Jessica Merchant's Blog, page 359

Tuesday Things.

1. Have you ever made homemade waffle cones? I am dying to do so. One of my first jobs at 16 was at an ice cream place and I burnt the heck out of my fingers each time making the waffle cones, but the smell was so amazing and has stuck with me. I need a waffle press or something, right?

2. Could I be any more in love with this magic butterfly pea lemonade?! Whoa.

3. Okay major question: do you sort and match ALL of your socks? You know how the laundry ghost makes certain socks disappear? Well if I don’t have matching ones by the time I’m putting laundry away, I will match some that are *close enough.* I realize this gives people major anxiety.

4. We booked a last minute trip to Maine! We’re so ridiculously excited so give me alllll your recommendations please. We’re staying in Portland. What should we do and most importantly, EAT?! 

5. Over the weekend we started binging on Ozark on Netflix. I am LOVING it. Eddie really likes it too. I was not a huge fan of Breaking Bad (yes I know, I should be excommunicated from the universe for saying so) but love this. And I started watching Friends From College too and really love it. Still watching Ballers and Insecure on Sunday nights, but that’s about it!

6. Also, I can’t get enough of all of the Princess Diana specials. The day she died my mom was so upset and I find it so interesting to see and hear more about her right now.

7. On raising creativity… I love this! I have worked so hard on my mindset when it comes to Max and letting him make creative messes and be a kid. My mom never freaked out if we made a mess when I think back to it. So I let him help me cook, draw, paint, get muddy, covered in dirt, play with dough in tons of flour and just clean it up later. And I don’t remember the cleaning part.

8. Speaking of, what is your all-time favorite pen? As a major pen-and-paper person, I still can’t find one I LOVE right now. I’ve been keeping up with my bullet journal (yes, a post is finally coming with it!) and I use the Staedtler fineliners for that, but I don’t omglove them for general writing. You know?

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Summer Salmon Strawberry Panzanella Salad.

Say that three times fast!

You know that I’m ALWAYS on the search for a non-boring salad. Enter… strawberry salmon panzanella salad!

The thing is that I really love basic butter lettuce salads that are seasoned well and topped with avocado and maybe just tomatoes and lots of vinegar. I find that kind of salad makes the most perfect side dish, but for a meal?

I need something ramped up. Want something substantial so I don’t feel like I’m eating a… salad.

You get me. I know it.

We have been eating a version of panzanella salad weekly in this house. Farm fresh local tomatoes? For me, a panzanella is the best way to let them shine aside from sprinkling them with gorgonzola or basil and balsamic.

Our current favorite panzanella is this one from Serious Eats – it’s SO simple and delicious. It’s the epitome of summer and ridiculously packed with flavor. And I love that you use the juice from the tomatoes to make the dressing.

If you haven’t tried it, you must must must!

We ended up eating that exact same salad yesterday to finish off the weekend that was the perfect amount of relaxation and fun. I’m such a lunatic that I get back-to-school anxiety at this time of year even though I don’t go back to school. It’s like the years and years of it never go away and my mind and body go into “omg it’s august mode” and I must soak up every last bit!

Please tell me I’m not alone.

So this salad isn’t that exact one I keep raving about, but I am loving it just as much. It’s a bit more trashed up. It has flaked, buttery salmon, strawberries and one of the best parts: a goat cheese vinaigrette.

Yes. Vinaigrette. I sprinkle a little crumbled goat cheese in there and blend it all up. I actually prefer it slightly more when it sits for a few minutes. It’s the best of both worlds: creamy and tangy.

Also, if you’re not a fan of salmon? I think chicken would work perfectly. Or even chickpeas! I’ve been in a major chickpea MOOD lately. A crunchy, crispy roasted one.

This is one of those salads that you are stuffed after. It’s incredibly satisfying. Like you just ate a burger and fries. Or pizza.

