Wednesday, November 17

Enjoy these slightly spicy pork chops with tasty roasted potatoes. Start the potatoes first. When they are done roasting, remove them from the oven and cover the dish with tin foil. Reduce oven heat for pork chops. The potatoes retain their heat quite well and will still be hot when the pork chops are done.

Chocolate Spiced Pork Chops

Roasted Red Potatoes

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

I have to make Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies at least once twice every fall. Last year Nathan loved them so much he would cry every time I gave a bag of these away to friends, but with a recipe that makes 5 dozen there were always plenty to go around!

I have cut the recipe in half since then, so now the yield is about 2 1/2 dozen, but it is easily doubled if you need plenty of cookies! You can use whatever kind of baking chip you want, I personally prefer using chocolate chunks or semi-sweet chocolate chips. Today I tried white chocolate chips and they were good too!

This recipe is adapted from one I found by George Duran on the food network website.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

printable recipe 

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup light brown sugar

1 large eggs

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup canned pumpkin puree

1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour (add a couple of extra tablespoons if high altitude)

1 tsp baking soda (use a scant teaspoon if high altitude)

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground ginger

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1 cup (6 oz) chocolate chips (semi-sweet, milk chocolate, white chocolate, or chocolate chunks)

Nonstick cooking spray or parchment paper

Heat the oven to 350F. Spray cookie sheets with nonstick spray or line them with parchment paper.

Using a mixer, beat the butter until smooth. Beat in the white and brown sugars, a little at a time, until the mixture is light and fluffy.

Beat in the egg then mix in the vanilla and pumpkin puree.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves. Slowly beat the flour mixture into the batter in thirds.

Fold in the chips.

Place the cookie dough by heaping tablespoons onto the prepared cookie sheets. 

Bake 15 to 20 minutes, or until the cookies are browned around the edges. Remove the cookie sheets from the oven and let them rest for 2 minutes. Take the cookies off with a spatula and cool them on wire racks or a sheet of foil.

Chocolate Spiced Pork Chops

My family eats bone-in pork chops quite frequently. We like them, they are easy to prepare, and they are cheap! I can snag a large package of these for less than a dollar per pound on sale. We freeze them individually and pull out a couple the night before we want to cook them.

This is a new recipe for me, and one that I will definitely use again. It resulted in juicy, flavorful pork chops. My only beef with pork (pun intended, haha) is that it can be easy to overcook. That did not happen with this recipe, they were cooked to perfection.

*Note: in the picture they look a little burnt on the outside, but I think the rub just blackens really easily because they did not taste burnt at all.

This recipe is another one from the awesome Paula Deen magazine I found.

Chocolate Spiced Pork Chops

printable recipe 

2 Tbsp firmly packed brown sugar

1 Tbsp Italian seasoning

2 tsp onion powder

1 1/2 tsp unsweetened cocoa powder

1 1/2 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp paprika

1/2 tsp ground red pepper

1/2 tsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp ground black pepper

4 bone-in pork chops

1 Tbsp canola oil

Preheat oven to 350F. In a large bowl, combine first ten ingredients.

Rub mixture evenly over pork chops.

In a large cast-iron skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add pork chops. *Note: I only have a medium cast-iron skillet so could only fit three pork chops in the pan. You could also sear these in a skillet then transfer to a cookie sheet before putting in oven.

Cook for 2-3 minutes per side until pork chops start to brown.

Place skillet in oven and bake pork chops for 8 minutes.

Enjoy these pork chops with a side of Roasted Red Potatoes!

This recipe is featured in Meal Plan: November 15-21.

Tuesday, November 16

Dinner tonight is Chicken and Rice Bake. I like it with grapes and carrots for a fresh, simple meal. Have a fantastic day knowing that dinner will be a cinch to prepare tonight!

For all the meals in this week's menu plan as well as a shopping list, click here.

Chicken and Rice Bake

When my son was born we received dinners from the generous ladies in our church and 4 of the 5 meals brought were variations of this dish! I'm not going to lie, we were a little bit relieved when the fifth and final meal was pizza, but this just shows how popular this dinner is. Here is my take on this comfort classic, enjoy!

Chicken and Rice Bake

printable recipe

1 can Cream of Mushroom soup
1 can water
3/4 cup uncooked regular long-grain white rice
1/4 tsp paprika
1/4 ground black pepper
2 Tbsp canola oil
2 skinless, boneless chicken breasts (about 1 lb)
salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 375F. In a 2 quart baking dish combine soup, water, rice, paprika and pepper.

Rinse and trim fat off chicken. Season with salt and pepper. I like to cut the chicken into serving size pieces. *Note: I only used one chicken breast in this picture as it was just my kids and I eating.

In a skillet, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Place chicken in skillet.

Sear until slightly browned, a minute or two on each side.

Place chicken on top of rice mixture in dish.

Season with additional paprika and pepper. Bake covered at 375F for 45 minutes or until chicken is cooked through and rice is tender.

I usually find that the rice is a bit crunchy still on the edges while there is extra liquid in the middle, so when I pull it out of the oven I like to stir the rice up and replace the lid for an extra five minutes. The rice will soften and it will still be plenty hot for serving.

This recipe is featured in Meal Plan: November 15-21.

Simple yet satisfying.

Menu Board Giveaway!

I recently discovered a great blog called Ucreate Foods. It is a fantastic blog with mouth-watering recipes and helpful cooking tips. I am especially excited about the Magnetic Menu Board Giveaway. Take a look at this gorgeous menu board she has created:

 

Wouldn't this be a fun way to keep track of your menu-planning? To enter to win your own custom-created menu board just click on this link to her website and leave a comment. Good luck!

Monday, November 15

Okay, here's dinner for tonight: Butternut Squash Soup and Savory Biscuits.

Family Night Treat: Easy Microwave Caramel Popcorn.

Have an awesome Monday!