Savory Pork Roast, Brussels Sprouts and Garlic Mashed Potatoes

This was our dinner tonight. Savory Pork Roast, Roasted Brussels Sprouts and Garlic Mashed Potatoes. YUM! All the recipes came from Allrecipes.com . Click on the name of the dish to be directed to the recipe on All Recipes.

Savory Pork Roast

1 garlic clove, minced
2 teaspoons dried marjoram
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon rubbed sage
1 (4 pound) boneless pork loin roast

Directions
1.Combine the seasonings; rub over roast. Place on a rack in a shallow roasting pan. Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees F for 1 hour and 20 minutes or until a meat thermometer reads 160 degrees F. Let stand for 10-15 minutes before slicing.

*** I only used a 1.3 lbs pork roast but I kept the amount of seasonings the same. I like a punch. :) I also mixed in a little bit of olive oil to make the rub into more of a paste.


Roasted Brussels Sprouts
1 1/2 pounds Brussels sprouts, ends trimmed and yellow leaves removed
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Directions
1.Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (205 degrees C).
2.Place trimmed Brussels sprouts, olive oil, kosher salt, and pepper in a large resealable plastic bag. Seal tightly, and shake to coat. Pour onto a baking sheet, and place on center oven rack.
3.Roast in the preheated oven for 30 to 45 minutes, shaking pan every 5 to 7 minutes for even browning. Reduce heat when necessary to prevent burning. Brussels sprouts should be darkest brown, almost black, when done. Adjust seasoning with kosher salt, if necessary. Serve immediately.

***I quartered them first (wanted to make them a little more "bite size"), then par-boiled them for about 2 minutes. Let it sit in a colander for a couple minutes to drain while you're doing other things. Then toss with oil and seasoning, spread out on a baking sheet and pop them in the oven! Overall- pretty good. It was a little salty. But not too bad. I don't normally do Brussels Sprouts since it has the whole "taste like feet" reputation. But I'm really trying to branch out and try different things. It was pretty good. Didn't taste like feet, so that's a plus! :) We ate them all.


Garlic Mashed Potatoes
I don't have a "recipe" for this but here's what I did. I first cut off the top of a whole head of garlic, drizzled olive oil over the top with a touch of salt, wrapped it in foil and stuck it in the oven with the pork -- I let it roast for about 45 minutes or so--not really sure how long. Basically I just let it cook until I was ready to mash the potatoes. Boil the potatoes in salted water until fork tender, drain, return potatoes to pot, cover and let sit until you're almost ready to serve dinner. When we're about 5-10 minutes from serving everything, I take out the garlic, unwrap it and using a fork or knife, pop out each clove of garlic (ok....and taste some too...yum). Then turn on the flame to low, pour in some milk and add butter (whatever looks good - remember you can always add more but you can't take out, so start small). Using a large whisk (or potato masher, or fork or ..whatever) mash and mix everything together. Add in garlic cloves and shredded Parm cheese along with salt and pepper to taste. Stir and taste until it's good. :)

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So I catagorized this under "Cheap Meals" because once I added it all up - it was PRETTY CHEAP! I spent less than $5 on this entire meal (which had leftovers!). Here's the breakdown:

Pork Roast -- 1.3 lbs (on sale) 1.99/lb --$2.59 --**I already had all spices and olive oil on hand**

Brussel Sprouts -- 1 lbs -- 1.99/lb --$1 -- **already on hand: seasonings and olive oil**

Mashed Potatoes -- One 5lb bag (15 potatoes) was $0.69. I used 4 potatoes which came out to be about $0.20 ; Parm Cheese - the container was $3.11. I used just a couple of handfuls, so I'm guestimating about $0.50 for the Parm Cheese. **I already had milk and butter on hand.**

I also made a packet of gravy b/c I had that in the pantry. However if you bought one it would probably be about $1. Let's just throw that in there for the fun of it.

TOTAL = $5.29

Pork Chop Delight

A friend of mine fowarded me an e-mail FULL of crockpot recipes! I recently bought some pork chops on sale and thought that I'd take one of the recipes to cook up my chops. This was a GREAT meal, easy and really good. I actually made this the day before, then things happened and we never were able to eat it - so, instead of putting in the sour cream, I stuck it in a tupperware dish and popped it in the fridge. The next day, I just dumped the entire contents into a deep pan, let it heat up, then added the sour cream/flour mixture to cook for 15-20 minutes. It turned out just fine! We had our brother and sister over and they liked it too! The pork was nice and tender and the sauce it made was really good. I would either make rice (or mashed potatoes if you want something heavier) and veggies with it. The only FYI I would say to remember is, as with any kind of meat with bones you put in the crockpot - the meat falls offthe bone very easily. Which means bones mix in with the meat and sauce. So just be careful or maybe try to fish out the bones before you serve. It wasn't that big of a deal, but I don't want to have to wory that I'll bite down into a bone when eating!

Anywho - here it is!

http://www.50plusfriends.com/cookbook/crockpot/pkchpdel.html

From the Kitchen of: Pepper
4 - 6


boneless pork chops

seasoned flour for dredging (add salt, pepper, etc. to flour)
2 tbsp. vegetable oil
1 lg. onion, sliced
2 c. chicken broth
2 tbsp. flour
8 oz. sour cream

Heat oil in a skillet over medium high heat. Dredge pork chops in seasoned flour and brown in skillet, turning to brown both sides.

Layer chops in Crockery Pot with onion slices. Pour chicken broth over layers. Cover and cook on low 7 - 8 hours.

Stir the 2 tablespoons of flour into the sour cream until smooth. Stir sour cream into the Crockery Pot and blend into the cooking juices. Raise the Crockery Pot to high for 15 - 30 minutes or until the liquid has thickened.

Serve the chops and sauce over rice or noodles.

Racheal Ray's Pork Chop Pizzaiola

http://rachaelray.com/recipe.php?recipe_id=2875

I made this the other night and it was OH so yummy. I used boneless pork chops, since that's what they had on sale. Turned out great. The only thing is that the "sauce" was a bit thin-- I thought that it was going to be thicker. Maybe next time, I'll cut down on the wine and chicken stock or just try to cook it down more before I throw in the chops.

Ingredients
4 bone-in pork chops (1 1/2-inch thick each)
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)
1 large clove garlic, crushed
1 teaspoon fennel seed
1 medium onion, chopped
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
2 sprigs fresh oregano, leaves chopped, or 1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 cup tomato paste
1 cup red wine
2 cups chicken stock

Preparation
Season chops with salt and pepper. Heat the EVOO in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the crushed garlic and stir it around to flavor the oil. Add in the chops and caramelize on both sides, 2-3 minutes per side. Remove the chops to a plate and reserve. Stir in the fennel seed, onions, red pepper flakes, and oregano. Reduce the heat and cook for 7-8 minutes.
Add the tomato paste, and cook for 1 minute, then add the wine, and cook for another minute. Stir in the stock and combine well. Slide the chops back into the pan, cover and simmer to finish cooking the chops, about 5-6 minutes. Arrange the chops and sauce on a serving platter and serve.