Okay, maybe not that, but almost like that. The flavor is insane and it’s the best way to use the last weeks of summer. I swear you will be one happy CAMPER after making this.

Salmon Strawberry Panzanella Salad

Yield: serves 2 to 4

Total Time: 35 minutes

Ingredients:

2 cups multigrain bread cubes
1 (2 pound) salmon filet
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
3 cups torn butter lettuce
3 cups spring greens
1 pint strawberries, halved or quartered
1/2 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
2 ears of corn, grilled or boiled, kernels cut from the cob
1 avocado, thinly sliced

goat cheese vinaigrette

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 1/2 tablespoons honey
1/2 teaspoon dijon mustard
3 garlic cloves, minced or pressed
1 lemon, juiced
1 tablespoon fresh herbs, chopped
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 ounces goat cheese, crumbled
6 tablespoons olive oil



Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and spread out the bread cubes on top. Bake until the bread is toasty and golden, about 10 to 12 minutes. Remove and let cool slightly.

Turn the broil on your oven to the high setting. Place the salmon on a baking sheet and cover with the salt, pepper, garlic powder and smoked paprika. Broil for 5 to 6 minutes, skin side down (if it has skin), until the fish is flakey and opaque. If your salmon filet is very thick, you might need another 1 to 2 minutes of broiling. Let the salmon cool slightly, then flake it with a fork.

To assemble the salad, add the bread cubes, strawberries, tomatoes, and lettuce in a large bowl. Add the salmon over top and add in some of the dressing - a few tablespoons. Sprinkle in the corn. Add in the avocado. Toss well. Taste and season additionally and add what else you'd like - more dressing, salt or pepper!

goat cheese vinaigrette

In a bowl or food processor, whisk together the vinegar, honey, mustard, garlic, lemon juice, herbs, salt and pepper. Whisk or blend in the goat cheese. Stream in the olive oil while whisking or blending until the dressing is emulsified. Use on the salad or store in a sealed container in the fridge for a few days.

Be sure to follow howsweeteats on instagram and tag your recipes with #howsweeteats! You can also post a photo of your recipe to the howsweeteats facebook page. I appreciate you so much!

So crunchy too!

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Weekend Snapshots.

peeks from our weekend!

my BLT and eddie’s pizza from iron born at smallman galley. soooo good.

this iced lavender vanilla latte is good, but shhhh i have a better one coming out in my next book!

max finished almost every single bite of these pancakes. i obnoxiously captured many bites.

this is one of the chicken sandwiches from coop de ville, like we had a picklesburg a few weeks ago.

max asks me often to “take a picture!” he does both “funny” and “happy” faces, made up by him.

can’t ever beat the waffle cones from millie’s. best i’ve ever tried!

xoxoxo. so much love.

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Currently Crushing On.

Hey hi hello! How are you? How was your WEEK?!

This week!! It was FULL of super busy work days, nonstop. I feel like I haven’t caught up with life for over a week, so I’m looking forward to some major relaxation (and reading!) this weekend. Annnnd we just planned a fun trip for two weeks from now, so I can’t even waaaaait.

And in case you missed it, I finally shared the before + afters of our kitchen!

Have a great one. xoxoxo

Favorites of the week:

craving this entire melon and prosciutto platter.

this stunning stone fruit galette.

these are the prettiest blackberry jalapeño margaritas!

this basil cucumber quinoa sounds super refreshing.

tacos al pastor! i love you.

the best looking whole roasted cauliflower i’ve seen.

adorable DIY fruit slice pillows.

the cutest cookies and cocktails party.

5 minute parmesan zucchini. i’m into it!

love this simple DIY cocktail bar.

perfect delicious tzatziki.

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No-Churn Ricotta Ice Cream.

Oh boy. I want to sing to my ice cream.

This ricotta ice cream… I have no words.

See, I can be quite obsessive. I credit this to me being a scorpio, even though I don’t really believe in astrology. Until it comes to myself being a scorpio. And once I get something in my head? It’s not getting out.

