Grilled Bourbon Glazed Pork Chops

Pork chops drowned in a boozy sauce, 

so good you will want to lick the plate--

Need I say more.

Grilled Bourbon Glazed Pork Chops

adapted from Southern Living

1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar

3 tbs Dijon mustard

2 tbs soy sauce

2 tbs bourbon

1/2 tsp salt 

1/4 tsp black pepper

6- pork chops (1 inch thick) 

In a shallow dish, whisk together the brown sugar, Dijon mustard, soy sauce, bourbon, salt, and pepper.  Add the pork chops, cover and marinate for about 30 minutes to an hour, turning once.  Remove the pork from the marinade; reserve the marinade.  Preheat the grill to medium-high heat.  Grill the pork to desired doneness, the internal temp should be between 145 and 160.  Meanwhile in a small sauce pan bring the reserved marinade to a boil in a small sauce pan, and cook for 2 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Pour over the pork chops just before serving.

Milky Way Cake

It has been way too long since my last post, but now I'm back--Be patient with me, I have a ton of recipes I need to get caught up on. 

So this weekend I had another birthday, my thirty first birthday to be exact.  And you can't celebrate a birthday without cake--and this one is really sweet!  It's like a cross between a caramel and a chocolate cake.  I've heard people say it's better than sex, but I've never said that.  But it is a really good cake!

OK--Now nobody ruin this cake for me by figuring up the calories and fat.  I mean you know there has to be a lot--since there are eight, yes! EIGHT(8)! Milky Way bars in the cake, plus 3 sticks of butter and all that other good stuff.  Let's just say this is not Weight Watchers.

 

Milky Way Cake



For the Cake:
8- 2.05 oz Milky Way Bars
1 & 1/2 cups butter (3 sticks)
2 cups sugar
4 eggs, beaten
2 & 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 & 1/4 cups buttermilk
1 cup chopped pecans
1 tsp vanilla extract

For the Icing:
1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
1/3 cup milk
3 tbs cocoa
1- 16 oz package powdered sugar
1 tbs vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.  Grease a 9x13-inch cake pan; set aside.  In a double boiler melt the Milky Way bars with 1 stick of butter, until just melted;  remove from the heat and let cool slightly.  Meanwhile cream the remaining 2 sticks of butter with the sugar.  Add the beaten eggs and the melted Milky Way bar mixture.  Sift the flour, salt, and baking soda together.  Alternately add the flour and buttermilk to the batter, blending well.  Stir in the pecans and vanilla.  Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 50 to 50 minutes, until the cake is firm to touch.  Let the cake cool for 10 to 15 minutes.  While the cake cools make the frosting.  In a sauce pan over medium heat, bring the butter, milk, and cocoa to a boil, stirring until the butter melts.  Remove from the heat; whisk in the powdered sugar and vanilla.  Immediately pour the icing over the warm cake.

7-Up Pound Cake

For a long time now, this blog has had a real shortage of cake recipes--Honestly cakes are not my thing, I'm not the worst baker, but I'm certainly not the best.  There are still plenty of things for me to learn when it comes to baking.  Michael is the resident baker around here, at least when it comes to cakes.  So Michael made this 7-Up Pound Cake this weekend.  I just observed:D

7-Up Pound Cake

1 cup butter (2 sticks), softened

1/2 cup vegetable shortening

3 cups sugar

5 large eggs

1 & 1/2 tsp lemon extract

1 & 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

3 cups all-purpose flour, sifted

7 oz 7-up soda (any lemon-lime flavored soda will do)

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees.  Grease and flour a 10-inch tube pan; set aside.  In a large bowl, beat the butter, shortening, and sugar until light and fluffy.  Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition.  Add the lemon and vanilla extracts, mixing well to combine.  Add the flour to the butter mixture in three batches, alternately with lemon-lime soda.  Mix well after each addition.  Spoon the batter into the prepared tube pan.  Bake until a tester inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean, about 1 hour and 10 minutes.  Cool the cake in the pan for 30 minutes.  Remove the cake from the pan and let cool completely.

Pound cake is always best topped with fresh summer berries!

I've gotten a little behind on posting and a have a quite a few recipes I need to get posted, it just seems like this time of year there are so many other things I want to do instead of sitting in front of the computer--like this weekend a trip to Oak Mountain, and hiking to Peavine Falls.  Even though the falls were not nearly as impressive as I had hoped--they were nearly dry, only a trickle of water, it was still good to be out in nature.  I'm hoping to get caught up on my posting this coming week.

Hummingbird Bundt Cake with Cream Cheese Glaze

This is one good cake!  Moist, sweet, nutty--Just the perfect cake.  I wish I could claim that I made this beauty, but I didn't.  Michael did, I just ate a few big hunks of it only a tiny sliver of it, since I'm on a diet.  OK, you know I'm joking.

I can remember my mom making hummingbird cakes for different occasions--A big giant four layer cake, covered in cream cheese frosting.  Well this is the "no special occasion needed" version of that cake.

Hummingbird Bundt Cake
adapted from Southern Living

For the cake:
1 &1/2 cups chopped pecans, toasted
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 & 3/4 cup mashed ripe bananas (4 large)
1- 8 oz can crushed pineapple (don't drain)
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 & 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

For the glaze:
4 oz cream cheese, softened
2 cups sifted powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 to 2 tbs milk

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.   Grease and flour a 14-cup bundt pan; set aside.  In a large bowl stir together the flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.  Next stir in the eggs, mashed bananas, pineapple, vegetable oil, and vanilla extract; stir just until dry ingredients are moistened.  Sprinkle 1 cup toasted pecans into the bottom of the bundt pan, spoon the batter over the pecans.  Bake for 1 hour to 1 hour and 10 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean.  Cool the cake in the pan on a wire rack for 15 minutes; remove from the pan and allow to cool completely on the wire rack.  For the glaze, in a bowl combine the softened cream cheese, powdered sugar, vanilla extract and 1 tbs milk; mix with a hand mixer until smooth, adding an additional tbs of milk if needed.  Immediately pour the glaze over the cooled cake, and sprinkle the remaining 1/2 cup of toasted pecans over the top.

I love these old fashioned bundt cakes, cause you have a choice--big slice or little slice?