Stuffed glazed pork chops - Menu item #11

Hey Friends!  We're back.  Sorry we missed you.  One of the Designer Diner Divas went missing, in search of warm weather, sunshine, and sandy beaches.  We are back and designing up a storm.

Tonight's dinner is a definite addition to our list of Top 10 favorites.

We started off by cooking white rice and adding Italian seasoning (in the tube) and French Thyme into the water while cooking.  Once almost completely done we tossed in craisins and chopped walnuts.

Then we created the glaze for the pork chops.  We started with a pineapple / apricot jam then added a bit of pear juice to thin it.  Then to cut the sweetness, we added about 1/4 cup molasses, a few dollops of Thai peanut sauce, and a bit of soy sauce.  And just because it was still missing something, we added a splash of A1 steak sauce to make the sauce 'pop'!  Who knew that adding a bit of steak sauce to something could make it go from blah to WOW!

We took thick cut pork chops, sliced them length wise and stuffed them with the rice mixture and added small chunks of brie cheese and pinned them closed with toothpicks.  We spooned the remaining rice around the pork chops in a baking pan and then poured the glaze over everything.

We baked the pork chops and rice uncovered at 350 for about 30 minutes and let it stand a few minutes to let it finish cooking. 

What can I say.  IT WAS FANTASTIC! 

Even the resident doubters who have avoided trying any of the previous dishes had a bite or two and gave it a tentative thumbs up.  ;-)  I guess we expected higher accolades.  But what do they know.....they think vanilla ice cream with chocolate sauce is gourmet dining and is as adventurous as they get in their food choices.

That's all for now.  Tune in next week for our Monday night Football menu.

Bacon and Spinach wrapped tofu - Menu item #9

Ok gang, this was probably the MOST bizarre combination of ingredients we've played with to date!  Our first ingredient was tofu.  Bacon soon followed.  To make it healthy (haha) we through in some spinach.  So here's how it went......

In olive oil, we sauteed onion, fresh garlic, mushrooms, and tossed in the spinach at the end to lightly saute the spinach.  We spread that over the bottom of a baking dish.  Then we drizzled a sauce of mayo, minced garlic, and Sriracha hot chili sauce.

Then on to the tofu.  We cut extra firm tofu into large size french fries, wrapping each with fresh spinach leaves and bacon.  Securing both ends with toothpicks.  This is really hard to do and it doesn't look pretty.  Trust us, it'll taste amazing!  Those were placed on the spinach mixture in the pan.  More of the hot sauce was drizzled over each tofu strip.

Bake at 350 for approximately 25 minutes (or one bottle of wine), until the bacon looks almost done.  Then top with slices of swiss cheese.  Bake approximately 10 minutes until the cheese starts melting, then add pine nuts and finish cooking for about 5 minutes.

Remove and let sit to meld flavors and cool off....and more wine.  ;-)

We both started out thinking there is no way this would even be edible.  We were astounded at how good it turned out.  We even used the left over sauce for a little dipping.  YUM!!!!

Apricot Ginger Teriyaki marinated chicken - Menu item #8

Another fabulous dinner!  Time to add another notch to our wooden spoon!    We started with chicken breasts marinated for a few days in an Apricot Ginger Teriyaki glaze, from Lake Chelan Winery.  We then added chopped pineapple and the remaining marinade to the chicken and baked it.  We wanted to add a little tropical spice to the meal so we steamed white rice with coconut milk, water, chopped pineapple, and red chili paste.  Then to give it a tropical crunch we served the chicken over the rice, and dusted everything with a mixture of darkly toasted coconut and macadamia nuts.

We did serve it with wine.  But the wine just couldn't compete!

This was amazingly flavorful!  Light and tasty.  It was one of those meals that you could eat until you were sick.  Good thing we stopped, otherwise we wouldn't be able to enjoy it again.  Thank goodness for leftovers!

Glazed Kabobs - Menu item #7

Today's ingredient was a glaze.  We started with honey, added brown sugar and orange juice concentrate.  Then to spice things up a bit, we added A1 Steak sauce, chili powder, and red pepper flakes.  Heavy emphasis on the pepper flakes. POW!  These were whisked together until we had the just right combination of sticky, sweet, and Pop.  Then we had to increase the quantities because we didn't have enough.  Note to self....be sure there is enough to baste all your kabobs.

Since we were focusing on the glaze, the kabob ingredients were fairly simple and straightforward.  We used chicken, shrimp, mushrooms, red peppers, onion, zucchini, tomato, and pineapple.

Just for kicks and giggles (no wine was served for the giggles), we basted a few kabobs with a bottled grilling sauce.  It was unanimous, OURS ROCKED!  The flavor combination was so much better than what came out of the bottle.  Again, we'll be fighting over the leftovers.  Sorry TJ and Charles!  ;-)

Captain Crunch Shrimp - Menu item #2

OK.  By now, I'm sure you are wondering about Captain Crunch as a breading for shrimp?!  It could be pretty good or it could be completely disgusting.  Let me tell you, we were amazed at how yummy it turned out.  Here's how we did it.  We wanted to try something a bit unconventional but one of us (Kathy)  ;-) doesn't like coconut.  What could we do to get the crunchy and salty sweet taste combination?  After coating the shrimp with an egg and milk mixture, we breaded them with chopped up roasted peanuts and crunched up Captain Crunch.  Then we wok fried them.  We then made up a pineapple salsa from scratch, using fresh pineapple, tomatoes, red onion, cilantro paste and red chili paste.

Once the white rice was steamed, dinner was served.  Pineapple salsa over steamed rice, with the breaded shrimp on top.  I have to admit that this was truly gourmet restaurant quality!  The taste combination was incredible.

The pineapple salsa is so good and easy to throw together, it has already become a favorite at our get togethers.

We'll keep posting as long as we keep creating.  Check back soon and often to see what's for dinner next time.

How this all got started--1st ingredient sun dried tomatoes - Menu item #1

Venture back in time with us, as we reminisce about the first experimental kitchen.....it all started with a simple question....what came you make with sun dried tomatoes???  The obvious answer, of course, is pizza.  But let's make it a bit more interesting....and designer diner was started.....

So taking one ingredient, in this case, sun dried tomatoes, we created a dining masterpiece.  On a fresh pizza dough (not a boboli, or premade crust), we spread the dough with pesto on half and sun dried tomato pesto on the other half. Then we started adding the toppings.....fresh sliced mushrooms, grilled chicken, artichokes, onions, black olives and of course, the sun dried tomatoes.....Must not forget the cheese!  Grated fresh parmesan and a combination of asiago, fontina and provolone.  Baked until bubbly, we supremely enjoyed our first creative invention.  We hope you enjoy reading (and experimenting) as much as we enjoyed creating/eating.

Welcome to Designer Diner!

Hi and welcome to our blog!  We are Denise and Kathy, a couple of high school friends, recently reconnected after a number of years of 'life' in between.  Through random trial and error, we've discovered that we both like to experiment with food, flavors, and unique combinations of both.  Join us as we experiment weekly, taking one main ingredient, such as a spice, a meat, a veggie...and building a meal from there.

We've experimented for about a month now and have shared results with friends and family to rave reviews, to the extent that they are begging for invitations.  Now we want to share it with you.

What makes this experimental kitchen so much fun is the use of random ingredients to make insanely good meals.  One thing you will not find in our kitchen are measuring utensils of any kind.  Flavor is all done by taste.  For example, did you ever think to bread shrimp with Captain Crunch and peanuts?  Well we did, and it turned out fabulous!

Join us next week as we take our 'token' ingredient - tofu - and dress it up deliciously!  Stay tuned as we recap some of our favorite experiments so far.