Recipes for even the geekiest.

[moyer777]

I figured even us geeks enjoy good food!

Let's post some recipes.  You don't have to be elaborate with pictures and stuff, but it would be really fun to get some new ideas for desserts, main dishes, salads and so on.  Who knows?  It may just spark some geeky food choices that will rock the world!

So, post away.  Maybe start with a holiday recipe that you and your family enjoy?

Mmm. Mmmmm!

Alright, this is a very picture intensive entry, because today I'm going to demonstrate how to cook stuffed pineapple pork chops. YUM!

Catherine took the photos, so you should let her know you liked them. I only took a few.
Here is what you will need.



How ever many boneless thick pork chops you want to stuff.
celery
sweet onion
stuffing mix
mushrooms
can of chicken broth
can of pinapple (chunk or slices) fresh pineapple if you can afford it.
Seasoning salt
Montreal Steak Seasoning
a sharp knife
a sauce pan
a baking dish


Ok, to start with you want to pick some pretty thick boneless pork chops.  I go to a local butcher for mine.  They aren' t that expensive, but you want to make sure they are thick enough to stuff.  I reccomend around one and half to two inches thick.  You  may want to go leaner than the ones you see here, the fat does make the stuffing taste better, but if you are watching calories, you probably could go much leaner.



Make sure they are getting close to room temperature before you go cutting into them.  That comes later.

On a cutting board take your onion, celelry and mushrooms and dice them into the desired chunks.  I would add some water chestnuts too, but I didn't have any.  It makes the stuffing warmer when you are eating and adds a slight crunchy texture to it.





Now take your can or box of chicken broth and empty that and the pineapple juice out of the pineapple can into a sauce pan.  add your veggies and put on the stove.  Bring to a boil until the veggies are tender- not mushy.









After the veggies and broth are ready, pour them over your bread from the stuffing mix.  Then stir in until the juice is all soaked into the bread.













At this point you want to dice up your pineapple and add it to the stuffing mix.







Now you will want to prepare the chops to be stuffed.  With a sharp knife take the chop and set it sideways (fat side up) on your cutting board.  Then slice down through the middle like this:  Don't cut all the way through as you want the chop to remain together at the seam.  Like a hot dog bun.











Now season your chop on the inside and outside.  I suggest Montreal Steak Seasoning and Johnies Seasoning salt.  Here is what it should turn out to look like before you stuff it.









Now take a tablespoon and your stuffing mix and put about 5 to 6 spoonfulls into the middle of the chop and then fold the top over.  Don't squish it together to tightly.







After you have stuffed your chops with desired amount you will want to set your oven for 375 degrees, if you are cooking in a convection oven, 400 if you are not.





Now set your chops on a broiler pan or into a baking dish and put them in the oven when it's ready to go. 







40 to 55 minutes will do the trick.  Watch them after about 35 minutes and don't let them dry out by cooking too long.  If you want at this point to make a little gravy or pineapple sauce to drizzle over the top when you are done, you could.  But for the sake of time today, I am using some gravy I made yesterday.



Set your timer and let those babies bake.





after about 45 minutes you should have something that looks like this.







Take a couple of pineapple rings and plate them with the chop, drizzle some sauce or gravy over the top and serve with some steamed veggies and you are ready to eat a fabulous Stuffed pork chop meal.





These are pretty yummy, and fairly easy to make.  The butcher at Michael's meats suggested using pineapple and so I just gave it a shot.  WOW, nice combination with the sweetness of the pineapple and the savory flavor of the pork.  They would make a nice meal to serve to friends or family.  Enjoy!

Feel free to ask any questions you  might have.  I would love to answer them.  Dig in!

[sheldor]

Alright, this is a very picture intensive entry, because today I'm going to demonstrate how to cook stuffed pineapple pork chops. YUM!....

Ah...you have skilled hand commander !!  :D

Maybe we should add a food section to the forum ?

[billybob476]

Yum! That looks great. All I had for dinner was taco salad (made with ground turkey)

[Jen]

BAM!!!!!

:D

Looks great! Nice photos too. It's hard to take pictures of food...it doesn't always turn out looking as appetizing as it does in real life.

[moyer777]

This tasted better than it looked. Yum! I'm getting good reviews over at my blog.I hope people try out the recipe.  I'm posting a baked garlic chicken tonight!  :)

http://moyer777.wordpress.com

[ElfManDan]

This tasted better than it looked. Yum! I'm getting good reviews over at my blog.I hope people try out the recipe.  I'm posting a baked garlic chicken tonight!  :)

http://moyer777.wordpress.com

Oh, I don't know, it really looks pretty tasty, especially to the busy college student surviving on can goods, mac -n- cheese, and tv dinners.
I'm really craving something meaty right now.

[KC]

This tasted better than it looked. Yum! I'm getting good reviews over at my blog.I hope people try out the recipe.  I'm posting a baked garlic chicken tonight!  :)

http://moyer777.wordpress.com

Oh, I don't know, it really looks pretty tasty, especially to the busy college student surviving on can goods, mac -n- cheese, and tv dinners.
I'm really craving something meaty right now.

You too, huh Sheppard?  I feel ya.  *long distance high five*

The meal looks absolutely awesome, Rick.  The good thing about winter is that my cooking interests always increase, so I'm definitely gonna have to give this recipe a try.

[Meds]

Going to our butchers on saturday to order some fine meats and it looks like pork has just gone on the menu. Looking good Rick.

