Some of my Latest Food Finds

Hello All-

I want to take a breather from my knitting to share some new recipes that we tried last week.  Hubby and I decided that we were in a bit of a food rut, so we attempted to try a new recipe every night for one week.  How did it go?  Quite well actually.  Hannah was even up for trying the new items, which made my job that much easier!!

First up was Chinese Pork Roast from Woman's Day Magazine.  (Click here for the link)  We changed the recipe slightly.  Hubby and I aren't huge sweet potato fans, so we opted for a few Yukon golds instead.  We also couldn't find any tenderloins the day we went shopping, so we went with a small roast. 

All in all, this came out great!  The roast took a bit longer to cook, but it was still quite fast (thanks to a 500-degree temp in the oven!).  The asparagus was awesome, and I'll likely cook it in the oven the same way again!  The potatoes were okay.  Hannah loved them, so that was the important part.  Also, the sauce was really good!!  I'll probably make that again too.

Next, I made Greek Marinated Chicken and Roasted Beets with Sauteed Greens.  The marinade for the chicken came from the book, Weber's Charcoal Grilling: The Art of Cooking with Live Fire.  It included EVOO, red wine vinegar, garlic, salt, oregano, and red chili flakes.  We got side tracked and ended up marinating the chicken for an extra day.  I can't say that the extra day enhanced the flavor at all, but the skin was delicious!  I think we'll try this one again, but perhaps on skinless chicken...just to see how much flavor gets worked into the meat itself. 

As for the beet side dish, I used two different recipes to make this.  The idea came from Coastal Living magazine, click here for link.  I roasted golden beets instead of "regular" ones.  I like the method of roasting beets from the food blog, Hungry Nation.  (To watch their video about roasting beets, click here. FYI...the salad they use them in is AWESOME!!!)  I did use the Coastal Living recipe for the greens.  Hubby used to have beet greens a lot as a kid, and he really liked these.  I skipped the balsamic and used the shallot dressing from the Hungry Nation video too.  That dressing has become my new go-to dressing!!  I love it, and I am not a huge vinegar fan.

Next up was ribs in the slow cooker.  As many of you may know, we are BBQ die-hards.  Our charcoal grill doesn't accumulate much snow, even in the dead of winter.  We also have a small smoker, rotisserie for the Weber, and a few other random grilling gadgets.  The idea of making ribs in anything but the grill or smoker is quite foreign to us, but I thought I'd give it a go. 

I used a recipe from a magazine...not from a food section, but instead from a Canadian Tire ad.  It was quite simple, asking that you dust the single ribs in your favorite rub (I used an iced tea rub that we really like), then you broil them for 5 minutes on each side.  After that you add them to the slow cooker with ketchup, wine vinegar, sugar and Worcestershire sauce, and let them go for 6 to 8 hours. 

They came out quite good, but could have been in a bit less time and been even better.  The meat fell right off the bone, and personally, I like it when you have to work a bit more for it.  I don't think these even came close to hubby's ribs cooked outside, but they weren't as bad as I expected them to be.  I don't think that this will be a go-to recipe, but I won't be tossing it out either.

I'm really happy with our attempt at finding new recipes to add to our repertoire.  I am still looking for some other new ones, and I'll be sure to post any new favorites!!!

Happy Cooking!!!
Sharon