Hoisin Glazed Pork Chops

I know y'all have seen the Hoisin Glazed Turkey Meatballs floating around Pinterest, right?  How could you not want to try a recipe when the picture makes it look this good?!

Source: Healthy Seasonal Recipes

Only problem ~ I have a crazy weird aversion to ground meat.  I seriously don't like it.  It's completely a texture thing but I just won't eat it.

But I knew that I wanted to try this recipe out.  So I had to come up with a way to use the flavors with a meat I would be happy eating.  So I went with pork. 

And y'all, seriously, please make this recipe!!  Whether you make the meatballs, pork chops, chicken, whatever!  Just make it!!

I've actually made it twice now.  The first time I made it the Hubs loved it so much he talked about it for weeks after we had it.  He asked for the pork chops for dinner every day for the week after we ate it.  So last week when we had his birthday, I asked him what he wanted for dinner and he of course asked for these pork chops!

Disclosure: my picture is obviously no where near as good as the
meatballs but I still promise you want to try this meal!!

 

INGREDIENTS:

• 3/4 pound thin cut pork chops ~ about 5 pieces
• 4 tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons pure sesame oil
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/3 cup green onions, chopped
• 1/3 cup Hoisin sauce
• 1/4 cup cilantro, roughly chopped
• juice from 1 small lime

LETS COOK:

1. In a Tupperware bowl with a lid, combine the soy sauce, sesame oil, ginger, red pepper, sugar, garlic & green onions. Stir until combined.
2. Add the pork chops and allow to marinate in the refrigerator. I let mine marinate for about 8-9 hours.
3. Remove the pork chops from the marinade. Discard remaining marinade.
4. Heat a large skillet over medium to medium high heat. Pan sear the pork chops until cooked through ~ about 5 minutes on each side.
5. In a shallow bowl, combine the Hoisin sauce, cilantro & lime juice.
6. Dip the cooked pork chops in the sauce, turning to coat.

 

RECIPE INSPIRED BY: Healthy Seasonal Recipes       

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Mom's Test Meal Mondays #14

 

Welcome to Mom's Test Meal Mondays!!!

 

I hope y'all had a great weekend!  Did anyone start their holiday festivities already?  What about costumes?  Anybody got any really cute costumes planned?  My little one is going to be a ladybug, the outfit is so stinking precious!!

 

This week to get us all excited for the holiday & just in case you need some last minute party ideas, we're sharing our favorite Halloween recipes!!  I can't wait to see what goodies y'all have created!!

 

To get us started I have my wonderful co-host here with me, Pamela from Pamela's Heavenly Treats!  Have y'all ever checked out her site?  She has some of the most amazing dessert recipes!!  And you want to know a secret???

 

THEY ARE ALL HEALTHY!!!

 

No joke!  Desserts you can eat without the guilt!  She's my kind of baker!! :)

 

Today she's sharing an amazing cookie recipe that would be perfect for a holiday party!!

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Hi! My name is Pamela and I am the lovely lady behind Pamela's Heavenly Treats, I must first say that without God none of this would be possible.  I am a wife, mother of 6, homeschool teacher and I have a small Healthy Cupcake & Cookie business. Everything that I make is made with 100% Whole Wheat Flour and my secret ingredients.  I have a weekly link party that runs from Saturday to Wednesday called Heavenly Treats Sunday, would love to have you.  I also have a Etsy shop where I sell my healthy mixes!  Come on over and visit!


                                                Blog ~ Etsy   ~ Twitter  ~ Pinterest 

 I am very excited to be Co-Hosting Mom's Test Meals Mondays, with my lovely friend Jaime. I so love her blog, I get some scrumptious recipe's from here! 

Since its Harvest time I have a YUMMY Fall treat.  Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Cookies they are a hit in my house, nice Fall spices and chocolate chips, there's nothing better than that!

Ingredients

• 2 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 cup unsalted butter (softened)
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin
• 1/3 cup egg whites (2 large eggs)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla 
• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Directions
 

Preheat oven to 350, cover your baking sheets with parchment paper.  Put all your dry ingredients in a bowl, flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices, Set aside.  Cream butter and brown sugar, add pumpkin, egg whites and vanilla mix well.  Slowly add the dry ingredients, mix well.  Stir in chocolate chips.  Using a tsp scooper, drop dough on prepared baking sheets.  Bake for 18 minutes, cool on wire rack.

