Almost Thirty : January 2012

This blog is usually all about my wedding planning and all things wedding! But, my dear, sweet, awesome friend Lauren, is having a contest. She is a fellow blogger, but she blogs about food! She is having a contest among her followers to cook a variation of something she has made herself and posted about on her blog. You are to pick a recipe, post the original recipe, tweak it (if you so choose), cook it, take pictures, and write about why you picked that particular dish. Well, I decided I would blog about my submission.

If you know me, you know when it comes to games or contests, I am in it to win it. So, you are supposed to pick one dish from her blog - - well, I picked THREE!!!! I decided that since I am such an over achiever I would make an entire meal out of entries from Lauren's Blog!

I religiously read her blog. Its informative and funny and has really good tips. If you don't follow her, I highly suggest you should. Here is a link to her blog - - Foodie Blog My first step was to go and re-read all of her blog posts. That way I could decide what I wanted to cook for the contest. After reading all of her blog posts I settled on a pork dish (Lauren made an herb crusted pork chop, the link is here), green beans (Lauren made green beans with onion and bacon for Thanksgiving, the link is here), and orzo (Lauren made orzo pasta salad and an orzo with peas, the links are here and here).

I have made pork chops and green beans before, but never the orzo pasta. I had a box already in my pantry so I decided to try it out. I picked these three because it sounded like it would go in a meal well together and I like to try new things. Plus, Lauren makes everything look so easy, so I figured I could do it too!

First, we will talk about the pork. I found a recipe on Pinterest for Double Crunch Honey Garlic Pork Chops. Doesn't that just sound yummy?!? Here is the link to the original recipe. I pretty much followed this recipe to a T. I made my flour mixture and egg wash, dipped the pork chops, and fryed them up. I used a fry daddy instead of frying them in a pan on the stove. Seems to be much quicker. I made the Honey Garlic sauce which was great with the pork chop, but would be good with other meats as well.

For the flour mixture you will need:

1 cup flour
2 tsp salt
2 tsp black pepper
1 1/2 tbsp ground ginger
1 tbsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp ground thyme
1 tsp ground sage
1 tbsp paprika
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

Sift all ingredients into a large bowl

Egg wash mixture:

2 eggs

4 tbsp water

Dip pork chops in flour mixture, then egg wash, then back into flour mixture to evenly coat. Place in deep fryer for 4-6 minutes (depending on size and thickness of chop). Drain on wire rack before serving.

Flour and egg wash

Round one in the flour mixture

Golden crunchy goodness

Honey Garlic Sauce

In a medium saucepan add:

2 tbsp olive oil (I eyeballed this amount)
3 – 4 cloves minced garlic

Cook over medium heat to soften the garlic but do not let it brown. Then Add:

1 cup honey (I eyeballed these amounts also)
¼ cup soy sauce
1 tsp ground black pepper

Simmer together for 5-10 minutes, remove from heat and allow to cool for a few minutes.

Really yummy honey garlic sauce!

Next on the list was green beans. I chose to cook bacon wrapped green beans. I have made them before and they are super easy. Plus, who doesn't love bacon?

The original recipe is here. The recipe calls for fresh green beans. Apparently Kroger had a shortage this week and I had to settle for frozen green beans. Not as great as fresh, but still satisfying and easy. I am all about making things simpler and easier for myself.

Bacon wrapped green beans:

Green beans (fresh or frozen)

Bacon

Brown sugar

Soy sauce

I did not give you specific measurements of the ingredients above because I eyeballed it all. I cook for 2 and I didn't want to make too much or too little. It all depends on how many you are cooking for and what flavors you want to stand out more. The original recipe also calls for butter and garlic, both of which I left out.

Frozen green beans and awesome Bear Creek Peppered Bacon

I pulled 4 pieces of bacon out the package and cut them in half. I bundled approximately 4-5 green beans together and wrapped the bundle with the bacon. I placed the bundle seam side down in a greased 8 x8 glass pan. Once all the bundles were assembled I added 1 tbsp of water to the pan (since my beans were still frozen) and sprinkled the top with brown sugar and soy sauce. The brown sugar gives a nice sweet contrast to my peppered bacon. I cooked the beans in the oven on 400 for about 15 minutes (or until the bacon looks nice and crispy).

