Grilled Pork Chops with Date and Cilantro Relish

I was happily surprised the other day when I checked my mailbox and found Bon Appetit magazine waiting for me. Who knows how they found me, but I'm so glad they did. I ripped out a bunch of recipes and put them on our fridge. The first recipe I made was the grilled pork chops with date and cilantro relish. It was delicious and more importantly, super easy. All I have to say is Bon Appetit, you've won me.

What you need:

2 pork chops or 1 pork tenderloin (go to Bon Appetit's website for the pork tenderloin recipe) 

* You can use any other meat that floats your boat. It would do beautifully with poultry or lamb.

Relish

3 tbsp. olive oil or avocado oil

2/3 cup Medjool dates, deseeded and chopped into small pieces

2 tbsp. fresh orange juice

3 tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro

Dash of salt and pepper

Marinade

1 cup orange juice

1/2 cup chopped cilantro 

3 tbsp. salt

Directions:

1. Get your pork chops marinating to get the meat infused with flavor. Mix all the marinade ingredients together and place your pork in the mix. Refrigerate until you're ready to cook. 1 to 3 hours is the perfect amount of time.

2. Prepare your date-cilantro relish. Mix all the ingredients together and refrigerate.  

3. Remove pork chops from marinade. Dry with a paper towel and season with salt and pepper. Mist the grill pan with a little oil and grill away. Getting the grill really hot will make sure your pork chops get a beautiful sear

 

4. Serve with date-cilantro relish on top! 

Red Lobster's Cheddar Bay Biscuits

This post is a short one, but a delicious one! I surprised Ty with Red Lobster's very own cheddar bay biscuits with butter-herb drizzle (thank you Walmart!) the other day. Ty used to make them from scratch all the time when we first started dating, so I thought they would be the perfect surprise for a lazy Sunday football day. They definitely don't compare with Ty's homemade cheddar bay biscuits (I'll do my best to convince Ty to share his recipe), but they sure made for fun snacking. In fact, they were gone in minutes.

Boxed Goodness: Maple-glazed pumpkin donuts

Ok, so I went where no food blogger should go. I used a pre-made mix. I saw the maple-glazed pumpkin donut mix sitting on the check-out counter and thought it'd be fun to try making donuts for the first time and even more fun to eat. It delivered! Those donuts with a hot cup of coffee made the perfect breakfast. You can buy the Stonewall Kitchen Pumpking Doughnuts mix here!

Potato and Leek Au Gratin

It boggles my mind that it's already fall, the leaves are changing, and we're already seeing Thanksgiving, Halloween, and Christmas decorations in the stores! I guess it's time to say goodbye to those summer skirts and say hello to those sweaters and stockings packed away. To celebrate the first day of October (and the furlough, thanks Congress!), Ty and I made a wickedly awesome potato and leek au gratin. Ty's been going to the local farmer's market every Saturday (yay for local!) and got a really great deal on some leeks this past weekend.

I scrubbed the internet for a bunch of leek recipes, but decided to make something with whatever Ty and I already had. Luckily, potatoes and leeks are one of those classic combinations so we went with the au gratin. Who can say no to a scrumptious, cheesy au gratin? So that's what we did and finished it off with some delicious chocolate blackberry cream pie from Whole Food's. A perfect way to start the fall and the first day of furlough!

Here's how we made it!

4 yellow potatoes
5 stocks of leeks
3 stocks of thyme
1 cup of parmesan cheese or any cheese you have in the house
1 egg
1/2 cup of 1% milk* or cream
salt/pepper
avocado oil*, olive oil, or butter

* = Healthier options and always the better choice

 Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400F.
2. Peel potatoes and slice into thin circular slices about 1/8 inch wide. Use a mandolin if you have one. Once sliced, place potatoes in a bowl of really cold water to keep it from turning brown.

2. As that's sitting, put a tsp of avocado oil (my new obsession) in a frying pan and sautee your leeks over medium heat for 3 or 4 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and set aside.

3. Coat a deep baking dish with the avocado oil (avocado oil has a very high smoking point meaning it won't burn and it's healthier for you)
4. Start placing your layers and repeat until you are rimmed to the top! I wouldn't add anymore salt since cheese has so much sodium, but if that floats your boat, by all means.

• Layer 1: Potatoes
• Layer 2: Leeks and Thyme leaves
• Layer 3: Cheese (top layer should always be cheese to get the crispy golden brown!)

5. Mix the milk or cream with the egg and pour all over. This gives it the rich decadent feel.
6. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 45 minutes.
7. Serve with lots of extra grated cheese for people to add as topping. So good!!

And here's a pic of the awesome chocolate cream pie we had for dessert. Thank you Whole Foods!