Just LOOK at this creamy, dreamy mixture! That’s the no-churn ice cream right before freezing. You don’t have to use a mixer, but I did for ease. It’s super whipped and delicious and perfect. It’s an ice cream DREAM.

How cheesy is that.

I had it in my head that I HAD to make ricotta ice cream. Just had to do it! Obsessively obsessed over it for days.

So I did it.

First, how the heck is this my first ice cream recipe of the year? And it’s already August! I’m majorly slacking and need to up my ice cream game.

Second, I’ve made my fair share of no-churn ice creams. I’ve made blackberry chip and sugar roasted peach pie. I love both, but they definitely have a different consistency from churned ice cream. Not as creamy and custard like. I like hard ice cream, but almost want it to have the semi-soft serve vibe.

I blame Jeni’s. The best ice cream to ever exist!

You know? Churned ice cream just has that super custardy, creamy texture. Sometimes it doesn’t even freeze solid. I love that!

But guess what? While this does freeze solid, the texture is out.of.this.world. It is SO creamy. I feel like you can even see the creaminess in these pictures. It’s by far the best no-churn ice cream I’ve ever made and now I have a new standard.

And it’s not ONLY that. The flavor. The freaking flavor! It’s light but rich. It’s not tangy, but there is just something about it that tastes wonderful and different from your straight up vanilla. I find that ricotta can almost be slightly sweet at times anyway, and that makes it perfect for ice cream.

The only more perfect thing is the topping. Please please please please serve this with a honey drizzle on top! And some toasted, sliced almonds. Oooooh or pistachios. Or cashews! The sweet and crunchy really matches the cold and creamy.

I can’t even handle it.

No-Churn Ricotta Ice Cream

Yield: makes about 1 quart

Total Time: 6 hours

Ingredients:

8 ounces cold heavy cream
16 ounces whole milk ricotta cheese
1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
2 tablespoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt

for serving: honey, toasted almonds, pistachios, cashews

Directions:

Place the cream in the bowl of your electric mixture and beat just until stiff peaks form. Transfer the cream to a bowl and set it aside (you don't need to wash the mixing bowl). Add the ricotta, condensed milk, vanilla extract and salt to the mixing bowl and beat on medium speed until smooth and combined. Turn off the mixer and fold the heavy cream into the ricotta mixture.

Pour the mixture into a freezer-safe container. Freeze for 4 to 6 hours.

After 4 to 6 hours, scoop out the ice cream and top it with honey and your favorite kind of nuts. I find that with no-churn ice cream, it can be really hard to scoop if it's frozen longer than 6 hours, so just let it sit at room temperature for a while before scooping! 

Be sure to follow howsweeteats on instagram and tag your recipes with #howsweeteats! You can also post a photo of your recipe to the howsweeteats facebook page. I appreciate you so much!

Serve in crunchy chocolate dipped cones for the most happiness!

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Mojito Coffee Granita.

It’s totally cool to have a mojito for breakfast.

A mojito coffee granita!

Minty, refreshing, cold and crunchy, icy goodness. That tastes like coffee and melts in your mouth. And is topped with cream! It’s perfection.

You may remember back when I made this fresh mint coffee – I was actually pregnant with Max but had no idea! – and it has ever since become a huge summer favorite of mine. Even throughout the last few months when I’ve been semi-over coffee and just feeling blah about it, I can do a mint simple syrup in my coffee and loooove it.

It’s so refreshing without tasting like toothpaste. You know?

I actually never really considered this to be BREAKFAST of course – because granitas are usually used in the dessert portion of our meals. But really… now that I think about it? What’s so wrong with scraping some of this out of the dish at 7am tomorrow morning and topping it with whipped cream?

And eating it?

For breakfast?

It’s still coffee. Just a different delivery system.

