Bonless Porkchops with Homemade BBQ Sauce & Quinoa Fried Rice

I have been wanting to try Quinoa for the longest time. The last time I was at the grocery store I just bit the bullet and bought some, not knowing how to cook it! I came home and searched the internet for a recipe and found one that I thought would be great. The original recipe was for Chicken Quinoa Fried Rice but I omitted the chicken and just made Quinoa Fried Rice. The recipe is here:
http://www.noshtopia.com/2008/06/recipe-quinoa-c.html

I also had some pork chops so I made a batch of our favorite homemade BBQ sauce. I made Emeril's Baby Back Ribs once and loved the BBQ sauce so much that it is our go to BBQ sauce! It's easy to make so I make a batch and save it in a container to use for other recipes. I decided to try the boneless pork chops in the slow cooker. I trimmed the fat off the pork chops and put come BBQ sauce and cooked it for about 6-7 hours on low and then while I was cooking the Quinoa I turned it to high to thicken the sauce. If the sauce doesn't thicken up you, can put it on the stove in a saucepan and turn it to high heat while constantly stirring until it thickens. The BBQ Sauce Recipe is here:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/oven-barbecued-baby-back-ribs-recipe/index.html

Enjoy!

Spicy Thai Chicken Bites

If you remember back in May I made Korean Fried Chicken that had a delicious Korean sauce. The link to that is here:

http://onesweethobby.blogspot.com/2011/05/korean-fried-chicken-with-chicken-fried.html
I cooked the chicken the same way but changed the sauce. Here is what I did for the sauce: I used Sweet Thai Sauce and Hot Sauce (my favorite is actually Texas Pete and my husband's is Tabasco) but I used Louisiana Hot Sauce for this recipe.

• In a wok or large saute pan add about 1/2 cup or more depending on how much sauce you want on the chicken.
  
• Add as much of your favorite hot sauce to the your desired level of spicy.
• Stir them together while heating the sauce until it starts to bubble.
• Let it bubble for a couple minutes, turning down the heat if it starts to burn.
• When the sauce is thick, add the chicken and mix until the chicken is well coated.

Enjoy.

We enjoy this chicken with some cold potato salad!

Taco Rice

One of my favorite dishes while living in Okinawa was Taco Rice. It is a very popular dish there and you can find it all over the island. If you like tacos and you like rice you definitely need to try this dish! It is very quick and easy.

Ingredients:

Steamed white rice
1 pound ground beef
1 packet taco seasoning (I use Taco Bell)
1/2 cup warm water
Shredded cheese
Shredded lettuce
Diced tomatoes (I omitted because I don't like tomatoes)
Taco sauce

Directions:

• In a rice cooker or on the stove make steamed rice
• Brown the ground beef and drain
• Mix taco seasoning with 1/2 cup of warm water, do not follow the packet instructions
• Cook the beef until the taco seasoning is well absorbed
  
• Now you are ready to start layering: steamed rice, taco meat, shredded cheese, shredded lettuce, diced tomatoes, and finally taco sauce.

* For the sauce:
In Okinawa they have a specific sauce they sell for Taco Rice (which I miss terribly). You can also use taco sauce or spicy ketchup if they have that where you live. Here in Korea they have Ketchup with Tabasco sauce in it. I personally prefer the taco rice sauce or spicy ketchup.

Enjoy!