Irresistible Double Chocolate Muffins

This is a terrific, hearty, chocolaty muffin treat! We really enjoyed these, they work for a breakfast treat, or a quick snack. They are dense, and the little mini-chocolate chips are like little hidden treasures inside the muffin. These are not "cake" like at all - between the whole wheat flour, flax seed, and wheat germ they are definitely almost like chocolate bran muffins. I enjoy packing these up for breakfast, or wrapping and freezing to pull out for snacks later on. The go great with a big glass of milk.

I followed the recipe exactly as written, baked for 20 minutes, and thought they came out really good!

Irresistible Double Chocolate Muffins by Fiestaqueen on AllRecipes.com

Ingredients
1 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup ground flax seed
1/2 cup wheat germ
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup low-fat buttermilk
3/4 cup pumpkin puree
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat an oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Grease 12 muffin cups, or line with paper muffin liners.
2. Combine flour, flax seed, wheat germ, baking soda, baking powder, cocoa powder, cinnamon, and chocolate chips in a large bowl. In another bowl, beat the buttermilk, pumpkin puree, brown sugar, egg, and vanilla until smooth. Gently stir the wet ingredients into the dry, mixing just until combined. Spoon equal amounts of batter into muffin cups.
3. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean, about 20 to 30 minutes.

Link Parties:
Townsend House
Weekend Potluck on 4 Little Fergusons
A Peek Into My Paradise

Pork Chops Baked with Applesauce

This was another recipe I found on the AllRecipes Australia/New Zealand website and thought we'd give a try! We usually have a few packages of pork chops in our freezer from our meat CSA and I like to find new ways to cook them for my boys. I think pork and anything apple flavored goes together marvelously, so this looked like a great one to try out! I found this dish to be nicely flavored, very mild, but nice. I think it could have used a little bit of a stronger flavor and might suggest added a diced apple to the pan while baking to help infuse more of that flavor into the meat. I also found our pork chops were fairly dry unfortunately. I think the cooking time was probably a little bit too long, and would suggest watching them and trying to pull them out when the internal temperature reaches 160 degrees. I found this e-how article on how to keep pork chops from drying out, and will have to keep these tips in mind for future pork chop baking attempts! :)

We served this with steamed vegetables, pasta salad, and some Texas toast for a tasty, and filling dinner. My 14 year old fixed this one pretty much completely by himself. He is getting to be a very handy helper in the kitchen and really enjoys getting to try out all these new recipes. He is going to be one well-prepared bachelor. No ramen noodles and pop tarts for him (or a mom can hope)! :)

Pork Chops Baked with Applesauce from SHMOOPSY AllRecipes AU

Ingredients

1 cup (scant) unsweetened applesauce

1 cup chicken broth

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1 teaspoon chili powder (or to taste)

1 teaspoon minced garlic

1 large bay leaf

4 pork chops

salt and pepper, to taste

1 teaspoon olive oil

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Mix applesauce, chicken broth, cinnamon, nutmeg, chili powder, garlic and bay leaf in large bowl and set aside. Season the chops with salt and pepper.
3. Heat oil over medium heat in a large frying pan and sear the chops on both sides. When chops are browned, lay them in a casserole or baking dish. Pour the apple sauce mixture over them, cover with foil and cook in preheated oven for 30-45 minutes or until internal temperature reaches 160 degrees.

Sweet Restaurant-Style Coleslaw

This is a terrific coleslaw recipe we've been using for a couple years now. I don't make it often (my son is not a fan!) but I really enjoy it with summery BBQ type meals. The other day we had shredded BBQ chicken sandwiches for dinner, and I thought coleslaw and some baked beans would be great accompaniments!

The sauce is a little on the runny side, so just be aware when you're serving you'll definitely want a slotted spoon - or you can just add more cabbage mixture to the sauce; it goes a long way! This has a nice, creamy texture, with a light sweetness. You can add a couple tablespoons of finely diced onion if you'd like, but I'm not a raw onion fan so I don't add any to ours. If you're not sure how sweet you want the recipe, you can always start with 1/4 cup sugar, taste, and adjust it until it is at the right sweetness-level for you.

