Pork in Orange / Chocolate Sauce

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The simmering stew and...

A package of pork stew meat was sitting in the fridge awaiting to be made into something eatable.
And, recently I found a recipe that was called: Pork sirloin with chocolate orange sauce.

Is it possible to combine pork and chocolate? Really?
There was only one way to find out, I had to go and try!

J.P. 's remark after he started eating: " What is that? The sauce tastes something like ...mmh, I don't know but it is good."
Upon telling him that it was a orange/chcolate sauce he looked at me saying: "You are kidding me, right?"
Wrong.
As it happened so often - some of the ingredients i didn't have.
Here is what I made out of the original.
To balance the acidity of the orange juice I chose to add some sugar. And, I can imagine that, if I had had one, a drop of cream would have been good to add too.
Since I didn't have any baking chocolate in my pantry either, I had to improvise and make some. (see: directions)
Nonetheless, the whole turned out to be a very tasty stew, in a rich brown sauce. Definitely a good combination that I will use again.

The final Pork stew with orange/chocolate sauce

As an additional information:
The day after I mixed the leftovers of two stews I made on March 5 and March 6.
Hubby and I agreed that the combination was even better.
The reason:  the chocolate flavour was there, but more subtle. 

Ingredients: (My own alterations are shown in brackets).

2 lbs pork tenderloin (pork stew meat, cut into small pieces)
salt
pepper
(sugar)
(1 tbsp ground sweet paprika)
4 tablespoons olive oil, divided (2 tbsp vegetable oil)
1 cup orange juice (and some water)
1 teaspoon ginger, freshly grated (1 tbsp ground ginger)
1 ounce bittersweet chocolate, chopped (1 1/2 tbsp cocoa powder, oil)

Directions: (for the original recipe go here)
(Heat the oil and brown the meat for a few minutes. Add  seasoning and orange juice. Simmer for about one  hour. Add on water as needed, but keep it to a minimum, just so that the meat doesn't cook dry.

Chocolate is a combination of cocoa and cocoa butter so, I  mixed cocoa powder with little bit of water until dissolved, added 1 tbsp oil, (preferable coconut oil) and mixed the fluid cocoa to the meat about 5 minutes before serving.

Side dish: Pilaff rice and stir-fried, mixed vegetables.

Golf Day and Moving around

Today was THE DAY.
After starting as a novice golfer here out on our desert golf course my friend Linda and I decided it was time to try the REAL thing. She booked us for a 9 hole  at the Barbara Worth Golf Club near Holtville, CA.
Linda's husband Bob was so kind to give us a drop off/pick up and take some nice pictures before we set out.

Welcome to the Golf Club!

Instead of coarse desert floor we walked on nice soft grass and the balls actually rolled in a straight line, not diverted by any rocks and pebbles.
What an experience! That was the good thing.

Of course, there are always two sides to a coin.
The down side was that it felt like "rush hour" on the course. In the desert we take our time, it is quiet and calming. On the course it was one cart full of golfer after the other that wanted to rush by. We grew tense and a little stressed.

A long way to the green!

On their website is says: quote" The par 72 course is short by today’s standards..."quote off. Well, for us the distances were HUGHE! :))
All the "pros" were way faster in getting their golf balls across to the green than we were and, we often had to offer a group to just go first while we waited.

I guess we have do a little more training on our desert course. :))

The other thing, we moved away from our spot among the bushes and out into the open.
The rising temperatures brought out tiny winged bugs that and Molly's water dish was suddenly crowded by ants.

Tiny ants on and around Molly's water dish

The solution is simple since we live on wheels and can move our "house" anytime anywhere, and we did.

Our new spot

A constant breeze kept the heat out of the trailer all day. We were able to sit in the shade and read WITHOUT getting eaten up by the bugs! Very nice, indeed.
There are good friends close by and even the new ones found the way to our new digs. Just when I started out for dinner I heard a voice saying "hello" outside. It turned to be Barbara from Me and My Dog on her evening walk with her sweet little dog Katie.
Again I forgot to take a photo. Barbara, we have to do that! Remind me next time when you stop by. :))

For the dinner part:
Yesterday I cooked a beef stew and boiled some potatoes.
Today there was just a 15 minutes warming up and the food was ready!
Life can be so easy!

Beef stew with potato salad

Ingredients:
1 pound of beef stew meat
1/4 onion, minced
1/4 cup of smoked bacon, cubed
oil to brown the meat
1 green bell pepper, cubed
1 carrot, sliced
1 cup of cooked pinto beans (had a batch in the freezer from last week)
2 cups of beef broth (optional use red wine)
salt
pepper
paprika powder

Directions:
Heat up the oil and brown the meat, onions and bacon.
Fill up with broth or other fluid and simmer for 1 1/2 hours. Add vegetables and simmer for another half hour. Season to taste.

Side dish: potato salad. How I do my German potato salad. Go to "search this blog" and type in "potato salad". Choose my posting from July 22, 2011.

The last fleas and another chili

I haven't had time to write for a while, you know we RVers are always so busy!

