Pan-Fried Pork Chops.

Let me start by saying these are not fake-fried, healthy pork chops. These are terrible for you, awesomely delicious, pan-fried pork chops.

I had never had fried pork chops until I started dating Elliotte. The closest thing I had ever had was shake and bake. Needless to say, Elliotte was appalled by this. It had been years since the first (and only) time we'd had fired pork chops together, so Elliotte decided to make them for me again.

When it comes to frying pork chops, Elliotte is a pro. Through him I've learned that pan-frying creates delightfully crunchy and moist pork chops without requiring quite so much oil. I forgot that this was his technique and I kept talking about how we didn't have a pot big enough to fry them in....and he looked at me like I was crazy. "Mallory, don't you remember from The Help, you use a pan."

First he poured 1 inch of oil into a large skillet to heat. I kept asking (like a little kid), "Is it ready yet?" And he kept saying no. I didn't understand how he would know when it was hot enough, but then I learned...he tested the oil by splashing a few drops of water into the oil. Elliotte could tell it was ready when the oil bubbled continuously once the water hit it.


While the oil was heating, Elliotte dipped the pork chops in flour; followed by egg wash; and finally a mixture of flour, salt, group pepper, and cayenne pepper.



Carefully, he placed the chops, 2 at a time, into the hot oil, and cooked until the outside was golden brown, turning only once.



To ensure the chops were cooked through, Elliotte took 1 chop out and made a small cut at the thickest part to check for doneness. If necessary, adjust time accordingly for the rest.



Drain (or blot) on paper towels before serving, removing excess grease.

Then enjoy!! K, byeee!

Fake Fried Shrimp.

I love fried food and I would eat it everyday if I could - there are two problems with this statement. The first being that I don't have a deep fryer (definitely for the best...I would end up frying candy bars and other really unnecessary things). The second (and definitely more important) being that fried food is terrible for you. Lucky for us, there are alternative ways to feel like you're eating fried food, without actually increasing your risk of high cholesterol, heart disease, and muffin tops...yay! The obvious solution is baking - or what I like to call fake frying.  I made fake fried shrimp for Superbowl Sunday....and the recipe was so good that I've made these shrimp twice since then.

What you will need...

• 1-1/2 cups panko bread crumbs


• 2 egg whites


• 1 tablespoon fat-free milk


• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour


• 3 teaspoons of a seasoning of your choice (I used a mixture of Cajun and Mediterranean - gave it great flavor and a little kick)


• 1/4 teaspoon salt


• 1/4 teaspoon pepper


• 30 uncooked large shrimp, peeled and deveined (tail on or off, your choice)


• Olive oil-flavored cooking spray

How to make them...

• Preheat the oven to 400°


• Place bread crumbs in one container; combine egg whites and milk in another; and combine flour, seafood seasoning, salt and pepper in a third container.


• Spray the baking sheet with cooking spray.


• Dip shrimp in the flour mixture, egg mixture, and bread crumbs. (I put 5 or so shrimp in one container, closed the lid, and shook. This is much less time-consuming than dipping them individually...obviously.)


• Place the shrimp on the baking sheet; spritz with cooking spray.


• Bake for 8-12 minutes (turning shrimp halfway through) or until shrimp turn pink and coating is golden brown.

One Fake Fried Shrimp is only 28 calories and 1g of fat...compare that to a real fired shrimp with 75 calories and 4g of fat, and I'd say we're doing pretty well!



Like Bubba said....shrimp is the fruit of the sea. You can barbecue it, boil it, broil it, bake it [he meant to say fake fry], saute it. Dey's uh, shrimp-kabobs, shrimp creole, shrimp gumbo. Pan fried, deep fried, stir-fried. There's pineapple shrimp, lemon shrimp, coconut shrimp, pepper shrimp, shrimp soup, shrimp stew, shrimp salad, shrimp and potatoes, shrimp burger, shrimp sandwich. That-that's about it. K, byeeeeee.

Pasta Mia.

Pasta Mia is located in Adams Morgan in DC and is the place to go for homemade pasta - in fact, that's all they serve. It is a small venue, with just 44 seats, where patrons will line up outside the door before the first-come, first-served operation opens every evening.  The ubiquitous line outside is the clearest testament to the quality of the feast you can expect once you sit down at Pasta Mia's checkered tablecloths. Their dishes are very inexpensive, the portions are huge, and the wine is cheap - 1 liter carafe for $16…yes please.

Service is slow and methodical, but to me, this should be excepted. The restaurant is small, there is always a line, and everyone is seated at essentially the same time. Where in this equation does fast service fit? It doesn't. I have read a ton of reviews where people complain about the service, and I really just can't help but laugh at these people. What were they expecting? If they wanted speedy service, they should have probably gone to Olive Garden. Pasta Mia is a place to go for the experience - it is perfect for date nights, but not for big groups.

