong with me?? ]  Ok funny story here, Tommy still was having toast, until I informed him the other day that I thought I saw mouse droppings down in there.  His response "well, let me go throw up and then I'll throw the toaster out."  Bless him. 



*there's mouse poop in our toaster because we left most of our stuff in our house in Maryland when we moved to Tennessee.  we didn't clean out the cereal cabinet.  four months later, mice had done a lot of damage in our kitchen.  although i had an incredibly tough first round inspection on EVERY SINGLE ITEM that came from that mouse house, apparently the toaster slipped through the cracks.

rice and beans.

Sometimes I don't have the time or energy to fix dinner.  I'm sure I'm the only one, right?  Truthfully, that sometimes is like 4-5 nights a week, but if we ate out every one of those times we'd be struggling with our weight more than we do and hurting in our bank account.  My Granny gave me this rice and beans recipe that is so simple, fast, and delicious [thanks Granny]!  I love it and so does Jack!  Turns out that boy loves his black beans.

The recipe calls for saffron, which is definitely tasty but so high in salt.  I made it with saffron the first time and loved it, but since then I've been trying to use brown rice or at least plain white rice.  It still tastes delicious. 



Ingredients:  
1 [5 oz.] package saffron
1 [15 oz.] can black beans
3 T lime juice [bottled is fine]
1 t chili powder
1/2 t cumin
2 T chopped fresh cilantro [divided]
Garnishes: sour cream, sliced green onions, fresh cilantro.

Directions: 
1.  Cook rice according to package directions.  Keep warm. 
2.  Drain beans, reserving 2 T liquid [what I refer to as the bean juice.
3.  Combine bean juice, lime juice, chili powder, and cumin in a saucepan & cook over medium heat until thoroughly heated.
4.  Stir in 1 T cilantro.  Serve beans over rice.  Sprinkle with remaining cilantro.
Garnish if you want.  I don't except for more cilantro [the more the better].  If you do garnish with sour cream-- go easy on it and go low fat.

Serves 3-4.  [or 1 1/2 if you're me & Jack]

Enjoy! 

stuffed chicken.

This chicken is awesome.  This dish is so healthy and really pretty easy to do.  It's a fun one to get the kids involved with too because they can learn about healthy ingredients and help put this dish together.


Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 lbs chicken cutlets  
• 1/2 c. finely chopped roasted red peppers  
• 1/2 c. crumbled feta cheese  
• 1 T chopped, flat leaf parsley  

 Directions:
1.  In small bowl mix together feta and roasted red peppers.
2.  Season chicken with 1/4 tsp salt and pepper on each cutlet.
 
3.  Divide the cheese/pepper mixture evenly in each cutlet [about 1 heaping tablespoon] & roll the chicken up.  Use a toothpick to hold the rolled up chicken in place.
 
4.  Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in skillet on medium-high heat.  Use an oven safe skillet to make this even easier! 
5.  Cook chicken seam-side up until browned [about 3-4 mins].  Flip chicken and transfer skillet to top rack in oven.  Roast until cooked through [14-16 mins].
 
6.  Remove from oven when finished.  Check internal temperature.  Poultry should be 170 degrees F. 

 


 The healthy facts:

• I love chicken as a protein.  Lean and a great choice.  A lot of people think chicken can't be good, but this dish has so much flavor you won't even remember red meat.  
• This dish is low in fat.  The flavoring comes from the roasted red peppers & feta cheese.  
• Choose low fat feta cheese to make this dish healthier.    

A few things:

• Don't let your kids touch raw chicken.  That's just wrong.  
• Don't let your child use a knife.  
• Great roles for kids include measuring things out, mixing together ingredients, and monitoring the time on cooking. 

  *Recipe is from Real Simple and can be found here. 

And this is seriously so delicious.  Enjoy!

taco soup.

My mother-in-law gave me a great taco soup recipe, and I gave it a try for dinner the other night.  It was so easy to make and very filling!

