Kiwi-Lime Pork Ribs

allrecipes.com Kiwi-Lime Pork Ribs

Another delicious recipe from my favorite website!

I think my family was a bit skeptical about this recipe, but they LOVED it! and best of all it was super easy!!

Madison wanted me to pair this with coleslaw, but I didn't get out to the grocery early enough to make the slaw. Also, I really felt with the sauce in this recipe would be too much sweetness (hard to believe I just typed that - can there be too much sweetness??). So, I opted for sauteed garlic baby spinach with mashed potatoes, and it was a winner! The flavors paired perfectly!

Because I can't leave well enough alone, I did adjust some of the seasonings in this recipe to suit our tastes

Ingredients

• 2 kiwis, peeled and sliced
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 2 tablespoons cider vinegar
• 2 tablespoons lime juice
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 (3 pound) package country-style pork ribs

Directions

1.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F

2.

Blend kiwis, sugar, vinegar, lime juice, salt, chili powder, cornstarch, and garlic in a blender until thickened into a sauce. Be sure to taste it and adjust the seasonings to your liking.

3.

Place pork ribs in a baking dish. The sauce will increase in volume, so be sure you use a baking dish with some depth.

4.

Drizzle blended kiwi sauce over ribs.

5.

Loosely cover ribs with a sheet of aluminum foil.

6.

Cook in preheated oven until pork reaches 140 degrees F. Check the temp around 45 minutes and remove when up to temp. Let rest for at least 5 minutes.

This pairs perfectly with Sauteed Garlic Baby Spinach on Mashed Potatoes

Sauteed Garlic Spinach on Mashed Potatoes

Sauteed Garlic Spinach on Mashed Potatoes was a happy accident! One night while cooking dinner, I was planning to pop some frozen veges into the microwave until I went to the freezer and couldn't find my veges!!


OH NO what to do?! I couldn't just serve the meat and potatoes without a vege! That wouldn't be right! Right?

I had to think fast - pretty much everything was ready to go! Then the light bulb went off - I had a bag of spinach! But how will it pair with mashed potatoes? That just sounded weird to me, but whatever, I was desperate. No time to get picky now!

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Mushroom and Spinach Ravioli with Chive Butter Sauce

This was my first time ever making pasta from scratch! As a result, I see a pasta roller in my future (hint hint to the hubs - and, BONUS, I have lots of those 20% off coupons too!)

These little raviolis were so good, but they were sooooo labor intensive! Rolling out pasta dough is a workout! I think I worked off enough calories to eat two servings!! Which is a good thing, because I'm pretty sure I ate at least 2 servings!

It's so cute!

 The Chive Butter Sauce was good, but these little guys can stand alone.  The one thing I wouldn't do is put a red sauce on them. I think that would take away from the delicious flavors combined in the filling.

Ingredients

• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 1 1/2 teaspoons water (or more as needed)
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups all-purpose flour (or more as needed)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/2 chopped onion
• 1 (8 ounce) package fresh mushrooms, chopped
• 4 ounces cream cheese softened
• 1/3 cup grated Parmesan Cheese
• 1/2 cup Mozzarella Cheese
• 1/2 cup frozen spinach, thawed and drained
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh chives
• 1 tablespoon fresh parsley
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 egg white beaten
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 1/2 teaspoons chopped fresh chives

Directions

1. Whisk together 1 teaspoon olive oil, 1 1/2 teaspoons water, and 2 eggs until combined; set aside. In a separate large bowl, combine flour and salt and make a well in the center. Pour the egg mixture into the well and stir until just combined. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth, adding more flour or water as needed. This should take about 5-10 minutes. Wrap dough tightly with plastic rest and set aside.
2. Heat 1 teaspoon olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add 1/2 cup chopped onion and 1 clove minced garlic and stir until onion softens. Add 8 ounces of fresh chopped mushrooms and continue cooking and stirring until the veggies are soft and the liquid has evaporated, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.
3. Beat 4 ounces of cream cheese in a bowl until smooth, stir in the cooled veggie mixture, 1/3 cup Parmesan Cheese, 1/2 cup Mozzarella Cheese, 1/2 cup spinach, 1 tablespoon chopped fresh chives, 1 tablespoon fresh parsley, and 1/2 teaspoon of ground cayenne pepper. Mix to combine and season with salt and pepper to taste.\
4. Roll the pasta dough out very thin, about 1/16". Using a large 3-4" cookie cutter or tart cutter cut circles out of the dough. Roll each circle out as thin as possible. Working with one circle at a time, brush the pasta lightly with the beaten egg white and top with 1 heaping tablespoon full of the filling right onto the center of the pasta. Top with another piece of pasta and pinch edges to seal. Use your cookie cutter or tart mold to cut the pasta once more to form a uniform shape. Reserve the finished ravioli on a floured baking sheet and repeat with the remaining pasta and filling.
5. Fill a large pot about 2/3 full with water and bring to a boil. Salt the water using about 1/2 to 1 tablespoon of sea salt. Once the water is boiling, stir in the ravioli and return to a boil. Cook about 3-4 minutes or until the pasta floats to the top. Drain.
6. Begin making the sauce while you are waiting for the water to boil, but keep and eye on it! Melt 3 tablespoons butter in a skillet over mid-high heat, cooking and stirring until browned (about 5-7 minutes). Stir in 1 1/2 teaspoons chives and serve over hot ravioli. Enjoy!

recipe source: allrecipes.com Mushroom & Spinach Ravioli with Chive Butter Sauce

Spinach Artichoke Cheese Fondue

The girls in this house LOVE the Spinach Artichoke Cheese Fondue from the Melting Pot.  A night out can be a bit of a splurge, so we decided to try it at home.

