Cilantro Corn Tortillas

I have been 'mostly' gluten free for about a year now.  Not 100%.  Its  HARD!  I mean, Bread.  Come on!  Still, I endeavor to leave most of the gluten out of my day.  I just feel so much better without it.  I'm not celiac, but I seem to have an aversion to it.  Or, well my body does.  I would eat bread in so many forms each and every day if I didn't feel so horrible each and every time.  In that light, Mister and I have eaten mostly corn tortillas during that time, leaving the softer flour ones in the grocery store for others to enjoy.

I have had no desire to make my own tortillas.... until I saw THIS recipe for Cilantro Corn Tortillas on Make it Naked's (MIN) blog.

I immediately put these on my food bucket list and printed out the recipe.  Then serendipity stepped in and Mister needed Pho this weekend.  He bought all the ingredients which included cilantro and cooked up a mean pot of soup.  He is a bit of the soup master for some unknown reason.

Anyway, we had leftover fresh cilantro, so instead of waiting for some unknown date in the future, I made these tortillas.

Of course, no photos.  Mine were no where near as pretty as MIN's.  I think there might be a knack to making tortillas and since this was my first attempt, they were just ok looking.  I think I must have used more oil than she did as mine were darker.  Live and learn I suppose. 

I made the dough and fried up one, just to taste test.  I then added a bit more salt and some cayenne to the dough and left it at that.  They were very, very good.

I will try them again at some point.  Maybe the next time we have leftover cilantro.

Ciao Bellas!

PS - If you are looking for a non-gluten tortilla, we have recently discovered Teff tortillas.  They are our solid go-to now.  I prefer them over the corn actually.

Ok, night all.

Honey Mustard Baked Pork Chops

Hey there!
How are you?  Long time no see.  I'm still around.  Just not <> much.  I loved when I blogged regularly.  But, I burned myself out on it.  I don't know how other people sustain a daily/weekly blog for such long periods of time.  I'm glad they do though.

What's been up with me?  Well, I started a "list" of foods I would love to create in calendar year 2013.  I took several categories (breakfast, soup, pastries, etc) and am off and running.  So far, I've butterflied a chicken... have you ever done that.....weird and well, easy and delicious.  I made jambalaya, it was just ok.  I may try that again.  I've made cinnamon rolls twice, different each time and have a function in a couple weeks to which I will take the perfected version of those cinnamon rolls.  (shhhhh..... it has fig butter as an ingredient.... heavens and mercy me!!)  What else, oh, I cooked mustard greens on new years day.  A tradition in some parts of the world.  I found out, I prefer someone else to cook my mustard greens.  They take way longer to cook than say kale or spinach.

So, I have brined chicken for years.  It just takes chicken from, "oh, its chicken" to "mmmmm chicken" for me at least.  I had never brined pork.  I tried it for the first time last night.  The results were fantastic.  But, the precooked texture, strange.

Anyway....


I came across THIS recipe for Maple Glazed Chicken.

I decided it would be really good with pork chops.  As life works in my world, I only had about a tablespoon of maple syrup and since I keep it in the fridge, it was thick and stuck in the bottom of the bottle.  As per my usual, I punted and came up with the dish below.  It could have been that I was hungry by the time it came out of the oven, but I thought it was really good.  You could easily use the same amounts of sauce and more chops.  I only needed three.

Honey Mustard Baked Pork Chops

Chops

• 3 bone in center cut pork chops

Brine

• Water, enough to cover your chops
• Kosher Salt, 3+ Tbsp
• peppercorns
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 Tbsp red pepper flakes

Brine your chops for a couple hours.  After that, drain then pat dry.

Season the chops with s/p then brown in a dutch oven over medium high heat in a bit of olive oil.  Remove chops as they brown to a plate.  No need to cook through, we just want a nice crust.

Sauce

• 1/2 cup (or more) chicken broth
• 3 - 4 Tbsp dijon mustard
• 2 Tbsp thyme
• 1 Tbsp crushed garlic
• 2 Tbsp honey

Once the chops are all browned and removed, add all the sauce ingredients to the hot dutch oven and bring to a boil.  As soon as that is reached, place the chops back in the pot, cover and bake until cooked through.  I baked at 375 for just over an hour.  Timing will depend on your pot, your oven, your temperature, well, you name it.  It can depend on a lot of things.

I served this with baked potatoes and a green salad.

Yum!  I'm looking forward to leftovers in my lunch.

What have you been up to?
Ciao bellas!