So here’s how you do it. You need some coffee. Brew it. Buy cold brew! You could even use Trader Joe’s coconut cold brew, which I am obsessed with, but that might be a waste because… we all just want to drink it straight. You’re going to make a fresh mint simple syrup, mix it with the coffee and freeze that baby!

Oooooh it is so, so good.

Once you scrape it approximately ten billion times over the next few hours, pile it into a glass and top it with a bit of whipped cream. I like using coconut whipped cream and leaving it unsweetened, but also adding a sprankle of cinnamon over top. Yes. A sprankle.

At the moment, I am loving this more than ice cream. It’s exactly what I want to be eating – something cold and crunchy and delicious, without being too rich or creamy or sweet. You can also control the sweetness level yourself, of course – just depends on how much mint syrup you add.

I want the vehicle for all of my caffeine to look just like this.

Mojito Coffee Granita

Yield: serves 4 to 6

Ingredients:

mojito syrup

1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1 huge handful of fresh mint leaves

granita

2 cups brewed coffee
1/2 cup mint syrup
1 cup cold heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanila extract
cinnamon for sprinkling
fresh mint for garnish



Directions:

mojito syrup

Combine the sugar, water and mint in a saucepan and heat over medium heat. Whisk until the sugar dissolves. Let the mixture come to a simmer and bubble for 1 minute. Turn off the heat and let it cool to room temperature. Remove the mint leaves once cool.

granita

In a 9x13 inch dish, whisk together the coffee and mint syrup. Place the dish in the freezer and freeze for 1 hour. After 1 hour, scrap the coffee mixture with a fork. Freeze again. Every 30 minutes, scrape with a fork to create those small icy bits! I like to do this for 4 to 6 hours, or at least scrape it 3 to 4 times before letting it sit overnight.

Before serving, add the heavy cream to the bowl of your electric mixer and beat until soft peaks form. Beat in the vanilla extract. If you'd like, you can use coconut whipped cream instead!

Serve the granita in cups or bowls and top with the whipped cream and a sprinkle of cinnamon. Garnish with fresh mint and serve!

Be sure to follow howsweeteats on instagram and tag your recipes with #howsweeteats! You can also post a photo of your recipe to the howsweeteats facebook page. I appreciate you so much!

Happiness in a glass!

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Hot Bacon Caprese Salad with Heirloom Tomatoes.

If you eat tomatoes one way this summer, LET IT BE THIS WAY.

Oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh. That is all I have to say.

Aside from “this is a caprese salad with heirloom tomatoes and HOT BACON DRESSING.” Whaaaaat. 

I am noooo stranger to a hot bacon dressing. I made a spinach salad with it years ago for the blog, because it is one of my mom’s (and was one of Mother Lovett’s) favorite things, if not her absolute favorite dressing. She has talked about it since I was a kid and anytime it’s on the menu, it’s ordered.

And!

Just a few months ago, I made an asparagus potato salad with the hot bacon dressing because it’s SO good. It’s smoky but also sweet. The flavor is incredible and it’s more of a vinaigrette that a creamy dressing – and vinaigrettes are my all-time faves.

So when I stumbled upon a bacon caprese salad, I just about died. No, really, I was stunned. Jaw-dropped. I could NOT believe it and was like how on earth did I not think about this?

I mean, a BLT is one of my favorite flavor combinations. The smoky, crunchy bacon with juicy tomatoes is just too good. So the idea of putting that dressing all over perfectly ripe tomatoes AND adding cheese?

DEAD.

Officially.

I’m buried.

Yes yes yes I knooooow I’ve been quite overzealous with my use of tomatoes this season, but how can I help it? This is completely different from any other tomato recipe I’ve shared and hi, we all need it in our lives. Stat.

Ew. I hate that word.

This plate barely needs an explanation. Fresh tomatoes. Crunchy fried bacon, but crumbled and turned into hot bacon dressing. Fresh, fragrant basil. Fresh mozzarella! More cheese please forever and ever.

