Spring - Page 2 of 4 - The Good Plate

Pork Chops Paprikash

When I was a little girl, my mother had the entire collection of The Woman's Day Encyclopedia of Cooking, and there was a recipe in for Hungarian Porkchops, which I have been making for many years. Today, I decided to change the recipe a bit and came up with Pork Chops Paprikash.

In Glendale, California, which has a large Armenian population, we have Red Pepper Sauce. It's basically paprika peppers, and I use it quite often, in sauces, eggs, and other dishes. There are many brands and you can probably find it in ethnic European stores. I highly recommend it.

Paprikash dishes call for sour cream. I have probably talked about this before, and I will say it again. When you buy sour cream, please only get the kind that has cultured cream. The other stuff has gelatin and other ingredients as fillers, and they just are not real sour cream. The Alta Dena brand has a wonderful saying on the top of the tub, "Those cravings you feel are totally natural". I love that because it's true - there is nothing in that sour cream except cultured cream, the way sour cream should be.

Mise en Place - Sour Cream, Red Pepper Sauce and Beef Base

Lemon Margarita Bavarian Creams

These alcohol-free Lemon Margarita Bavarian Creams are festive and easy to make. You can have them as a dessert for your Mexican-themed dinner. Enjoy!

Fresh Raspberry Blueberry Cream Tart

Fresh Raspberry Blueberry Cream Tart is a lovely, delicious, and easy dessert for those hot summer days when you don't want to turn on your oven.

Balsamic Strawberry and Blueberry Trifle with Lemon Cream for 4th of July

Balsamic vinegar macerated strawberries, blueberries, and lemon cream with pound cake make a lovely trifle for a summer celebration.

Recipes in this Post
Barbecued Asian Pork Chops

A funny story here. My friend Amber and her husband, Stevie went to the local Home Depot some time in 2010, and I was looking at Weber barbecues. The last one I had got toppled by a BVM Sister - the Sister was not hurt, but the Weber was a goner. The Weber at the Home Depot was on sale, and Stevie said I should get it, and I could keep it their house until Spane and I found a place with a yard. Stevie has one of those big drum barbecues, and he barbecues enough for a few days on that grill, so he likes to use mine for smaller meals. I get to "borrow" my barbecue about once a year. We're good friends, and we laugh about this all the time.

So, tonight I decided to do kind of like Stevie does. I cooked a few things on the barbecue so I won't have to cook tomorrow. I grilled a fillet mignon, bake potatoes wrapped in foil, and the Asian pork chops.

Amber came by tonight and shared our dinner. The Asian pork chops were moist, tender and full of flavor. The steaks with their blue cheese were just fine, accompanied by the wonderfully smoky baked potatoes and balsamic grilled vegetables. It was a great dinner to share with a very good friend.

Seafood Stuffed Avocado with Marinated Asparagus

Seafood stuffed avocado is a delight in the spring when perky asparagus comes into play. Here we marinated it to give it extra flavor. Enjoy!

Microwave Mexican Rice with Pork Loin Tacos for Cinco De Mayo

Microwave Mexican Rice

Recipes in this Post

So, a few weeks ago I was at the market and there was a package of Uncle Ben's Taco rice in the Manager's Special section. I thought, hey, why not? It might be good. I prepared it according to package directions on Tuesday. When Spane tasted it, he made a face. I tasted it, and I made a face, too. I even put Tapatio on it, and sour cream, and it still tasted like dirty, old socks. Mind you, I've never tasted dirty, old socks, but I imagine they probably taste like that rice - horrible. Moral of the story, don't by Uncle Ben's flavored rice.

After that debacle, I was determined to make good Mexican rice, but my stove, Bertha, is on the fritz. I had to find another way to make it.

I also had a pork loin roast, and I wanted to marinate it, but, it too, could not be roasted in Bertha. I had to find another way for that as well.

Food Art - Teacher's Garden No Bake Lemon Wafer Cake

Recipes in this Post

Lemon Wafer Cake

The PTA at John Muir Elementary School puts on a staff luncheon every year. Parents are asked to bring in their best dish. Our teachers and staff are very lucky, as a lot of our parents are very good cooks. This year, in fact, the recipes are going to be collected and the PTA is publishing a cookbook. The luncheon was going to take place in the newly planted Teachers' Garden. I decided to make a cake and decorate it as a garden.

The cake looked lovely tilted up at the dessert station. In fact, it looked so lovely, and so real, that no one ate it. Some guests thought it was too pretty to cut, a few thought it was art, and a few didn't think it was really edible. I wound up taking it home and will share it with family and friends.

Barbecued Corned Beef - St. Patrick's Day Dinner

I was so looking forward to having barbecued corned beef and putting my corned beef on the Weber, but I got rained out. It didn't turn out a bad dinner, though. I used the baby Nesco, and that brisket turned out just fine.