Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Smoked gouda cheese made me rich!

We had friends over awhile ago and I made my absolute favourite meal: Cuban Rum Pork (in the summer, I make shishkabobs; in the winter, I make tenderloin), and my $5000 Salad (story and recipe to follow.) (The purple blob in the top corner was some sort of cilantro-lime wild rice. I'm no longer cooking wild rice, because my kids hate it, and no matter how much I rinse it, it always turns out purple.)
Here are the recipes for the rest of the meal. Enjoy!

CUBAN RUM PORK
1 pork tenderloin (cut into pieces if making shishkabobs)
Marinade:
2 tbsp. Cuban Seasoning (my absolute favourite Epicure product!)
2 tbsp. Hot Buttered Rum (or brown sugar + rum optional)
2 tbsp. lime juice
1 tbsp. olive oil
Veggies & Fruit:
pineapple, mango, mushrooms, onions, bell peppers
Let pork marinate while you cut up the fruits and vegetables. If making a whole tenderloin, put mango and veggies in a baking dish, then lay down the pork with pineapple rings on top. Bake at
375 for an hour. If making shishkabobs, put everything on skewers and drizzle with extra marinade. Grill on the barbeque.
Now, for my $5000 Salad! I entered a contest on the Yahoo! Lifestyle website last summer, and the prizes ranged from a collection of 10 cookbooks, to $5000. Guess who the didn't win 10 cookbooks!!!

SMOKEY CHICKEN CAESAR SALAD
1 tbsp. Caesar Salad Dressing mix
1 tbsp. low-fat mayonnaise
1/8 c. milk
1/8 c. olive oil
1/4 tsp. Chipotle Chili powder
1 tbsp. freshly squeezed lime juice
1 head Romaine lettuce, ripped into pieces
1 tomato, chopped
2 carrots, grated
1/2 cucumber, sliced (in this picture, I have mushrooms instead)
1/2 c. Smoked Gouda cheese, diced
1/2 c. croutons
2 chicken breasts
2 tbsp. barbeque sauce (smokey flavour)
Prepare dressing with the first 6 ingredients. Toss veggies with dressing, cheese, and croutons. Brush chicken breasts with barbeque sauce. (Add a pinch of Chipotle powder to the sauce if you want it hotter.) Grill chicken, cut into slices, and place on top of the salad. Squeeze fresh lime juice over the salad and serve.
(There's no chicken in this picture, since I was serving it as a side dish. Next time I think I'll add some bacon and avocado as well.)
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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yay, I love new recipes!!

Anonymous said...

The Cuban Pork recipe looks awesome - I'm going to try it this week. I'll let you know how it turns out!