Best. Pork. Ever.

Last night for dinner, Doug busted out what was probably some of the best tasting pork I've ever had in my entire life.



We found a good deal on some boneless pork loin roasts at the store, so Doug threw together a bitchin' marinade which later translated into grilled meat euphoria. For the marinade:

Rough chop some green onions and mix with Trader Joe's Soyaki Sauce (or, Soy Vay's Veri Veri Teriyaki, which I've seen at Wal-Mart), Famous Dave's Apricot Bourbon BBQ Sauce, crushed red pepper and POM juice. Now, since this was more of an experiment and not an actual recipe, I can't really provide specific measurements of each ingredient. The roast was about a pound, so use your best judgement and taste preferences when mixing all of this together.

Stab the roast with a few holes, add to marinade and stick in the fridge for at least 30 minutes (we let ours sit for about 2 hours). After you remove the meat, save the excess marinade, strain out the green onions and pour it into a saucepan. Turn up the heat and add brown sugar, a few drops of Liquid Smoke and more BBQ sauce and POM juice, if desired. Cook until thickened and set aside.

Before I move on, let's see another shot of that meat:



The flame? The grill marks? The SMELL?! Heaven. We ended up having to grill this longer than anticipated, so in hindsight, it would've been better (and faster) to cut the roast into 2 or more pieces. (However you go about it, PLEASE use a meat thermometer and aim for an all around internal temperature of at least 160 *F.) On the upside though, the increased grilling time made for a phenomenal charred crust. Doug also threw some broccoli in some foil, with a bit of olive oil, salt and pepper:



This broccoli had been sitting in the fridge for a while and was on its last leg, hence the lack of green color... Still tasted ok though.



Served together with couscous (seasoned with parsley & kosher salt), grilled apples and the sauce prepared from the marinade.



The sauce was so delicious that I had to add a bit more to my couscous. Those little charred bits are the apples, also brushed a bit with that Awesome Sauce. And one last time, for me, that pork:



Honestly, the two of us barely said a word during this meal because we were stunned and enamored with this pork. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that it was almost as good as sex. I tried to eat slowly, but the mix of flavors from the marinade and the texture of the pork (crisp, sweet, charred crust; tender, moist, juicy, flavorful interior) just kept hitting a pleasure center in my brain and I quickly became addicted. The broccoli, couscous and apples were merely supporting acts. The pork was the headliner.

In closing, I love meat, I love my grill-master boyfriend and I REALLY love when my boyfriend grills amazing meat. Definitely a meal to remember, but also to repeat in the near future. Love.

Summ-ah, summ-ah, summ-ah time.

Another drive-by food pic post. It's been a long day and I'm beyond ready to zone out and relax! Plus, I've got new DVD and other exciting miscellaneous stuff that I'm working on, so hopefully those posts will trickle through in the coming days/weeks.

DINNER!

More grilled miracles:



Nice spread, eh?



Carrots 'n' onions.



My beloved zucchini.



Marinated pork chops, á la Doug.



Chopped everything up and served over brown rice. Topped with a little teriyaki sauce and a few sesame seeds. Pretty sure I don't need to tell you it was awesome. Leftovers for tomorrow's lunch, ftw.

DESSERT!



Grilled peaches. Doug's idea and a first for me. I took one half and threw together a concoction of amaze-balls:



To the grilled peach, I added blueberries, a chopped plum, cinnamon, a sprinkle of brown sugar and a few chopped pecans. Heated in the microwave for a few seconds and added a dollop of whipped cream on the side.

*cue chorus of angels*

So, so good. And that was probably the 3rd plum I've ever had in my entire life, so I was pretty pleased that it was ripe and sweet. I saved the other grilled peach half for some oatmeal tomorrow. Yes, grilled peach oatmeal. Did I just blow your mind? If not, that's cool I guess.

Have a great night!

Pass the pizzas.

Trying to bust through this post tonight, so let's jump right in!

Friday: Wanted to take a stab at Claire Robinson's Easy White Pizza recipe from an episode of 5 Ingredient Fix I saw a few weeks ago.



Obviously made some changes... I used just a regular Pillsbury pizza crust, cut down the mozzarella to 2 cups, used fresh basil (made a mistake and forgot the recipe called for fresh oregano), added tomato slices, added chunks of goat cheese, sprinkled on dried oregano.



This was really good, but it got the wheels in Doug's head turning on how to make it even better. Tonight we took on a homemade grilled approach:



Basically the same recipe from Friday. Doug made the dough and people, I'm tellin' you, I'm not sure I want pizza any other way from now on!



And we experimented with a BBQ pizza as well:



Used Famous Dave's Sweet & Zesty BBQ sauce for the base, a mix of mozzarella and cheddar-jack, chopped ham, black olives, red onion and sliced avocado.

HOLY SHIT. The white pizza still tasted great, but I really fell in love with the BBQ version. And again, the homemade grilled crust just could not be beat.

That's all I have time for right now- sorry for the drive-by post. Enjoy your week and go nuts with grilled pizza!

Grilled to perfect-shon.

Another happenin' meal, by Grill Master Doug. Kinda want to start calling him Doug-y Flay now.





Hubba, hubba! Grilled pork loin chops with Famous Dave's Rich & Sassy sauce, grilled zucchini, GRILLED CORN! (first of the season, hence the excitement) and baked beans on the side. Loooooove! Side note: Chili powder & grilled corn FTW.

