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Easy Weeknight Dinners

Roasted Cauliflower Bacon Mac and Cheese

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+ This Roasted Cauliflower Bacon Mac and Cheese Recipe brought to you by Horizon® Organic Macaroni and Cheese +

Roasted-Cauliflower-and-Bacon-Mac-and-Cheese-whipperberry

I don’t know about you, but this time of year just calls for GREAT Macaroni and Cheese! There is just something amazing about nice pot of mac & cheese when it’s cold outside… Pure American comfort food.

Over the years I have played around with all kinds of additions to my mac & cheese… You know that mac & cheese is basically a blank canvas that is dying to be dressed-up a bit.

I’ve added everything from ham, bacon, sausage, hot dogs, peas, broccoli, garlic, onions, the list goes on and on. The folks at Horizon® Organic Mac & Cheese have put together a great Mac & Cheese Pinterest Board… It’s a board that helps you discover all kinds of scrumptious mac & cheese recipes.

One that my family has fallen head-over-heels for is Roasted Cauliflower Bacon Mac and Cheese.

Roasted-cauliflower-and-bacon-mac-and-cheese

Have you every tried roasted cauliflower? It’s like CANDY! Well, it’s not sweet like candy, but my family devours it like it was laced with sugar. I have to roast two heads of cauliflower at a time, one for my recipe and the other for the family to snack on like popcorn.

I decided to throw some roasted cauliflower along with bacon and caramelized onion into our Horizon® Pasta Shells & White Cheddar pot. The family loved it, even my little guy who is NOT a veggie lover ate it with gusto.

It’s super simple to make, here is what you’ll need…

Roasted Cauliflower Bacon Mac and Cheese Recipe

This recipe will easily feed a family of six.

1 head of Cauliflower

salt & pepper

1 1/2 tablespoons of Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 lb thick cut bacon

1 large sweet Vidalia Onion

7 tablespoons butter (1 tablespoon to caramelize the onion and the remaining for the pasta)

3 boxes of Horizon® Pasta Shells & White Cheddar Cheese

3/4 cup milk

1/4 teaspoon dry mustard

Directions

Pre-heat oven to 400˚

Clean & cut cauliflower into bite size pieces. Place on a baking sheet and drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and season with salt & pepper. Place in a 400˚ oven for 20 minutes or until they start to lightly brown on the edges.

roasted-cauliflower

I like to make roast mine in my cast iron skillet.

Next, cut bacon into small pieces and render the fat while browning the bacon.

Remove bacon from pan once fully cooked, place on a paper towel.

bacon

Remove bacon fat from pan as well. Add 1 tablespoon of butter to the same pan and add sliced onions.

onion

The onions will become coated with the butter and bacon bits. Slowly cook over medium heat for 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally. No need to add salt & pepper. The onions will be seasoned by the bacon left over in the pan.

In a large pot, prepare your Horizon® Pasta Shells & White Cheddar Cheese according to package directions. When you are adding the butter and milk, also add 1/4 teaspoon of dry mustard.

Add your Cauliflower, bacon and onions. Mix well and serve immediately… Your family will thank you!

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For more scrumptious Mac & Cheese recipes… You have to check-out the MAC-N-ATOR Pinterest Board from the folks at Horizon® Mac & Cheese!

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Horizon Organic. The opinions and text are all mine.

Easy New Years Quiche with the Kiddos and Toca Kitchen 2

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+ This Easy New Years Quiche post brought to you by Toca Kitchen 2 App +

New-Years-Quiche-with-the-Kiddos

I am always looking for ways to get my kiddos involved in the kitchen. Cooking together teaches so many life skills like how to follow directions, how to share, how to clean-up after ourselves, how to be creative and so much more. I would have to admit that I don’t take all of the opportunities that I should because of the rush of life. It’s hard to slow down sometimes and remember to get the kiddos involved. Recently, I was introduced to a new App made especially for our kiddos called Toca Kitchen 2…

Toca-Kitchen-2-Logo-Image

So… funny story. When I was invited to review Toca Kitchen, I had downloaded the app onto our family iPad and really didn’t do anything with it right at that moment. I had so many other things on my plate right at that point.