Sweet Restaurant-Style Coleslaw by Sandi Johnson on AllRecipes.com

Ingredients

1 (16 ounce) bag coleslaw mix                         

2/3 cup creamy salad dressing (I used regular mayonnaise)                                
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/2 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon poppy seeds
                           

Directions

Step-by-step View

Directions 

1. In a large Tupperware, whisk together the salad dressing, vegetable oil, sugar, vinegar, salt, and poppy seeds.
2. Add in the bag of coleslaw mix and stir gently to combine. Put a lid on it and shake well to ensure even distribution of sauce. Place in the refrigerator and chill for at least 2 hours before serving.

Mustard Chicken Pasta Bake - AllRecipes AU!

This is a recipe brought to you from the AllRecipes Australia/New Zealand website! I had a great time browsing through the many possibilities from the AR AU site and trying to find something that my family would enjoy, and that I had ingredients available from! I noticed a few "themes" while I was browsing. Tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, and baked beans. :) We settled on Mustard Chicken Pasta Bake to test out in our kitchen and were pretty happy with the results. This made a very large pan of pasta and chicken, enough for our family of 3 to eat on for at least 3 meals!

It is important to make sure your chicken is pounded somewhat thin, or slice in half, to ensure that when you're frying it you're able to cook it all the way (or almost completely all the way) through without burning the crumb coating. I had issues with my thicker pieces of chicken still being pink in the middle even after their time in the frying pan, and the oven.

I made a few tweaks (such as sautéing the onions for a few minutes before adding in the other sauce ingredients) and those are reflected below. I thought this was a great dish for "the guys" - lots of meat, pasta, and BBQ-ey sauce to go around! If you like BBQ flavor and saucy pasta and chicken dishes, you will probably like this one too! We used Dijon mustard which gave the sauce a tang - if you prefer sweeter, try honey mustard! I really liked the texture of the chicken in this dish, the coating and frying process made it tender and juicy.

We served this with some steamed veggies on the side.

Mustard Chicken Pasta Bake adapted from Anthony D'Onofrio on AllRecipes AU

Ingredients

1 13-oz box penne pasta

2 eggs

1/2 cup milk

1 pinch salt and pepper, to taste

1 1/2 lbs skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, pounded thin or sliced in half

1 cup breadcrumbs

1/2 cup olive oil

2 tablespoons butter

4-5 large/thick slices bacon

2 med/lg tomatoes, diced

1  med onion, diced

1 12-oz bottle honey barbecue sauce

3 TBS Dijon mustard

1 1/2 cups grated cheddar cheese

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Bring a large saucepan of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente; drain. Pour into a deep 9x13 baking dish.
3. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl whisk together the eggs and milk. Season with salt and pepper.
4. Dip the chicken breasts in the egg mixture then roll in breadcrumbs to coat.
5. Heat the olive oil and butter in a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Fry chicken breasts until the juices run clear and they are well browned on both sides (about 5-10 minutes per side). Be sure to cook them well, but be careful not to burn the breading. Remove to paper towels to drain. Drain all but about 1 TBS of excess oil from frying pan.
6. While the chicken is cooking, place bacon in another large deep frying pan. Cook over medium-high heat until crisp. Remove bacon from frying pan, pat to remove excess grease, then crumble and set aside.
7. Return the frying pan that had the chicken in it to medium heat. Add the onion and sauté for 5-10 minutes, or until beginning to soften and get translucent. Add tomato and cooked bacon, then cook for about 5 minutes or until onion is completely tender. 
8. Pour in the barbecue sauce and mustard. Simmer for 5 minutes. Pour the sauce over the pasta in the dish then place the chicken on the top and cover with grated cheese.
9. Cover with foil and bake for 25 minutes in the preheated oven. Remove foil, return to oven until cheese is completely melted, chicken is no longer pink in the middle, and dish is heated through.