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So now let's party!

Remember this week's theme is Halloween.

The party is open to any and all of your favorite recipes, but only recipes that fit the theme will be featured at the end of the week. :)

 

Just the reminders:

• Myself & Pamela would love to have you as new friends!! Please take a minute to follow us both via GFC, Twitter, FB, or any other social media you prefer
• You are welcome to link up any recipe you like but only recipes that are consistent with the week's theme will be featured at the end of the week.
• Please feel free to grab the button in the sidebar or add a direct link back to the week's party that you are linking up to
• And finally, go make some new friends ~ spend a few minutes checking out some other recipes that you might want to try out yourself & comment! Everyone loves comments!!
• Please note that by linking up you are giving permission to use the photos along with a link back to your post in the Mom's Test Meal Mondays Features post & on Mom's Test Kitchen's Social Media Networks

And remember, if anyone is interested in being a co-host for Mom's Test Meal Mondays, please email me at momstestkitchen (at) yahoo (dot) com! I'd love to have you!



Must Try Monday Features

    I'm so thrilled that I got this opportunity to co-host Must Try Mondays with Carrie!! I got the opportunity to check out so many new blogs & so many new recipes!!    But y'all, picking features is HARD!  After spending the week checking out your posts, I finally narrowed it down to three.  And if you can't tell by the features, I have a horrible sweet tooth! ;)   So without further delay, here are my favorites... (in no particular order)     Poor Mans PayDay Candy Bar Mix from Miss Information  

 

I'm addicted to candy corn this time of year so this was a big winner for me! :)

 

 

 

Caramel Corn

from The Chic Geek

 

 

I seriously could eat popcorn every day of the week!

Plus, how cute is her popcorn container???!

 

 

 

Pumpkin Butterfinger Cookies

from White Lights On Wednesdays

 

 

I'll take a dozen (or two) now, please!

 

 

 

Congratulations on the features!!

 

 

Thank y'all again for letting me invade your spaces this week!!  I've had a blast being Carrie's co-host!!  And thank you Carrie for having me!! :)

 

Have a great weekend!! 

And I would love to have y'all join me this Sunday night @ 9:00 pm CST for Mom's Test Meal Mondays!!  This week we're gearing up for Halloween by sharing our favorite holiday inspired recipes!!

 

 

 

Mom's Test Meal Mondays Features #13

Happy Friday!!

 

I just want to start off by thanking each and every one of you that come here week after week to party with me!!  I love seeing the recipes you share!  And each week we have new people come & join the party and I love getting to check out each of the new blogs & meeting all of the new people!!  Because that's what this whole blogging thing is about right??  It's about building this great community of friends that can all support each other & I LOVE IT!!!

 

We had a great week celebrating the Hubs birthday & I found some great new man-pleasing meals that y'all shared to try out for him!!  He had a special request for his birthday dinner & I'll be sharing that meal this next week so I hope you'll stop back by & check out his favorite!! :)

 

Let me give a huge thank you to Meredith, my wonderful co-host this week!!  She is amazing & I absolutely love her blog!  Be sure to stop by Wait 'Til Your Father Gets Home this afternoon ~ she will be sharing her features for the week!!

 

So now lets get down to business!!

This week's top 3 most viewed recipes are...

 

#3

Homemade Banana Pudding

from From The Kitchen of Mama Harris

 

 

 

 

#2

Slow Cooker Pulled Buffalo Chicken

from Flavors By Four

 

 

 

 

#1

Crockpot Jalapeno Ranch Chili

from What's Cooking in the Burbs

 

 

 

 

 

All three of you feel free to grab a features button! And congratulations!!

The features will be pinned to my MTM Monday's Features Pinterest Board

which you can check out HERE, tweeted & posted on FB!