A few hours later, my little guy Gage, who is four, was playing with the iPad. I started to hear him chatting while he was playing a game and it started to sound like a cooking show. He has a Mother who likes to watch the food network, so I guess it wasn’t too far fetched. I went over to see what he was playing, and sure enough, he was playing the new Toca Kitchen 2 and without any prompting from me, he had figured it out all on his own and was having a ball!

For me I thought the graphics were a bit silly, but when I saw it through HIS eyes it was super fun. I then proceeded to teach his older sister how to play the game and they have had hours of fun playing together coming up with all kinds of crazy concoctions. Here’s a video of him doing one of his cooking shows… It’s super cute and he came up with it all on his own!

Toca Kitchen with WhipperBerry from Heather Thoming on Vimeo.

We decided to come up with our own Toca Kitchen recipe for the New Year. I created a simple quiche recipe and my daughter Emily picked all of the goodies to add to the quiche.

Easy-Quiche-Recipe

This is a super simple recipe that is PERFECT to make with your kiddos!

First, Emily grabbed all of our ingredients out of the fridge just like in the Toca Kitchen 2 App.

grabbing-out-ingredients-out-of-the-fridge

Both Emily and Gage washed their hands, and then using a kid safe butter knife, they prepped all of our ingredients for our quiches.

Prepping-ingredients-for-the-easy-quiche

I used some baking cups that I found at Target that are perfect for individual quiches. Emily cut the Pillsbury® Crescent Dough into squares and placed them into the baking cups.

Pillsbury-Cresant-dough-crust

These are all things that your kiddos can do with just a little direction from you.

Emily cracked the eggs into a dish, and Gage whipped them up…

mixing-eggs-for-the-easy-quiche

They seasoned the eggs with salt and pepper and then poured it into the baking dishes. Then we each topped our quiches with our favorite toppings.

making-quiche

Emily loves all kinds of goodies in her quiche, she loves the whole kitchen sink. I opted for bacon, mushrooms & tomatoes.  Gage went non-traditional and packed his quiche full of tomatoes which was actually rather good! We topped all of ours with cheese and then Emily placed them into a 350˚ oven for 20-25 minutes.

Putting-the-quiche-into-the-oven

Make sure the eggs are fully set and then remove from the oven. Let cool for a few minutes and then ENJOY!

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WhipperBerry-Easy-Breakfast-Quiche

It was so fun to take Gage’s new favorite app and bring it to life for him!

You can get Toca Kitchen 2 today and enjoy some kitchen fun with your kiddos. It’s only $0.99 in the Apple app store.

Disclaimer // This post is brought to you by Toca Boca Kitchen 2 via Mom it Forward. All thoughts, ideas & opinions are my very own.

Roasted Grape Pork Chops with Twice Baked Potatoes Recipe

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+ This Roasted Grape Pork Chops with Twice Baked Potatoes post brought to you by the folks at Pompeian +

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Several years ago, when my sweetheart and I were first married, I decided to try and learn how to cook a really great meal for him. I did a bunch of research and found a menu from one of my favorite Food Network Chefs, Tyler Florence. It was a bit ambitious for my early culinary skills, but I decided that I wanted to give it a go. It was a fun Fontina and Prosciutto Pork Chops with Grilled Polenta Squares and Roasted Grapes.

I followed the recipe to a “T” and I learned two things…

1. Those 30 minute cooking shows don’t equal 30 minutes in the kitchen for the real home cook. UGH!

2. With an amazing recipe, following each step precisely you can look like a total ROCK STAR in the kitchen!

It was one of my kitchen “ah ha” moments. I could cook, I just needed some direction. The meal was aaaamazing! We felt like we were eating at a restaurant. From that point forward, my approach to cooking was totally transformed. I took the time to learn, not just execute.  I tasted things along the way, really TASTING what I was doing. I explored as much as possible so that I developed a palette that was educated and refined. I fell in love with the art of cooking!

