chops!

it's a pork chop!
pork!?!?!?! you ask?
i know! but, i was at earth fare and they had these 1.75" cut boneless pork chops on sale... and the wheels in my mind started turning... it had to be!
so i adopted a cute little pork chop!
now... what to do with you...

i haven't eaten meat... correction. i had eaten some chicken last week, and i eat seafood once or twice a week. pork, i've had it, as for red meat -- no dice. i don't eat too much pork or chicken at one time, but i don't mind a little every now and then. it doesn't seem to bother my stomach too much, and i cook it fairly healthy / low fat.

back to task at hand... what to do with this pork chop!
i mixed a quarter cup pineapple juice, three tablespoons sriracha, and three tablespoons apricot preserves. i let my handsome little pork chop bathe in this sweet and spicy mixture all day. i cut the pork chop open, stuffed it with just over an ounce of roasted garlic crusted goat cheese. (it looked like a little mouth! nom nom nom!) i seared it on each side, in a pan over medium heat, then i popped it in a 400* oven for about five minutes on each side.
cute little pork chop, i'm ready to eat you!

pork chop was juicy, and spicy. it had a sweet sauce, and the creamy goat cheese with the kick of roasted garlic was delicious.
that pork chop... best decision made. on saturday.

typical tremendous thursdays!

thursday dinners are always the best!
when i have an audience, i put on my a-game!
woot!
i made a lot of food for dinner this week, and i held it all together with some big flavors. it looked pretty rockin' and it tasted delicious.
here we go...
the shrimp was peeled and deveined. luckily, the deveining was done for me. why? because it's disgusting! i tossed the shrimp in a frying pan on medium / med-low heat and let them get opaque on each side. then, i added my mixture of (surprise, surprise) pineapple juice and spicy garlic texas pete's! yum! i had quite a bit of sauce, so i let the shrimp finish cooking with the sauce, and then i jacked the heat up to high and let that sauce cook down and get nice and thick.
oh, you little neon orange shrimps... how i want to eat you!
i cut up a chicken breast into some super skinny strips. i cooked that over medium heat and added onion powder / garlic / paprika / chipotle rub... anything i pulled out of the spice cabinet, really. made sure my chicken was just cooked through.
smear some fat free refried beans to a la bandarita low carb whole wheat tortilla (they're 1 point!) and added my chicken. they were an unfried, jacked up, taquito! finished that mess off with some mango-pineapple salsa from earlier in the week, and it was outstanding!
i made a plain salad topped with salsa to go with the shrimp, and added some extra beans.

super-fresh, spicy & sweet mexican!
this isn't taco bell, my friends!

tofu revival!

this (mildly) skinny girl can only eat so much tofu glazed in pineapple juice & recaito / sweet chili sauce / tso.
so, today, i picked myself up and said,
"bitch, start cooking better!"
to think, that's all it took to get me motivated!
so, here we have...
tofu, which i've recently starting cubing. yeah, i like to mix it up. i think it's going to make me eat more in a sitting, so i will have to exercise some type of self-control! (faints!)
here we have tofu (cubed) thrown in a scalding hot pot with sesame oil, garlic, and ginger. after the tofu browned on most sides, i threw in about a tablespoon of soy sauce, let it cook up, then it was done.
yum-town!
clearly, i'd get bored with one type of tofu, so, considering my love of pineapple juice... we have... cubed tofu, thrown in a screaming hot pan with a tiny bit of olive oil, browned/blackened on most sides, then an improvisational mix of pineapple juice / garlic hot sauce.
for all you meat-eaters out there, yes! this would taste awesome on chicken, shrimp, wings, etc.

to think, all it took was a little yell-at-yourself to get the food revolution restarted!
awesome!

killer tofu!

i was always under the impression that tofu was for those weird hippies in college.
i can't lie, i'm a huge fan of morning star's array of fake meat. but, tofu?
no thanks, buddy!
then, it happened. i cozied up to tofu.
i had no choice!
brontosaurus diet plainly said that i was allowed one ration of tofu a day.
...to whole foods!
i had enough sense to know that i wanted extra firm tofu. just looking at it reminded me of some delicious miso soup. extra firm it was! that's where the easy part ended. i had this spongy white mass in my kitchen, and nothing to do with it! so, i enlisted the help of brother.
brother, a vegetarian from the time of the brontosaurus, would know what to do! the best piece of advice he gave me, was to 'press' the tofu. he said that making a sandwich out of a cutting board, paper towels, the tofu, more paper towels, another pan, and a set of 5lb dumbbells works just perfectly! pressing the tofu gets most of the excess moisture out of it, allowing it to crisp up better. i feel that it makes the tofu 'denser' if you will, giving it a more 'meaty' quality.
(my press is fashioned out of a cutting board, paper towels, tofu, paper towels, baking pan, stacked stone-wear, and my fruit tray.)
typically, i'll cut my tofu into thick sticks, and marinate them in some delicious concoction i create. i'll blindly pull out random jars & bottles of condiments from our refrigerator door. my most favorite: pineapple juice and recaito. delish! other tasty options: spicy bbq sauce, or thai sweet chili sauce. i'll marinate for a day, press for at least an hour (reserving the marinade), throw the pressed tofu in a pan, let it brown up on all sides, then dump in the marinade.
yum!
sticky, crispy, tofu!

i promise, you'll be a believer.