Now after reading all of that, would you believe I've never actually been to Pasta Mia? Haha quite the opinion for not having experienced it myself, but I have a few friends whose opinions I trust. And these friends of mine, Sara and Jon, have been to Pasta Mia twice, raved about it both times, and even sent me pictures of their food… which gave me more than enough material for this post!

I’m sure you want to experience Pasta Mia for yourself, so there are a few things you should know for when you go. First, get the caesar salad - it is praised by most everyone that goes there, so you don’t want to miss out! The salad is huge though, so plan to share it.

Sara and Jon did the smart thing this time around and decided to share a Cesar salad, but she told me she was so sad when her pasta finally came. When I asked her why, she said it was because she was so full off of the salad and bread that she hardly had room for the pasta. Which brings me to my last bit of advice…you must go prepared to eat like a total fatty.

Okay on to the fun part…food pics!

Sara had the Gnocchi al Gorgonzola.  The light texture of the gnocchi is perfect with the rich, but not overbearing, Gorgonzola sauce. More specifically, her exact words were "Nommzzzzzzz. I'm in heaven right now."



Jon had the Linguine with Clams. That pasta was perfectly cooked and the red sauce had a hint of heat, but was very well-balanced.



So, I think it’s safe to say I will be trying Pasta Mia the first chance I get....and you should too! K, byeee.

We Heart Cinnamon Rolls.

There are a ton of different ways to make pretty heart cinnamon rolls....but I chose the route that required minimal effort. Why would I waste my time making homemade ones when Pillsbury has already perfected the recipe for me?



All I did was roll out the dough and cut it with a cookie cutter.



Then I follwed the rest of the instructions on the package....and voila, Heart Cinnamon Rolls!



Not the prettiest, but they get the job done (and they taste just fine). Happy [almost] Valentine's Day!

Valentine Pretzel Buttons.

Pretzel buttons are great for just about any holiday. The best part? They could not be easier to make...unless of course the chocolate kisses came unwrapped.

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What you need... 

1. Pretzels -  I used square ones, but circle ones work great too.


2. Hershey's Kisses - You can use any kind of kisses you'd like (I used regular Hugs and Raspberry Hugs).


3. M&Ms - Again, you can use any flavor you want (I used regular milk chocolate and cherry, because they both went with the holiday theme).

How to make them... 

1. Preheat oven to 200°.


2. Place the pretzels on baking sheet and top them with the hugs.


3. Bake for 4 minutes, or until the chocolate is shiny and starts to look melty...but is not melted. Haha get it? K, good.


4. Place an M&M in the center of each hug and press it down to spread the chocolate.


5. Allow to cool and enjoy!

Fried Cheese?

Mozzarella sticks...who doesn't love them? Crispy, cheesy, delicious. But what I don't love is that they are usually fired and terrible for you. However, I'm going to share a healthier version of this tasty finger food - Baked and Skinny!

Skinny Taste did their homework and found the best ingredients (while perfecting the preparation technique) for these mozzarella sticks. The secret is that they must be frozen before you bake them ( unless of course you want them to melt into a sloppy mess on your baking sheet). I suggest breading them ahead of time and freezing them until you are ready to bake.

What you need...

• 12 sticks Sargento part-skim, reduced sodium mozzarella string cheese (Skinny Taste tested several brands and concluded Sargento was the best)


• 1 large egg, beaten


• 2 tbsp flour


• 5 tbsp Italian seasoned breadcrumbs


• 5 tbsp panko crumbs


• 2 tsp parmesan cheese


• 1 tbsp dried parsley (optional)


• olive oil cooking spray


• marinara sauce (optional)

How to make them...

Cut the cheese in half , giving you 24 pieces. Place cheese in the freezer until cheese is frozen. Also, don't be lazy like me...unwrap them before you cut them.



In one bowl, whisk the egg; place the flour in a separate bowl; and finally, combine bread crumbs, panko, parmesan cheese and dried parsley into another bowl. (I didn't use parsley and they still tasted great.)



Cover a baking sheet with alumni foil and spray with cooking spray. Dip the frozen cheese sticks in the flour, then into the egg, then into the bread crumb mixture and place on baking sheet. Repeat this until all the cheese has been breaded. Place cheese back into the freezer until ready to bake.



When ready to bake, preheat oven to 400° F. Remove the sticks from the freezer and spray the tops of the mozzarella sticks with a little cooking spray. Bake on the bottom rack of your oven for about 10 mins, turning them halfway through.



Heat up some marinara and you are ready to devour some mozzarella sticks! One serving (two pieces) is 85 calories and 4.5g of fat! Give this recipe a try, and I think you'll agree that it is definitely a keeper. K, byeee!

