Hamburger, Chicken Chorizo, Stuffed Mushroom, Asparagus

Dinner last night was an Angus beef hamburger patty and a grilled chicken chorizo sausage from Whole Foods.  I steamed some asparagus to go with it and sauteed a mushroom stuffed with a pork fennel sausage (also from WF).  I added a few slices of Darling Clementine to give it all a sweet finish.  Such a tasty meal!  A couple of sisters were over for dinner and it received thumbs up from everyone.

Cranberry + Herbs Pork Roast, Italian Kale, Steamed Carrots

Dinner tonight was fabulous!!  Steph and I made something similar the last time she was out for a visit, and we made a few slight modifications this time, but kept the delicious, perfect heart of the meal.  We made a cranberry and orange infused pork roast, with a side of Italian Kale, and steamed carrots.

For the pork roast we started with about a cup of dried cranberries and soaked them in orange juice and some hard apple cider for a couple of hours before starting the roast.  Then we rubbed dried rosemary, thyme, some cloves, salt, and pepper into the roast and let that sit for a while.  When we put the roast in the baking dish we packed onions around it, stuffed some of the cranberries into it, layered jellied cranberries on top of it, and poured the oj/cider/cranberry mix over it.  Flavor.explosion.yum.

I would make a couple of changes to the kale.  I overcooked it, so I'll adjust that a bit next time.  I would also adjust the recipe by reducing the balsamic vinegar (maybe even down to 1/2 T) and I tossed in some extra garlic.

It was a lovely dinner and part of a fun trend (twice is a trend, three times is a tradition?) of cooking pork roast with Aunt Steph.  We subbed the veggies in for the previous starch of potatoes and I thought the flavors all worked well together.

Ginger Citrus Salmon, Apples, Asparagus

My Aunt Steph is here for a visit and we are having so much fun cooking together.  She has been so helpful in figuring out new and fun plans for the basic meat, vegetables, a little fruit that we've been eating lately.  I had a salmon filet that my grandparents had shared with me, so we thawed that out and put it in a ginger citrus marinade overnight.  The next day we cooked the salmon on the George, and sauteed some zucchini in the remaining juice, which was delicious.  We steamed some asparagus and apples to finish off the meal.  It was wonderful - easily a recipe to repeat.  

Tilapia, Blueberries, Brocolette, Cottage Cheese

I cooked up some of the frozen Basil Pesto Tilapia filets from Costco (I had a friend convert to these after having one for dinner the night she watched Sophie - they are delicious!)  Steamed brocolette, dollop of cottage cheese, blueberries.  Simple, tasty, awesome.

The portions are small here, but it worked well for dinner.  We had a little white wine with the meal, then had some beef jerky and cashews later in the evening for a snack.

Taco Salad, Asparagus, Blackberries, HAM

I had some lettuce and taco meat leftover from our Community Group contributions, so I fixed that up, steamed some asparagus, rolled up some ham, rinsed some blackberries.  Culinary genius. 

Coconut!

I bought some dried coconut at Costco - it seemed like a nice little snack and I'm liking the coconut oil that I'm cooking with lately.  It looks good, right?!

Then I notice this little gem of a tagline at the top.  Memories of Cebu, you say?  Sign me up!!  A sweet snack and sweet memories.

I should have purchased two bags.

Hamburger, Rainbow Chard, Cottage Cheese

This meal is easily a favorite - tasty, filling, and it's so easy to prepare.  I buy frozen Angus hamburger patties at Costco and they are pre-cooked, so I microwave them to thaw and heat a bit and then put them in the oven, or I put them directly on the George.  Love it.  The rainbow chard is sauteed in coconut oil with garlic and just a hint of ginger and it turned out great.  Tim had a bunch of pickles; I had just a few and the glob at the top of the plate is some avocado.  A little cottage cheese to finish it off!