Nom Nom Nom… All the Way Home (Portsmouth, NH & Providence, RI)

On our roadtrip back from Maine, we made a lunch stop in Portsmouth, NH and then did an overnight in Providence, RI.  I have always loved Portsmouth, however, it started to rain heavily midway through lunch, so we didn’t have much time for sight seeing.  And then Providence, RI seemed like a good idea… about midway home, in RI, known for being a lovely town… but I just. didn’t. get it.

Back to Portsmouth… after our fantastic tour of Maine craft beers, we decided to continue our new found tradition and stopped in at the Portsmouth Brewery for lunch.  We, of course, ordered beer and mine was quite tasty.  If we hadn’t been driving, we would have totally gone for the paddle of beer that had something like 12 small flights to try their stash.  Bummer.  We did have some good grub, however (and that’s what you’re here for anyway… isn’t it?)

Mike ordered what I thought was a cheesesteak… but I can’t find it on the menu. Hmm.  I remember him liking it very much though!

I chose a special pork dish which had a peach chutney.  DELISH! I was quite impressed that a brewery did such a good job with this dish.

Overall, it’s a great place to have a beer and the food ain’t bad!

Total Nom Points: 6.5 out of 7

_________________________________

As soon as we pulled into Providence, I knew we were in trouble.  I had mistakenly thought it was on a lovely part of water, however, it looked like mostly highways.  We asked the concierge at the hotel where to go for a night stroll, and he sent us up in some direction that made us feel quite scared… and we live in NYC!  It was just so seedy.  We wound up going to see a movie that night… in a mall movie theater.  Pathetic I know.

On the way back from the movie theater we decided to continue our brewery themed trip and tried out the Trinity Brewhouse.  

We sat outside and it was a nice night… but the food literally took SO LONG to come out (and the restaurant was pretty much empty when we arrived) that it actually cooled up and the wind picked up outside.  Uncomfortable at best.

Mike ordered the pizza… big mistake.  It was heavy and greasy and just hardly worth eating.

Then mine came out… ugh… even worse!  Do you see the REFLECTION off those sweet potato fries?  That’s how greasy they were.  And soggy.  Ew.  The sandwich was a corned beef reuben that sounded good… but was basically flavorless.  How do you screw up a reuben and fries?  GA-ROSS

This place was crap.  Seriously.  I’m usually quite nice in my reviews, but I just can’t be.  It was utter crap.

Total Nom Points: 2 out of 10

_________________________________

The next day we decided to take a recommendation from a family friend who had lived in Providence for a while.  She is a chef, so I figured she couldn’t steer us wrong.  This was when we saw the college part of town (Thayer Street).  This was much lovelier an area than where we were the night before.  

The recommendation was for a pizza place called Antonio’s on Thayer.  I was told it would be the “best pizza I’d ever have in my ginger life.”  
I chose mushroom and hawaiian. 

Mike went with a white chicken pesto slice.

And a chicken cordon bleu.

So how does this compare in my ginger life?  It was good, but not THE BEST.  I did enjoy it, however, and compared to the other place we ate in Providence, this was TOPS!

Total Nom Points: 6.5 out of 10

_______________________________

This sadly ended Mike and my excursion in Maine.  In a strange twist of fate, however, I AM GOING BACK NEXT WEEK with the family!  YAAY! 

Honey Glazin

I had to use both a pork loin and shrimp by the same day and, unfortunately, I found myself on that day.  I’m always nervous about letting food go past expiration dates, but pork and seafood are on the top of my fearful list. I had a Weight Watchers recipe for a honey glazed pork loin so I figured I’d just double the sauce and use it for the shrimp.  It works great for both!  So much flavor for just 4 points.  We paired it with some garlicky spinach and quinoa. Nom Nom Nom.

Pork loin is so easy to cook and so tasty!

The shrimp in the same sauce was also sooooo tasty.

Full pot of raw spinach and garlic:

Reduces to tiny bit of cooked spinach and garlic in the same pot.

(I’m always so impressed with how the volume of raw spinach reduces to the volume of wilted spinach)

Full plate with quinoa.

The sauce was soooo good over the quinoa!

