Grilled Pork Tacos with Pineapple Salsa

Grilled Pork Tacos with Pineapple Salsa

from Real Mom Kitchen

• 1/4 cup lime juice
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper
• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
• 2 cups fresh pineapple, diced
• 2 Roma tomatoes, seeded and chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and finely diced
• 1-1/4 pounds boneless pork loin chops, sliced 1 inch thick
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 10 white corn tortillas

1. In a small bowl, whisk together lime juice, sugar, salt and the pepper. Slowly whisk in olive oil until blended making a dressing. Stir in cilantro.

2. In medium bowl, combine pineapple, tomatoes, garlic and jalapeno. Stir in 2 tablespoons of the dressing.

3. Combine remaining dressing with the pork in a resealable plastic bag. Marinate in refrigerator about 30 minutes, turn over after 15 minutes to get both sides of the chops in the marinade. Grill  pork about 6 minutes on each side or until desired doneness. Slice into thin strips, and sprinkle with 1/4 teaspoon salt.

4. Warm tortillas. To serve, fill a warm tortilla with a few pork strips and some salsa, and fold up.  Makes 5 servings (2 tacos each) 

Note from Kimberly: I did this recipe for the first time as stated here, except for we don't have a grill so I broiled the pork in the oven. In the future, I will make the following adjustments based on my families preferences...

flour tortillas instead of corn
add sour cream
add onion  to the salsa

~Kimberly Pueblo

Rigatoni

1 pkg rigatoni noodles
1 can italian stewed tomatoes
1 lb ground sausage
1 can tomato sauce (optional)

Cook noodles as instructed (usually about 14 minutes). Brown sausage, add tomato sauce and stewed tomatoes. (I usually use a hand blender to puree the stewed tomatoes first). Put cooked noodles on a platter and top with sauce.

This is one of the easiest recipes and it is both of my kids' favorites.

Gypsy Chicken Stew

Gypsy Chicken Stew

(adapted from the recipe at Allrecipies.com)

Ingredients:

1 pound of boneless, skinless chicken breast

2 1/2 cups dry sherry

1 1/2 cups chicken stock

3 tsp crushed garlic

3 onions, quartered

1 small can diced green chilies

2 14oz cans diced tomatoes

grated cheese

Directions:

1. In a large pot add: chicken stock, onions, garlic, and chicken and 1 1/2 C sherry. Simmer for about 45 minutes.

2. Remove chicken from pot, set aside to cool. Add green chilies and tomatoes to simmering stock.

3. When cool enough to handle, shred or roughly cut chicken and return to pot. Add one last cup of sherry to the pot and simmer for at least another 30 minutes.

Serve with shredded cheese on top, if desired.

I added finely shopped celery with the onions.

The kids preferred it drained from the broth and cut into much smaller pieces.

Quick and yummy oven roasted Panzanella

Panzanella is an Italian salad consisting of huge dried bread croutons and veggies. The idea is to toast your day old bread, (or a baguette you just bought) and use it as a base to feature season ripe produce. What I did was use ho-hum Roma tomatoes which I seasoned liberally with salt, pepper olive oil, and a thinly sliced shallot and roasted them along side one inch diced up pieces of a whole wheat french loaf that was also liberally seasoned. The result, FANASTICO!! It makes a super hearty side dish, and would obviously take the place of needing a bread with your meal. ENJOY!

Pre-heat your oven to a whopping 425, the idea is to toast your bread and caramelize the tomatoes and shallots.
1 loaf of french bread, I prefer whole wheat for this.
1 large shallot
6-8 Roma tomatoes, or other tomatoes as you prefer, even cherry
2 & 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoons of garlic powder
Salt and pepper
1/4 cup of finely chopped fresh parsley

Dice your tomatoes into fairly large pieces, approx 1 inch pieces, they should be roughly the same size as the bread cubes. Drizzle with 2 tablespoons olive oil and season with salt and pepper to taste. Next, thinly slice the shallot into rounds and toss with the oiled and seasoned tomatoes. Set aside in a bowl while the bread is being prepared.

Cube up the loaf into 1 inch pieces and place into a large bowl and toss with the remaining 4 tablespoons of olive oil. Add the garlic powder and the salt and pepper to taste and lightly toss all the ingredients in the bowl together to evenly distribute the the seasonings. At this point you can taste one of the bread cubes and decide if you need to add more salt and pepper.

Place the bread cubes onto a large sheet tray first then add the tomatoes, shallot mixture onto the sheet tray. Pop the tray into the oven and in about 5 minutes check the progress. You are looking for a toasted effect on the bread (color means flavor, yum) and for the tomatoes and shallots to be just caramelized. This will all happen quickly in a matter of no more than 15 minutes if the oven was pre-heated.

Pull out the tray and dump the salad into a large bowl and toss with the chopped parsley and last, enjoy!

Macroni Tuna Salad

This is a good Summer dinner. I cook for a large family and always try to have left overs so the amount this makes might be a little big for some. In addition, the amounts for ingredients is an estimate since I usually just add what I feel like. Make adjustments according to your family's likes.

4 medium tomatoes diced
1 small red onion chopped
1 cup Cheddar Cheese cubed
1 cup Monterey Jack Cheese cubed
4 slices of Ham lunch meat cubed
(all of the above ingredients are done in small pieces)
3 small cans of tuna
1 can of peas
(I usually drain these over the cooked noodles)
6 to 8 cups macaroni noodles
mayonnaise

1) Cook macaroni noodles while chopping other ingredients.

2) Put tomatoes, onion, cheeses, ham, tuna, and peas in large bowl. Add a large spoonful of mayonnaise and mix thoroughly to moisten mixture.

3) Drain and cool noodles in cold water. Once noodles are cool add to the other ingredients. Add more mayonnaise if needed to keep salad moist.

We have had grilled cheese sandwiches with this meal. I enjoy having this for lunch on the following day.

Favorite Summer Breakfast

In a bowl: scramble a few eggs with fresh ground pepper, onion powder, and freshly cut lemon chives from the garden.

Cook on the stove (with BUTTER of course).

Add a diced, fresh garden tomato to the top.

Yummmmm.

Easy Manicotti

1 pkg manicotti noodles cooked as instructed on pkg
1 lb ground sausage cooked and drained
1 cup grated cheese
1 can italian stewed tomatoes (we use a hand blender to mush ours)
16 oz cottage cheese

Mix sausage, cheese, tomatoes and cottage cheese. Fill each manicotti noodle with mixture and place in baking dish. Warm in microwave for 7 minutes or cook at 350 for 25-30 minutes. I try to do it in the oven, I think it is a little better, but if I am in a hurry microwave works too.

You can use the same recipe for lasagna, just use lasagna noodles instead of manicotti and layer it with the sauce in a baking dish and top with cheese.