CRANBERRY-SWEET POTATO QUICK BREAD

It's really hard for me to get out of the cooking mood once I'm in it!  Thanksgiving dinner thursday, this bread yesterday, and now I want to make more sweets, but I want all the other sweets we have in the house gone first....also, I ran myself out of flour making a double-batch of this bread yesterday!

This bread was good, but I think it needs more sweet potato flavor...maybe more spice, who knows.  And chopping the cranberries, well, that's a pain in the butt.  I wanted to use my food chopper but worried some would get too finely chopped, so I just used my knife.  But all in all, this was a delicious bread.  I didn't have any almonds so we skipped topping the bread with them before baking. 

Original recipe courtesy Cooking Light, November 1996

Yield: 16 servings (serving size: 1 slice)


2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

3/4 cup canned mashed sweet potato

3 eggs

1/3 cup orange juice

1/4 cup butter, melted and slightly cooled

1 cup chopped cranberries

Cooking spray

2 tablespoons sliced almonds



Preheat oven to 350°.



Combine first 7 ingredients in a large bowl; make a well in center of mixture. Combine sweet potato, egg substitute, orange juice, and margarine in a bowl; add to dry ingredients. Stir just until moist. Fold in cranberries.



Spoon batter into a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan coated with cooking spray; sprinkle almonds over batter. Bake at 350° for 1 hour and 10 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Let cool in pan 10 minutes on a wire rack; remove from pan. Let cool completely on wire rack.

With the schedules we keep in my house it is usually easier to plan our menus by the week.  Between the after-school programs, me teaching 2 afternoons a week and my husband in class 2 nights a week, it's nice to know exactly what the plan is as soon as we walk in the door.  I will frequently pull 2-3 days worth of meat out of the freezer at a time too, so I have no excuse but to cook it!

This week, though, I have planned 12 days worth of dinners.  It will likely stretch into almost 3 weeks though, because we have things like leftover pulled pork, chili, and spaghetti sauce in the freezer.  But, here is what I am planning for the next couple of weeks:

From Cooking Light magazine:
Green curry chicken
Spiced pork tenderloin with sauteed apples
Sloppy joe meatloaf (I'm using a sloppy joe recipe from CL and turning it into a meatloaf!)
Mexican chili-cheese burgers
Spicy chicken sandwiches with cilantro-lime mayo
Sesame noodles with chicken
Malaysian chicken pizza
Chili-beef soft tacos
Buttermilk-brined pork chops

From Epicurious
Grilled Marinated sirloin strip steaks
Chicken with sun-dried tomato cream sauce

And a recipe from a cookbook I looked through at work, then made a copy of this page:
Hawaiian turkey burgers

Finally, a recipe from Cook's Country
Oven-fried chicken

It's gotten really cold this week and a few of these recipes call for the grill, so it looks like we'll be putting our grill pan to work this week.  Our cut-off for grilling is about -20, but it takes a lot of propane to keep a grill warm at even 10 above, so I'll be grilling indoors.  I'm sure we'll throw in some leftovers as well as a night or two where we just make grilled cheese or throw some pizza bites in the oven.  But hopefully we can stick to this as much as possible!

Pumpkin Spice Latte

My friend Heather over at her blog, Out of the Box Into the Kitchen, found this recipe from yet another blogger.  She has been on a pumpkin kick and I figured, since Turkey Day is coming, I should try to get on the kick too!  So this morning I made a small batch...and had to go back and make some more!  I did alter it a little, just to see what worked best for my tastes, which I recommend you do as well.  If you like a stronger pumpkin flavor, add more pumpkin or spice (or both!).  I used Maxwell House the first time and North Pole Coffee's Musher's Blend the second.  The only thing is the pumpkin can settle on the bottom if you don't stir it while you drink.  So serve with a stir-stick or spoon to keep it blended.

Pumpkin Spice Latte-shared from Newlyweds


2 cups milk

3 tbsp pumpkin puree

2 tbsp sugar

1/2 cup strong coffee or espresso

1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

2 tsp vanilla

Place milk, pumpkin, and sugar in small saucepan, stir. Heat to steaming. Stir in spice and vanilla. Pour in coffee. Stir and place into mugs. Top with whipped cream if you wish.

I've had this recipe in my files for years, probably about a decade.  I've made it a couple of times and it's always been really, really good.  I made it tonight and my normally light eater daughter had a whole chicken breast!  Since Rob wasn't home I skipped the starch (he's a meat-n-potato's guy) and served with the peppers and some steamed broccoli.  Don't let the amount of ingredients scare you, as the only prep is some quick slicing of bell peppers (which I sliced into 1/2" strips then cut in half) and breading the chicken.  Once you have it all prepped, it throws together super quick!  I used my electric skillet to cook all the chicken too...and if you don't feel like pounding it out, just slice it in half horizontally with a sharp knife...does the same thing!

