Pork Stir Fry

So tonight for dinner I made pork stir fry

I started off by marinating the sliced pork loin in a mixture of hoisin sauce, soy sauce, apple cider vinegar, and some honey

I let it rest for about an hour then I heated up a pan on high and quickly cooked the pork

I then removed the pork and started cooking my prepackaged veggie stir fry

At this point I also got my soba noodles into my boiling water

I then added some soy sauce, apple cider vinegar, pineapple chunks and pineapple juice to the pan

One the sauce was reduced and the veggies were cooked I added the pork back in and cut the heat

Finally when the noodles were cooked I put them in a bowl and added some hoisin and sesame oil

I served the stir fry on top the noodles and it was just as good as any take out

and I'm sure it was much healthier

So today was a little busy

I had to go into my new job today to fill out my W2's before we open on Tuesday

Then after that my family and I headed off to a grad party and had a lot of good food there

Finally when we got home I had a few other things to do and then it was time for dinner

We still hadn't gone grocery shopping so I had no idea what I could cook so my dad just decided to pick up some chicken from the grocery store

So as you can see we had a simple dinner of fried chicken potato salad and a nice side salad

And yes while we were picking up the chicken we did pick up a few groceries so I will be making some better dinners soon

But I have to let you know I just got a job at this new restaurant downtown and I'm going to be working in the kitchen!

I'm really excited because the chef Drew is really awesome and he is excited to help me out and get me some good experience in the kitchen

I'm so excited because this is exactly the kind of job I have been looking for and it really just fell into my lap

I can't wait to get started and since I will probably be eating there a lot you will probably see a good portion of the menu

So you all should come out and visit I think this place is really going to be good

Banana Nut Bread

So today was pretty much and icky sticky rainy day and after taking the ACT at 8 a.m. I really didn't feel like doing much

But later this afternoon I decided to make some banana nut bread

See we bought a few to many bananas awhile back and we couldn't eat them fast enough so I just left 3 of them and let them ripen until basically black

That's when they are best to make banana bread

Alright so the recipe I use is one I found in a family cook book and the best thing about it is that it's super simple and DELICIOUS

To start out cream together 1 stick of butter with 1 cup of sugar until light and fluffy

Then one at a time add your 2 eggs

make sure to mix well before adding the second egg

Now add half of the flower to the mixture
1 cup all purpose along with 1 tsp of baking soda and 1 tsp of salt
Mix well

Now take your 3 very ripe bananas and smash them all up in a separate bowl with 1 tsp of vanilla

Add the banana mixture and the remaining 1 cup of flower to the batter and fold it all together

The nuts are optional but if you like you can add 1/2 cup of chopped nuts either pecans or walnuts

Finally pour the mixture into a well greased loaf pan and bake at 350 for 40 minutes

the recipe says between 30-40 minutes but every time I have made this bread I have had to let it bake at least another 10 minutes if not 15

Once you have tested the bread with a toothpick to make sure it is fully cooked

remove it from the oven and allow it to cool 15 minutes or until it pulls away from the pan and you are able to easily turn it out

Now don't wait to long to try it this stuff is AMAZING right out of the oven

What is better than warm bread especially banana bread?

Well it looks like I know what I'm having for breakfast in the morning

YUM

So our house is pretty much deprived of any food and we really need to go grocery shopping so my dad decided to give me the night off and so we just went out for dinner

We decided to go to this little restaurant in Jamestown called the Phoenix Restaurant

where every Friday they have all you can eat fish

needless to say we all got the fish

To go with mine I decided to get the broccoli salad and mac & cheese

Oh I just love broccoli salad!

I had it for the first time last spring and now I just can't get enough

Well the fish was great like always and we all ate to much

But when they say all you can eat who can resist?
Well after dinner my dad drove us all around Jamestown showing us the places of his childhood and the places where my great grandparents and grandma use to live and play with my aunts

I really enjoyed seeing all those places and just spending time with my parents

It was a really nice evening

Pot Roast

Today I started my day off early by getting my roast all prep and ready to stew in the crock pot until dinner

To do this I simply seasoned my roast liberally with salt and pepper

Then in a large pan over very high heat I seared the roast on both sides for about 5 minutes or until it was nice and brown and had developed a nice crust

I then set the roast in the crock pot while I deglazed the pan with about 1 cup of red wine and I prepared my vegetables

After deglazing my pan I poured that over the roast and I began chopping the veggies

I chopped 2 small onion into large chunks

3 carrots

3 stalks of celery

and

2 potatoes

I then added all that to the crock pot along with 3 cloves of garlic 2 bay leaves a few cups of chicken broth and just enough water to cover the roast

I allowed the roast to cook on high for 6 hours then I turned off the crock pot and let everyone have at it when they wanted

You see today was a busy day and we all had different schedules so this seemed like the best way to get everyone fed

So that's it just simple pot roast not to exciting but very tasty

So as you know I am now on summer break so you will be seeing a lot more of these lunch updates since now I am home to make lunch

Today for lunch I figured since I had a leftover mushroom from dinner last night I would make a salad and add it in

I made a simple romaine salad with Italian dressing and then I just sliced up the portobello and added it in

It was a really good lunch and very tasty to bad I don't have another for tomorrow

Alright and for dinner I had to come up with something quick with whatever we had here at home

which I'm telling you isn't a lot

So I just decided to make up a quick marinara sauce which I added some frozen meatballs to and fettuccine

It was a really quick thing but it was pretty good and even though I used frozen meatballs that doesn't mean it was bad or a cop out

It was simply a time saver

Portobello Sandwiches

So tonight I made Portobello sandwiches with mashed potatoes and grilled asparagus

To make the sandwiches I simply seasoned the mushrooms with olive oil salt and pepper then I grilled them until tender

to go on the sandwich I also roasted a red bell pepper

To roast the pepper I just set it on my stove top burner and charred it until it was completely black

I then placed it in a bowl and covered it with plastic wrap to let it steam

when I was finished with everything else I took the pepper out and wiped off the charred skin

I then sliced it and removed the seeds

To make the sandwiches I layered the portobello with provolone cheese, the roasted red pepper, lettuce and tomato

I had mine with Dijon mustard but you could certainly make some sort of herbed mayonnaise I'm sure that would be great