spicy-sweet pork cutlets

Add a spicy-sweet kick to your traditional pork chop recipe by simmering pork chops in a honey, Dijon mustard, ground ginger, cinnamon, and clove glaze.


Ingredients
1/4 cup honey
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
Cooking spray
4 (4-ounce) boneless center-cut loin pork chops (about 1/2 inch thick)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Preparation
Combine first 5 ingredients in a bowl.
Heat a large nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat. Sprinkle pork with salt and pepper; cook 2 minutes on each side or until browned. Reduce heat to medium-low; add honey mixture. Cook 10 minutes or until done, turning pork once.


To go with the pork, I sliced potatoes about 1/8 inch thick, put in a pan with 3 tbl oil, covered and cooked on medium low, stirring frequently until cooked through. Then remove the top and cook on medium stirring frequently until nicely browned. The entire cooking time is about 30 minutes so start these before the pork.

Don't these look delish!

We served them with steamed broccoli for a tasty dinner!

Cabbage Roll Casserole #2

Here's a slightly different version of Craig's Cabbage Roll casserole.

2 lbs lean Hot Italian Sausage
1 large onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 can(15 ounces) tomato sauce
1 can diced tomatoes
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon dill weed
1/2 teaspoon rubbed sage
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 cups cooked rice
1 medium head cabbage (2 pounds) shredded
1 cup (4 ounces) mozzarella cheese.
1/4 cup bacon bits.

In a large skillet, cook the sausage, onion and garlic over medium heat until meat is no longer pink, drain.
Stir in one can of diced tomatoes and seasonings. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes.
Stir in the rice and bacon bits, heat through. Remove from heat.

Layer half of the cabbage in a greased 13in. x 9in. x2 in. baking dish.
Top with meat mixture.

Top with remaining cabbage. Pour tomato sauce over the top.

Cover and bake at 375 for 45 minutes.
Uncover and sprinkle with cheese.
Bake 10 minutes longer or until cheese is melted.
Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

Creamy Hot Italian Turkey Sausage pie

1lb light hot Italian sausage
1/2 cup chopped onion
3 oz package fat free cream cheese
I pkg frozen spinach, thawed and pressed of excess water
1 can sliced mushrooms
1 pkg low fat refrigerated biscuits or pizza dough(the kind in a rolled can)
2 eggs
1 24 oz fat-free cream-style cottage cheese
1/4 cup reduced fat Parmesan cheese
1 tbs corn starch
chopped tomatoes
chopped chives
4 oz. fat free shredded cheddar cheese

Saute onion, drain, set aside.
Brown sausage, drain, add sauteed onion, stir in cream cheese and mushrooms, set aside.

In a 9 x 13 dish, lightly grease and press dough onto bottom and up sides just over top.

Spoon in meat mixture evenly.

In a bowl, combine eggs, cottage cheese,spinach, and corn starch.

Spread mixture over meat mixture

Bake uncovered 25-30 min. at 350

Sprinkle cheese and let melt. Remove from oven and let rest 5-10 min. Garnish with tomato and chives.

Enjoy! makes more than enough for leftovers too!

Tortilla Lasagna

Here's a tasty twist to Lasagna, ....Tortilla Lasagna.

I don't have pics showing the steps because I thought I had already posted this recipe. So this is a pic of the leftovers.

Recipe.......

1 Tbl vegetable oil.
1 lb ground beef. You can also use chicken or turkey.
1 cup chopped onion.
1 1/2 cups chopped green and/or red pepper.
1 cup corn
1 4oz. can of sliced black olives.
1 4oz. can diced green chilies.
1 pkg taco seasoning mix.
1 16 oz. jar mild taco sauce, divided.
10 flour tortillas, divided.
2 cups Mexican blend shredded cheese, divided.

Pre-heat oven to 375.
Grease a 13x9 baking dish.
Heat oil in large skillet over med heat. Add ground beef; cook stirring occasionally until no longer pink. 5-6 min. Stir in vegetables, chillies and seasoning mix. Reduce heat to low; cook, stirring occasionally 3-4 min or until veggies are tender.
Spread 1/2 cup taco sauce on bottom of baking dish. Cover with 5 tortillas. Spread with 1/2 the meat mixture and 1/2 the taco sauce. Sprinkle with 1 cup of cheese. Repeat with remaining ingredients.
Bake for 15 - 20 minutes or until heated through and cheese melted.
Enjoy!

