Today is my last day off on a long weekend I took.  My mother’s youngest brother and his family came from California to visit.  He and his wife brought along with them their two youngest (both in their upper teens).  It was a lovely weekend full of LOTS OF FOOD.  I’ll get to all the food in a minute.  Let’s talk about today’s lunch above first.

Friday, I enjoyed a potluck lunch at work and my contribution was two rotisserie chickesn from the local supermarket.  I’m always nervous about cooking for other people, so I don’t tend to do that.  The potluck was amazing, but I had a nearly whole rotisserie chicken left.  This is the last of it (nearly).  I think I have enough for some dinner tonight.  Along with it is steamed sweet potatoe slices, roasted broccoli and a honey tangerine.  Some of the rolls leftover from the potluck were left and I toasted those in a pan with a pat of maragarine.

This simple lunch just caps off a long weekend of food, fun, and life…hence the subtitle for this blog!  Let me go over with you what was consumed this weekend.

Friday – Friday morning started off simple with a bit of yogurt and Grape Nuts.  Let me recommend that you do not try this combination.  Though if it is already working for you, YAY!  For me, this didn’t work out so well.  Apparently, I’m not a huge fan of Grape Nuts (resulting heartburn); however, I didn’t know this beforehand.  It was a new to me type of food.  We’ll put that one in the “didn’t work out” column.  Lunch was had at work and was potluck in style.  Each staff member brought a dish to share, and oh my, did we eat well!  And probably a bit too much.  On the menu: quiche with bacon/spinach/carrots, apple salad with walnuts/raisins/celery, tortilla wraps filled with a rotel/cream cheese spread, bbq’d sausage that was AMAZING, baked beans, potato salad, rotisserie chickens, fried rice, chicken casserole that tasted like enchiladas without the tortillas, and a blackberry white chocolate cheesecake.  While some of the dishes I may have never tried before, most contained ingredients that I’ve certainly enjoyed before.  The food spread was just amazing; however, there were two new-to-me foods in the mix.  I’ve never had quiche up to this time.  It was time to try.  Verdict: Not for me.  I liked the flavor.  It was a well-made quiche, but the texture got me.  It just wasn’t something I can do (or at least not right now).  Cheesecake was the other new item.  I’ve never actually eaten cheesecake, never taking the time to try it because I’m not a huge fan of cream cheese.  Verdict: This particular was darn tasty.  However, I was only able to eat a small sliver.  It was quite rich and the texture was something I could only do in a small amount.  I also think I shouldn’t have eaten it.  After that small bit of cheesecake plus all the rest of the food I ate, I was positively ready for my afternoon nap.  Good that my vacation started that afternoon!  Vacation started that evening so I could go off to my parents house to see my California relatives.  I should find out if they live near a Daiso or Ichiban Kan, shouldn’t I?  LOL!  That night was hot dogs with my mom’s homemade deer chili.  OH MY WORD!  Deliciousness. And she sent me home with a container of chili.  It’s in my freezer now.  Waiting to be consumed.  Which it soon will be.

Saturday – Saturday was a day full of food at my aunt’s home, starting with fried fish, french fries, and fried rice.  Alot of fried foods, which I don’t normally indulge in, however, it is a  South Louisiana family get together.  Fried foods are sort of a given, and delicious on these occassions.  The fish was spectacularly good.  Nothing but that wonderful fish flavor without that horrid fishiness that comes from old or badly cleaned fish.  My family knows how to do it right!  Homemade brownies and banana pudding were for dessert.  Since I was still feeling adventurous after all the new foods I tried on Friday, I gave the ol’ banana pudding a try.  Banana pudding is another one of those items that I don’t normally eat due to the texture factor.  I don’t like pudding/plain yogurt/custard etc.  However, I do convince myself to eat these things when mixed with other things…sometimes.  This time, I decided to give it a whirl.  Like any good homemade banana pudding, this one had chunks of banana, banana pudding, and whole Nilla wafers lining the pan, inside the pudding…they were just all over the place.  Verdict: Tasty, but nothing I could eat alot of.  The banana chunks and Nilla wafers added some texture/crunch (so to speak) to the dish that helped with the whole goopy pudding factor I’m not a fan of.  However, the pudding makes the Nilla wafers a bit soggy on one side, something I didn’t overly enjoy.  It is definitely something I’d eat a small scoopful again at a family function; however, not something I’ll make at the house for myself anytime soon.

Sunday – Sunday was the last day my California relatives were in town, though we did try to keep one of them.  However, we couldn’t convince her to go to LSU for college next year.  Ah well, we’ll just have to convince them to come back soon for a visit.    We eat so well when they are in town.  Sundays meal consisted of homemade meatball spaghetti, with french bread and salad.  It was basic, but so darn good.  My family does know how to cook.  On the other end of the small town in which I grew up, my cousin and her son were at a baseball tournament.  Her son plays for a local baseball team.  When they didn’t show up for lunch, we figured they must be winning their games.  My mother and I took a quick trip up the block and around the corner to the baseball fields.  Sure enough, they were ready to head into their championship game.  A speariment snowball and I found ourselves sitting behind home plate watching the game and cheering for my home team.  They lost the game, but came in 2nd place at the tournament.  Good job guys!