 

<a href="http://momstestkitchen.blogspot.com"> <img src="http://i1171.photobucket.com/albums/r558/jailynmtk/featured1.jpg" border="0"/> </a>

 

Thank you all again for joining me this week! And I hope to see y'all again this Monday as we get ready to celebrate Halloween!!  I can't wait to see all of your cute Halloween goodies you've got prepared!!  Plus I will be joined by my fabulous co-host, Pamela from Pamela's Heavenly Treats!  I know she's going to have an amazing Halloween treat ready for us!!  So be sure to join Pamela & I Sunday night @ 9 pm (CST)!!

 

And remember, if anyone is interested in being a co-host for Mom's Test Meal Mondays, please email me at momstestkitchen (at) yahoo (dot) com! I'd love to have you!

 

 

Toddler Time ~ Submarines

I'm back this week with another fun activity Princess P & I did for our transportation unit.  Did you see the stoplights we made last week?  So much fun!

So this time we talked about submarines.  We read the fun little book Super Submarines (Amazing Machines).  It follows a rabbit, mouse & bird through a submarine, detailing all the different aspects of the sub, what it does & how it works.  It's more of an informative book than an actual story though.  If you have a kid that really likes to know the ends & outs of different types of transportation - these series of books would be great!

After we read the book we made our own submarine windows!

SUBMARINES

SUPPLIES:

• 1 sheet blue construction paper
• 1 sheet construction paper of choice
• underwater foam animal stickers
• scissors
• glue
• marker

LETS CREATE:

1. Let your little one put the foam stickers all over the blue piece of construction paper
2. While they are adding the stickers, cut out the submarine windows from the second sheet of construction paper. I used a bowl to trace a circle for the windows
3. Add the words: "USS (Childs Name)" & the poem "This is the view I see when riding in a submarine!" to the sheet of construction paper. I put the USS Princess P above the windows & the poem below.
4. Glue the second sheet of construction paper to the blue sheet with the stickers. It's ok if you cover up some of the stickers - just line up the corners & put glue all over the back of the second sheet. It'll stick :) You could also use a stapler & staple the edges if you wanted

ACTIVITY INSPIRED BY: I Can Teach My Child       

 

 

Be sure to stop back by next Thursday to see our next Transportation activity!

 

Disclosure:
Some of the links in this post are affiliate links, meaning, if you click on one of them and make a purchase, I will receive a portion of that sale.
 

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A Black Eye & A Recipe

Want to see what's been going on in my world lately?

 

day it happened

This ^^^

My poor baby got her first black eye :(

She was playing and accidentally fell into our coffee table.  It broke my heart.  And of course, I go to worse case scenario.  I'm ready to call the Hubs, have him come home from work, take her to the ER cause I'm positive the fall made her blind in that eye!  I promise I'm not typically the mom that freaks out about cuts & bruises but she kept blinking and acting like she couldn't see things right! 

 

next morning

What do I know though? 

Ten minutes later she was up & playing like nothing had ever happened!

 

BUFFALO CHICKEN PASTA SALAD

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 package (12 ounces) rotini pasta
• 4 frozen chicken strips
• 1/2 cup mayo
• 1 cup ranch dressing
• 1/2 cup buffalo wing sauce
• 1 bunch celery, diced
• 1 pound mini peeled carrots, diced
• salt & pepper to season

LETS COOK:

1. Cook the pasta according to the package directions. Drain well.
2. Cook the frozen chicken strips according to the package directions. Chop into bite sized pieces
3. Stir together the mayonnaise, ranch dressing, & buffalo wing sauce in a large bowl. Season with salt & pepper.
4. Add the chicken, celery, carrots, & cooked pasta and toss to coat with the dressing.
5. Cover and chill at least 1 hour in the refrigerator before serving.

RECIPE INSPIRED BY: Allrecipes     

 

  

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I'm No Longer A Cougar...

For 2 & 1/2 months at least.

This guy right here ~ its his birthday today. 

He has joined me at the fun old age of 31!
 

My husband very much enjoys the fact that I am older than him.  He likes to inform me on a regular basis that I am a cougar.  I don't think 10 months classifies me for this title, thank you very much.
 

What can I say about my Hubs?

Somehow even with haircuts like this

Yes, that would be a fully shaved head with just bangs

It was horrendous, I know

I wish I could say I didn't know him at this time

Unfortunately I did

And I still married him...

