Mexican Baked Hake Loins

Costco has Wild Caught Hake Loins on sale this month, and we were looking for a little variation on our typical recipe (oven baked with Great American seasoning).  I searched for a Mexican recipe and hit the jackpot with the following super easy and delectable recipe.

Ingredients

• 3 Hake Loins
• 1 c. Salsa
• 1 c. broken corn tortilla chips
• 1 c. Shredded/Grated cheese (cheddar tastes great)
• 1 Avocado
• Sour cream (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 deg. Fahrenheit
2. Defrost and pat dry Hake loins (try to extract as much water as possible without breaking them)
3. Place in lightly greased baking dish
4. Pour salsa over Hake loins, sprinkle cheese and broken tortilla chips
5. Bake on middle rack (uncovered) for 15-18 min (or until fish flakes apart)
6. Serve with sliced avocado and sour cream on top

Yields: 3 servings

Perfect Pork Chops

We were frustrated with tough pork, so looked for an alternative way of preparing it.  We came across the following recipe and were quite pleased with the results (inspired from thekitchn.com).  This should work for 2-4 < 1 in. pork chops.  We used boneless pork chops and because they were > 1 in. we just cut them in half so they were only about 3/4 in. thick.

Ingredients

• 3 c. cold water
• 3 T. salt
• garlic cloves or powder
• peppercorns (optional)
• bay leaf (optional)
• olive oil
• salt and pepper

Directions

1. Boil 1 c. of water with 3 T. salt, garlic, peppercorns, and bay leaf until salt is dissolved.
2. Add remaining cold water to brine to lower the temperature
3. Place pork chops in baking dish and pour brine over the top (pork chops should be completely submerged).
4. Cover dish and refrigerate for 30 min. to 4 hours (when we let it sit for 2-3 hours the meat was almost too salty; we also tried it for 30 min and it was perfect for our taste)
5. Remove pork chops and pat dry with paper towel/napkin
6. Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit with roasting pan/skillet inside oven (oven rack in the middle)
7. Rub chops with olive oil and add salt and pepper; set on stove to warm up
8. Once stove and skillet are preheated, remove skillet and place on med-high burner and sear first side of chops for about 3 min (turn on oven vent to catch smoke!)
9. Flip chops over and place pan in oven for 6-10 min (until cooked, meat should be about 140 degrees, but we can never get an accurate read)
10. Remove from skillet and tent with foil, let rest for 5 minutes
11. Eat up!  Throw some rice and vegetables in your rice cooker and you'll have a complete meal!

Yields: 2-4 pork chops

Pizza Bread

This is a great alternative to pizza.  I grew up having this rotated into our weekly pizza nights.  I recently discovered that this bread tastes even better with homemade pizza sauce.  We've tried Canadian bacon with this recipe too, but pepperoni definitely tastes the best.  To speed up raising process, you may want to turn your oven into a proof box.

Bread Ingredients

• 2 t. yeast
• 2.25 c. warm water
• 2 T. sugar
• 2 t. salt
• 2/3 c. powdered milk
• 1 T. softened butter
• 5.5-6 c. flour

Toppings

• Sliced pepperoni (or other pizza topping)
• Grated Mozzarella cheese

Directions

1. Prepare yeast according to package instructions (e.g., add to water, mix, let stand for 5-10 min)
2. Mix in remaining bread ingredients, stir until bread dough consistency
3. Let raise until double it's size (may help to coat dough with oil)
4. Divide dough into two halves
5. Roll out one half into a rectangle (wide as a bread pan) on a lightly floured surface
6. Layer dough with cheese and pepperoni
7. Roll up dough, making sure to fold in the ends as you roll, so that the cheese doesn't melt out when cooking
8. Place in bread pan with seam down (if cheese leaks out, it will be very hard to remove after cooked, non-stick spray may help)
9. Follow steps 4-7 for second half of dough
10. Let both loaves raise again
11. Bake in oven at 350 F for 30-45 minutes

Yields: 2 Loaves

Soft Pretzels!!!

I just made these, and they are AMAZING!
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/buttery-soft-pretzels/detail.aspx


Ingredients

• 4 teaspoons active dry yeast
• 1 teaspoon white sugar
• 1 1/4 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
• 5 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
•  
• 1/2 cup baking soda
• 4 cups hot water
• 1/4 cup kosher salt, for topping

Directions

1. In a small bowl, dissolve yeast and 1 teaspoon sugar in warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.
2. In a large bowl, mix together flour, 1/2 cup sugar, and salt. Make a well in the center; add the oil and yeast mixture. Mix and form into a dough. If the mixture is dry, add one or two tablespoons of water. Knead the dough until smooth, about 7 to 8 minutes. Lightly oil a large bowl, place the dough in the bowl and turn to coat with oil. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 hour.
3. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C). In a large bowl, dissolve baking soda in hot water.
4. When risen, turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and divide into 12 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a rope and twist into a pretzel shape. Once all of the dough is all shaped, dip each pretzel into the baking soda solution and place on a greased baking sheet. Sprinkle with kosher salt.
5. Bake in preheated oven for 8 minutes, until browned.

The baking soda helps it brown...much better than egg whites!! It doesn't alter the flavor at all either. These are so yummy!!

Kristen's Chicken Tortilla Soup

2 cups chicken broth
1 recipe Enchilada Sauce
4 oz. can diced green chilis
2 large chicken breasts (I cut them into thirds width wise)
1 can black beans (drained and rinsed)
1 bag frozen corn

Place all ingredients in crock pot except the corn. Cook on High for 4 hours. Remove chicken and shred. Return the chicken to crock pot and add corn. Heat through. (About 10 minutes.)
You can top with cheese, tortilla chips, sour cream, or avocado (a fav!).

Serves 4-6.
This is an amaingly easy recipe and full of flavor like we Anderson's like it!!!!!!!!!!

Chili Chicken Chowder

3 chicken breasts, cut into 1" pieces
2 cups frozen Hash Browns
3 cups Chicken Broth
3/4 tsp.Garlic Powder
1 1/2 tsp. Cumin
1 can Cream Style Corn
1 can Condensed Cream of Chicken Soup
1 (7 oz.) can chopped green chilis
3/4 cup half & half

Stir together all ingredients except half and half until combined in crockpot.
Cover and cook on High for 4-5 hours.
Stir in half and half and serve. Simple dish and delicious!

Easy Chicken Zucchini Bake

This was a very simple, quick, and tasty meal.  It was great served with rice. The recipe was discovered on SparkRecipes.

Ingredients

• 4 pieces of lean skinless chicken breast
• 1 cup raw Zucchini
• 2 tablespoons of any kind of shredded cheese (more never hurts)
• 1 raw onion
• salt
• pepper
• oregano
• (You may want to experiment with some different spices)

Directions

1. Pre-heat oven to 450
Cut Zucchini and Onion into slices
2. Arrange Chicken breast onto non-stick baking pan
3. Sprinkle chicken with salt, pepper, and oregano
4. Sprinkle cheese onto chicken
5. Arrange sliced Zucchini so that it's covering the chicken
6. Arrange onions onto Zucchini (feel free to add some more seasonings or cheese on top of the veggies)
7. Bake for 30 minutes covered

Yields: 4 servings.