[moyer777]

I just did a nice little garlic baked chicken recipe on my blog.  Check out the pictures and recipe.  Easy Easy Easy!  And very yummy. 

http://moyer777.wordpress.com/2008/11/12/garlic-baked-chicken-and-what-we-learned-today/

[billybob476]

Give a man a fish, he eats for a day. Teach a man to make Stuffed Pork Chops...

[moyer777]

With Thanksgving coming up, I thought I would post a fun recipe.  Baked Turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, and brussel sprouts!

Ok, as promised, Turkey was on sale for 29 cents a pound at Safeway, so for eight bucks I got a great deal.   I want to show you a sure fire way to cook a Turkey that will dazzle your family and friends.  All that, and how to make way cool gravy.  Are you ready?

mmm mmm.

The Menu:  Baked Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy and brussell sprouts.

What you will need:

One Turkey 15-25 pounds
Stove Top or equivalent stufffing
One package of onion soup mix
Two Stalks of Celery
One large Sweet Onion
Potatoes for mashing.
Seasoning Salt
Pepper
Mushrooms
Chicken broth
Brussell Sprouts
1/2 cube of margerine or butter
1/2 cup of flower

Baking pan for Turkey
Casserole dish for stuffing
Steamer for the Brussell Sprouts
Deep pan for gravy
Wire whisk



Ok, let's start by thawing out the Turkey.  Follow the direction on the wrapper to unthaw your bird.  When it's all thawed, remove the neck, and the giblets and place in a roasting Rack.



The next step is to cut up your celery in chunks, and your onion in quarters.  Stuff the celery and onions into the cavity of the Turkey, you can add garlic too if you want.



If you have any left over you can put them in the bottom of the pan.  Now you are going to want to season your Turkey.  I use Montreal steak seasoning and Johnies Seasoning salt.  Salt the top and sides liberally.



It should turn out looking like this before you bake it.



Now for the secret ingredient.  Onion soup mix.  Sprinkle one package in the cavity and over the top of the bird.





Now, add water to the bottom of your pan (four or five cups), hopefully your Turkey is up above the water on a roasting rack. This will help it be better sealed and have crispy outside.



put some foil on top of the bird for the first hour or so of baking.  Then place in the oven at 350 degrees in convection oven, 375 for non convection oven.



Halfway through the process, check the water level, make sure it still has at least a half inch of water for the drippings to mix into.  We will use those for gravy later.   Don't let it evaporate all the way out or it will burn, and the gravy won't taste good.  So keep and eye on it.  For this bird, he was nineteen pounds and we cooked it three hours.  So an hour and a half into it we looked like this:



At this point I removed the foil from the top and baked it another hour.  I checked it every 15 minutes or so.  Put your thermometer into the thigh or breast and look at the reading.  It's done if it hits 160.



The finished product should look something like this:



A nice little close up





We will talk about carving in a moment, but right now, we want to let the Turkey stand out of the oven with the foil resting on the top.  Let it sit for about 25 minutes to rest.  This allows the juices to cook the turkey all the way and the meat stays moist.



About an hour before the Turkey is estimated to be ready to carve you can dice up some onion and celelery and add it to your stove top stuffing along with some mushrooms.  Add some chicken broth and half a cube of butter or margarine.  Stir the liquid in and get ready to put it in the oven for about 45 minutes.



Trust me it looks better when the liquid is added.  :)

Now when carving the Turkey I was taught an old trick.  Here is how it works.

I usually start by removing the wings and then I use the knife by the top of the breast bone and cut the entire breast off in one chunk.  Like this:



If it is done just right, it will almost fall off.





Flip it over cut side down, and then cut along the grain of the meat into slices.  Slide your knife underneath the cut breast and simply transfer to your platter or plate.





Continue to cut the rest of the meat off of the bone and put on a platter.  I usually arrange it in dark and white meat.  Sometimes I even put the whole turkey leg or wings on the platter too.  Some people like them.  My fave is the turkey wing.  YUM!

Now that your stuffing is ready and your meat is carved it's time to put some foil over the meat and put it back in the oven on very low heat while you make your gravy.

Gravy isn't as hard as it seems.  The trick is to have a good wire wisk and to not to let it scorch or burn on the bottom.  While your turkey has been cooking it has dropped a lot of it's juices into the bottom of the pan with the water and onion soup mix that you have sprinkled over it.  Take that juice and put it into a deeper pan.





Then if you have cooked potatoes for mashed potatoes, don't drain the water off in the sink, use it in your gravy!  Like this:





Stir the mixture and put your burner on medium high heat.  Bring the mixture to a boil and add 1/2 cup of flour mixed with water.  (If it's mixed with water then it doesn't cause lumps in your gravy.)



Once the mixture is boiling, whisk in the flour and water.  Let it boil for about a minute and check for the desired thikness.  If it's too thick, then add more water, if it's too thin, then add more flour and a little bit of water.



Now continue to whisk it so that it doesn't scorch.  After it thickens to the desired consistency, then take off the burner and season to taste with salt and pepper and seasoning salt.  Pout into a gravy boat or container and get ready to serve it with your turkey, stuffing and mashed potatoes.



I had some fresh brussell sprouts that I picked up at Safeway, dropped them into the steamer and served them up fresh with dinner.  Very yummy with a little bit of butter and salt.



They turned out nice, and added a nice color to the plate.



Ok, invite some people to the table, bless the food and thank Jesus, and there you go, a pretty much perfect Turkey dinner!  MMM MMM!  The whole meal cost under $20 to make and served 10 people.



Let me know what you think!