Aisle Twelve

For most of my life, pork was the other white meat:  the one I wouldn't eat.  (Well, pork chops anyway.  Bacon, of course, was always on my list.)  I think that I just had one too many over cooked, dried out, chewy, tough pork chops that I never could stomach them.  Then I discovered the lusciousness that is pork tenderloin and decided to give pork chops another chance.  Yup, basically it still was the other, dried up, chewy white meat I remembered.  Luckily I came across this recipe in a Cuban cookbook of Joe's.  Then one day, when I saw a crazy good sale on pork chops at the grocery store, I decided to dig out this recipe and give it a try.  Thank God I did.  These chops are not like other pork chops.  They are moist, (sorry, I hate that word too but I just cannot think of another, more accurate synonym) tender, flavorful; unlike any pork chop I had had before.  Not only are they delicious, but they are a cinch to cook as well.   Chuletas en Salsa Vino (Pork Chops

For years I've always wanted to try a Nicoise salad but have always shied away because of the tuna.  I'm not a huge fan of tuna unless it's in a spicy sushi roll, for whatever reason.  But I had a revelation when I realized, who says it has to be tuna?  Why not chicken and better yet, why not rotisserie chicken?  Actually I had planned on roasting and shredding my own chicken, but after boiling my eggs and potatoes, I went to the fridge to discover I had only mentally taken out the chicken from the freezer to defrost.  Such is life.    If you have never had a nicoise salad, it is a perfect salad for summer.  The dressing is a simple, yet flavorful dressing and while potatoes, green beans, boiled egg, tomatoes and nicoise olives are traditional, you can add pretty much what you like in a salad.  Cucumbers are not traditional, but I was cleaning out the fridge and it seemed like a good way to get rid of them.    Chicken Salad Nicoise   hard boiled eggs gree

Summer does not make me feel much like cooking.  This recipe might change my mind.  The sauce is basically a pesto with a little pasta water thrown in and warmed by the hot pasta.  It smells like summer and is an easy, no-cook dinner.  The pesto would also be lovely spread on crostini with goat cheese or ricotta.  Definitely one to add to the summer dinner rotation. Sundried Tomato Pesto Pasta 1 package or jar of sundried tomatoes* 1 clove garlic, smashed 1/4 cup slivered almonds, toasted 1 tablespoon basil leaves, torn 1/8 teaspoon (or to taste) red pepper flakes parmesan cheese, grated (to taste) salt and pepper olive oil cavatapi or other ridged pasta Coarsely chop tomatoes and put in the bowl of a food processor.  Add garlic, almonds, basil, red pepper flakes, and salt and pepper.  Pulse a few times and with the processor running, add olive oil until mixture comes together into a loose paste.  Stir in parmesan cheese.  Transfer to air tight container or add to cook

There have been some big changes in my life since the last time I added a post.  Mainly, we moved to a new home that needed a lot of updating.  I had planned on doing a lot of posts showing the progress we've been making, but when you are constantly doing indoor renovations, landscape editing along with the other routine home stuff, on top of keeping a toddler busy, things fall by the wayside and that something was writing.  But that's not the only thing...   I'm just not sure how I feel about being a blogger.  I started blogging because I love to write as a hobby, and it's fun to get my thoughts down, and especially to document recipes (because I do love to cook).  But I have always felt a little weird about the whole putting everything out there for anyone and everyone to see.  I also don't have any expectations that anyone IS actually reading this at all.  And for the people who did read it, I didn't want it to seem like I was trying to be showy and some