(to his & my defense, he was in junior high when he destroyed his hair like this!)
 

And with your obsession of cars

(we've had 8 different cars between the 2 of us in the 3+ years we've been married)
 

You're the man that will pass out at the sight of needles

yet you have 9 tattoos
 

You've had your good days
 

And your bad

 

 

Everyone one of those days, whether good or bad, has made you the man I love today.

(& according to my father in law ~ earned me my crowns in Heaven!)
 

Happy Birthday baby

 

The Big 300 Giveaway

I'm so excited to be celebrating with my friend Carrie this week!!  She hit over 300 GFC followers & over 300 Facebook likes!  So to help her celebrate a few of us have gotten together with Carrie & we're helping her host The Big 300 Giveaway!!!  So lets go, get to entering!!!   PS: If you haven't gotten the chance, stop by my Saturday Shout-Out & get to know Carrie a little better!!   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  

So I am BEYOND thrilled that I not only reached over 300 blog followers this month, I also reached over 300 Facebook Page likes!  :)  All I can say is WOW and THANK YOU!!  Without all of you lovely readers & the fabulous bloggers who have been out there supporting and promoting my blog, I wouldn't be here, right? ;)

So, it is time for a HUGE giveaway this month!!  I am so, so grateful to all of my generous sponsors for chipping in some fabulous prizes for everyone.  

And because I want to spread the bloggy love around as much as possible, there will be EIGHT prizes and EIGHT lucky winners!!

So what you could you be the winner of in just one short week?  Let's take a look, shall we? ;)

(Psssstttt... each of my lovely sponsors is sharing with us what their absolute favorite Halloween candy is.  You know, the ones they stash away before handing out candy to the trick or treaters, or that they eagerly wait for the kids to go to bed so they can raid their candy buckets for it. ;) )

"My favorite candy to steal from my babies (haha) is the GOOD chocolate.  The Snickers, Milky Ways, Hershey's Bars, etc, etc. I'm a chocolate fiend."

"My favorite candy to high-jack: Reese's Peanut Butter Cups- they're always better when you get them Trick or Treating."

"My favorite candy are Nerds.  Grape Nerds to be exact!"

"My favorite Halloween candy is Nerds and SweetTarts."

"My favorite Halloween candy would have to be candy corn!  I pop 'em like tic-tacs. :)"

Mia from The Chronicles of Chaos

$10 Starbucks Gift Card

"Favorite Halloween candy: Mini-Snickers"

 

Jaime from Mom's Test Kitchen

$25 egiftcard to Restaurants.com

&

$10 Starbucks Gift Card

"My favorite Halloween candy is candy corn!"

"Oh wow... my favorite Halloween candy??  Just one? Oh, wait. This is my giveaway! ;) I can name as many as like!  My absolute favorites are Reese's Peanut Butter cups (straight out of the freezer, please) and Mounds bars. :)"

** Okay, now for a few rules and regulations.  ;)  This giveaway is open to US residents only.  This is a giveaway celebrating my blog reaching over 300 FOLLOWERS, so it only makes sense that you must be a FOLLOWER of my blog via GFC or Bloglovin to win.  There are 8 prizes and therefore 8 different winners will be chosen randomly via Rafflecopter.  If you win, you will be contacted via the email that you have provided and will have 48 hours to reply back to that email.  If you do not respond back within 48 hours, a new winner will be chosen via Rafflecopter.  (So yeah.  Reply back to that email and check your spam/junk folders!!) Winners will be chosen and announced/emailed on Monday, October 29th.
 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Must Try Monday Co-Host

I'm so excited to be co-hosting Must Try Monday with Carrie @ My Favorite Finds!!  Carrie is one of my favorites in the Bloggy World and I love her link party!!  I am beyond flattered that she asked me to be a co-host!!

I hope y'all will head over to My Favorite Finds & check out the fabulous Italian Pasta Bake I'm sharing for Must Try Monday!!

Welcome to Must Try Monday!

 

The weekly link party where you can share your favorite recipes...those that everyone “must try”.

