Lamb Chops with Balsamic Reduction

Wow , I have really been slacking on updating this oh so fabulous blog of mine. Well here I go. I made this dish awhile back using a recipe from allrecipes.com . The lamb chops turned out delicious so tender and juicy with so much flavor. To complete the meal I made fresh steamed broccoli, cornbread muffins and mashed potatoes yummy comfort food and about a billion calories oh well . The hubbie loved these lamb chops so I will probably keep this recipe in rotation in our kitchen.

• 3/4 teaspoon dried rosemary
• 1/4 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• salt and pepper to taste
• 4 lamb chops (3/4 inch thick)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/4 cup minced shallots
• 1/3 cup aged balsamic vinegar
• 3/4 cup chicken broth
• 1 tablespoon butter
• In a small bowl or cup, mix together the rosemary, basil, thyme, salt and pepper. Rub this mixture onto the lamb chops on both sides. Place them on a plate, cover and set aside for 15 minutes to absorb the flavors.
• Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Place lamb chops in the skillet, and cook for about 3 1/2 minutes per side for medium rare, or continue to cook to your desired doneness. Remove from the skillet, and keep warm on a serving platter.
• Add shallots to the skillet, and cook for a few minutes, just until browned. Stir in vinegar, scraping any bits of lamb from the bottom of the skillet, then stir in the chicken broth. Continue to cook and stir over medium-high heat for about 5 minutes, until the sauce has reduced by half. If you don't, the sauce will be runny and not good. Remove from heat, and stir in the butter. Pour over the lamb chops, and serve.

Yum Yum and then some Brown Sugar Meatloaf...And Cauliflower mashed

Ok, so keeping with the low carb vibe wanted to make a nice good comfort food dinner. So, I had some ground lamb on hand decided to throw it together for some awesome meatloaf. I searched on all recipes.com and found the top rated recipe for meat loaf and used this as a base and added a few other things and changed it a bit. This recipe called Brown Sugar meat loaf had 4.5 stars and some 2,800 reviews/ratings ...hmm all those cooks cant be wrong? Right?

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup ketchup
• 1 1/2 pounds lean ground lamb (you can use lean ground beef or ground turkey)
  
• 1/4 cup milk
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 3/4 cup finely crushed Ritz buttery crackers
• 1/2 green pepper diced
• 1 large garlic clove minced
  
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic power
• 1.tablespoon olive oil
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
  

Directions: Mix brown sugar and ketchup in bowl and set aside. Ok so here is what I did differently than the recipe on allrecipes.com. Ok , so in a non-stick frying pan add 1 tablespoon olive oil, then add the garlic , onion , and green pepper saute till done. About 8 mins. In a separate larger bowl mix all the other spices, crackers, milk , with the ground meat. (everything but brown sugar mix) .Then add the onion and green pepper mix to the meat. Toss together and add to baking loaf pan. Top with the brown sugar mix. Also if you add 2 pieces of plain bread doesn't matter what kind to the bottom of the loaf pan before you add the meat it will soak up the oil from the meat and make the meatloaf a little healthier. Then discard the bread after cooking.

I served this with Cauliflower mashed (yum taste just like mashed potatoes ) low-fat crescent rolls and zucchini squash. Delicious !

Ok so I do not have a separate pic of the cauliflower mashed so I will combining this post. So last week I was watching FitTV and saw Blaine's low Carb Kitchen. And he made what looked like some yummy cauliflower mashed. Basically for those that do not know its an alternative for mashed potatoes made with cauliflower and taste just like mashed potatoes. Great for low carb dieters. So , anyways was watching fit tv and became instantly inspired to try it. Little did I know this would be so easy and so tasty. I didn't use his exact recipe I kinda just made up my own as I went along and it turned out great.

3 cups cauliflower (approx. 1 head)
2/3 cup. light fat free sour cream
3 tablespoons low-fat butter spread
salt and pepper to taste
1/3 cup. grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup low fat cheddar cheese
1 tsp. paprika
1 small garlic clove .
Directions
Trim hard stems and leaves from cauliflower. Cut florets from stem (discard stem) and place in steamer . Steam until tender about 15mins.

Place hot cauliflower and garlic in food processor with large blade. Pulse while adding butter and sour cream. Add salt and pepper to taste. Spoon mash into 1-quart oven-proof casserole dish and add in Parmesan cheese and mix. Then add cheddar cheese to top. Add a dash of paprika. Bake in oven for about 7mins. until cheese is bubbly.

This meal was soooooooo good .

Lamb Samosa

Ingredients

• 1 (14 ounce) package spring roll wrappers
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 pounds ground Lamb
• 1 leek, chopped
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 2 teaspoons ground cardamom
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon water, or as needed
• 1 quart oil for frying

Directions

Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat.Add onions, leek and garlic, and cook, stirring until the onions are transparent. Add ground beef, and cook until about halfway done. Season with cumin,cardamom, salt and pepper. Mix well, and continue cooking until beef has browned.In a small dish or cup, mix together the flour and water to make a thin paste. Using one wrapper at a time, fold into the shape of a cone. Fill the cone with the meat mixture, close the top, and seal with thepaste. Repeat until wraps or filling are used up. Heat the oil to 365 degrees F ( 170 degrees C) in a deep-fryer or deep heavy pot. There should be enough oil to submerge the wraps. Fry the Samosa a few at a time until golden brown. You can also make these with ground beef or turkey. This recipe is actually the Somalian version of Samosa not the Indian . I prefer the Somalian recipe , the combination of spices are makes it soo soo good.