Pork Chops with Caramelized Pears

Ingredients:

4 pork chops, about 3/4 inch thick

1 cup italian bread crumbs

1/2 c. pecorino romano, grated fine

2 eggs

3 tbsp butter

2 pears, sliced

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 cup brown sugar

Mushroom Bacon Quiche

As I stated in my last blog entry, I typically make two different kinds of quiche at the same time because frozen crusts tend to come in packs of 2. Here is the slightly more complicated recipe I made.

Click here for the recipe for the Broccoli Cheddar Quiche shown in the picture above on the right.

Ingredients:

4 tbsp oil

1 medium onion, chopped

10 oz crimini mushrooms, sliced

6 oz. spinach

1 frozen pie crust

3/4 cup milk

4 eggs

1/2 tsp dried basil

1/4 tsp. dried dill

4 slices bacon, crumble

8 oz. sharp cheddar cheese, grated

Broccoli Cheddar Quiche

I read somewhere that there is some sort of hatred of quiche amongst some men. I don't get this. Do they hate pie? Eggs? Veggies? Cheese? So why can't they all hang out together and be delicious?

Well I for one LOVE quiche because it is super easy to make, you can switch out the ingredients and basically make any kind you want. Most frozen pie crusts come in a pack of 2, so I tend to make two different kinds.

Click here to see my recipe for the Mushroom Bacon Quiche that is shown on the upper left in the picture above.

Ingredients:

1 frozen pie crust, thawed

2 tbsp oil

1/2 cup milk

4 eggs

1/4 tsp dried rosemary

1/2 tsp dried basil

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp black pepper

1 medium onion, chopped

1 red pepper, chopped

1 large head of broccoli, chopped

2 tbsp water

8 oz. sharp cheddar cheese, grated

Massaman Chicken Curry

If I had to pick one dish that was my favorite in the whole world, massaman curry could be it. I say "could" because as you can tell I am absolutely obsessed with food, so picking one food is next to impossible. However, I adore Thai food, and massaman is so close to heavenly it would at least make the top 5.

Maintaining a recipe blog like this is both a blessing and a curse. You are experimenting along the way, so a plus is you're always making something new. However, you're bound to need to make adjustments along the way which interrupts the recipe writing process. That said, I realized halfway through making this that I needed either a bigger pot or to have made less food. 

So what did we learn? 

You will either need to cut this recipe in half or use a big soup pot to make it!

Ingredients:

2 tbsp. oil

1 onion, chopped

2 lb boneless chicken breast or thighs, cut into strips

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 carrots, peeled and sliced 

2 large potatoes, peeled and cubed

2 (14 oz) cans coconut milk 

8-10 tbsp. massaman curry paste (or red curry paste)*

1 (8 oz) jar satay sauce

1 red pepper, chopped

3 oz. roasted peanuts

*The more curry paste, the spicier. If you can't find massaman paste, you can use red curry but it tends to be spicier.

Hearty Chicken Soup with Rice

This weekend was definitely quite cold, and there is no better comfort food to warm the soul than a good old-fashioned bowl of chicken soup. Typically I make Chicken Noodle soup, but I wanted to change it up this time around. This soup is super easy, healthy, and so tasty!

Ingredients: 

2 lbs chicken breast or thighs, cut into chunks

1 medium onion, chopped

2 carrots, peeled and chopped

3 stalks celery, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced

2 tbsp butter

64 oz. chicken stock

2 bay leaves

1/2 tsp dried thyme

3/4 cup uncooked rice

salt and pepper to taste

Pumpkin Cupcakes with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting

Light and fluffy pumpkin cake with a tangy, creamy frosting... oh man I'm in trouble here! So delicious and delectable.

One note: The frosting recipe I used made too much frosting. I could probably ice another half batch with the leftovers, so I will need to figure a way to adjust it or make more cupcakes next time.

Ingredients

For the cupcakes:

1 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar, packed

1 cup butter, melted and cooled

4 eggs

2 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/3 tsp ground nutmeg

1-15 oz can pumpkin puree

For the frosting:

8 oz. cream cheese, softened at room temperature

1/2 cup butter, softened at room temperature

1 cup confectioner's sugar

1/4 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp maple flavor or 2 tsp. real maple syrup (the flavor will be more subtle)