 

To link up, please to the following:

1. Include a Must Try Monday OR a text link back to My Favorite Finds.

2. Please link directly to the recipe you are sharing.

3. Please know that I appreciate you sharing every week {and you might be featured!}

 

<center> <a href="http://www.myfavoritefinds.blogspot.com/"><img border="0" src="http://i1128.photobucket.com/albums/m486/myfavoritefinds/carriemondaypng.png" border="0" alt="Photobucket" width="150" height="150"/></a></center>
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Mom's Test Meal Mondays #13

 

Welcome to another week of Mom's Test Meal Mondays!! 

 

I just want to say thank you to everyone that has linked up over the past few months!!  Y'all are the reason this party is a success and I am so appreciative!!  Last week we had almost 100 recipes linked up!  I was completely blown away!!

 

Tuesday is a big day here in the MTK household!  The Hubs turns another year older!  So this week we're going to honor the men in our lives by sharing our man-pleasing meals!!  Husbands, Dads, Sons ~ whatever makes those boys happy, we want to see it!!

 

To get us started, my absolutely amazing co-host, Meredith from Wait 'Til Your Father Gets Home (seriously, don't you just love that name!) is sharing one of her Hubby's favs!  And I'm just going to tell y'all, I'm so excited for the recipe she's sharing!!  When she sent it over to me, I immediately emailed her back & told her I already had this recipe pinned!!  This would be a woman-pleasing meal in my household too!! :)

 

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Hi everyone, I hope you all had a relaxing weekend! I'm Meredith and I blog at Wait 'Til Your Father Gets Home!

 

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Google+ Stumble Upon
 

I started blogging this past January, so I'd say that makes me fairly new to the wonderful world of blogging! I like to share simple crafts, home decor ideas, recipes, and other easy DIY projects.

Thank you so much, Jaime, for inviting me to co-host this week's Test Meal Monday! I'm a huge fan of her blog and food (who isn't though, right)!? I was even more excited when she shared the theme of this week's party...
 

Man Pleasing Meals

 

I like to think that I have several "man pleasing meals" up my sleeve, but this one definitely tops the list lately for my husband!
 

Crunchy BBQ Chicken

 

I bet you've already got most of these items in your pantry too! You'll need:

boneless skinless chicken breasts (this recipe calls for two)

about 1 cup of crushed French Fried Onions

1/3 cup flour

your favorite BBQ sauce

salt & pepper to taste

Sprinkle salt and pepper on both chicken breasts (or however many you're making).

Crush about 1 cup of French Fried Onions and place in a shallow bowl. Add 1/3 cup flour and mix the two ingredients.

Cover the top of each chicken breast with your favorite BBQ sauce. Top with the crushed onions & flour mixture.

Turn the chicken over and repeat.

Bake at 375 for 20 minutes covered lightly with foil. Remove foil and bake an additional 10-15 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through and the onions are golden brown.

Serve with your favorite veggies and some brown rice or a nice, hot baked potato!

I have a feeling this will be added to your weekly meal plan after you take your first bite!
 

Thanks again to Jaime for having me today as a co-host! I can't wait to try out all of your delicious recipes!

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

I know this is definitely going to be on my meal plan soon!!  Anyone else have a insane love for those french fried onions??  I love them!!

 

So now let's party!

Remember this week's theme is Man Pleasing Meals.

The party is open to any and all of your favorite recipes, but only recipes that fit the theme will be featured at the end of the week. :)

Just the reminders:

• Myself & Meredith would love to have you as new friends!! Please take a minute to follow us both via GFC, Twitter, FB, or any other social media you prefer
• You are welcome to link up any recipe you like but only recipes that are consistent with the week's theme will be featured at the end of the week.
• Please feel free to grab the button in the sidebar or add a direct link back to the week's party that you are linking up to
• And finally, go make some new friends ~ spend a few minutes checking out some other recipes that you might want to try out yourself & comment! Everyone loves comments!!
• Please note that by linking up you are giving permission to use the photos along with a link back to your post in the Mom's Test Meal Mondays Features post & on Mom's Test Kitchen's Social Media Networks

And remember, if anyone is interested in being a co-host for Mom's Test Meal Mondays, please email me at momstestkitchen (at) yahoo (dot) com! I'd love to have you!

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