Pork chops, squash and honey carrots

First off, hello!

My name is Taylor, and I am Shawn's daughter. As you know, my dad is a wonderful cook. Lucky for me, I got the awesome cooking gene from all sides of my family! Growing up surrounded by chefs, I was taught to cook at a very young age, and have loved working in the kitchen ever since.

For my first dish on this blog, I decided to make pork chops, honey carrots, sauteed zucchini, and garlic toast. Simple and inexpensive, yet delicious.

Total prep time: 5-10 minutes
Total cook time: About 20 minutes
Difficulty: 2
Cost: $5 for 3 portions

Thursday: Tofu and Veggie Stir-fry

This stir-fry takes a little bit of planning.  Marinate firm or extra firm tofu in a mixture of soy sauce, seasoned rice vinegar, a dash of sugar and sliced fresh ginger overnight first.  Well worth the effort.

Carrots, celery, onions, lots of broccoli, yellow peppers, fresh ginger and marinated tofu.  Heat wok and a separate pan of oil.  Toss veggies in wok starting with onion, then work your way from densest to least dense.  While that's going, fry the tofu in peanut oil until firm and toasty on the outside.  Once ready, add it to the veggies.  Done. I add a dash of soy sauce and a little seasoned rice vinegar while cooking to get the liquid out of the veggies.  This one is missing baby bok choy, but there was none when we shopped.  You can thicken the sauce with a little bit of corn starch shaken with some water.  Served with steamed white rice, as plain as can be.  Does it get any easier? 

Cost: $7 or so for a big wokfull.  3 meals and leftovers for lunch.

Time: 20 minutes from start.  Lots of chopping involved.

Difficulty: 2 Seriously, just chop it up and toss it in.  Just remember to marinate your tofu the night before.

Monday: Pan Seared Chicken with Rice and Veggies

On Monday we made pan seared chicken with broth steamed rice and vegetables for dinner.

This is a fairly straight forward dinner.

I marinated the chicken in a battibecco rub for 2 days prior.  Rubbed it under the skin to really season the meat.  Then I pan seared it over medium high heat in a cast iron skillet. I left the skin on for the first round (20 minutes or so, turning once midway through), cooking with a lid on and pulled the skin off and removed the lid at the end and browned the bare chicken (5 minutes per side).  This way it can cook all the way through without burning, and I can control the sear on the final step.

The rice was just steamed with chicken stock (a staple for the house, next time I make it, I'll post)

The veggies were simple. I parboiled the Brussels sprouts to about halfway cooked.  Then finished them off in a hot pan tossed with extra-virgin olive oil and more battibecco.  I cooked the onions and carrots with the chicken early on so they steamed while the lid was on the chicken.  Then I added them to the pan with the Brussels sprouts and tossed together for a magnificent side dish.

Cooking time: 35 minutes from start to finish
Cost: $9 made enough for four plates
Skill level: 3