And, welcome to the Good Luck Duck! I admit that I have been visiting their blog as an anonymous reader for a while already. Maybe it is time now to join your blog for real :))

Usually I try to keep my cooking time around 30 minutes with exemptions.
Today is one of those, as it is always when using dried beans.

Chili with pinto beans

We were early up this morning because I wanted to be ready when my friends came a long to pick me up. We have been going to the flea market every other week and, I guess this was our last visit for this season.
We love to go "girls only" and take our time browsing though all kind of items. Each of us has her own list and, we meet again after about two hours to see if more time is needed or if all is done. After the visit to the flea market we usually drove grocery shopping.
No husband around who is nagging for us to hurry up. We all enjoyed our shopping tours very much!
My "treasured fleas" of today were two wine glasses, a new bread basket and a step stool to get better in to and out of the van.

For dinner there was a hearty chili. The first time I made it, with great success a few days ago for a potluck we attended.
This time I didn't have canned tomatoes, but that didn't matter, I used a can of corn kernel and tomato sauce instead.
Mixed with brown rice. It was enough that I could freeze a portion for later use.

Chili with corn kernels, on rice

INGREDIENTS:  (my alterations are shown in brackets)
2 cups Pinto beans (uncooked, can also used canned)
1 lb ground beef (ground round) or ground turkey
2 cups uncooked white rice
1 yellow onion - chopped
2 cloves garlic - chopped (this is way too much for my taste)
2 Tbsp olive oil (1 is enough, there is enough fat in the beef)
1 to 2 Tbsp chili powder (left that out)
1 Tbsp chopped parsley
1 can of tomatoes (14 oz) (took a can of corn kernels instead this time)
1 Jalapeno pepper (cooked, canned) -sliced  (No way, not for us, please)
Salt
(pepper, paprika powder)
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 cup of fresh cilantro leaves (didn't have any, tasted good without too)

Directions:
1. Start with the pinto beans. (If using canned beans, rinse them and skip to step 2.) Put the beans into a large pot and cover with at least 3 inches of water (about 3 quarts of water). Bring to a boil and lower the heat to a simmer. Simmer, covered, for about 2 1/2 hours or until the beans are tender.
(First time I brought the dry beans to a boil and let them sit covered for an hour. Then I drained the water, filled up with fresh and cooked the beans for 2 1/2 hours. 
This time I watered the dry beans over night, drained the water in the morning and cooked the beans for about 2 1/2 hours in the afternoon. 
Both methods worked fine.)

2. While the beans are cooking cook the rice according to the instructions on the rice package. Add a Tbsp of butter to the rice while it is cooking for flavor.

3. In a large skillet, sauté onions and garlic in 2 Tbsp of olive oil until translucent on medium high heat. Move the onions over to one side of the pan, turn up the heat to high, and brown the meat away from the onions in the same pan. Add chili powder to meat as it is cooking. Start with one tablespoon, and add more as needed to taste. Stir in the onions and garlic. Add chopped parsley. Add one can of tomatoes. Add sliced Jalapeno pepper. Add 1 teaspoon of salt. Add 1 teaspoon of sugar to counteract the acidity of the tomatoes.
(Remember: chili powder gets hotter the longer it cooks, so be careful.)

4. Once the beans are cooked, drain them. Add the beans to the meat and onions, adding another teaspoon of salt to the beans as they go in. Simmer for 5-10 minutes, tasting and adding more salt if needed to taste. Stir in cilantro leaves right before serving, or sprinkle on top.

Serve over rice or with warm corn tortillas.

Kind of a "Ratatouille"

Welcome to my blog, Bob C., I remember you from the time when we were novice rver's, had a 5-wheel and used your satellite antenna to get our internet!
Hope you enjoy my rambling about our dinners!


With only 4 more weeks to go I keep myself from stocking up the pantry. The idea is : what we don't have in there we need not to haul home. Today I used up the rest of my Quinoa seeds.

boiling quinoa

With the fridge nearly empty, there was not much choice.
Some vegetables, a piece of cold grilled chicken, a piece of cold roast beef, but it was enough to make it into ratatouille-like meal.

And the cooking time: only 15 minutes!

Mixed vegetables with quinoa

Nothing leftover here. Now we really need to go shopping tomorrow!
Otherwise it's down to bread and water :))

Ingredients:
1 cup quinoa
1 1/2 cup water or broth

1 large carrot, chopped
1 celery, chopped, 1 cup
1 small green squash, copped, 1 cup
1 onion, minced, 1/2 cop
1 leaf of kale (had a bunch of them in the freezer)
1 leaf of bok choy (same thing, from the freezer)
1 slice of grilled chicken breast, cubed 1/3 cup
1 piece roast beef, cubed, 1 cup
1 tblsp oil
1 slice of bacon, in bits (optional)
salt
pepper
leftover roast beef gravy, 3/4 cup
1/2 cup of cheddar, cubed

Directions:
Bring Quinoa to a boil and simmer until all fluid is gone and the quinoa all fluffy.

Sautée bacon and onions in oil and add the vegetables for about 10 minutes. Stir occasionally. Add meat and gravy and simmer for another 5 minutes.
Just before serving add the cheese.