Bacon Mac.

In case you haven't heard, I LOVE CHEESE! And as I've said before, Mac & Cheese is basically a food group for me. What's not to love about carbs covered in melted cheese? The bad part about Mac & Cheese? More often than not, it falls into the Fat Girl Nomz category....but not this recipe!! I discovered this really easy (and very delicious) recipe for Bacon Mac and Cheese through my subscription of Cooking Light Magazine.

What you will need...

• 3 1/4 teaspoons salt, divided


• 12 ounces wheat penne pasta


• 4 teaspoons all-purpose flour


• 1 1/2 cups skim milk, divided


• 2 cups finely shredded sharp cheddar cheese, divided


• 1/4 cup sliced green onions


• 1 teaspoon hot sauce


• 1/4 teaspoon pepper


• 2 slices turkey bacon


• Cooking spray

How to make it...

1. Preheat broiler.


2. Bring medium pot of water and 1 tablespoon salt to a boil. Add pasta; cook 8 minutes or until al dente; drain.


3. Combine flour and 1/2 cup milk in a saucepan over medium heat. Gradually add 1 cup milk; bring to a boil. Cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat; let stand 4 minutes.


4. Stir in 1 1/2 cups cheese. Add 1/4 teaspoon salt, onions, hot sauce, pepper, and bacon; stir.


5. Add pasta; toss.


6. Spoon into a 2-quart broiler-safe dish coated with cooking spray; top with 1/2 cup cheese. Broil 7 minutes.

This recipe makes about 6 servings, 1 cup each. Each serving is only 399 calories and 13.8g fat.




Once again I have to apologize for the quality of these photos. I made this dish long before I started this food blog, so I didn't really care how clearly they turned out.



But at least I love taking picture of my food though, right? Otherwise I would actually have to cook every time I wanted to post something...instead of having a large reserve of food photos just waiting to be talked about. Haha! Anyway, give this gem a try! K, byeeee.

Egg Muffins.

My brother and I are very devoted Virginia Tech football fans. We hardly (if ever) miss home games. We always tailgate in the same spot, with the same people, year after year. Soooo I guess you could say we're pretty good at tailgating? (We are.)

The best tailgates start with booze and breakfast (my interpretation of kegs and eggs - who wants to limit themselves to just beer and eggs? There needs to be a little room for creativity). Personally, I like to kick my day off with a nice, cold bottle of Andre (keeping it classy). On the other hand, consuming a pre-noon beer has become a time-honored tradition for my brother and his friends (they take this very seriously).

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Obviously we have the booze part covered, but we often forget the breakfast portion of this formula. When I came across a recipe for Egg Muffins, I knew it would be a perfect breakfast for our tailgates. They are really easy to make...

What you need:

• 1 pound Italian Sausage


• 8 large eggs


• 1/4 cup milk


• 1/2 tbsp vegetable oil


• 1/2 tsp baking powder


• salt & pepper to taste


• Freshly grated Parmesan Cheese as needed

How to make them:

1. Preheat oven to 375 F.


2. In a large saute pan, over medium high heat, brown Italian Sausage until it is no longer pink. Remove from heat.


3. Whisk together eggs, milk, oil and baking powder.  Season with salt and pepper.


4. Lightly spray a 12-cupcake pan. Spoon out the sausage evenly into each cupcake.


5. Ladle the egg mixture over sausage and broccoli.


6. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.


7. Bake for 15-20 minutes.

Oh, and when you make them, don't forget to take them with you to your tailgate....

Because I forgot to take them to our tailgate...so once again we failed to include the breakfast part. Woopsie. K, byeee!

Shrimp & Grits.

My boyfriend, Elliotte, loves shrimp and grits more than most people I know. If its on a menu at a restaurant, without question, he will order it. Ergo it came as no surprise when he suggested we look for a healthy version of his favorite dish.

After some searching, we found an awesome recipe in Southern Living. And because he is such an expert when it comes to this dish, we adapted it a bit to make it our own....and it was a huge success. Elliotte made a few quote worthy comments after we devoured the dish: "Never been much for magazines, but some of the stuff that comes out of southern living is legit." and "Hurry up and start blogging, the world needs to know about this."

Parmesan Grits Ingredients:

• 1/2 teaspoon salt


• 1 cup uncooked quick-cooking grits


• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese


• 1/2 teaspoon ground pepper

Creamy Shrimp Sauce Ingredients:

• 1 pound peeled, deveined medium-size raw shrimp


• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper


• 1/8 teaspoon salt


• Cooking spray


• 1 tablespoon olive oil


• 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour


• 1 1/4 cups low-sodium fat-free chicken broth


• 1/2 cup chopped green onions


• 1/2 cup chopped tomatoes


• 2 garlic cloves, minced


• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice


• 1/4 teaspoon salt


• 1/2 teaspoon hot sauce


• 2 cups firmly packed fresh baby spinach


• 5 slices of turkey bacon or turkey sausage

To prepare the parmesan girts, start with 4 cups of water and add 1/2 tsp salt. Bring the  salt water to a boil. Gradually add grits. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until thickened. Add in cheese and pepper. Keep warm.