As you can see, it was a fabulous tournament.  Today,  I’m tending to all those things I neglected (like the dogs and laundry) while I was hopping around here, there, and yon as I enjoyed food and family this weekend.  Aaaaaahhhh! It was wonderful.

I hope all of you are having a great start to your Mondays!  How are your challenges going as you head into the last week of challenge?  Let me know below or on the original challenge post.  It’s getting close to time for me to finish tallying the entries and pull a name! 

Be the bento everyone!

Today, I have fun plans.  I’m meeting a friend, and we’re going off for a morning of photography fun.  It is my last day of my mini-vacation from work.  It’s been a nice 3 days to relax, recharge, and start cooking/blogging again.  But I’m ready to go back and to see if I can keep everything going again with work involved.  Such fun.

Last night, I made these pork chops.  And I can’t decide if they are good or not.  Well, let me rephrase.  They were good.  I enjoyed eating this particular one.  I have a few more in my fridge for upcoming meals.  Don’t be surprised if you see one in Thursday’s bento lunch box.  However, I think the stuffing can be improved  I just don’t know how.  I’m not one for mushy things, and stuffing, to me, always seemed a bit on the mushy side.  Is it supposed to be?  You tell me…

I’ve had this idea in my head for awhile, so figured why not give it a try.  I had everything but the walnuts.  That was easily taken care of on a recent trip to the grocery store.  And the leftover walnuts were used in brownies for desert.  YUM!  I’ve listed this as a recipe since I am giving how-to.  Please take it with a big cautionary note that I’m not sure if this stuffing is right.  Comments and suggestions would be most welcome.

I started everything off by toasted an 8 oz bag of chopped walnuts.  Only about a 1/3 of these were used in the stuffing.  Another 1/3 (or so) were used in brownies for dessert.  Which means, I have toasted walnuts leftover to do something fun with.  What I don’t know.  I also don’t know if they will last to do something fun with.  I  keep eating them (love toasted nuts!).  Walnuts were toasted in a 400 degree oven for 10-12 minutes.  When the walnuts become fragrant and a bit brown, take them out and taste one.  If they taste all nice and toasty, voila!, they are ready.

While the walnuts toasted, I gathered my apples for slicing and dicing.  While I pulled out 3, I only ended up needing two.  In actuality, I could have used just 1 since I had alot of stuffing leftover in the end.  These are Braeburn apples.  I have no idea if another type would do or not, but I think any apple that is appropriate for baking would do nicely.  I’ve used Braeburns to bake with before, and they do okay enough.   I wouldn’t use Red Delicious as they don’t hold up so well in the oven.  Or so I’ve found.

Two apples were diced to a small, thin size.  Oh, and copious amounts were eaten while dicing.  Because I’m always afraid to dice that last wee bit for fear of cutting off part of a finger.  Once diced the apples were placed in a bowl of water with the juice of one lemon to prevent browning while the bread was prepared.

Next came the bread.  I had the last remnants of a multi-grain bread in my freezer.  I took out a few slices for the stuffing.  I thought this might give a nice “nutty” flavor to the stuffing wholly different from the walnuts I planned to add.  It certainly did.  And while the bread got a bit mushy in the way that stuffing seems to get, it wasn’t near about as mushy as stuffing seems to normally be.  It held its own quite nicely.

The bread was diced into 1/2″ cubes.  Those pieces that seemed a wee bit too big were torn apart by hand.  Oh, this bread.  I love this bread.  And it is what I did with this bread that I think is where I made my mistake.  You’ll see in a  minute.

Next, it was time to prep the pork chops.  Here we have some nice thick chops, about 2 inches thick I think.  I should have measured and totally forgot to.  I purchase these at my local warehouse club (Sam’s Club).  I think I pay about $13 for 9-10 thick, awesome chops.  It is one of the better deals I think they have.  I love pork chops like this.

Each pork chop is cut down the middle, but not cut completely through.  It’s an almost butterfly I think.  You want to leave one side of the pork chop intact so you can stuff the inside.

Now, let’s put two tablespoons of butter in our skillet.  Let the butter melt, and the skillet heat to a nice medium temperature.  It happens to be setting #4 on my particular electric stove.  And let me just say, I am enjoying this stainless steel skillet I purchased.  It’s awesome.  I’m still having trouble with things sticking to the bottom of it, but clean-up is a breeze.

Once the butter is melted and bubbling slightly, it is time to get cooking.  The bread misstep is coming soon.  You’ll see. 

Into the butter all those wonderful apples went.  Things started to smell nicely right away.  Once the apples sauteed a bit, I added the bread.

This is where I think I made my mistake.  That bread soaked up every bit of liquid in the pan, of course.  Something I didn’t think too hard about ahead of time.  I hope I can convince myself to make this again in the future.  If I do, I think I’d add just 1 tablespoon of butter to the pan (or a bit less) and toast those diced pieces of bread first.  Then remove from the pan, add a bit more butter, and sautee the apple a bit.  Then, combine everything at the end.  All in all, this way wasn’t bad.  I just wonder what would make it better (and possibly crispier).  I sprinkled the concoction with salt, pepper, and garlic powder.