I love how healthy it is, too.  Lots of veggies and beans.  Low-sodium taco seasoning for less salt.  Low-fat cheese and sour cream.

Please excuse my horrible picture but I took this of my half eaten bowl. 

what's for dinner.

We are so fortunate that we don't have to pack up everything in our house right now and move it.  It's great!  But I am packing away all of the "things" and extras that don't need to be sitting out for months and look bad as our house is for sale.  That includes packing up a lot of my kitchen stuff - some of my pots, my crock pot, my toaster, blender, food processor.  Although there is plenty I can make without these things, I find myself using that excuse, on top of the whole packing and cleaning thing, to struggle making dinner.

We were given spaghetti to heat up and eat whenever we needed it by a sweet woman who loves my family and has been like our family here.  She always knows just how to help us.  We had some sweet friends come by a couple of nights ago and bring us chili.  The chili was amazing, the visit was so fun, and the gift of dinner for us was awesome.  I love to cook and prepare dinner for us, but it seems to be one of the last things I think of these last few weeks here.  I am so thankful to have these gifts of meals!  And I know Tommy is, too. Tonight, I am actually cooking.

Source: verybestbaking.com via Lauren on Pinterest

Trying this delicious Penne Pasta with Sundried Tomatoes Cream Sauce  recipe.

fall food.

First real fall food of the season made it's appearance in this house last night.

Acorn Squash!  And it was delicious.  Love the rich vegetables and fruits that are plentiful in fall.  Love fall!

via  

This recipe is a great one, too.  Simple, sweet and delicious.  This is a really fun food for kids to help prepare and eat if you're looking for something healthy and delicious for the crew. 

rainy day dinner.

It started raining on us Saturday while we were in Tennessee, and it has rained almost ALL day every day since.  This was day #6 of rain for us.  I won't complain though because we have friends in Texas who are worried about losing their homes and every material thing that is precious to them in fires.  We have friends and family in states who have not had much or any rain all summer.  We are thankful for rain.  Wish we could share some with them, but we will embrace the rain while we have it.

This rainy day with colder weather moving in reminds me that fall will soon be here.  Fall is my favorite season!  It's my favorite for many reasons including the break it provides from summer, the pumpkins, the squash, the apples, the feeling of warmth in our home as the heaters kick on for the first time, the smell of delicious baked goods- particularly of the pumpkin and sweet potato variety, the cold air and all that it brings- including sweaters, boots, and scarves!  Oh, how I love fall!

Tonight I made a rainy day dinner of soup because it just seemed right after a week like this.  For the first time this season I made potato soup.  To accompany it, chicken salad on a bread roll.  The perfect rainy day meal.  I used skim milk in the soup and limited how much salt I added.  I did not use reduced fat cheese because it doesn't melt, and that's just weird.  No cream or anything- just the milk and cheese and it was plenty creamy and delicious.  Also, since I'm a new mom and don't have lots of time to cook, I used canned already cut new potatoes; they taste good and save me lots of time!  For the chicken salad I used low fat mayonnaise and added lots of celery and grapes.  If the bread had been whole grain we would have been in business, but it wasn't.  Next time...

chicken ceasar salad.

Do you ever have those meals that you could eat over and over again? This is one of mine! I made this the other day and it was so good! It just hit the spot and was so quick and easy to make! While the dressing is certainly not healthy the rest of the salad was full of good stuff, so we count this as a good meal.

Steps for chicken ceasar salad:
- Wash and tear lettuce then rinse and use the salad spinner
- Wash grape tomatoes
- Ask wonderful hubby to put chicken on the grill
{I got these thinned chicken breast strips. They were perfect for the salad and cooked in
less than 5 minutes on the grill}
- Combine lettuce, tomatoes, dressing, and parmesan cheese and toss until everything is covered with dressing
- Slice chicken strips & top salad with them


Enjoy!