The flavor is insane. It’s still a salad, so it’s, uh, good for us. It’s the quintessential summer dish. You can make it for a dinner party or for yourself and it’s equally impressive and amazing. Everyone will love you for it… especially yourself. You will love you for it. Get it, get it!

Hot Bacon Caprese Salad with Heirloom Tomatoes









Ingredients:

4 medium heirloom tomatoes, sliced
2 (8-ounce) balls of fresh mozzarella cheese, sliced
1 cup fresh basil
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

hot bacon dressing

3 tablespoons bacon fat
1 garlic clove, minced
3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
2 teaspoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon dijon mustard
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/8 teaspoon salt
3 slices bacon, crumbled




Directions:

Layer the tomatoes, mozzarella slices and fresh basil on a plate or platter however you would like. Season with the salt and the pepper. Drizzle with the hot bacon dressing serve immediately.

hot bacon dressing

Add the bacon grease, minced garlic, vinegar, sugar and mustard to a saucepan over medium-low heat. Whisk constantly until the sugar has dissolved and the dressing slightly emulsifies. Season with the salt and pepper. Before serving, add in the crumbled bacon. You can keep this over low heat while stirring occasionally until ready to serve. I suggest reheating it in a saucepan like so. This is the combo I've come to love over the years, but you can experiment with different vinegars, more bacon fat and other spices too!

Be sure to follow howsweeteats on instagram and tag your recipes with #howsweeteats! You can also post a photo of your recipe to the howsweeteats facebook page. I appreciate you so much!

I could eat that plate single everyday.

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Tuesday Things.

1. I am the lunatic that bought her toddler his own $8 smoothie bowl. How millennial on a scale of 1 to 9 billion is that? Please don’t answer.

2. Writing this as I wait the hour for my glucose test for this pregnancy and figured that they should probably just give us those smoothie bowls instead of the weird drinks. Probably as much sugar in one, RIGHT?! Don’t tell me and spoil my fun.

3. Ummm completely dying because there may be a Sweet Valley High movie?! HELLO. What?! I loved SVU more than Babysitter’s Club!

4. Okay so I’m just super confused with The Bachelorette, even though I didn’t really watch it until last night. It seemed like she really wanted to pick Peter, but since he wouldn’t propose she just settled with the other guy? I mean I know it never works out anyway, but like WTF?

5. The media has made me feel ridiculously, irrationally sad about celeb breakups. Like, I’m still devastated over Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner and now I’m sad over Anna Faris and Chris Pratt. I mean it’s not like I KNOW them. 2017 is the worst.

6. Still cannot handle any horror movie previews on TV, especially late at night. This Annabelle Creation stuff? OMG STOP IT.

7. I always find the best things from Tracy’s lists and last week she shared this bullet journal for mental health. I love it.

8. Just in case you missed it, I shared the before + afters of our kitchen this morning! Also revealing that we are not remodeling people at all and, like, watching HGTV stresses me out. Majorly.

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Kitchen Remodel: Before and After!

Oh haaaay. I am finally showing you the before and afters of our kitchen remodel! Woohoo.

You guys! This might be my most requested post ever.

I go into a little bit of detail in the post, but you can see from the pictures that while the layout is the same, there are some big changes.

And this is the first of a few posts to come, so leave any questions below! I’ll be going in up close and personal about the appliances I chose and doing some video walk throughs in the coming months! 

For a few months, we entertained the idea of taking down the wall between the kitchen and the dining room (the wall on the left side in the photos above) and almost decided to do it. It would have given us so many more options for things we wanted (and when I say “we,” I really just mean me because Eddie could care less about the kitchen and just wants to make sure he can grill a burger, truly), but ultimately we knew that no matter what, it wouldn’t be my dream space. I was super pregnant when we moved in here and while I really love our house, I have no idea how I overlooked some important kitchen details. Maybe I just loved the rest of the house more! I chalk it up to crazy pregnancy hormones and book-release date hormones.