My husband just celebrated a birthday and when I asked what he wanted for his birthday dinner, he basically said surprise me! I decided to recreate elements of that special meal from so many years ago. Of course… This time I put my own spin on the menu!

We had Pork Chops with Roasted Grapes along with Twice Baked Potatoes, my husband’s favorite!!

I made both of these dishes with some of my new favorite cooking oils… Pompeian Avocado and Grape Seed Oil Sprays.

Roasted-Pork-Chop-with-Grapes-and-Twice-Baked-Potatoes-3

Pompeian Avocado & Grapeseed Oil Spray is an innovative, unique and eco-friendly cooking spray that utilizes a powerful pouch system without the use of propellants or other artificial additives, so not a single drop is wasted and the oil is never mixed with any chemicals.

The unique spray can and pouch system also help to protect the oil from sunlight and oxygen, keeping the product fresher for longer.  Pompeian Grapeseed & Avocado Oil Spray has triple action use—drop, stream, or spray—to allow for flexibility and total portion control when cooking. And it’s FANTASTIC for high heat cooking! I’ve used it two different ways. To brown my chops before I put them in the oven and I used it to crisp my potato skins for my twice baked potatoes. Here’s how you make them…

Pork Chops with Roasted Grapes + Recipe

Roasted-Pork-Chop-with-Grapes-and-Twice-Baked-Potatoes-1

1.0 from 1 reviews
Roasted Grape Pork Chops with Twice Baked Potatoes Recipe
 
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You will never eat porks chops the same... This brine along with the sweet grapes makes for the best pork chops ever!
Author:
Recipe type: Main Dish
Serves: 4-6
Ingredients
  • 4-6 thick cut pork chops
  • 1 cup salt
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 2 tablespoons whole all-spice
  • 1 tablespoon whole cloves
  • 1 tablespoon whole peppercorns
  • 4 cups of water
  • 1-2 cups of ice
  • Pompeian Avocado Spray
  • 1 large bunch of red grapes
Instructions
  1. You need to start your pork chops the day before you plan to serve them. The secret to these amazing chops is the brining process. You'll need a large bowl, add all of your spices.Then your salt and brown sugar.
  2. Bring 2 cups of water to a boil and the pour over your salt, sugar and spice mixture. Stir to help the salt and sugar dissolve.
  3. Once the salt and sugar have dissolved into the water, add a cup or two of ice to bring down the temperature of the brine. Then slide your pork chops into the brine mixture. Add more water if needed to make sure all of the meat is totally covered.
  4. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Once you are ready to cook, remove the pork chops from the brine and dry with paper towels.
  5. Prepare your oven safe pan (I like to use cast iron) with a generous spray of Pompeian's new Avocado Oil Spray. Also, Preheat your oven to 400˚.
  6. I take the dry pork chops and season with salt & pepper and add them to a hot pan over high heat and then turn down the temp to medium high. Brown one side of the pork chops and then turn after 2 minutes or so.
  7. Add your washed grapes to the pan.
  8. Spray with the Pompeian Grapeseed Oil and place in the 400˚ oven for 10 minutes or until your pork chops are fully cooked and sitting at 145˚.
  9. Remove from the oven and let rest for at least 10 minutes.

 You need to start your pork chops the day before you plan to serve them. The secret to these amazing chops is the brining process. You’ll need a large bowl, add all of your spices.

start-brine

Then your salt and brown sugar.

add-salt-and-sugar

Bring 2 cups of water to a boil and the pour over your salt, sugar and spice mixture. Stir to help the salt and sugar dissolve.

dissolve-salt-and-sugar-in-hot-water

Once the salt and sugar have dissolved into the water, add a cup or two of ice to bring down the temperature of the brine.

add-ice-to-the-brine

Then slide your pork chops into the brine mixture. Add more water if needed to make sure all of the meat is totally covered.