Balsamic Vinegar Chicken with Almond Peppers

Yield: 6 servings (serving size: 1 chicken breast half and 1/2 cup bell peppers)

2 large red bell peppers (about 3/4 pound)

2 large green bell peppers (about 3/4 pound)

2 teaspoons olive oil

1/3 cup raisins

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

1 1/2 teaspoons sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon black pepper

1/4 cup slivered almonds, toasted

6 (4-ounce) skinned, boned chicken breast halves

3 tablespoons dry breadcrumbs

3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

2 egg whites

2 teaspoons olive oil

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

2 tablespoons water

Cut bell peppers into 2 x 2 1/2-inch strips. Heat 2 teaspoons olive oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add peppers; sauté 8 minutes. Add raisins; sauté 1 minute. Add 1/4 cup vinegar, sugar, salt, and black pepper; cook 1 minute. Remove from heat; stir in almonds. Set aside, and keep warm.

Place each piece of chicken between 2 sheets of heavy-duty plastic wrap; flatten to 1/4-inch thickness using a meat mallet or rolling pin. Combine breadcrumbs and cheese in a shallow dish. Place flour in a shallow dish; dredge each chicken piece in flour, and dip in egg whites. Dredge chicken in breadcrumb mixture.

Heat 2 teaspoons olive oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chicken, and cook for 3 minutes on each side or until done. Remove from heat. Place the chicken and bell pepper mixture on a serving platter; set aside, and keep warm.

Add 2 tablespoons vinegar and water to pan; stir with a wooden spoon to loosen browned bits. Spoon mixture over chicken and bell pepper mixture.


CALORIES 288 (30% from fat); FAT 9.5g (sat 2g,mono 4.9g,poly 1.7g); IRON 2.8mg; CHOLESTEROL 74mg; CALCIUM 73mg; CARBOHYDRATE 19.4g; SODIUM 253mg; PROTEIN 31.3g; FIBER 2.6g

Cooking Light, JUNE 2000

Pumpkin Pound Cake with Buttermilk Glaze

I gotta say this is a pretty darned good cake.  Only two problems: I could taste a bit too much baking powder, so I will try using a smidge less next time.  And the glaze was a bit wierd, so I will try either just sprinkling with powdered sugar or making a powdered sugar glaze next time.  It came out beautifully though, and the kids gobbled their slices up.  So it's definitely a keeper!  Oh, and I don't have a tube pan so I used a bundt pan.  I baked it at 350 for 45 minutes...it was near perfect, I might do a couple minutes longer next time!

Pumpkin Pound Cake with Buttermilk Glaze


Drain the canned pumpkin before making the cake batter to keep the cake's texture light.

Yield: 16 servings (serving size: 1 slice)

Cake:

Cooking spray

1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

1 (15-ounce) can pumpkin

3/4 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar

1/2 cup butter, softened

4 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 cups all-purpose flour (about 13 1/2 ounces)

1 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup fat-free buttermilk

Glaze:

1/3 cup fat-free buttermilk

1/4 cup granulated sugar

2 tablespoons butter

2 teaspoons cornstarch

1/8 teaspoon baking soda

Preheat oven to 350°.

To prepare the cake, lightly coat a 10-inch tube pan with cooking spray; dust with 1 tablespoon flour. Spread pumpkin over 2 layers of paper towels; cover with 2 additional layers of paper towels. Let stand about 10 minutes. Scrape drained pumpkin into a bowl.

Place 3/4 cup granulated sugar, brown sugar, and 1/2 cup butter in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed 3 minutes or until well blended. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in pumpkin and vanilla. Lightly spoon 3 cups flour into dry measuring cups, and level with a knife. Combine flour and next 4 ingredients (through salt) in a bowl, stirring well with a whisk. Add flour mixture and 3/4 cup buttermilk alternately to sugar mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture.

Spoon batter into prepared pan. Bake at 350° for 55 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan 10 minutes on a wire rack. Remove from pan, and cool completely on wire rack.

To prepare glaze, combine 1/3 cup buttermilk and remaining ingredients in a small saucepan over medium heat; bring to a boil. Cook 1 minute or until thick, stirring constantly; remove from heat. Drizzle cake with glaze.

Dinner tonight: Apple-Sage Stuffed Pork Chops

Wow, these were good!  Just use dried sage (not so much though!) and even dried parsley if you don't have fresh.  Salt and pepper the veggies when you saute them and omit the red pepper if you don't want any kick (even add a pinch of sugar instead if you want it sweeter!).  Substitute olive oil for the butter in the veggie mix to eliminate some of the fat.   My chops took a full 40 minutes to get to 165, then I let them rest for 10 minutes to get to 170.  VERY yummy and I think I've found a great new recipe for our Thanksgiving stuffing!