Next you need to cook the shrimp. Sprinkle shrimp with pepper and 1/8 tsp salt. Cook in a large nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat until shrimp turns pink. Remove from skillet.



Reduce heat to medium. Add oil and flour; cook 30 seconds to 1 minute. Whisk in broth and add green onions, tomatoes, garlic, lemon juice, salt, and hot sauce.; cook 2 to 3 minutes.



Stir in shrimp and spinach.



Cook 1 minute or until spinach is slightly wilted.



Serve about 1/3 cup sauce over 1/2 cup grits. Finally, add a few slices of the turkey beacon or crumbled turkey sausage. (I guess at some point I should have told you to cook the turkey bacon or sausage...but if you're like me that wouldn't be necessary, because I bought it fully cooked :))

 This savory dish is only 250 calories!!! And when I asked Elliotte where this dish fell in his rankings of all the shrimp and girts he's ever tired, he said "Its in my top 10, and that's all I'm willing to say."

Pizza Muffins.

As I explained in my Fake Pizza post, I. love. pizza. In every form. Consequently, it should come as no surprise to you that I am sharing another pizza recipe, namely, Mini Pizza Muffins.  I made these during football season and they were a perfect tailgate dish. I figured it would be a good idea to share the recipe before the super bowl, as they would make a great addition to any super bowl junk food spread.

There are about a million different variations of this recipe out there, but I really liked how mine turned out (and so did all the drunk kids at the tailgate), so I'm just going to share my version...

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup flour


• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder


• 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning


• pinch of red pepper flakes (or a handful, whatever floats your boat)


• 3/4 cup milk


• 1 egg, lightly beaten


• 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese (I used mini cheese cubes)


• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese


• 1 cup mini pepperonis (or whatever your favorite topping may be)


• 1/2 cup store-bought pizza sauce

What to do:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and grease a 24-cup mini-muffin pan.


2. In a large bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, Italian seasoning, and red pepper flakes; add in the milk and egg. Stir in the mozzarella, Parmesan and pepperoni (or whatever toping you're using).


3. Stir the batter (obviously until its all mixed together nicely) and divide among the mini-muffin cups.


4. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until puffed and golden.


5. Oh and don't forget to microwave the pizza sauce. Then serve the puffs with the pizza sauce for dipping.

You'll have to excuse the quality of these photos. When I made these little guys I didn't have a food blog. I took the photos for my own enjoyment (and to show my mom...look mom, I'm so domesticated!!).



Pretty pictures or not, believe me when I say they were good...and you should make them. K, byeeee.

I'm still blogging!

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N'awlins Grub.

I made my first trip to New Orleans, Louisiana in January and I ate myself silly during the visit. We had so much amazing food on the trip, it's hard to pick a favorite.

We ate po' boys at Mother's Restaurant.

We had beignets at Cafe Du Monde.

And we ate our share of  jambalaya and seafood gumbo at Coop's Place.

But of all these awesome places, my visit to Cochon Butcher is probably the one meal I'd pay stupid amounts of money to enjoy again. It's a butcher shop, a sandwich counter and a wine bar. Its casual atmosphere and fresh offerings made it a place I felt right at home.



While standing in line I changed my mind about what I was going to order approximately seven times. Everything sounded so good!



Something that I thought was really cool was that it wasn't uncommon for people waiting in line to ask the people sitting down about what they ordered. "That looks amazing, which sandwich is that?" I myself even asked a stranger what he was eating (because it was literally making my mouth water). We ended up ordering quite a few things.



For starters, the stuffed pretzel. It was served with a side of deli mustard, but it was so delicious that it didn't need to be dipped in anything.



Next up was the Pancetta Mac-n-Cheese. I don't think I really need to say how amazing this was...just look at it!! However, I would have tolerated the portion being about five times this size.



This first sandwich decided upon was the Cubano, with roasted pork, ham and swiss cheese. Needless to say,  I'm drooling a little just by looking at this picture.



Lastly, we had the jalapeno stuffed sausage with cabbage and cilantro. This picture doesn't even come close to doing the sandwich justice...my bad I was WAY too excited about eating it to worry about getting a better picture. (Sidebar, you can see me nomming on this little guy on my Meet the Eater page.)

Anyway, if you ever find yourself in NOLA, you should try to find time to eat at Cochon Butcher. K, byeeee.