Pork Chops with Garlic and Wine

I had bought two packages of pork chops from the grocery store, since they were guy one get one free.  However, since they were on "Manager's Special", I had to eat them right away.  I had used one package to make some baked pork chops and wanted to make a different dish.

I found a recipe for Pork Chops with Garlic and Wine on the Pioneer Woman's website, and decided to give that a try.  Although I like some garlic, I don't like a lot of garlic, and I doubt I would like a whole clove of garlic.  As a result, instead of using whole garlic cloves, I minced a garlic clove and used that instead of the 6 whole garlic cloves called for in this recipe.

I also didn't have any red wine and didn't want to buy red wine just for this recipe, so I used white wine.  The recipe did say that I could use white wine instead for a lighter sauce.

The pork chops smelled pretty good when I first pan fried them with seasoning, as the recipe specified.  However by the end, it was a little dry, and the "sauce" was reduced to be way less than I would have expected.  I only had about a tablespoon of "sauce".  Just enough to cover one side of the pork chops.  In the pictures associated with the recipe, there is much more sauce.  I'm not sure what I did wrong...

I did not enjoy this recipe, and would not make it again.  If I buy pork chops again, I will definitely look for another recipe to use.

Shepherds pie

Dinner is served!  I'm pretty sure Mike went back for seconds.  This picture looks like a pretty small serving.  What's even more amazing is that even though they finished all 20 or so potato skins which I had made as an appetizer, they still finished about half the Shepherd's Pie for dinner!

This dish is a definite keeper!  It's another recipe from the Comfort Foods Makeover book.  It was pretty good, though it did take a while to make.  This could be because I was trying to make the Loaded Potato Skins at the same time.  If I made the potatoes using the technique specified in the book instead of using the insides of the baked potatoes, perhaps it would have been faster.

Mike did help me make the mashed potatoes since I was running out of time, and was trying to cook the meat mixture while also putting toppings on the Loaded Potato Skins.  He used his KitchenAid mixer to mash the potatoes and mix in the butter.

I didn't have any Worcestershire sauce, so I used soy sauce, as Michele suggested.   I don't think Mike noticed that it had a slightly Asian flare.  I also didn't add the cornstarch at the end, since the sauce already seemed really thick to me.  I think I would probably add it next time, since the meat mixture seemed slightly water (but not overly so) at the end, after I broiled the dish.

The dish called for 93% lean ground beef (which they didn't drain, but that might be because it's so lean).  I didn't have this, so I used ground turkey instead.  I think it tasted fine, but it might have been better with ground beef.  Ground turkey is healthier anyway.

I also used corn in this recipe instead of mushrooms.  Mike deplores mushrooms, and won't touch a dish where mushrooms have been in the same vicinity as the food.  I also had some leftover canned corn from the Minestrone anyway.  I'm not sure how much I used.  I just used all of the corn that I had in the can.

Here is the whole Shepherd's Pie as it came out of the oven.  The recipe said to put the meat mixture in a 10 inch broiler safe skillet.  I didn't really have one, so I put it in a Corningware dish.  The dish is probably about 8 inches by 10 inches or so.  As a result, most of the dish was filled with the meat mixture.  I'm glad the mashed potatoes fit in the dish as well.

New England Clam Chowder

I love New England Clam Chowder.  I tend to forget that there are actually two types.  I love the creamy goodness of the New England Clam Chowder.  It's much better than it's tomato based "cousin".  I'm sure it's not as healthy, but it's worth it for a good cup of clam chowder.

I've wanted to make my own clam chowder for a long time, since I love it so much, and the taste really does vary, depending on where you get the soup.  A while ago, I had tried to make it using the crock pot.  However, the recipe we used called for a specific amount of clams, and we weren't sure if that amount was the "dry weight", or with juice.  We ended up using double the amount of clams because we like clams, and it was supposedly the correct amount.  The soup turned out very clammy, and tasted terrible.

This soup was OK, but was rather bland, even after I added the salt and pepper (to taste) to it.  I bought a big can of clams from Costco (about 51 ounces) and weighed the clams/juice to get the amount specified in there recipe.  It could be that I did not get enough clams or juice, but I don't think that was the issue.

This recipe uses a small amount of bacon to get the "fat content" and smokey flavor without being too unhealthy.  I found the recipe in Comfort Food Makeovers, where the recipes for popular dishes are updated to be healthier than the original versions.  The problem may have been that I used turkey bacon instead of regular bacon.  As a result, the bacon probably didn't impart as much flavor, or have as much fat as the original dish created by the recipe writers.

I also wasn't sure what they meant by "instant potato flakes".  I bought instant mashed potatoes and used those instead.  However, I think I might have used too much instant mashed potatoes.  The potato flakes are supposed to thicken the soup, but it made it too thick.  If I had to make this recipe again, I would put half or even less of the instant mashed potatoes.

My quest for a good clam chowder recipe continues, as I don't think I would make this recipe again.  If I'm going to eat a soup that is rich and on the unhealthy side, it might as well taste good.