Korean Pork and Slaw

One good thing.... well, two since one of them is having the problem resolved... is that I've been able to get my recipes organized and a meal plan completed for the month.  Since I'm going to continue on with the  WW plan it will allow me to know how many points I have set aside for dinner, therefor making it easier for me to plan out lunch and breakfast.  An added bonus is that it will also keep me on budget :-)

While these chops were good... it was agreed upon that for our tastes it wasn't "great."  So, you may ask, Why am I blogging about them?  Well, because this is a Lets Try blog and some things will be successful and others not so much.  I also believe that not everyone may not have the same taste as us and they may find these to delicious.  Which side will you be on? You won't know unless you give them a try.  

Korean Pork and Slaw

adapted from eatingwell.com

4 servings, 1 pork chop & 1 1/2 cups slaw each | 4 points per serving

Ingredients

3 tablespoons rice vinegar

2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon canola oil, divided  (I used olive oil)

3 small cloves garlic, minced, divided

4 teaspoons chili powder, divided

2 teaspoons sugar

1 teaspoon fish sauce or reduced-sodium soy sauce  (I used soy)

1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)

1 teaspoon lime juice  (We thought it needed more of a tang so made this addition)

6 cups thinly sliced napa cabbage   (I only had red cabbage on hand so used that)

4 radishes, cut into matchsticks

4 scallions, thinly sliced into 2-inch lengths

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

4 bone-in pork chops, 1/2-3/4 inch thick (about 2 pounds), trimmed  (I used boneless, leaner and what I had on hand)

Directions:

Preheat grill to medium.

Whisk together the vinegar, 2 tablespoons of oil, 1 minced garlic clove, 2 teaspoons chili powder, sugar, soy, cayenne pepper, radishes, lime juice and scallions; toss to coat. Set aside

Take the remaining garlic and 2 teaspoons of chili powder, salt, 1 teaspoon of oil, and make a paste.  I just threw it all in my small Cuisinart.  Divide paste in half; rub each side of the chops with half of the rub.

Grill the pork chops, turning once, until cooked through, it was about 4 minutes per side on our grill. 

Make the slaw: Chop, or slice your cabbage and toss with the dressing.  Serve with pork.  We found that it produced the best flavor when it was a bit with both pork and slaw.

Nutrition

Per serving : 304 Calories; 17 g Fat;  8 g Carbohydrates; 29 g Protein; 3 g Fiber;

Pulled Pork with White Barbecue Sauce

Hubby and I were talking the other day about the states we have been in - no surprise here, I'm a military brat so won hands down on having been in the most states.  That got me to thinking about the different  foods of each state and what I haven't tried.  Doing a bit of research on the net, I discovered that iconic foods are very controversial! What is a must try food from your state?

Out of curiosity I looked up foods from Alabama. One item that continued to come up consistently with Alabama was a white barbecue sauce. I like a good barbecue sauce and love the ones that have a little kick to them.  All I have ever had though was the basic red sauces (i.e. tomato based) so curiosity had the best of me and we went with a recipe for pulled pork that had a white barbecue sauce(which I found on myrecipes.com and was taken from Cooking Light). The pork is supposed to be served on sweet potato biscuits but it's hot today and I'm not terribly ambitious so I'm serving them on buns I have on hand. As I was making the sauce I kept having this nagging feeling of "I know this recipe."  My first taste and I figured it out... duh... its the dressing I use on our coleslaw! Mayo, cider vinegar, sugar, salt and a bit of pepper.  I wanted a different taste so I combined two recipes and came up with my own version of  the white bbq sauce.  Want to see the originals? Check out these links Southern Living or  Myrecipes.com

Of course, if your going down south you have to have some sweet tea to go with your meal.  Nope, never had sweet tea either though I have had iced tea with sugar.  Purists have told me that my iced tea with sugar is nothing like a good southern sweet tea so I found a recipe on line and served that with dinner as well.

Overall, we liked the pulled pork but didn't think the white barbecue sauce was anything we needed to try again.  The sweet tea... well, it is indeed sweet! It was quite good though.  .

Alabama Pulled Pork Sandwiches with White Barbecue Sauce

inspired by Cooking Light and Southern Living

Ingredients

Sauce:

1/2 cup mayonnaise

2 tablespoons Cider vinegar

1 teaspoon Coarsely ground fresh pepper

2 teaspoon Fresh lemon juice

1 teaspoon prepared horseradish

Dash of salt

Pork:

1 1/4 pounds Pork tenderloin, trimmed

1/2 cup Apple cider vinegar

1/4 cup Water

3 tablespoons Brown sugar

2 teaspoons Kosher salt

3/4 teaspoon Freshly ground black pepper

1/2 teaspoon Ground red pepper

1/2 teaspoon Chili powder

1/4 teaspoon Garlic powder

2 tablespoons potato starch  this is my addition... we didn't care for how runny it was so we added thickener.

Preparation

1. Prepare sauce by combining the first 6 ingredients in a small bowl. Cover and chill.

2. Prepare pork: cut pork into 2 1/2-inch pieces. Combine apple cider vinegar and next 7 ingredients (through garlic powder) in a medium saucepan; bring to a boil. Add pork to pan. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 1 hour or until tender. Remove pork from cooking liquid; shred with 2 forks (I cheated and just pulled it apart with my fingers).  In remaining liquid, add the two tablespoons of thickener and whisk smooth.  Bring to a boil and add shredded pork back into the liquid.  Allow to thicken, remove from heat. Serve on buns.

Smooth Sweet Tea

allrecipes.com

Ingredients

1 pinch baking soda

2 cups boiling water

6 tea bags

3/4 cup white sugar

6 cups cool water

Directions

1.Sprinkle a pinch of baking soda into a 64-ounce, heat-proof, glass pitcher. Pour in boiling water, and add tea bags. Cover, and allow to steep for 15 minutes.

2.Remove tea bags, and discard; stir in sugar until dissolved. Pour in cool water, then refrigerate until cold.