Add-pork-to-the-brine

Cover and refrigerate overnight. Once you are ready to cook, remove the pork chops from the brine and dry with paper towels.

Prepare your oven safe pan (I like to use cast iron) with a generous spray of Pompeian’s new Avocado Oil Spray. Also, Preheat your oven to 400˚.

Use-Pompeian-Avocado-Oil-Spray-on-pan

Then I take the dry pork chops and season with salt & pepper and add them to a hot pan over high heat and then turn down the temp to medium high.

Season-the-pork-chops

Brown one side of the pork chops and then turn after 2 minutes or so.

Brown-pork-chops

Add your washed grapes to the pan.

Roasted-Grape-Pork-Chops

Spray with the Pompeian Grapeseed Oil and place in the 400˚ oven for 10 minutes or until your pork chops are fully cooked and sitting at 145˚. Remove from the oven and let rest for at least 10 minutes.

Twice Baked Potatoes + Recipe

Roasted-Pork-Chop-with-Grapes-and-Twice-Baked-Potatoes-8

1.0 from 1 reviews
Twice Baked Potatoes
 
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These are my husbands all-time favorites. We have them every year for his birthday... YES, they are totally worth the extra time!
Author:
Recipe type: Side Dish
Serves: 6
Ingredients
  • 3 large baking potatoes
  • Pompeian Avocado Oil Spray
  • 1 cup chive flavored cream cheese
  • ½ cup sour cream
  • ½ cup bacon bits
  • fresh chives
  • 1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese
  • Salt & Pepper
Instructions
  1. Wash and poke your potatoes with a knife and bake at 350˚ for 1 hour. Remove from oven and let cool for a bit. Cut potatoes in half, remove the flesh of the potato into a large bowl.
  2. Spray your potato skins with Pompeian Avocado Spray.
  3. Place in a 400˚ oven for 10 minutes to crisp the potato skins.
  4. In the mean time add your other ingredients the cream cheese, sour cream, bacon, cheese salt & pepper and fresh chives to the potatoes.
  5. Using a potato masher, mix well, but don't over mix.
  6. I prefer my twice baked potatoes to still have the look and feel of potato rather than a smooth mashed potato consistency.
  7. Spoon your potato mixture back into the crisp potato skins and place in a 350˚ oven for 20 minutes.
  8. Remove from oven and top with more shredded cheddar cheese and place back in the oven just until the cheese is melted. Remove and garnish with fresh chives.
  9. Serve along side the pork chops and roasted grapes. You'll be surprised... if you like apples with pork chops, you're going to LOVE roasted grapes with your favorite meat! Give it a go and let me know what you think!

 Wash and poke your potatoes with a knife and bake at 350˚ for 1 hour. Remove from oven and let cool for a bit. Cut potatoes in half…

prep-potato

Remove the flesh of the potato into a large bowl.

remove-potato-from-skins

Spray your potato skins with Pompeian Avocado Spray.

spray-potato-skins-with-Pompeian-Avocado-Oil

Place in a 400˚ oven for 10 minutes to crisp the potato skins. In the mean time add your other ingredients the cream cheese, sour cream, bacon, cheese salt & pepper and fresh chives to the potatoes.

twice-baked-potato-ingredients

Using a potato masher, mix well, but don’t over mix.

add-salt-and-pepper-to-potato-mixture

I prefer my twice baked potatoes to still have the look and feel of potato rather than a smooth mashed potato consistency.

Spoon your potato mixture back into the crisp potato skins and place in a 350˚ oven for 20 minutes.

spoon-potato-mixture-back-into-potato-skins

Remove from oven and top with more shredded cheddar cheese and place back in the oven just until the cheese is melted. Remove and garnish with fresh chives.

Roasted-Pork-Chop-with-Grapes-and-Twice-Baked-Potatoes-2

Serve along side the pork chops and roasted grapes. You’ll be surprised… if you like apples with pork chops, you’re going to LOVE roasted grapes with your favorite meat! Give it a go and let me know what you think!

