Pork Chops with Apples and Shallots

I have been a terrible blog contributer lately and I have no excuse! We have been eating, of course, but am lacking inspiration and creativity these days. I need new ideas for every day meals! This is a dish I have made before and enjoy this time of year. The apples are among the last of those we picked earlier this fall in Maryland. I also made some wilted spinach and heated up the "cheesy potatoes" leftover from our Thanksgiving dinner contribution.

Four Bean and Beef Chili - Nov 3, 2012

This was good chili.  I made it in the crock pot to sustain Nick and I through a football Sunday, and I didn't really follow a recipe.  I used two cups worth of a motley assortment of dried beans that I found in the cupboard.  The mix included pinto, red kidney, black, and snow caps (an heirloom variety from Rancho Gordo).  For vegetables, in addition to the quart of home-canned tomatoes, I chopped up an onion and a carrot or two, plus some cubed sweet potato that I had leftover from another dinner.  I also added a pound of ground beef.  Once the beef and beans were cooked (I used the pressure cooker for the beans!), I tossed everything into the crock pot and seasoned with chili powder, cumin, coriander, smoked Spanish paprika, oregano, cayenne, salt and pepper.

It turned out deliciously.  We topped our bowls with sour cream, shredded sharp cheddar and some crumbled corn tortilla chips.

CSA Hash - Nov 2, 2012

Another hash made from a mish-mash of our CSA goodies and garnished with a fried egg and cheesy toast.  This version contains turnips, carrots, potatoes, onions, kale, and bacon.  Nick and I usually do this earlier in the day than dinner, but too late to really call it breakfast.  Maybe it qualifies as a late lunch?  I'm happy, however, to eat it any time of day.

Honeynut Squash with Warm Wild Rice and Kale Salad - Nov 1, 2012

Nick and I made a similar dinner last year.  This go around I used my pressure cooker to prepare the squash, so it was cooked in about ten minutes.  These Honeynut squash that we get from our CSA share are so cute I can hardly stand it.  Each is about the size of a large russet potato, and a perfect serving size.  They are also, of course, delicious.

The salad is made of wild rice (also made in the pressure cooker), roasted kale leaves, dried cranberries, and feta cheese crumbles.  I served the salad warm with dinner, but it is equally good at room temperature or even chilled.  Because of this, it makes a nice lunch for packing.

Moroccan Chicken Stew with Sweet Potatoes - Oct 25, 2012

A recipe shared and recommended by JJ, this chicken stew was a delicious use of some of our sweet potatoes.  I changed up a few things...first, I used chicken breasts rather than the thighs called for in the recipe, but only because that was what I had on hand.  I think this would be even richer with thigh meat.  Next, I served this over white jasmine rice rather than couscous, which probably makes it a little less "Moroccan."  JJ's notes stated that she uses rice, so I followed her lead here.  I think any grain would be an easy substitute. The rice was quite nice.



Nick and I really enjoyed this dinner.  In fact, it made enough so that we were able to enjoy it twice. 

Roasted Poblano "Hot Dish" - Oct 22, 2012

This is what Nick and I did with those Poblano peppers that didn't go into our roasted peppers and onions dinner.  I am having trouble remembering where I found the recipe, but I know there was a recipe.  This did not come out of my brain.  Perhaps I will need to ruminate on my source a bit more and update this when my memory starts behaving again.

What I do remember about this dish is that I roasted the Poblanos over the flames from our gas stove and then sliced them into wide, flat halves.  These were layered into a loaf pan with chopped, canned tomatoes and Cotija cheese, like a lasagna.  The last layer is crumbled corn tortilla chips.  This baked until the cheese melted, which didn't take long.  We topped our servings with sour cream and served it alongside some of the cornbread I made for another dinner.

The dish had great flavor, with a little heat from the peppers, but it was a bit soggy.  If I repeat this, I may layer in some additional tortillas to help absorb some of the liquid from the tomatoes and peppers.