Pretty darn good pork and sauerkraut

Did you know that Giant Eagle sends coupons in the mail specific to what you?  I didn't know, until about a month ago when we got some coupons for $1 off each for bananas, Kraft grated parmesan cheese, pork, strawberries, and a few other things I can't remember.  After tearing apart the coupons and putting them in my purse I ended up carrying them around for around for almost a month.  During what was supposed to be a quick in-and-out grocery trip, I remembered them, (and remembered that we needed milk) so my little shopping basket became quite heavy.  All this to say, I bought a pork roast and was looking for a good pork roast recipe.  I found this one and am glad I did!  Nick said, "Add this to the 'make before not too long' list" so it must be good!

I had a small roast and squeezed it into a pretty small covered dish, covered it with the veggies and spices, and then squeezed the rest of my veggies into another small covered dish.  As a result of my squishing everything into small dishes there was a ton of liquid in both dishes.  The pork was more or less boiled in the juices from the sauerkraut and diced tomatoes.  This was probably not how it was intended to be, but it worked for us!  Also, when I made it I had a small roas, so I halved the sauerkraut, tomatoes, etc.  Here's the recipe:

Pretty darn good pork and sauerkraut
• 41 oz sauerkraut
• 1 - 4 lb. boneless pork loin roast
• 1 (14.5 oz.) can diced tomatoes, undrained
• 3 Celery ribs, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 2 medium carrots, cut in half widthwise and quartered (I substituted with a handful+ of baby
• 1 medium onion, quartered
• 3 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1/4 cup minced fresh parsley
• 4 bay leaves
• 1/2 tsp. dried oregano
• 1/4 tsp. pepper

1.  Preheat oven to 325°.  Place half of the sauerkraut in a large roasting pan.  Place pork roast over sauerkraut; top with remaining sauerkraut.  Spoon tomatoes over top.  Arrange the celery, carrots, and onion around the roast.  Sprinkle brown sugar overtop.  Add parsley, bay leaves, oregano, and pepper.

2.  Cover and bake for 3 to 3 1/2 hours or until a meat thermometer reads 160°F, basting occasionally with pan juices.  Discard bay leaves.  Let stand for 15 minutes before slicing.



Source: allrecipes.com Sauerkraut Pork Supper

Grilled Pineapple Pork Chops

I highly recommend these.  Great for a warm night to grill and eat outside!

We had them a few days before it was warm enough... but grilling makes me want to eat outside!

The marinade for these made them really good.  They don't take that long to make (besides marinating time)... and it seems like way less to me time because I don't grill.  Nick grills for us.  

Another plus to grilling... easy clean-up!  Yay!  The recipe I used actually wanted them to be pan-fried... but grilled seems ten times better to me.  

To make these really yummy pineapple slices and pork chops, start by cutting your pineapple and some green onions and using a food processor to mix with some spices for the marinade.  They marinate for 1-4 hours, and then are ready to be grilled.  Top with the extra marinade.

Ingredients:

• 4 Pork chops

• 6 1/2-inch thick slices of pineapple  (2 cut into chunks for marinade)

• 1 bunch of scallions, sliced cross-wise into 1-inch pieces

• 1 tsp. dried thyme

• 1 Tbsp. minced garlic

• 3/4 tsp. ground allspice

Directions:

Slice 6 slices of pineapple.  Cut 2 of your slices into small chunks.  Slice scallions and place in a food processor with pineapple chunks.  Add thyme, garlic, and allspice.  Pulse until coarsely chopped.  

In a 9x13 inch pan place pineapple slices and pork chops.  Top with marinade and turn to coat.  Refrigerate for 1-4 hours.  Also refrigerate extra marinade to use as a topping with cooked pork chops.

Brush off the excess marinade before grilling.  Nick's grilling instructions:  Grill pork 7-10 minutes per side on medium heat (as hot as possible without searing).  If necessary, cut one open to check if the meat has cooked through.  Grill pineapple on top rack or med-low heat for 1/2 time of the pork chops.

Source: Everyday Food (Martha Stewart) March 2011

Oven baked BBQ Pork Ribs

Well... I forgot to take a nice picture of the ribs.  So we have this half eaten picture from the first day.  I meant to set them up nice when we finished our leftovers... oh well.  You get the idea.

Giant Eagle has buy one get one pork sometimes... this week - I think it's this week still going on until Thursday - they had boneless pork ribs buy one get one and they had boneless pork chops buy one get one.  So pork chop recipes to come maybe later this week.  The ribs were Friday.

Recently I have gone from using allrecipes.com to using the foodnetwork.com.  I'm not sure if this was a good switch or not.  I tried a Barbeque Pork Spare Ribs recipe from there and was not a huge fan.  Actually, the recipe had two mini-recipes, and I only followed one of them.  I made the "rub" and used KC Masterpiece for the BBQ sauce.  I figured using one or the other was good enough.  Anyway, the "rub" was a mix of a bunch of spices, as pictured below...

I just thought it was crazy how many things were in this, and thought a picture was necessary.  10 things to mix together just to rub on the ribs, not even including the sauce.  I halved everything and still had way too much.  Used even less than half of the peppers to make sure it wouldn't be too spicy.  It was still a little too spicy for me.

Dry Rub for BBQ Pork Spare ribs:
•1 Tbsp. salt
•2 tsp. black pepper
•1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper
•2 Tbsp. brown sugar
•1 1/2 tsp. ground cumin
•1 tsp. ground allspice
•1 Tbsp. chili powder
•1 1/2 Tbsp. paprika
•1 tsp. garlic powder
•1/2 tsp. dry mustard

I preheated the oven to 325°.  Then I mixed the ingredients for the rub in a bowl and lined a pan with foil.  I rubbed each rib with this and then put them very close in the foil lining.  Before putting them in the oven I got another piece of foil and put it on top and sealed it around the edges.  I started cooking them for about 10 minutes, then took them out to brush with sauce for the first time.  I brushed just enough to cover them completely with a very thin layer.  I let them cook like this for an hour, then turned the temp. down to 300°, brushed with sauce again, recovered and cooked for another hour and twenty minutes.

Verdict:
Nick liked them.  He said he would've said to save the recipe, except he knew I didn't like them.
I wasn't such a fan.  The rub was too much for me.  Next time (this was BOGO, remember!) if I used the same rub I would not put as much on.  Those ribs up there in that picture are pretty covered.  The sauce was good with some of the rub in it, but there was too much cooked onto the ribs.  OR - simpler is better.  I think I'd rather just find a new rub with fewer ingredients that might be better.  This post will have to have a sequel.