Pork Chops with Grapes and Almonds

This is a recipe that we just made a few weeks ago. I have to admit I was a bit skeptical when I saw the title....GRAPES...really. However, these were delicious and we all rated the recipe a 5.0! My wife started the recipe in the morning completing step three. I then came home and fried up the pork chops and heated up the alfredo sauce. We served it with rice and vegetables. The alfredo sauce was even good on the rice! The almonds really topped it off!

I hope you like it. Here is a link to the recipe-Pork Chops with Grapes and Almonds

INGREDIENTS

1 10 ounce jar of Alfredo Pasta sauce
2 TBS of olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 teaspoon of dried dill weed (I think we left that out)
2 TBS chopped fresh parsley
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 TBS of butter
12 seedless red grapes, halved
1/3 cup toasted slice almonds
salt and pepper to taste
4 (6 ounce) boneless pork chops
2 TBS olive oil
1 (4 oz) package of fresh mushrooms, coarsely chopped
3 TBS chopped fresh basil
3 TBS chopped fresh oregano

PREP: 40 minutes
COOK: 10 Minutes
READY: 50 min
NOW THIS is what the recipe states, I would say it is more like 70-90 minutes

DIRECTIONS
1. Pour alfredo sauce into a small sauce pan and heat until hot. Reduce heat to low, and keep warm.

2. Heat 2 TBS olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high. Season pork chops with salt and pepper, and place into pan. Cook pork chops until browned on both sides and no longer pink in the center, about 10 minutes (I think this really depends on the thickness of the pork chop).

3. Meanwhile, heat 2 TBS of olive oil in a separate large skillet over medium-high heat. Stir in mushrooms, and cook for 1 minutes before adding basil, oregano, dill, and 2 TBS of parsley. Continue cooking until the mushrooms begin to release their liquid, then pour in wine. Simmer until the wine has reduced by half, then quickly stir in butter.

4. To serve, place pork chops onto a serving platter and top with mushroom mixture. Ladle alfredo sauce over top, and sprinkle with grapes, almonds and remaining 2 TBS of parsley to garnish.

Very Berry Cheesecake Salad

This is one of our ALL time favorite desserts. We make it several times starting in May through September. The link to the recipe is The Recipe Critic--Very Berry Cheesecake Salad

 

OUR RATING: 5.0

 

Prep time 15 minutes

Total time: 15 minutes

 

Fresh berries combine with a creamy cheesecake fluff. This is so amazing and will be the hit of any gathering!

Author: Alyssa

Serves: 6-8

Ingredients

• 1 (8 ounce) cream cheese, softened
• ½ cup sugar
• 8 oz cool whip, thawed*
• 6 cups berries, I used:
• 3 cups strawberries, sliced
• 1 cup blackberries
• 1 cup blueberries
• 1 cup raspberries

Instructions

1. In a large bowl, beat together cream cheese and sugar until smooth and creamy. Fold in the thawed cool whip.
2. Add strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, blueberries, and raspberries. Fold carefully into the cream cheese mixture. Serve immediately.

An Introduction

Hello!!! I wanted to give a bit of a background about this blog and why my wife has so many recipes. We have been together 6 1/2 years. She encouraged me to go back to school and get my Master's Degree. I started the online program in the Fall of 2013. We both work and shared the responsibility of cooking. However, I don't really like cooking after a long day of work and she didn't like eating the same thing each week. She wanted variety! Well, I finally just broke down and said I could not cook, do my course work, take care of two boys, and teach each day AND cook new recipes. She said she would take over the cooking and she did! She would either cook the full meal or start it in the morning and leave it for me to finish when I got home (either in the fridge or the crockpot).

My wife also decided that she didn't want to make the same recipe twice! She started looking for recipes and started her collection. After a few months, we decided to start rating the recipes and even Jacob and Elijah got to help rate them. We rate them on a scale of one to five with five being the best. We also break it down to 4.25, 4.5 or 4.75 and so on going below 4 if it isn't good. We only keep recipes that get a 4.5 or above. We have had very few recipes go below that! I have even helped look for recipes and do some of the cooking. I mostly made meals over holiday breaks and the summer. However, grad school is now done (YEA! graduated in December of 2015), so I have a bit more time to cook. I do get to choose my recipe and can decline one if I don't feel I will be successful. Now that Jacob is home from college (he graduated in May of 2016), he is cooking about once every two weeks and we rate his meals as well. We even have some side dish recipes!

Now, I like to make desserts so there will also be some dessert recipes and the first recipe I post will be a dessert. My wife has had a long day and we have only just talked about this blog. I don't want to bother her and ask her for her recipe book. I will also post links to the recipes when I can find them! The majority of the recipes have come from sites online.

I hope you like this blog and give some feedback on the recipes if you try them!

Thanks for reading and ENJOY!