Chicken Cordon Bleu Pizza

Here's a tasty twist to traditional pizza. It's called chicken cordon bleu pizza. And you use Alfredo sauce instead of pizza sauce, and ham and chicken nuggets instead of ground beef or peperoni.

The recipe, courtesy of Taste of Home magazine...........


1 tube refrigerated pizza crust.
1/2 cup Alfredo sauce.
1/4 tsp garlic salt.
1 cup shredded Swiss cheese.
1-1/2 cups cubed cooked ham.
10 breaded chicken nuggets thawed and cut into 1/2-in pieces.
1 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese.

Now instead of refrigerated pizza crust, we used Boboli pizza crust. We're hooked on them now.

So spread the Alfredo sauce over the crust.

Sprinkle with salt and Swiss cheese.
top with ham and chicken.

and sprinkle mozzarella cheese over that.
Bake at 425 for 8-10 minutes or until crust is golden brown and cheese is melted.

And this was some good food! Of course it doesn't substitute for regular pizza, but it's a tasty dish all on it's own!

Meat Loaf

mmmmmmm....meatloaf!
Craig makes a number of different meat loafs, but this on is particularly good!
He starts out with equal parts extra lean ground beef, and lean hot Italian sausage.
Add 2 eggs, bread crumbs, finely chopped onions, and Italian seasoning. Mix well and set in the fridge to 'rest' for an hour.

Roll out on wax paper to a thickness of about 3/4 of an inch. Craig used fat free shredded cheddar cheese and frozen spinach, thawed for the filling.

Roll into a log and place into a greased casserole dish.

Press the ends together and cover with tomato paste.

Bake at 325 for an hour or until done.

It was very tasty!

Turkey Tetrazzini casserole

Turkey Tetrazzini, Craig's way.

We found this recipe on-line and Craig thought it looked good. But as usual, he 'modified' it. So first, the original recipe.

Ingredients
10 ounce uncooked vermicelli
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
1 pound turkey breast cutlets
3/4 teaspoon onion powder, divided
1/2 teaspoon salt, divided
1/4 teaspoon black pepper, divided
2 tablespoons dry sherry
2 (8-ounce) packages presliced mushrooms
3/4 cup frozen green peas, thawed
3/4 cup fat-free milk
2/3 cup fat-free sour cream
1/3 cup (about 1 1/2 ounces) grated fresh Parmesan cheese
1 (10 3/4-ounce) can reduced-fat cream of chicken soup (such as Healthy Choice)
Cooking spray
1/3 cup dry breadcrumbs
2 tablespoons butter, melted
Preparation
Preheat oven to 450°.
Cook pasta according to package directions, omitting salt and fat. Drain.
Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Sprinkle turkey with 1/2 teaspoon onion powder, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/8 teaspoon pepper. Add turkey to pan; cook 2 minutes on each side or until done. Remove turkey from pan.
Add 1/4 teaspoon onion powder, sherry, and mushrooms to pan. Cover and cook 4 minutes or until mushrooms are tender.
Combine peas, milk, sour cream, cheese, and soup in a large bowl. Chop turkey. Add 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1/8 teaspoon pepper, pasta, turkey, and mushroom mixture to soup mixture, tossing gently to combine. Spoon mixture into a 13 x 9-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray.
Combine breadcrumbs and butter in a small dish, tossing to combine. Sprinkle breadcrumb mixture over pasta mixture. Bake at 450° for 12 minutes or until bubbly and thoroughly heated.


Now what Craig did different.
He used left-over chopped turkey breast from our turkey last week.
He hates peas, so he put chopped green onions in it's place.
He didn't have any dry sherry, so he used dry vermouth.
Instead of regular mushrooms, he used baby bellas.
And then before serving, he topped with shredded fat free cheddar cheese, and diced tomatoes.
It was delicious!