Once everything had sauteed a bit, I threw about 1/2 cup (plus a small handful more) of walnuts into the mixture.  Everything was stirred around well, then removed to a bowl.

Since I had a hot pan on the stove, I decided to add another pat of butter and throw in the pork chops.  Each side was seared, but the chops were not cooked through.  I thought the searing might help the baking process.  I was right.  They came out juicy and wonderful after baking.

Pork chops were placed on a foil-lined baking sheet and sprinkled with salt and pepper on both sides.  After seasoning, each pork chop was stuffed with a generous helping of the apple/walnut mixture.  Chops were placed in a 350 degree oven and baked for 30 minutes.

Ahhh, this did come out pretty well over all.  But that stuffing needs a wee bit of work.  The pork chops themselves were tasty and flavorful.  All in all it was a great meal for the night.  A new recipe, Julie & Julia playing on Netflix, and a brownie for dessert.  The only thing that would have made it better would have been if I had vanilla ice cream for the brownies. 

Be the bento everyone!  Have a great Wednesday.

Apple/Walnut Stuffed Pork Chops (A Recipe in Progress)

Ingredients:
6, 2″ thick pork chops, sliced down the middle about half way
2 Braeburn apples (or other baking apple)
4-5 slices multi-grain bread
1/2 cup chopped walnuts, toasted
Butter
Salt, pepper, garlic powder

• Toast the walnuts for 10-12 minutes in a 400 degree oven until slightly browned. Taste to make sure they are toasted.
• Peel and core both apples. Dice into small thin pieces. Place diced pieces in a bowl of water with the juice of one lemon. This will help prevent browning while the rest of the recipe is prepared.
• Dice bread into half-inch cubes.
• Slice each pork chop down the middle lengthwise, but do not cut completely through. Leave one side of the pork chop intact so you can stuff the inside.
• Heat a skillet on your stove on medium heat with two tablespoons of butter.
• Drain the apples from the lemon-water.
• Once the butter is melted and bubbling slightly, place the apples in the skillet and sautee until slightly softened.
• Next, add the bread. Sprinkle salt, pepper, and garlic powder over your stuffing mixture. If you prefer to use other spices, feel free to season to your liking.
• Sautee for another 3-5 minutes.
• Add the 1/2 cup of toasted walnuts to the skillet. Mix well. Turn off the heat and remove the mixture to a bowl.
• Deglaze your pan with a bit of water. If necessary, scrap the pan of any leftover bread residue and swipe the pan clean with a paper towel.
• Add a pat of butter to the pan.
• Sear each side of the pork chops until a nice golden brown, about 1 minute on each side. Do not cook the pork chops through.
• Place pork chops onn a foil-lined baking sheet and sprinkle each side with salt and pepper.
• Spoon a generous amount of the apple/walnut/bread mixture into the inside of each pork chop (the cut you made earlier).
• Bake for 30 minutes in a 350 degree oven.
• Take out of oven and check that the chops are cooked through.
• Eat and enjoy!

It may be 9:43 p.m. on Monday, but I figure better late than never getting today’s bento posted same day rather than next day.  Here we have two of the bread/eggplant/pepper/cheese concoction along with the cannelinni beans.

On the side I brought a quick salad using butter lettuce.  I’ve never had it before; good stuff!  And some pitted cherries.  YUM YUM!

I have been craving crawfish cornbread for awhile now.  Last night, I found a recipe and tried it out.  It turned out REALLY well.  It’s only problem: a topping of crawfish etouffee.  For now, I can deal with that.

And it became the main feature in today’s bento.  Crawfish cornbread with the last of the roasted broccoli and cauliflower.  YUM!

If you’ve read my blog over the last few months, you may know I’ve become quite enamored with my bread machine and making homemade wheat bread.  When I found the recipe for the wheat bread, I had also found a recipe for raisin bread.  Boy, that Recipezaar.  Gotta love ‘em.  I bookmarked that recipe for later use, because I knew I was going to try it.  And this morning I did.

Raisin bread ranks right up there as one of my favorite indulgences.  All ingredients, except the raisins, went into the bread machine.  During the last cycle, I added the raisins.  I didn’t bake this in the bread machine.  I mixed it all on the dough cycle then transferred it to a baking pan to bake in the oven.  Before baking, I egg-washed the top of the bread loaf (dough).

After baking and a reasonable amount of cooling time, I poured a sweet icing on the top: 1 cup of confectioner’s sugar sifted and whisked until smooth with 1 – 2 tablespoons of milk.

I whacked a few pieces off with my bread knife to try.  Oh momma!  This was delicious.  I highly recommend you try this recipe.

If you decide to bake in the oven like I did, I baked this loaf at 350 degrees for about 25-30 minutes in my oven.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Tomorrow’s lunch includes:

• Top tier – shredded rotisserie chicken, mac ‘n cheese, piece of Pioneer Woman bread.
• Bottom tier – cucumber slices, blueberries, carrots.
• Bit of Ritter Sport chocolate on the side for dessert