Walnut crusted pork with honey balsamic glaze

This post was created around my desire to cook the honey balsamic glaze I saw in this Fried Caprese Bombs post, developed by host the toast main blogger. I stumbled across a picture of these on reddit and really wanted to try the glaze. I also want to try the Caprese Bombs, might try a baked version in the future. Anyway, so talking about the glaze and pork lead to a suggestion for a walnut crust and goat cheese and here we are today with a delicious dinner.

I modified the glaze since I was running low on balsamic vinegar. Feel free to follow the original which calls for ¾ Cups balsamic, I did ½ cup balsamic and ¼ cup red wine vinegar and it had fantastic flavor, so go with whatever is in your cupboard.

I highly recommend that you pair this pork with the sweet potato and apple hash I posted earlier. If you do, then I would also recommend serving the pork with some crumbled goat cheese, between the deliciously sweet glaze (that I would like to put on vanilla ice cream in the future) and the sweet tasting hash the salty goat cheese is a great balance.

Hope you like this dish! The little extra effort is definitely worth it, and walnuts are great for your health, so enjoy.

Total cooking time: 30 minutes

Servings: 4

Ingredients needed for this well-balanced plate:

One pot chicken and rice

Who doesn’t love a one pot dinner? Or really, who doesn’t love only having one pot to clean after dinner? Truthfully I cooked this in one large skillet, not a pot, but don’t hold that against me.

This chicken and rice is simple and delicious. Have a nice relaxing drink on hand to have while the rice simmers and you are ready for a great night. This keeps very well for leftovers the next day or two, so feel free to double this recipe. You can also add a bit of saffron if that is something you keep in your kitchen, it’s not necessary for a delicious dish, but it does add great flavor so feel free to try it both ways.

Total cooking time: One hour, with plenty of time to relax while the rice cooks

Servings: Four servings

Ingredients needed for this well-balanced plate:

Chicken and vegetable skewers

Chicken and vegetable skewers are here, hooray. This is my first skewer post this season, but it won’t be my last. Skewers are a great way to portion out both meat and vegetables, and the seasoning combinations are endless. I am looking forward to trying out some Grilled Moroccan Vegetable Skewers from Natasha’s Kitchen soon.

These skewers have one of my favorite simple seasonings; they have a nice fresh garlic and lime flavor to them. The following recipe is for the oven, but I will start grilling soon. If you want to grill these instead of roast them in the oven then follow the recipe and switch the cooking method to the grill.

Total cooking time: 40 minutes

Servings: Four lunch servings

Ingredients needed for this well-balanced plate:

Chicken tacos with healthy refried beans and Mexican style corn on the cob

I made this delicious Cinco de Mayo inspired meal this Sunday so I could have it up in time for those of you looking for a festive and healthy dinner this Tuesday. I also made it so Jason and I could eat something delicious before going to see the new avengers movie; the hulk is my favorite. Feel free to cook this healthy meal for your Cinco de Mayo celebration and balance it out with a delicious margarita!

The beans are a little spicy, just remember more jalapeno seeds means more heat, so adjust accordingly. The recipe is for 8 servings of beans, I like to have them left over to serve with eggs at breakfast or in a quesadilla at lunch time. You could even just have them alone for a little snack the next day. The chicken in this recipe is one of my favorites, I use this in a few different dishes since it’s so simple with a ton of flavor. The corn is similar to a traditional Mexican corn on the cob, but I really don’t like mayonnaise so you won’t find any in the recipe below. Hope you enjoy!

Total cooking time: 45 minutes

Servings: 4 serving of chicken tacos and corn, 8 servings of beans (they make great leftovers)

Ingredients needed for this well-balanced plate: