Cookbook

While we're on the subject of Holiday gifts, I have a brief project to share.

We tried out a couple recipes from the cookbook Brandon's parents gave me for Christmukkah.

It's a handy little book that has a lot of really basic recipes that I never learned. It's also not a Kosher cookbook, so I'm trying to use it as an excuse to push myself to develop a taste for - and learn how to cook - pork. As such, the first recipe we tried was for pork chops.

Adding the glaze.

First, they went under the broiler with just salt and pepper on them. Then they came back out, got turned over, and we added the glaze. The glaze was mostly brown mustard and brown sugar, but called for a few other herbs and spices. 

They got ever-so-slightly burnt.

I must have had pork chops before, because they tasted familiar. The glaze went perfectly. It was really yummy. 

We sauteed some vegetables and put the whole thing over rice. 

A pleasant first experience with pork chops, for sure.

The second project I tried from the new cookbook was a simple dessert. I made the classic Nestle chocolate-chip-cookie recipe and shaped the cookies into miniature muffin cups. Then I took some soft cream cheese and added lots of powdered sugar and a little vanilla extract, and filled the cups. 

The cookies on the left are for Mr. Anti-Cream Cheese.

It was a really simple, no-brainer dessert that sort of shook things up from the normal cookies-or-brownies routine that I tend to fall into. I'm seeing a lot of great salad and pasta salad ideas in this cookbook, so I think we're gonna start investigating that...