Pork with Sugar Snap Peas

TGIF! Tomorrow, bright and early, Brian and I are leaving for Annapolis. We are going down with my aunt and uncle to visit my cousin, Matt, who is an Assistant Coach of the Naval Academy baseball team. I'm dreading the 8 hour drive, especially since the best part of a road trip is blaring the music and singing at the top of your lungs, and I imagine my aunt and uncle won't be up for that! Brian is probably doing a happy dance about this, because we all know if it were just him and me, I'd be singing for 8 hours straight. My compilation would include a little Madonna, Justin, George Michael, Michael Jackson, Janet Jackson, Latoya Jackson....okay just kidding about Latoya, but you catch my drift. I'd subject him to show tune after show tune, accompanied by jazz hands and dramatic facial expressions to the point where he'd want to get out of the car and start walking to Annapolis. Maybe this is why he's never wanted to go on a road trip with me?

We get back on Tuesday night so stay tuned for pictures from our road trip.

And for those who care about the recipes...here's a quick week night meal that was mighty tasty. I got the base of the recipe from AllRecipes.com but I added some of this and some of that. Next time I'll add carrots, celery and probably red peppers for some color.

Ingredients:
1 pound pork tenderloin, cut into 1/4-inch-thick slices
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 teaspoons olive oil

10 ounces fresh sugar snap peas

1 green bell pepper, sliced thinly

1/2 sweet onion, sliced thinly
3 tablespoons reduced-sodium soy sauce
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar or rice vinegar
1 tablespoon molasses
3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
Hot cooked brown rice

In a nonstick skillet, stir-fry pork and garlic in hot oil for 6 minutes or until meat is no longer pink. Remove from skillet. In same pan, cook onions and peppers for 5 minutes. Add the peas along with the soy sauce, vinegar, molasses, ginger and red pepper flakes for 4 minutes or until peas are crisp-tender. Return pork to pan; cook for 3 minutes or until glazed. Serve over rice.

Liss's BBQ Pulled Pork

Sorry for the lack of posts recently, but I just got back from Houston where I ate more Mexican food than I should have. I almost popped a button of my jeans this morning, I'm not kidding! It was so nice to be home, warm weather, seeing my dad and friends and best of all, spending time with Shelby. She's the cutest baby and is just so completely happy all the time. I can only hope that our babies will be half as happy as her!

One food I miss from Houston, well besides Mexican obviously, is good BBQ. There are a couple places up here that are comprable, but we rarely go out to eat for BBQ. I've been searching for a good pulled pork recipe andMelissa came to the rescue with this one. I also used her BBQ sauce recipe that she used when she made ribs for the SSCC annual cook out! But if your pressed for time you could also use your favorite bottled BBQ sauce, but you know how I feel about that. Thanks Liss!

Pulled Pork Recipe:

Boneless Pork shoulder (any size) – untrimmed (or any boneless round cut of pork)

1 large vidalia onion

2 cans of low fat/low sodium beef broth (I used three cans)

Cut Vidalia onion in 6 slices, put a layer on bottom of crock pot, sit pork on top of it, then put another layer of onion on the pork, then pour in beef broth till it hits ¾ way up the crock pot. Cook on high for about an hour then turn it down to medium and let cook about 3 or 4 hours. Once cooked, pull meat out, trim off any excess fat and shred. Drain crockpot, then put shredded meat back in, pour bbq sauce over and let simmer.

BBQ Sauce:
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
1 onion, minced
4 cups low sodium chicken broth
1 cup root beer (do not use Dr. Pepper, if will give it a medicinal flavor)
1 cup cider vinegar
1 cup dark corn syrup
½ cup molasses
½ cup tomato paste
½ cup ketchup
2 tablespoons brown mustard
1 tablespoon hot sauce
½ teaspoon garlic powder
¼ teaspoon liquid smoke (optional)

Heat oil in saucepan over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add onion and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Whisk in remaining ingredients, except liquid smoke, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and simmer until mixture is thick and has reduced to 4 cups, about 1 hour. Stir in liquid smoke, if using. (Sauce can be refrigerated in airtight container for up to 1 week.)

And just for proof that Shelby is the cutest:

The cowgirl loves her horsie:

Pork Milanese My Way

This recipe was inspired by the Pork Milanese I had at Stella's in the South End. It was good but there was not nearly enough sauce for that huge piece of pork! So I made up this recipe. Enjoy!

Ingredients:
4 boneless pork chops
1 cup of breadcrumbs
2 eggs
3 tbs of oil
1/4 cup of chicken broth
1/4 cup of balsamic vinegar
1/4 white cooking wine
2 cans of San Marzano tomatoes
1 clove of garlic minced
3 tbs of pesto (homemade or jarred)
1 tsp of kosher salt.

Pound the pork chops between wax paper until they are about 1/2 inch thick. Dip pork in egg and then coat both sides with breadcrumbs. Put the oil in a frying pan (the bigger the pan the better) and heat. Once the oil smokes, put the pork chops in the pan. Let cook about 10-12 minutes on each side. Once the pork is done place on a cooling rack. Add a little more oil if necessary. Add in the minced garlic and saute until slightly browned and fragrant. Add in the chicken broth and scrap up the brown bits. Add the balsamic vinegar, white wine, tomatoes. With a spatula, chop up the tomatoes so there are little chunks. Add the pesto and the kosher salt. Let simmer on medium heat until sauce thickens.

Mangia!