She ate that?

It is always a surprise and joy when Peanut eats dinner (and we are not serving mac and cheese!). More surprising, is you can almost guarantee is Peanut eats, AW will find every reason in the book not to, or drag dinner out into a 2 hours event. Oh well can't win them all right?

Last night's dinner was delicious! We have been testing our different pork recipes for our upcoming Pig & Pinot party, this one had me at the name: Grilled tequila-lime pork chops. This is the recipe (it's from the Chicago Tribune) and I even liked it and I don't like barbecue sauce. The kids ate it, although we cooked there's plain with sauce. It's a Sunday night dinner because it takes a long time (2 hours to brine!) and has a ton of ingredients (21!!!!) but it was well worth the work to see peanut consume something that was not a cheese, or cheese flavored product!
-------------------------------------------------

Honey Tequila Lime Barbecue Sauce
Serving Size: 2 cups

* This recipe easily doubles (or halves as we did!) and will keep in the fridge for several week. Goes with poultry, shrimp or pork.

Ingredients:
1 1/4 c. water
1 can (6oz) tomato paste
1/4c light brown sugar
Juice of 2 limes
3 Tbsp honey
2 Tbsp tequila (optional)
1 sm. Serrano chili, seeded, finely chopped (optional)
1 large garlic clove crushed
1 1/2 Tsp. chili powder
2 Tsp salt
2 Tbsp finely chopped onion
1 1/2 Tsp Worcestershire sauce
1/4 Tsp pepper

1. Put all ingredients into a small, heavy saucepan. Simmer over very low hear, stirring often, 45 to 60 minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper. cool.

------------------------------------------------------------------

Grilled Tequila-Lime Pork Chops
Makes 8 servings

* doubles easily for a crowd. Add soaked wood chips to the grill if desired for a rich smoky flavor (we did, it was excellent!)

Ingredients:
1 quart luke warm water
1/4 cup each: sugar, coarse salt
1/4 cup tequila (optional)
Finely grated zest of 2 large limes, plus juice of 1 lime
3 cloves of garlic crushed
1 Serrano chili, finely chopped
1/2 Tsp cracked black pepper
8 bone-in center-cut or rib pork chops
1 cup honey tequila barbecue sauce (recipe above)

1. Mix all ingredients (except chops and sauce) in a large stainless steel or glass bowl. Stir until sugar and salt are dissolved. Add chops; cover with glass plate or bowl to keep the chop submerged (we put it all in a large Ziploc bag after mixing). refrigerate 2-4 hours.
2. Prepare a grill for medium-hot indirect hear. remove chops from brine. Discard brine. Pat chops dry. place chops on cooler portion of heated grill. cover grill; cook until almost firm and juices near the bone run clear, 140 degrees on an instant-read thermometer, 15 to 20 minutes. Brush heavily with sauce. Cook turning once and brushing sauce, until nicely glazed, about 5 minutes.
   

---------------------------------------------------------------

But the amazing thing is Peanut ate it....we will definitely have to try this brine-ing thing again! Or maybe it was the tequila?