Disclaimer + This post is brought to you by Pompeian. I have received product and compensation for my time and recipe development. Please know, that I will only post about products that I truly love and use in my everyday life!

Roasted Pork White Chili Recipe

50 · · 9 Comments

Roasted Pork White Chili Recipe sponsored by Pompeian OlivExtra Premium

Roasted-Pork-White-Chili-1

Oh my stars… this is by far my favorite time of the year, SOUP season!! We finally had a super chilly weekend this weekend and it was a perfect time to ramp up my soup, stew & chili making skills.  We have chili cook-off coming up here in Lincoln, so I thought I would start working on a fantastic white chili recipe. One of my favorite recipes is a White Chicken Chili that I crave year round. This time I used a scrumptious roast pork that I browned in Pompeian OlivExtra® Premium Mediterranean Blend.

Pompeian OlivExtra® Premium Mediterranean Blend is a unique, healthy blend of canola, extra virgin and grapeseed oil, representing key components of the Mediterranean Diet. This innovative blended oil provides the robust taste of extra virgin olive oil and the high smoke point of grape seed oil, making this the perfect oil to brown my pork roast. 

Browned-Pork-Roast

Doesn’t that look scrumptious?! Because of the oil blend it’s perfect for the higher temperatures required for browning and frying.

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This recipe is perfect for using left-over roast pork. Make up this same pork recipe and use it for tacos one night and chili the next, it’s perfect!!

Roasted Pork White Chili Recipe

Roasted Pork White Chili
 
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This hearty white chili full of all kinds of rich flavors will make you want to say red chili, who?
Author:
Recipe type: Chili
Cuisine: Southwest
Serves: 6-8
Ingredients
  • 2 lb. pork roast
  • salt
  • 5 tablespoons Pompeian OlivExtra® Premium Mediterranean Blend
  • Pepper
  • ¼ cup minced garlic
  • 3 tablespoon cumin
  • 1 chipoltle pepper + adobo
  • 1 chopped yellow onion
  • 1 clove minced garlic
  • 1 tablespoon of Mexican oregano
  • 48 oz. low-fat, low-sodium chicken broth
  • 1 small can of white navy beans
  • 1 small can of Cannellini beans
  • 1 small can of hominy
  • 1 small can of green chili
  • 2 cups shredded pork
  • 2 cans of evaporated milk
  • salt & pepper to taste
Instructions
  1. In a large, heavy bottom dutch oven, heat Pompeian OlivExtra® Premium blend over high heat until hot. Salt your pork roast generously and place in the dutch oven. Reduce heat to medium and brown on all side of the roast turning every two minutes until nice and brown.
  2. Once roast is nice and brown, remove from heat and cover with cumin, garlic and adobo sauce. Add the chipoltle pepper to the pot. Cover and slow-roast in a 300˚ oven for 4 hours.
  3. After four hours, remove from oven and place roasted pork on a separate plate to rest.
  4. Reserve any pan drippings in a small container. Use a fat-separator to remove fat from the pan drippings.
  5. Using the same dutch oven which is packed full of good flavor, add 2 tablespoons of OlivExtra® over medium high heat. Add chopped onions and cook until tender for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
  6. Add minced garlic, additional cumin and oregano and cook for an additional minute.
  7. Add chicken broth, beans, hominy. Place over high heat and bring to a low simmer.
  8. Shred pork and place two cups of shredded pork to the pot along with the pan drippings
  9. Simmer for 10 minutes.
  10. Remove from heat and add your evaporated milk. At this point taste and see if you need to add anymore salt & pepper.
  11. Garnish with lime, tortilla strips and either a queso fresco or shredded pepper jack cheese.

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Disclaimer // This post sponsored by Pompeian OlivExtra® Premium Mediterranean Oil Blend. I am a member of the 2014 Pompeian team and have been compensated for my recipe creation. All thoughts, ideas and opinions are my very own.