____________________
RECIPES
____________________

Honey Glazed Pork Tenderloin (Just use the same sauce for the shrimp!)
4 points!

Ingredients:

• 16 ounces Extra Lean Port Tenderloin
• 1/2 cup soy sauce, low sodium
• 2 cloves garlic — minced
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 cup honey
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon sesame seeds


Instructions:

1. Trim excess fat from pork. Tie it to make it even shape. Place in a heavy plastic bag.
2. Mix the soy sauce, garlic, and ginger. Add to bag. Coat pork well. Marinade for 2 hours or over night in refrigerator.
3. Remove pork from marinade. Pat dry.
4. Combine honey and sugar. Brush over pork. Coat with sesame seeds.
5. Roast for 20-30 minutes at 375 degrees F.
6. Slice thinly and serve.

An easy and delicious evening meal

Mike and I decided to cook last Friday night.  Originally I intended to make my famous Kasha Varnishkas, however, the grocery store near me didn’t have any Kasha, so we had to make new plans. 

We opted for a menu of “Awesome Honey Glazed Pork Chops” (recipe courtesy of allrecipes.com), roasted butternut squash with chestnuts, and a simple, yet delicious Rice-A-Roni Long Grain & Wild Rice.  The entire meal took about 15 minutes to prep, however, the roasting of the squash and the cooking of the Rice-A-Roni made the entire meal cookable in a little over an hour.  If you need a good meal and don’t want to put too much effort into it, I highly recommend this combination! 

The hardest part was the squash, which had to be cut up into little pieces.  Thankfully my brandy new pealer took the skin off the squash with ease.  The problem, however, became cutting the slippery squash! 

It all worked out in the end, however:

The leftover squash and chestnuts with the honey pecan sauce were absolutely incredible the next day.

Without further ado, here are the recipes:

_______________________________________________

Awesome Honey Pecan Pork Chops (check the link to see it and the comments on allrecipes.com)

INGREDIENTS (Nutrition)

• 1 1/4 pounds boneless pork loin, pounded thin (we used thin cut pork chops)
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour for coating
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1/4 cup chopped pecans (we doubled this to 1/2 cup since it didn’t look like enough)

DIRECTIONS

1. In a shallow dish, mix together flour, salt and pepper. Dredge pork cutlets in the flour mixture.
2. In a large skillet, melt butter over medium-high heat. Add chops, and brown both sides. Transfer to a warm plate.
3. Mix honey and pecans into the pan drippings. Heat through, stirring constantly. Pour sauce over cutlets.

 _______________________________________________

Roasted Butternut Squash and Chestnuts
(This was originally a recipe for Sweet Potatoes that I revised slightly. Thanks to Aunt Linda for the inspiring original recipe)

Ingredients:
Squash or Sweet Potatoes
Steamed/cooked Chestnuts (I buy them in a box from Trader Joes and Asian Markets usually sell them)
Salt & Pepper
Olive Oil

Directions:

NOTE:  Start them in a cold oven, it has something to do with getting them warm, but not too quickly
 
Cover a cookie sheet with foil.  Spray with Pam.
 
For squash: Peal it.  For sweet potatoes: Scrub potatoes well.  Dry with a paper towel. Cut off skinny ends.

Slice into pieces about ½ inch thick.
 
Dump into bowl and add some salt and pepper.  Not too much.  Then pour about 1 ½ tsp of Extra Virgin Olive Oil into you hands and rub both sides of each round. (I stirred them all in a bowl and made sure it was evenly coated… it turned out fine)
 
Place in single layer on the cookie sheet.  Cover tightly with foil.  Put into cold oven.    Turn oven to 425.  Bake for 30 mins.
 
Remove from oven and remove the top layer of foil.   Return to oven for another 15-25 mins, until the bottom edges of the rounds are golden brown.
 
Remove from oven and flip over each round.  Return to oven for another 15-18 mins.

Throw the chestnuts in with the squash and roast another 3-5 minutes until bottoms of the squash are golden brown and chestnuts are warmed.
 
Try not to eat them all before sitting down to dinner.

 _______________________________________________

Rice-A-Roni

Buy.
Read.
Follow directions.
Eat.

 _______________________________________________

Happy Nomming!