Grandma gave Madison a portable Induction Cook-top for use at college, and we decided to make sure it works before she hauls it all the way to Savannah (we just really wanted to have some fondue, but making sure it works sounded like a good excuse).  Seeing as my stove has an induction cook-top we are very familiar with the technology and thought it would be perfect for a fondue night. Because it's portable, we could do the cooking right at the table just like being at the Melting Pot!

Here is the recipe that inspired us and the following is how we ended up making it...

Ingredients

1/2 cup vegetable broth

1/2 to 1 cup fresh baby spinach, chopped

1/4 cup artichoke hearts, chopped (we bought the ones in the jar, because getting to the heart of an artichoke is quite a task)

1 tablespoon chopped garlic (it was more like 1.5 tablespoons, but it was a bit too much - even for me)

4 oz Butterkase Cheese (Publix did not have this, so I found it at Petty's, and yes, it was worth it)

4 oz Fontina Cheese

1/4 cup grated Paremsan

flour

dash of Rooster Sauce

Dippers

Tortilla Chips

Various breads cut into bite sized cubes

Apples cut into bite sized cubes (coat with a little lemon juice so the don't turn brown)

Various veges cut into bite sized pieces

Directions

We used one of my regular sauce pans because we needed a magnetic bottomed pan to work on the induction top (love that technology!).  We heated the vege broth in the sauce pan and mixed in the spinach, artichoke hearts, and the garlic.  Turn down the heat before adding in the cheeese

I grated the Butterkase and the Fontina and lightly floured it.  I added it to the vege broth mixture a little bit at a time. Being sure to melt it as I go.  

Tips for working with cheese:  It is important to treat the cheese kindly during cooking.  Too high a temperature or too much heating time can make the proteins tighten up resulting in rubbery globs of cheese in a pool of grease - yuck!  If this happens you can't fix it and your fondue is ruined.  To lessen the chance your cheese will succumb to this sad fate be sure to grate your cheese to increase the surface area that is in contact with the heat source - this will ensure a quicker melting time. Always be sure your cheese is at room temperature before you heat it - again this will reduce the time and heat needed to melt it.  Melt cheese at a lower heat to prevent it seizing up.  Bottom line - Be kind to your cheese and your cheese will be kind to you

With induction technology you really can use a paper towel between the pot and the heat source! Don't try this at home with an electric or gas stove though!

 We had trouble getting the cheese and the vege broth to combine to a good consistency, so I added a tablespoon of flour and mixed it all really well. That worked great.  If I were to make this again, I would probably add in a tablespoon of flour with the vege broth at the beginning to thicken it - I think that might work better, but I haven't tried it. 

This was a fun family night! 

The fondue was really delish (although a bit too garlicky - even for me!)

HomeMade Pizza

We love pizza!  We used to order pizza from a nearby pizza place quite often.  That was until Madison made her first homemade pizza!  Madison spoiled us with her culinary creations before she left for college - we weren't quite sure how we would get along without her!  It seems like just last week I was crying my eyes out heading west on I-16 after leaving my only baby alone in a strange city for her first year of college!  Now she's gearing up for finals week and saying goodbye to her Freshman year!
She survived! and, more importantly, so did I

Madison always used Bridgford Ready Dough for her homemade pizza, and it is a very good choice for the dough! Easy to use and very tasty!

Publix carries it in the freezer case

For this recipe I used the the Homemade French Bread.

This is the first time I used this dough to make pizza, and we liked it a lot.  I did not use a breadmaker - I made the dough by hand. After punching down, I spread the dough out on a large pizza pan.  Then I set it aside to rise. I like a thick crust, so I let this rise a couple hours to get it nice and puffy. You can let it rise until it looks good for your tastes.  Here is what mine looked like after rising a couple hours

Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees. When the dough is nice and puffy, poke some holes in the center of it with a fork. I try to leave the edges nice and puffy, so I don't attack them with the fork! Now you want to mince up some garlic in a small bowl and pour some olive oil over it - about a tablespoon will do - whatever looks good! Use the back of a spoon to crush the garlic a bit, and then gently brush the garlic olive oil all over the pizza!  Then put it in the oven for about 10 minutes. You just want to get it lightly browned.

Once your pizza is a little toasty you are ready to top it as you like. Here's what I did...

While the dough was toasting in the oven, I sauteed some fresh baby spinach in garlic and olive oil.  I used about 1-2 teaspoons olive oil with a clove of garlic (sliced). When that was warmed, I added a 10 oz bag of baby spinach and sauteed until it just started to wilt. It doesn't take long. I also sliced up some fresh plum tomates and set them aside until ready to top the pizza.

I topped the pizza with about 6 slices of Mozzarella first. Then I added the spinach and tomatoes. After that, I topped with about a cup of shredded Mozzarella and some shaved Parmesan cheese.

Now that my pizza is topped just the way I want it, I put it back in the oven for another 8-10 minutes. Take the pizza out of the oven when the cheese is melted and the crust is nicely browned.  Let rest for 10 minutes before slicing! ENJOY!