Strawberry Balsamic Pork Chops! Tastes better than it looks, I promise!

This is not the most appetizing picture, but this is a delicious way to eat a pork chop.

The recipe is a slight adaptation from one I read in the Parade section of the Sunday paper, originally from Jamie and Bobby Deen - yes, that's right, the Paula Deen offspring. I don't know about you, but I love Paula Deen and wish I didn't have so many dietary restrictions. I think so many of her dishes look divine - and I especially love her cooking show with her sons and other special guests - Paula's Best Dishes. I know this show well because I always go to the gym at just the right time - so I can watch this show on my personal gym TV while I ellipiticize or do the stairmaster.

Karl ate it and said, "This is really good, honey." Usually I have to ask first, "Hey, honey, how is it?" But with this recipe, he actually volunteered the compliment without my goading. Now, you should know this about my husband: he has never criticized anything I have cooked for him unless I used a processed food in the process (haha, definitely pun intended).  He will always say that it tastes good - but this time I know it is a good recipe because his knee-jerk reaction was complimentary - the way you can't help compliment a food that amazes your taste buds the first time you take a bite.

The original recipe calls for frozen cherries, but I happen to see strawberries on sale and thought they would work with the balsamic just as nicely. In the absence of having a real grill, I use the George Foreman one I have had since college, and it works fine. I originally made it with the frozen cherries and we liked that equally. If you like the flavor of cherry better, you can just substitute the 3 cups strawberries for the cherries and follow the recipe.

Here is the recipe with my changes.

Strawberry Balsamic Pork Chops

2 Tbsp. (plus 2 tsp.) olive oil
1/2 yellow onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
3 cups diced strawberries
1/4 cup chicken stock
3 Tbsp. cold butter, cut into cubes (I slice mine directly from the butter tray)
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
4 (6 oz.) bone-in pork chops (I used bone-in and boneless, both worked fine)

1. Heat 2 Tbsp. oil in large skillet over medium. Add onion and garlic; cook, stirring, for 2 minutes. Stir in vinegar; cook for 30 seconds. Add strawberries and stock. Cook over high until liquid is thick and slightly syrupy, 5-7 minutes.

Do you use a garlic press? Do you want your hands to smell like garlic 8 hours after you've finished cooking?

I'll admit; it was hard to put those beautiful berries in the heat.

Whisk the butter, salt, and pepper into the strawberry balsamic mixture.

2. Coat chops with remaining oil and season with salt and pepper. Optional: the recipe says to brush the chops with the glaze, but I did not since I was "grilling" on my George Forman. It tasted fine for us as just a topping - but if you are a grill master, it might be even more delicious to pre-glaze before grilling.

I love the convenience and speed of indoor "grilling."

3. Preheat your grill to high and cook those chops all the way through.

4. Let the chops sit for 5 minutes and top with your strawberry glaze. Yum!

Strawberry Cheesecake Nondairy "Blizzard"

This evening Karl and I wanted a healthy dessert. While I was perusing my food blogs earlier last month, I came across a recipe for Strawberry Cheesecake Nondairy "Blizzard" and wanted to try it 1. because it was an "ice cream" recipe of sorts that didn't require an ice cream maker, and 2. because it was nondairy and gluten free.

Well tonight was finally the night!

I had to wait awhile to gather the ingredients, particularly the coconut milk ice cubes and the gluten free graham crackers:

Those are whales and fish on those cups.

These are delicious, by the way!

Here is how mine turned out:

**If you haven't already clicked on the link to the original recipe, you should do that because her pictures are well done**


Result/verdict:

They tasted good, probably because the ingredients tasted good, especially the graham crackers. They did, however, not maintain much of an ice creamy consistency. I blame my ice cubes:

The one on the left is my version of a coconut milk cube while the right is the size of a regular ice cube. Since I did not have an ice cube tray, I used small paper cups. As a result, my cubes were very large and took a long time for the food processor to break down. I think this ruined the consistency of the "ice cream" because the strawberries got pulverized while the processor was still working on these chunks. There was one chunk of coconut milk that Karl found in the middle of his dessert:

He powered through and ate it anyway, good man that he is!

Karl said he would eat it again and I say that I'll eat it again if someone else makes it...wink, wink, honey.

Seriously, though, there are not many dairy free, sans ice cream maker recipes for those of us who are also allergic to bananas, so for that reason, this idea deserves some more tries and tweaking.