Beans ready to go in the oven

Lastly, the Orzo pasta. I have never made orzo, but I have wanted to try it for a while. My Asian soon to be husband isn't a big fan of pasta so I try not to make it too much. Orzo looks a lot like rice, so I think that aspect helped a lot. I found my orzo recipe on Pinterest, here . Now, Lauren's orzo pasta recipe looked yummy, but I don't like tomatoes, and the other had peas in it and I figured with green beans I didn't want to have 2 green veggies in one meal. So I chose Parmesan Orzo. Cheese and pasta yum!

Parmesan Orzo:

1 tablespoon butter

1 cup orzo

1 1/4 cups water

¾ cup chicken broth

½ cup white wine (I omitted this)

¼ cup grated Parmesan

1 tablespoon olive oil

salt to taste

Ingredients for the pasta dish

In a saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Pour the orzo in to the saucepan and cook orzo in the melted butter for 3 minutes until some of the pieces turn toasted brown, stirring periodically. Add water and chicken broth, and bring to a boil. Lower heat to a simmer and cook for approximately 15 minutes, or until most of the liquid is gone. Remove pan from heat and stir in parmesan cheese and olive oil; salt to taste and serve piping hot.

Simmer orzo, simmer!!

Now, the true test was going to be if I could win over the fiance'. He seems to think that he is a better cook than I am. And maybe he is, on some things. I think he liked it when he went back for seconds and told me 3 times that it was good.

Finished meal. And I used one of Lauren's blog tips: eat off a salad plate.

Me and my really yummy dinner! All inspired by Lauren!

I had a bunch of fun researching these recipes and then cooking them. Lauren should have a contest more often! I know my blog isn't as funny as hers is, but I do hope you enjoyed reading it!

Oh and a wedding update!!! 95 days till the wedding!!!!!!!!!

I know that I am way behind on an update, but I have a perfectly good reason as to why. We moved. Again. But we are settled here and plan to stay for a while. Until this afternoon we have been without cable, internet, netflix, you name it. You never realize how spoiled you are to technology until you no longer have it! I think Daniel was going to go crazy without being able to play Xbox (which is what he is currently doing). I will post a whole blog next time about our move and all the work we did on the house before we were able to move in. Now, on to Engagement Pictures!

I can't say enough about our photographers, Snap Happy Photography (www.snaphappyphotography.com). Jenn and Byron are amazing at what they do. They took two ordinary, average people and made them feel and look extraordinary. She literally lied in the middle of the street to get great shots of us!!! We chose (well, I chose) to have our pictures taken in Downtown Memphis. Both Daniel and I grew up in Memphis (well, suburbs of Memphis), and are both back here now. I wanted our pictures to reflect us, our personalities, and show off what few good things Memphis has to offer. We started at the old abandoned Distillery. It really is a cool building. It has a lot of character.

How cool is this building?

Distillery Downtown

We then headed across the street to take some shots. Truth be told, I do not know where all of these places are located. All I can tell you is Downtown. I know I should know my hometown better, but Jenn could tell you where all of these shots were taken.

I should tell you that the day we took our pictures it was the windiest day Memphis had ever seen. My hair was getting blown everywhere. Another great thing Jenn and Byron were able to do was make my fly aways disappear!!! The next few photos were taken in front of a really neat sign. It says "Lucky Heart Thank You For Our Blessings" I think that saying is pretty cool way to express how we feel right now.

There is this really neat cubby between two old buildings that still had a small patch of green grass. Jenn climbed up a rickety old fire escape to get some great shots there.

Small patch of green grass in the late fall

You have to have the kissy ones too!

We even took pictures in the middle of Main Street on the trolley line. We had to dodge cars and trolleys! Jenn was able to time it just perfectly and got these amazing shots!