Apple-Sage Stuffed Pork Chops

Dress up traditional pork chops with the fresh flavors of Granny Smith apples and sage.
Yield: Makes 6 servings

3 tablespoons butter

1/2 cup finely chopped yellow onion

1/2 cup finely chopped celery

1/2 cup finely chopped Granny Smith apple

1/2 cup finely chopped fresh mushrooms

1 1/2 cups herb stuffing mix

1 (14.5-ounce) can chicken broth

5 fresh sage leaves, finely chopped*

6 tablespoons finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley, divided

1 teaspoon salt, divided

1 teaspoon ground black pepper, divided

1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper

6 (2-inch-thick) bone-in center-cut pork chops

1/4 cup olive oil, divided

1 cup water

Garnishes: steamed baby carrots, pearl onions, flat-leaf parsley

Melt butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat; add onion and next 3 ingredients, and sauté 10 minutes or until vegetables are tender and liquid evaporates. Remove from heat. Add stuffing mix and broth; stir until liquid is absorbed. Stir in sage, 2 tablespoons chopped parsley, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon black pepper, and ground red pepper. Let stand 20 minutes.

Trim excess fat from each pork chop, and cut a slit in 1 side of each chop to form a pocket. Spoon stuffing mixture evenly into each pocket.

Combine remaining 4 tablespoons parsley, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon black pepper. Rub both sides of stuffed pork chops evenly with 2 tablespoons oil, and spread parsley mixture evenly over chops.

Cook chops in remaining 2 tablespoons hot oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat, in batches, 2 minutes on each side or until browned. Place on a lightly greased rack in a broiler pan. Add 1 cup water to bottom of broiler pan.

Bake at 375° for 30 to 40 minutes. Let stand 5 minutes before serving. Garnish, if desired.

*1/2 teaspoon rubbed sage may be substituted.

Note: For testing purposes only, we used Pepperidge Farm Herb Stuffing Mix.

Buttermilk-Brined Pork Chops

"As far as I'm concerned, this is the ONLY way to make pork chops."

This is a direct quote from my husband.

I was planning my menu for the week and I told him we would make a spicy sweet-and-sour pork chop recipe from Epicurious.com.  During the school year I am home late 2 nights a week and so is he.  So 4 nights a week we try to plan quick, yet delicious meals.  But when I told him my plan he quickly told me he didn't want that...he wanted his favorite: buttermilk-brined pork chops.

Now I gotta tell you, the first time we tried this all 4 of us looked at each other with extreme surprise.  Extremely tender and so incredibly packed with flavor...who knew pork could taste like this???

I'm sure you could cut out the sugar or even use a sugar substitute, but do not skip the salt; it is imperative to the brine.  Then again, so is the sugar, but it's worth a shot to try it without. We don't always have fresh lemons on hand to grate the peel, so we actually use dried lemon peel from the spice section at the grocery store. 

You can grill these on the outdoor grill or even in a grill pan, or simply place under the broiler.  Your choice.  But they are the perfect quick weeknight meal...just throw in the quick brine solution before you go to bed the night before or even in the morning (seriously, this takes less than 5 minutes to throw together!), and dinner is all but done when you get home!  Oh, and trim the fat from the chops if you're concerned about the fat, or even try on a trimmed pork tenderloin!


Buttermilk-Brined Pork Chops

Though these pork chops require overnight brining, they make dinner the next night a breeze. Brine these chops up to two days beforehand. Just remove from brine after an overnight soak, cover in plastic wrap, and refrigerate until ready to cook.

Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 1 chop)

2 cups fat-free buttermilk

2 tablespoons kosher salt

2 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon grated lemon rind

1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary

1 teaspoon chopped fresh sage

4 (6-ounce) bone-in center-cut pork chops (about 1/2 inch thick)

2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper

Cooking spray


Combine first 6 ingredients in a large zip-top plastic bag; shake well to dissolve salt and sugar. Add pork; seal and refrigerate overnight, turning bag occasionally. Remove pork from bag; discard brine. Pat pork dry with a paper towel. Sprinkle pork with pepper.

Heat a large nonstick grill pan over medium-high heat. Coat the pan with cooking spray. Add pork; cook 3 1/2 minutes on each side or until desired degree of doneness.

CALORIES 183 (35% from fat); FAT 7.2g (sat 2.5g,mono 3.2g,poly 0.6g); IRON 0.8mg; CHOLESTEROL 69mg; CALCIUM 43mg; CARBOHYDRATE 2g; SODIUM 345mg; PROTEIN 26g; FIBER 0.3g

Cooking Light, OCTOBER 2004