Grilled Chops with Cherries

7/18/13
I made it into a Trader Joe's yesterday afternoon. Actually, my sister, "T", drove us over three hours away just to check it out. Well, she also wanted to check out a Byerly's grocery store, which we did. While I did buy a few things I just felt kind of meh (with shoulder shrug) about both stores. Of course I had to buy canned coconut milk and coconut oil from TJ's... and apparently I also bought two dark chocolate bars... I swear I do not know how that happened. Picked up a treat for "J" - chocolate covered coffee beans. And was it just the store we went to or are TJ's always so FREAKIN' CROWDED?!? From Bryerly's (I may quite possibly be spelling that completely incorrectly) I bought some red curry paste. I'm not sure why other than I've seen several paleo recipes where I was like, "I wish our little hick-town store would carry some decent crap for once", and I also bought some instant miso soup packets for "A". Not sure that any of that was worth the 7 or so hours spent sitting in the car...ha ha.

I just popped a batch of popsicles into the freezer. This evening I found myself in the kitchen trying to raid the fridge or freezer for something (crimeny - anything, really) sweet and two tiny squares of dark chocolate weren't cutting it. A few days ago I'd made a raspberry syrup, basically the same as when I'd made this blackberry one. I decided that I am really craving something long-lasting and cold (it's been so hot the past week) and thought I'd incorporate the raspberry syrup into it somehow. I poured a little more than half a cup of syrup into a 1c measure Pyrex measuring glass and filled it the rest of the way with some coconut milk, gave it a little whisk (no, really... I have this adorable little whisk that's only a couple inches long) and poured it into my molds. I got 4 popsicles and there's enough left to almost make one more which I will do after eating one... tomorrow. Drats. So I've now guzzled a couple glasses of water to take my mind off of wanting something more. I'm going to bed. (That's in my little-bratty-girl voice.) Stomping off now...

7/19/13 - Yeah. They're good.

7/24/13
We returned home today from a mini-vacation to a small outdoor recreation park where there are waterslides, go-karts and an alpine slide. I'd brought sunscreen and you would think, out of four people, that one of us would've remembered it. Nope. It sat in the trunk of the car while we headed into the park. So we're a little crispy and sore.

A few nights ago I made some boneless grilled pork chops with a fresh cherry topping. According to Zorba Paster's On Your Health on National Public Radio, each serving is 5.81g of sugar and 10.64g of carbohydrates. I gave myself less than a whole serving of the cherries. I used ponzu sauce in place of soy as I've had a bottle that I wanted to finish off, and I used coconut oil in place of vegetable oil. (Recipe is copy/pasted from a public radio site.) While it's a bit higher in sugar, I can't pass up fresh cherries at a great price. In the background is a summer squash casserole of sorts, no recipe as it was just this and that tossed together.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

GRILLED CHOPS WITH CHERRIES

4 Pork loin chops (½" thick)
¼ Cup Low-sodium soy sauce
1 tsp Vegetable oil
½ Cup Chopped onion
1 Clove Garlic minced 1 Tbs Freshly chopped thyme
1 Tbs Chives, diced
2 Tbs Balsamic vinegar
1 Cup Sweet cherries, chopped, pitted
Salt and pepper to season
Dust pork lightly with pepper. Place in a baking dish and top with soy sauce. Coat the chops and cover. Chill for at least an hour, turning occasionally.
Prepare Grill (or Broiler)
In a small skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Add onion, garlic, thyme and chives. Sauté until onion is almost tender. Add vinegar and sauté a minute or two more to coat. Add cherries and continue cooking until tender (about 10 minutes). Remove skillet from heat and season with salt. Grill marinated pork about four minutes per side until cooked through. Transfer to plates and top with cherry mixture. Enjoy! Servings: 4