Mustard Pork Chops

4 thick pork chops
1/2 cup spicy mustard or more if you feel like you need it
salt and pepper
1 to 2 tablespoons of olive oil

Optional if you want a sauce:
1/2 cup chicken stock
2 tablespoons butter

Preheat a cast iron skillet on medium heat.

Salt and pepper the pork chops.

Even distribute 1/2 cup of the mustard on both sides of the port chops. Let sit for a couple of minutes.

Add the oil to you cast iron skillet and cook the pork chops until they are cooked to your liking. I don't like mine pink in the middle.

Feel free to also bake this in the oven. I have done that and it comes out very good. I bake them at 375 for about 35 minutes or until they are not pink in the middle.

If you want a sauce, remove the pork chops to separate plate.
Add the chicken stock and cook for 8 minutes or so until it reduces.
When the sauce is reduced and a little thick, turn the heat off and add the butter. If you want, you may add 1 to 2 tablespoons of spicy mustard as well. Add the pork to the sauce and turn on both sides until coated.

 What they look like if you do make the sauce:

Spinach and Tomato Bake

 

 

This can be made with or without grated cheese. The first two pictures are without cheese.

 

1 tablespoon melted butter

6 large plum tomatoes

2 cups fresh spinach
1 small clove garlic, grated
1 tablespoon minced red onion
4 egg whites mixed with 1 tablespoons of water
salt and pepper
grated cheese of your choice. As much or as little as you want. I used about 2 tablespoons

-Preheat the oven to 375
-Butter a cake pan and add all the spinach.
-Peel all 6 tomatoes. I took all the seeds out of 5 of the 6 tomatoes. That sixth tomato I sliced and placed on the top.
-Cut the 5 tomatoes into bite size pieces and mix with the onion, garlic, salt, pepper and spinach in the cake pan. Try to make the mixture evenly distributed.
-Try to evenly add the egg whites on top of the mixture and then neatly place the sliced tomatoes on top.
-Bake for about 25 to 30 minutes. I baked mine in a small oven with a pizza stone, so your time may vary.
-Once the spinach is wilted and the tomatoes are cooked to your liking, add the cheese if you want and broil until brown.

Feel free to add ham, bacon, chicken, tofu, or anything else to the mixture before you bake it.  

Ham Egg Foo Young

I am not really sure of the exact measurements, but this is a rough estimate.

3 eggs
1 egg white

1/2 pound thick diced ham

1 8 ounce can water chestnuts-sliced into bite size pieces

Olive oil-enough to coat the pan
Butter-enough to coat the pan

1 tablespoon cornstarch

1 tablespoon soy sauce-low sodium
1 cup chicken stock-low sodium

I did not add salt because of the ham, soy, and chicken stock. If you decide to add something instead of ham, you will probably want to add a little salt

Whip up the eggs, but not frothy. Then add the diced ham and water chestnuts.
Heat a cast iron or nonstick pan with some olive oil and a little butter over medium heat.

A big soup ladle works well when adding the egg to the hot pan. I used one ladle full. You may want more or less. The size of your egg foo young will decide how big or small you want it. Brown the egg foo young on both sides and set aside.

While your egg foo young is cooking, you can combine the cornstarch, soy sauce, and chicken stock in a separate bowl and set aside.

When you are done cooking your egg foo young add the cornstarch mixture to the pan you cooked your egg foo young in. Cook until thick.

Serve your egg foo young with some of the gravy and enjoy.

Sun Dried Tomato Chicken Burgers

1/2 pound ground chicken
1/4 cup finely diced yellow pepper (more or less if you want)
1/4 cup finely diced shallot (more or less if you want)
1/2 cut chopped sun dried tomato
1 tablespoon dried parsley
salt and pepper

Mix everything together and bake at 375 until done.

Bacon and Cheese Chicken Burgers

1 pound ground chicken

4 thick strips of bacon

6 slices Colby jack cheese

salt and pepper

Cut the bacon into little bite size pieces. It does not have to be cooked.

Mix everything together. Add pepper and a tiny bit of salt.

Form patties and bake in a 375 degree oven until done.



Chicken Big Mac

Use as many chicken burgers or turkey burgers as you want.

Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Add as much or as little thousand island dressing on top of the burgers.

Then add as much or as little ketchup as you want.

Bake about 15-20 minutes at 375 until cooked.



Wine and Cheese Party

Find a big tray and buy any kind of chesse, meat, crackers, and fruit you want. This was fantastic.

In Honor Of Julia Child's Birthday Yesterday

Julia Child's roast chicken from Mastering The Art of French Cooking

Cinnamon and sugar sweet potatoes

1 large sweet potato-sliced
1 to 2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
2 tablespoons Splenda

-Heat a cast iron over medium heat.
-Brush the sweet potatoes with butter on both sides and brown.
-While the sweet potatoes are cooking, combine the cinnamon and sugar. Feel free to add more cinnamon or Splenda.
-Once the potatoes are cooked to the consistency you like, remove and add the cinnamon and Splenda.
-Feel free to deep fry the potatoes. You will get a crispier potato. I am just trying to be a little healthy.

Roasted tomatoes and onions

Simple roasted tomatoes and onions to add to your salad.

1 large plum tomato sliced
1 small white onion sliced (any color or type will work)

1 large garlic clove minced

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
salt and pepper to taste
baking dish

Preheat the oven to 375

Layer the tomatoes and onions then add the garlic, oregano, salt and pepper. You may want to drizzle a little olive oil on top.

Bake about 25 to 30 minutes. Check every so often to make sure your garlic isn't burning. You may want to add the garlic under each layer so the heat from the oven is not directly hitting the garlic.

Soy Pizza

For those of us who have stomach issues where it seems like everything we put in it hurts, I have developed a way to eat pizza and not have a stomach ache after. This is for when even the gluten free pizza crust upsets your stomach.

1 container of extra firm tofu drained and water pressed out
1/2 cup tomato sauce
1/4 cup whey protein (I just use vanilla because that is what I have)
1/2 cup to 1 cup of dairy free cheese
1/2 teaspoon dry oregano
parchment paper
baking sheet, as big or as small as you want

-I did use cottage cheese as a topping with the onions and peppers. Just make sure your cottage cheese is not too watery.

Preheat the oven to 350

-Mash up the tofu and then add the whey and tomato sauce. Mix very well. I add the whey because the tofu cooks better.
-Add the tofu mixture to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Use the palm of your hand to press down and spread out the pizza into any shape you want. You can make the pizza as thin or as thick as you want. Thicker pizza will need more time to bake. Mine is usually on the thicker side.
-Bake the pizza for about 35 to 40 minutes. Make sure to check it often, the tofu will burn. You may want to turn the oven down to 325 so the pizza bakes slower helping to get rid of the moisture in the tofu.
-When the pizza is brown add your cheese and oregano. You may add any topping you wish.
-Bake until the cheese is melted.
-You may need a spoon or a fork to eat. Sometimes it does fall apart.

Cream Cheese Almond Cake

I am not sure of the exact measurements I used, but this should be pretty close.

8 ounces softened cream cheese (don't soften too much if you want clumps in your cake)
3 eggs
2 egg whites
1 cup ground almonds or almond flour
1/4 cup vanilla whey protein, you may add a little more if the mixture seems a bit wet
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
nonstick baking dish-buttered

Mix the cream cheese with the eggs. You are welcome to use an electric mixer if you don't want clumps of cream cheese, but if you mix with a fork when you bake the cake you will have some clumps of cream cheese which I love!
Add the rest of the ingredients and mix.
Bake at 350 until the top is brown about 20-25 minutes. Make sure you watch to make sure the cake does not burn. The almonds and the whey protein do brown fast.

You can see the bits of cream cheese in the first picture. Each bite is delicious!

Rice Cakes

I had some leftover rice that I could not figure out what to do with. I didn't want to make the usual fried rice so I made rice cakes.

1 1/2-2 cups leftover rice
2 large eggs
1/2 cup chopped green pepper
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chicken or bacon, cut into bite size pieces(I used both because I had both leftover)
salt and pepper
olive oil
cast iron skillet

Heat the oil in the cast iron.
Mix everything.
You make the rice cakes any size you want. Mine were about 1/4 sizes.
Fry in the olive oil until they are as crisp as you would like them.