We also figured that putting that much money into the kitchen is something we wouldn’t get back any time soon (it seriously required restructuring a lot of the house) and we don’t know if we will stay here. So we decided to work within the kitchen skeleton that we had and I’m really glad that we did.

A few reasons why we wanted to change things:

The darkness. I don’t even feel like these pictures do justice for just how DARK this kitchen was. I swear it took a toll on our moods, haha. The gloom and doom shade on the walls (which you are probably familiar with if you watched my vlogs before Christmas) coupled with there being NO natural light in the kitchen and with the darker cabinets and counters made the area so, so, SO dark.

Like, I’m not talking about dark for my photography. I still don’t photograph things in my kitchen, nor could I ever, because there is no natural light and unless we chop off the top of our house and install skylights, it isn’t possible.

But just LIVING in this space with so much darkness was crazy. Eddie also LOATHED the pendant lights above the bar area and hated having them on – like they almost hurt his eyes. So at times, it would be even darker!

The two-tiered counter. This was so useless for us. It lessened the counter space, made it so impossible to entertain and cut the room in half. It appeared that we had a lot of counter space, but it wasn’t utilized well. It was all choppy. I’m so short that I could barely set large pots on that top level. The countertops were also different shades and super dark. Not that I’d never choose dark finished or counters – I actually don’t mind them. But these were so warm and dark. I live for cool tones.

And most importantly, I wanted a space to be able to shoot videos and do projects that required me IN the kitchen. Spoiler alert: I did this last Friday. (!!!!!!!) That was impossible before. I have no desire or plans to have a studio kitchen and wanted to make a space I loved workable and enjoyable!

The main thing I wanted was lighter cabinets, a one-level center island and a cooktop in the center.

Yes, I am in the camp that wants an all-white kitchen. I always have. Even before pinterest existed! Going full blown white wasn’t really an option here unless we want to redo a lot of other things in our home, so we went with this color call chai. Makes me want to eat the cabinets. CHAI LATTE yes please. It’s a taupe-y shade.

And obviously, a change of paint color! I believe the color on the walls now is called west highland white.

(I had a ton of trouble trying to capture this entire island with my lens! Going to get a wide angle one for better pics and videos of the kitchen soon. This one above is just with my phone.)

So, we moved most of the appliances to the opposite side of the island and put the cooktop in the center. This cooktop is AMAZING. Holy cow. It boils water in moments. I’m going to give you a really in depth look at the appliances in a few weeks! I did partner with KitchenAid for my appliances and let me tell you… after having years of subpar appliances, these are insane. I knew I wanted to go with KitchenAid because my cousin Lacy’s condo was done entirely in KitchenAid appliances and I’ve been obsessed for years. I can’t even take how much I love them.

The bar stools are from Wayfair and are called the Ocean City Swivel. I love that they swivel the entire way around! Wayfair graciously sent these to me to have in our kitchen.

Having the counter down to one level has opened up this room SO much. Our entire bottom floor is an open plan and it’s so much brighter, lighter and airy. We love it! Everyone who comes in is like “oh my gosh, this looks so much brighter and bigger!”

And that’s that! I think with remodeling there are always pros and cons since you are working with the space you have. We are NOT remodeling people and I doubt we will ever remodel anything ever again while living it, but I am loving this space now for entertaining and sharing! The mood in our kitchen is so much happier now. xo

[special thanks to KitchenAid for partnering with me for appliances! I can’t wait to tell you more about them because they are changing my LIFE. and thanks to Wayfair for partnering us with us for the barstools!]

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Thai Skillet Pork Chops with Coconut Rice.

Making Monday full of flavor is my goal!

I’m very sloooowwwly coming out of the weekend haze over here. It felt more like October over the weekend than August and I had a major Sunday blues moment last night. WHY do I still get the Sunday blues when I’m not longer in school, working for myself and love what I do? WHO KNOWS.

