Jerk Pineapple Pork Chops

Hi! Long time, no blog- I know. Even my personal blog has fallen to the wayside as school has taken over everything. We've been sustaining ourselves with a lot of Amy's frozen burritos, sandwiches, and bad for us junk food. But you do what you can to get by, I guess, when everyone in a household is juggling multiple jobs and responsibilities. I still, despite my workload, get the urge to cook sometimes and last week I bowed to it's will and decided to try a recipe from the latest Everyday Food. Pre-cut pineapple were on sale, so I thought I'd give the recipe for Jerk Pineapple Pork Chops a shot. This came out pretty good. If anything it made me think about the possibility of marinating meat more often. Being able to prep it and stick it in the fridge for an hour while I did homework is an easy way to have something a little more interesting for dinner. And when you do something very simple like rice or couscous on the side it can definitely be low maintenance.

Jerk Pineapple Pork Chops
Everyday Food; Serves 4


2/3 of a whole (4 pound) pineapple, peeled
1 bunch scallions, sliced crosswise into 1" pieces
1/2 small habanero or 1 large jalapeno, stemmed and seeded
2 teaspoons dried thyme
4 garlic cloves, smashed and peeled
1 1/2 teaspoons ground allspice
4 bone-in pork chops (3/4" thick, appx. 6 oz. each)
coarse salt and ground pepper
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

• Cut four 1/2" thick rounds from pineapple; set aside. Cut remaining pineapple into large chunks, discarding core. In a food processor, combine pineapple chunks, scallions, chile, thyme, garlic, and allspice and pulse until coarsely chopped. Reserve 3/4 cup pineapple marinade and refrigerate.
• Season pork with salt and pepper and place in a 9-by-13-inch glass baking dish along with pineapple rounds. Top pork and pineapple with remaining pineapple marinade and turn pork and pineapple to coat. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerator 1 hour (or up to 4 hours).
• In a large nonstick skillet, heat 1 tablespoon oil over medium-high. Working in tow batches, brush pineapple mixture off pork and cook chops until browned and cooked through, 10 minutes per batch, flipping once. (Reduce heat if pork begins to overbrown.) Add 1 tablespoon oil to skillet. Brush pineapple marinade off pineapple and cook rounds until golden brown in spots, 5 to 7 minutes, flipping once. Serve with pork and reserved pineapple marinade.

My notes: I served this with rice. I didn't have any more marinade on mine, and I enjoyed it. Josh did add more marinade and enjoyed it. So there ya go, either way it's delicious.

The rest of the week

I don't have any big plans for this weekend, as far as baking or cooking go that is. I'm most likely going to Mayfest with Stephanie and her family, and another friend & family. And I think we're hoping to party Cinco De Mayo style afterward. Did somebody say margaritas? Have no fears, I will still do a write-up on my Saturday morning shows though.

Anyway, I decided to just do a bit of a round up post of what else has been going on in my kitchen this week. Now, I know I mentioned that I served the Zucchini Lasagna with a salad, but what I neglected to tell you was that the carrot I used in it came from my father-in-laws garden. Isn't it perty? We've also made a salad with their romaine, and enjoyed many other fruits, er vegetables, of their labor. Hopefully I can get by and take a picture of the garden to share it all with you. They have the biggest rosemary bush! And I also hope to reap the rewards of their hard work more in the future!




Wednesday night dinner was delayed considerably due to inclement weather. There's nothing like a flash flood, to welcome you home, I've always said. Wait, no I haven't ever said that. But living in Texas, sometimes it happens. I guess plenty of places get flash floods, but with the tornado sirens going off once a week for the past month or so it's getting a bit old. The loverly view to the left is the view I was treated to while peering out my front window. Through luck, our apartment is placed just so, as to avoid getting flooded. When I did finally get around to making dinner, I made Kelly's Honey Mustard Chicken along with vegetable brown rice and red grapes. I had to seed the grapes, which was more of a hassle than a difficulty, but I thought it would compliment the chicken nicely, and I was quite right. At least I think I was, ha. Next time I use this marinade I think I'm going to do chicken cutlets, and make yummy sandwiches




And last but not least, Thursday's dinner, Roasted Pork with Black-Eyed Pea Salad. This is a recipe that I'd been meaning to try for quite sometime. But, I'm taking the easy way out on this one. I highly recommend that you click on that lovely little link and get this recipe for yourself. It was really delicious, and really easy. I've made the salad several times before, but this was the first time I'd done the pork tenderloin too. I had some difficulty getting it up to the right temperature, but I think the problem might lie in my thermometer actually. I'm also cheating and using Martha's pic, cause I just couldn't cut my pork that neatly. But really, don't take my not typing up the whole recipe a sign that it isn't delicious. Just take it as a sign that I'm excited because it's Chipotle Friday and the hubster just got home. I gotta get me some chips & guacamole, so I'll check you chicas later. Adios!