Pineapple Mango Salsa Pork

Hello all! I'm Sharon Johnson. Jennie B. is a fabulous friend of mine and asked if I would contribute to this great cooking blog. You can find out WAY more than you probably want to know about me by checking out my blog HERE. Thank you so much for having me!

Now that I am home to actually cook I've been doing a lot of playing around in the kitchen. Sometime this "playing" ends in absolute disaster and we all end up at Wendy's for dinner but typically I am pleasantly surprised with the results of my little concoctions and we all end up well fed and happy. I'm glad Kerry is a sport and eats what is on his plate, regardless of how it looks.

My concoctions start out usually on the internet and with my nose in our cupboards and recipe books. I get a good idea of what we have for ingredients and then search to see what sort of dishes sound good. When reading different recipes I just pull general ideas of what goes well together, how to cook and so forth then I head to the kitchen and don't look back. I hardly ever measure (this applies to cooking NOT baking, baking I measure) and throw in everything "to taste" (there is a lot of double dipping going on when I cook....eash.)

I have found that cooking this way I have learned much faster than when I used to cook straight from a cook book or recipe. I have found out quickly what spices go well together and which ones don't as well as what cooking techniques are really necessary and which ones can be bypassed. For me, I am a visual and "experience" learner, by doing it myself, messing up myself, I learn much quicker than just by reading and doing (unfortunately this learning technique was much of my problem in my teenage years. )Try it out, I dare you. My recipes will make you try as, like I said, I'm not much of a measurer.

Pineapple Mango Pork Salsa

2 Thick Pork Chops

1/4 Pineapple

1 Mango

Brown Sugar

Garlic Salt

Pepper

Sea Salt

Sprinkle pepper and Sea salt on both sides of your Pork Chops. Brown on both sides in a skillet on the stove. After browning (seriously it's like 30secs on each side) I place the entire skillet in the oven at 425 degrees for 15-25 mins. Cooking time totally depends on how thick your Pork is. Because I have a freakish phobia of eating uncooked meat, I always cut open and make sure it is totally done. It always is, but I still check.

While that is cooking I work on my salsa. Coarsely chop your mango and pineapple and throw into a metal bowl (it doesn't have to be metal but for whatever reason I really do find it helps it marinate with the sugar a bit better.) Add a TBL or 2 of brown sugar, a dash of garlic salt, and a little pepper. Season to taste. Mix. Let sit until Pork is done.

Take pork out of oven, place on plates and spoon salsa over pork.

That is it! Easy Peasy. You could throw the salsa in a pan and heat if you would like or even add the salsa to the pork in the oven right at the end of it's baking time but for me, it is just as good cold and then you have one less dish to do.

Let me know if you try this Pork out, and what you did do, what you didn't do and what you thought with the finale. It's a good one, and super hard to screw up, if not impossible.

Creamy Veggie Pasta

A friend that went to an upscale culinary school taught me to make this and it's amazing, and fast.

1 zucchini, 1 yellow squash, and several mushrooms, chopped
1/2 onion, chopped
2-3 Tbls butter
garlic, minced (she used a ton, I used 2 tsp of pre-minced garlic)
1 1/2 c. Spaghetti sauce
1/4 c. heavy cream
Noodles, 1 lb. (or around 4-5 servings)
Salt
Oregano (she used fresh...I used Italian Seasoning)
Parmesan cheese, freshly grated, to taste

Bring water to boil and add pasta. Cook to al-dente.
In large skillet heat butter and saute onion over med. heat. Add garlic and cook another minute. Add chopped vegetables and cook another 5-7 minutes. Stir in seasonings. Add tomato sauce and stir until bubbly then add cream while stirring.
Add drained pasta and top with parmesan cheese.

the yummiest carmel corn ever!

1 square of butter

1 lb. of brown sugar {about 2 1/2 - 2 3/4 cups}

1 cup of karo syrup

1 can of sweetened condensed milk

Several bags of butter popcorn already popped {I usually just pop up 3 bags of microwave popcorn but you can stove pop some too}

Directions:

Bring butter, brown sugar, and karo syrup to a boil, then add sweetened condensed milk. Keeping stirring and cook this mixture to a soft ball stage. Then pour over popped butter popcorn. I just kept adding popcorn until I thought it looked like there was enough.

ENJOY!! :)

Nielsen's Breadmaker Wheat Bread

This is really easy, and REALLY good!

4 1/2 c. hot water
5 1/2 c. whole wheat flour
2 T. Instant yeast
1 c. oil
1 c. sugar
7 1/2 c. white flour
1 T. salt

combine hot water, wheat flour, and yeast in a bosch mixer; knead for 5 min. Cover and let it sit for 15 min. Add oil, sugar and part of white flour. start kneading and add salt and remaining flour. knead on low until blended, then high for 5 min.
Knead on counter top and cut into 1 lb. loaves. Let rise
Bake 350 for anywhere from 20-35 min. (depending on oven and loaf size)
Makes 5 loaves

Easy Sausage Alfredo

1 package jimmy dean italian flavored ground sausage
1 small red pepper chopped
1/2 large onion chopped

cook in large frying pan covered, check and stir often until sausage is cooked through, drain.

1 bottle ragu garlic alfredo sauce
black pepper (optional)

I used this on 1/2 lb. wheat penne pasta, but you could use any kind you want.

7 layer dip! {actually 6} ;)

this is the best 7-layer dip ever! i got the recipe from april, who has perfected it :) there's really only 6 layers and so i count the chips as the 7th ingredient! so this is as easy as it gets! get a 9x13 inch dish and start layering ...

1- 1 {16 oz} can vegetarian refried beans

2- fresh guacamole about {16 oz} you can buy pretty fresh guacamole at the store too!

3- 1 {12 oz} sour cream and mix taco seasoning, to taste

4- 1 {16 oz} salsa ... not too chuncky, again fresh is best!

5- 2 cups shredded cheese, i used the mexican mix but any cheese is good

6- 2 {2.25 oz} cans of sliced olives, drained

7- ... add some tortilla chips!

simple and great!!

Peanut Butter Surprise Cookies :)

i got this recipe off my friend {ashley's} blog a while ago and they are sooooo yummy!!

ingredients:

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup packed light-brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup granulated sugar, for rolling dough
36 mini peanut butter cups, chilled and unwrapped

directions:

preheat oven to 350 degrees. using an electric mixer, cream peanut butter and butter in a mixing bowl until smooth. add brown sugar; beat until combined, scraping down bowl as needed. add eggs and vanilla, and beat until incorporated. in a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. with mixer on low speed, gradually beat in flour mixture in two batches. scoop off dough by the tablespoon; roll into balls. place granulated sugar on a plate; roll balls in sugar, coating completely. place 2 inches apart on a nonstick insulated baking sheet. bake until cookies begin to puff up slightly, about 7 minutes. remove from oven. press one peanut butter cup in center of each cookie. return to oven; continue baking until cookies are golden brown and chocolate has begun to melt, about 6 minutes more. let cool at least 10 minutes on baking sheet before transferring cookies to rack to cool completely. makes around 36 cookies.