Meal Planning week of 5/20/13

It's an AllRecipes Australia kind of week! One of our challenges as part of the AllRecipes AllStar program this month is to make and photograph recipes from the http://allrecipes.com.au/ site. So, I took some time and browsed several categories and numerous recipes, and this is what we've come up with for this week!

MONDAY
Dinner: Mustard Chicken Pasta Bake with fresh green beans

TUESDAY
Dinner: Pork Chops baked with Applesauce and steamed veggies

WEDNESDAY
Dinner: Shredded BBQ Chicken Sandwiches, Coleslaw, and baked beans

THURSDAY
Dinner: Parmesan Chicken in Cream Sauce with Caesar Salad and garlic bread

FRIDAY
Dinner: Macaroni and Beef with garden salad

Mini Barbecue Cheddar Meatloaves

This was one I saw on Pinterest and quickly added to our menu plan. We all love meatloaf, and add in with some caramelized onions, cheddar cheese, and a BBQ sauce glaze? Yum!! These didn't disappoint. Dinner was absolutely delicious and went perfectly with some super creamy mashed potatoes (well whipped with some cream cheese, butter, milk, seasoned salt, and pepper) and fresh steamed buttery green beans. Delicious! This perfect mini meatloaf recipe comes from Iowa Girl Eats and I know it will be making its way back onto our menu again. I love that they're individually sized for serving up, and it bakes up nice and quick too - great for a weeknight meal! You could easily prep these ahead of time, refrigerate, and just pull them out and pop them in the oven for a homemade meal on a busy night.

The original recipe suggests panko bread crumbs, but since I didn't have any we used regular seasoned ones and it worked great in this recipe as well.

 

 

Mini Barbecue Cheddar Meatloaves slightly adapted from Iowa Girl Eats

Ingredients

1 large onion, sliced into thin strips
1 TBS butter
dash of salt
1 lb lean ground beef
1 egg, whisked
1 TBS Worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup + 2 TBS barbecue sauce, divided
1/4 cup bread crumbs
dash of pepper
2-oz cheddar cheese

Directions

1. Melt butter in a large non-stick skillet over medium heat, then add onion slices and a dash of salt. Cook, stirring frequently, until onions are golden brown and caramelized, about 20 minutes. If onions are burning or cooking too quickly, reduce heat. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly while you prepare the meat mixture.
2. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. In a large bowl combine ground beef, whisked egg, Worcestershire sauce, 2 TBS barbecue sauce, bread crumbs, dash of pepper, cheddar cheese, and caramelized onions, then mix until just combined. Divide mixture into 4-5 equal-sized portions then form into small loaves on a foil-lined, non-stick-sprayed baking sheet. Evenly distribute the remaining 1/4 cup barbecue sauce over the meatloaves and bake for 25-30 minutes, or until no longer pink in the center.

Brown Sugar and Balsamic Glazed Pork Roast

This is a terrific pork roast recipe that we all really enjoyed! We served this up with some pasta salad and steamed buttery fresh green beans for a tasty and satisfying dinner. The original recipe calls for a pork loin, but I used a ham pork roast that I had from my last CSA pick-up. This sauce will work great for pretty much any cut of pork.

This couldn't be any easier - throw it in the crockpot with some seasoning and water, then whip up the glaze at the end and voila; dinner is served!

 

Brown Sugar and Balsamic Glazed Pork Roast from C and C Marriage Factory

Ingredients

2-lb boneless pork roast
1 teaspoon ground sage
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 clove garlic, crushed
1/2 cup water

Glaze

1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup water
2 tablespoons soy sauce

Directions

1. Combine sage, salt, pepper and garlic. Rub over roast.
2. Place in slow cooker with 1/2 cup water.
3. Cook on low for 6-8 hours.
4. About 1 hour before roast is done, combine ingredients for glaze in small sauce pan. Heat and stir until mixture thickens.
5. Brush roast with glaze 2 or 3 times during the last hour of cooking. Serve with remaining glaze on the side, or drizzled over the meat.