Main Courses: meats, dinners, etc.

[lisa]

Give me food!

[Guest]

This is truly one of the best dishes--the different tastes scrumptiously meld in your mouth.

Pork with Apples and Onions
From Cooking Light

This Quintessential New England fall dish is light, due in part to today's learner pork. The apples and onions turn into an almost chunky applesauce.

6 (6-ounce) center-cut pork chops ( 3/4 inch thick)
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
Cooking spray
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 large onions, each cut into 8 wedges
2/3 cup Sauvignon Blanc or other dry white wine
4 Granny Smith apples, peeled and each cut into 6 wedges (about 1 1/2 pounds)
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
Chopped fresh parsley (optional)

Sprinkle both sides of chops with salt and pepper. Place a Dutch oven coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat until hot. Add 3 chops; cook 4 minutes on each side or until lightly browned. Remove chops from pan. Repeat the procedure with remaining chops. Remove chops from pan; set aside.
Heat oil in pan. Add onions, and cook 8 minutes or until golden brown, stirring occasionally. Add the wine, and cook 1 minute. Return chops to pan, nestling them into onion mixture. Reduce heat to medium-low. Cover and cook 15 minutes. Add apples to pan. Cover and cook 25 minutes or until chops are tender. Remove chops from pan; keep warm. Increase heat, and bring apple mixture to a boil, and cook 10 minutes or until liquid almost evaporates. Stir in the lemon juice. Serve chops with apple mixture. Sprinkle with parsley, if desired.

Yield: 6 servings (serving size: 1 pork chop and 3/4 cup apple mixture)

NUTRITION PER SERVING
CALORIES 324 (35% from fat); FAT 12.7g (sat 3.8g, mono 6.2g, poly 1.4g); PROTEIN 31.7g; CARB 20.3g; FIBER 3.8g; CHOL 88mg; IRON 1.7mg; SODIUM 488mg; CALC 32mg

Cooking Light, OCTOBER 1999

[Guest]

Caribbean Pork and Plantain Hash
From Cooking Light

Use semiripe plantains--not green or soft, ripe black ones. The plantains brown better if not stirred too much as they cook. Serve leftovers with poached eggs for breakfast.

For Caribbean pork:
1 tablespoon low-sodium soy sauce
3/4 teaspoon salt, divided
3/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper
1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
1 pound pork tenderloin, trimmed and cut into 1/2-inch pieces

For plantain hash:
1 1/2 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided
1 tablespoon butter
1 1/2 cups coarsely chopped onion
1 cup chopped green bell pepper
2 large yellow plantains, chopped (about 3 cups)
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon habanero hot pepper sauce
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

Combine soy sauce, 1/4 teaspoon salt, thyme, and next 4 ingredients (thyme through pork); toss well to coat. Heat 1 1/2 teaspoons oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add pork mixture; sauté 4 minutes or until done. Remove from pan; keep warm.

Add the remaining 1 tablespoon oil and butter to pan. Add onion, bell pepper, plantains, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and black pepper; cook 6 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in garlic; sauté 2 minutes or until plantains are tender. Drizzle with hot sauce, and stir well. Sprinkle with cilantro.

Yield: 4 servings (serving size: about 1 1/2 cups)

NUTRITION PER SERVING
CALORIES 384(29% from fat); FAT 12.5g(sat 4g,mono 3.8g,poly 3.7g); PROTEIN 26.8g; CHOLESTEROL 81mg; CALCIUM 38mg; SODIUM 674mg; FIBER 4.7g; IRON 2.8mg; CARBOHYDRATE 44.9g

Ann Taylor Pittman
Cooking Light, NOVEMBER 2003

[reborin]

TURKEY MEATBALLS
You need 1.5 to 2 lbs of meat (I use turkey but you can use pork/ beef/ chicken or do half and half) to make enough for 2 meals. I make 1/2 to eat and freeze half in the sauce, so it's another meal ready to go.

meat.
1 lrg egg
1-2 Tbs olive oil
1/2 cup bread crumbs
fresh garlic, minced
onion powder (works better than fresh onion, imo)
approx. 1 tsp pepper
1-2 tsp salt
1 tbs dried oregano
2 tsp dried thyme
2 tbs dreid basil
1 tbs cumin
1 tbs chili powder

Preheat oven to 350
Parchment paper line a baking tray
Toss together in a bowl - mix really well.
Form into small balls, whatever size you like really. I like them about 1" but Beca makes hers smaller. Both are delish!

Bake at 350 for 15-20 min. Turn meatballs. Bake 15-20 min. Turn. Finish bake until they are browned all over and smell delicious

I usually use a big pot of red sauce (sauteed onion/garlic, 28 oz. diced tomato, 28 oz tomato sauce, 14 oz crushed tomato, 1 sm. can tomato paste, 1 cup water, same spices as above in appropriate amounts for size of sauce - you can also throw in some tofu/spinich creamed in the blender), but sometimes I change up w/a pesto or a non-dairy cream sauce. Depends on what we've had for dinner recently, and what else is going on. ENJOY!

[rrastani]

Chicken Tostadas

1.5 lbs Chicken breast, boneless and skinless
1 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp olive oil
4 Tbsp salsa

Preheat oven to 350 F.
Put chicken in a pan: sprinkle with garlic powder, coat with olive oil and salsa, add 1/2 cup water, and cover with a lid or aluminum foil.
Bake for 25 min.
Remove from oven and uncover; with 2 forks, shred chicken; stir chicken and juices together.
Cover and return to oven at 300 F for 10-15 min.
Drain off excess fluid.
Serve chicken on tostada shells or tortilla wraps with lettuce, cheese, and sour cream.

[reborin]