Happy Thursday,

Weeeeelllll it seems that I may have caught the foodie eye of some of you with my last post ;) I'm glad I could be the devil on your shoulder egging you on to indulge (cue evil laughter).

The title says it all. Today's post is allll about the entree that I hinted at previously.

I'll give you a little warning before I go any further... time is this recipe's best friend. But don't let this deter you, it's worth the effort!

I'm talking about Amy Thielen's Peppered Pork Sandwiches!!!

The recipe has a couple of different components that I've never done before. 1 was making flat bread for the sandwiches. 

The method was a little different compared to the usual way I make actual bread but it still came out lovely. Plus commmoooon! BREAD... carbs make me happy :)

The second was that the recipe calls for the pork to be placed in a brine for a few hours / overnight. I did a dry brine comprised of salt and sugar. I won't get into the scientific reasons why brining is good, suffice it to say that its purpose is to produce a juicy piece of meat at the end of it all. This is particularly helpful for typically easily dried out meats like pork, chicken and turkey. 

I can safely say I am now a brining convert! 

Would you just look at that crispy peppery crust! I have to tell you, I was very skeptical about putting soooo much pepper on the meat initially. I don't do well with spice (I'm a total wimp), so the first time made this I put on about half of the called for pepper. 

I've made this a total of 3 times since first trying it and now I try to get the thickest layer of cracked pepper corn I possibly can on this baby. At the end of the day, you shave the meat so thinly that you hardly taste much of the pepper at all. It just becomes another layer to the overall flavour. (PS: If you have an electric knife now's the time to use it - so much easier than hand slicing every piece.)

This was also my first time grilling flat bread on the BBQ. I couldn't get the picture of the bread going up in flames and burning down the house out of my head. I didn't let this pyro-phobia get to me though. I wacked on a few stretched pieces of bread dough at a time and they came out BEAUTIFULLY! 

 And here we are, the final result. Toss in your favourite green, some parm cheese and flavoured mayo and you've got yourself a winner!

I'll leave you know with the pups. They got a little tried from following me around and around and around while I was running about the kitchen. They are my constant shadows. I can't go anywhere without them following me. That fact makes sleepy moments like these so precious.

Happy cooking!

Melissa

  

Happy Monday!

My goodness it's been a busy couple of weeks! I seriously have had next to zero time to devote to the stitchy world. Between house work and actual workplace work, I've been flat out. Needless to say, when I opened my blog reading list and it said I had over 500 unread posts I realized just how much catching up I've got to do.

I did however get a little bit of time to spend in the kitchen :) One of my favourite things to do. As with any hobby, I find I go through spurts of feeling like spending lots of time in the kitchen whipping up something to feed the gob. 

But, BOY, have I ever been on a roll over the last few days. I contribute it all to discovering a new cooking show called Heartland Table. I am now totally and completely in love with everything that Chef Amy Thielen creates. I have never seen a show or read a single cook book where I think I would actually make and eat everything they make. I may LOVE Jamie Oliver for example, but some of his stuff I could take or leave. But this is NOT the case with Ms. Thielen's creations. Everything I have seen her make so far I could gobble down in a second. 

So I spent the last couple of weekends trying some of her creations plus a few extras! I've posted links to the recipes for those that may be a little tempted ;) 

There's far too much to show you in one post so expect a follow up!

For the sake of this foodie post I'm going to show you an amazing appetizer and flavourful (and nutty) dessert. 

Sometimes I actually think I could just eat an appetizer and follow that with dessert and I would be one happy woman. But then again, when you have a show stopping entrée, well WHO would want to miss that. (I loved it sooooo much I'm devoting pt.2 to it!)

First up is Amy Thielen's Fried Onion Dip. 

Of course, if you're like me, anything involving onions, butter and a fry pan is an equation for success.

Goodness, just look at those caramelized pieces of heaven! I can almost smell them now, even though the dip has long since been devoured...

Seriously, this is one quick and awesome dip. The best part about it? You eat it warm! It's not one of those "cover and refrigerate for 2 hrs" kinda dips. It is tasty cold as well, the flavours I found intensified after a night spent in the fridge. However, I found that I needed to let it rest at room temp for about a half hour before eating because it tends to become more solid when chilled. 

Now onto dessert (Yup skipping the entree for now folks - watch for my next post!)

I hinted previously that dessert would be of the nutty variety. To be exact it's Ree Drummond's Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie.

NO BAKING! Can I just announce that again? THIS PIE DOES NOT NEED TO BE BAKED!

When I heard that I instantly put it on the "to-make list."

As if all this and the thought of peanut butter didn't already have you hooked (I'm a lover obviously), this pie also involves making an oreo crust (which does, in fact, need 5 minutes in the oven but that doesn't really count as baking does it????)

Oh no... my stomach is starting to grumble!

Put whipped peanut butter fluffiness and crispy crunchy oreo crust together and you have a miracle in a pie dish.

Yes - You want this NOW!

Now go feed your gob and come back in a day or two for the next foodie installement :)

Happy cooking!

Melissa