And that’s why today I’m going to tell you allllll about how these Thai pork chops are my new favorite dinner everrrr.

I mean, favorite for now.

Pork chops are something I still don’t make regularly because I’m always so afraid of overcooking them. My mom makes PERFECT pork chops every single time and is really the only person I know who gets them right. She always uses boneless, center cut chops and they are rarely dry. In fact, they are never dry! That was my goal here.

The only different here is that I didn’t bread them – and we always bread them! And this was definitely an experiment to place on the table.

Eddie loves pork chops and while Max has only had them once or so, he loves them too. I wanted to give us a NEW and non-boring dinner option because I feel like I’ve been making the same things each week. With the launch of Sweet Peas Meals, I’ve been waiting to get my meal plans moving and grooving, but I’ve been so swamped that I haven’t made it a priority YET.

Like every single week! I’ve been pulling out the same old recipes and falling into a routine and I’m just like NOOOOO we need something exciting over here.

So before I jump head first into our August plan, I had to go ahead and make something NEW.

The base of flavor here uses my favorite Thai marinade – of course. I can’t seem to ever use anything else when I want a Thai-inspired dish and it’s just SO good. Super peanutty and coconutty! Perfection in my book.

And, hello, the BEST part?! Well, in my mind… the best part? The coconut rice! I love making this rice. I make it constantly. Eddie eats it even though he doesn’t love coconut since it doesn’t have any coconut texture in it. The coconut flavor is mild, but just enough that after one bite you’re like… “this is good, what is that?!”

So now, no more weekend blues!

Thai Skillet Pork Chops

Yield: serves 4

Total Time: 45 minutes

Ingredients:

1 cup sweet chili sauce
1/2 cup rice vinegar
1/2 cup lite canned coconut milk
3 tablespoons brown sugar
4 garlic cloves, pressed or finely minced
2 tablespoons creamy peanut butter
2 teaspoon-sized knobs of ginger, grated
2 limes, juiced
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 pound boneless, skinless pork chops
salt and pepper for seasoning
1 tablespoon coconut oil
1/2 cup chopped peanuts for topping
chopped fresh cilantro for garnish
fresh lime wedges for spritzing

coconut jasmine rice

1 1/2 cups white jasmine rice
1 cup canned coconut milk
1 cup water
1 tablespoon coconut oil
1/4 teaspoon salt



Directions:

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

Combine the chili sauce, vinegar, coconut milk, sugar, garlic, ginger, peanut butter, soy sauce and lime juice in a saucepan, whisking to combine. Bring to a boil, the reduce to a simmer and cook for 2 to 3 minutes until slightly thickened.

Heat an oven-safe skillet over medium-high heat. Sprinkle the pork chops with a generous amount of salt and pepper. Add the coconut oil to the skillet and once it's melted, add the pork chops. Brown on both sides until golden, about 1 to 2 minutes per side. Pour half (or as much as you'd like) of the peanut sauce into the skillet. Place the skillet in the oven and bake the pork chops for 20 minutes. I usually bake 15 minutes covered, and the last 5 uncovered.

Serve the pork chops with extra sauce if you'd like, a garnish or cilantro, peanuts and fresh lime wedges.

coconut jasmine rice

Heat a saucepan over medium-high heat and add rice, coconut milk, water and salt. Stir, then bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low, cover and let cook for 15-18 minutes, until liquid is absorbed. Fluff with a fork, then stir in coconut oil.

(Note: My favorite jasmine rice is the brown jasmine rice from Trader Joe's - all brands may have different cook times. Adjust the liquid and cook time according to your directions.)

Be sure to follow howsweeteats on instagram and tag your recipes with #howsweeteats! You can also post a photo of your recipe to the howsweeteats facebook page. I appreciate you so much!

Annnnd I think a coconut margarita would pair juuust perfectly.

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