I must say, I'm glad I've finally come to appreciate baked beans. I tried them once when I was a kid (before I liked ANY kind of bean, baked or otherwise) and of course didn't like them and let that memory keep me from trying them again for yeeears. Well, now I love them. Like, a lot. And Busch's vegetarian variety is pretty much going to be a regular staple in my pantry now. So perfect with grilled awesomeness! And to think all of the years I've wasted wrinkling my nose at the sight of them. Dumb. Oh well.

Be it baked beans or anything else, try or re-try things every few years. Challenge and change that palate, son!

Speaking of which, I'm still waiting for my first papaya to ripen like a kid waiting for Santa. Can't wait to cut into that sucker!

Alright. Think I've done my share of posting for the day, heh. Back to "Diners, Drive-ins & Dives," then prep for tomorrow. 24Cycle awaits me at buttcrack of dawn. Speaking of butts, mine still hasn't fully recovered from yesterday's 3 hour/40 minute hike, so we'll see how I do tomorrow, haha. 'Night all!

Bash the Bluffs, Breakfast and Boi-gers.

Quick note: This post has pics! Side note: they're not very good. But that's no surprise, right? Right. But before we get to pics, let's talk some fitness first...

So I'm totally bailing on the Biggest Loser Boot Camp workout at 24 Hour Fitness today. Mostly because I didn't feel like waiting around until 10 am to workout. I also wasn't feeling the idea of 24 S.E.T. at 9 am either, so I decided to do a practice run of the Bash the Bluffs 5K race that I'm participating in next weekend. I wanted to do an early outdoor run and figured doing a loop on campus would be the best option. Of course, it had to be 35 degrees and windy as hell, but I stuck it out, runny nose, watery eyes, cold hands and all. This is why I can't be a dedicated outdoor runner year-round; I'm such a wuss when it comes to less-than-desirable weather conditions. And I'm too cheap to buy the proper outdoor gear. Buh.

Even though it sucked running directly against huge gusts on inclines and not being able to see, I'm glad I suffered through it because now there won't be any surprises at the actual race. Do I want to run in those conditions again? Hell no. But am I better prepared in case I have to? Sure, why not.

Here's my plan for the next few days:

• Some strength training at home, á la Jari Love tomorrow morning. 
• Some sprint intervals at the gym on Monday.
• 24 Cycle on Tuesday (got me some super comfy padded cycling shorts yesterday! They were 29.99 at the actual store here in town, plus I snagged a 25% off coupon for a grand total of $24.15. Super-sweet deal!)
• Possible 2-3 mile run on Wednesday? Strength training? Rest Day? Not sure yet.
• 2-3 mile run Thursday morning, Zumba in the evening.
• Strength training on Friday?
• Race on Saturday.

This is my first time actively training for an official event, so I'm trying to use my amateur fitness knowledge to my advantage. While I want to keep up with my running most days, I also know that strength training improves my endurance during runs, so I need to make time for that as well.

ANYWHO. After this morning's run, I had one thing on my mind for breakfast: Fiesta Flapjacks.(Served with extra bean mixture on the side.)





This time around, I sprinkled on some fat-free cheddar and slathered on some Dancing Iguana Guacamole, in addition to some light sour cream. I made my own salsa to mix with the beans as well. Just a basic mix of fresh tomatoes, onions, minced garlic, diced jalepeños, cayenne, cumin (for the beans), salt, pepper and cilantro. I got heavy-handed with the cayenne and jalepeños though. Man, it was spicy. But still delicious of course.

I actually made these for dinner Thursday night but had plenty of the bean mix leftover, so I figured a filling, spicy breakfast was in order. When you add guacamole and cheese to this dish, it pretty much feels/tastes like eating at a Mexican restaurant, minus all of the extra grease. I was in heaven. If it wasn't before noon, I might have even considered a margarita on the side instead of iced coffee.

And now, a recap of last night's dinner. These pics are especially bad, but please believe me when I say this was one of the best at-home burgers I've ever had:



BBQ Bleu Cheese burgers with asparagus "fries" on the side.



Doug grilled some 93/7 patties, brushed them with some Famous Dave's Rich & Sassy BBQ sauce and topped them with some reduced-fat bleu cheese crumbles. We served them on some bleu-cheese foccacia rolls (toasted on the grill), spreading one side with light mayo and the other side with guacamole. Oh. My. God. As Guy Fieri would say, we totally caught the bus to Flavor Town.

The only things that were missing were some grilled onions and some tomato slices. But hey, guess what? We have leftovers, so perfection is on the way tonight! We were basically trying to do our version of Red Robin's Bleu Ribbon Burger and while not quite identical in terms of ingredients, it was still hands down the best burger I've had cooked at home. Doug is an amazing grill master. (Ignore the review of RR's burger on that blog. Or don't. I just happen to love RR's burgers and am of the opinion that the person who wrote that post doesn't know what they're talking about. So there.)



Another shot of the asparagus. Tossed in a simple mix of olive oil, kosher salt and cracked black pepper. Grilled to a delicious crisp and drizzled with lemon juice.

I LOVE FOOD! Off to run some errands. Hope everyone enjoys the weekend!

Grilled meat for the soul.

I changed our dinner plans at the last minute (we were gonna have pasta & meat sauce), but the weather was too nice not to grill, so I drove like a mad woman to exchange our propane tank and pick up chicken and potatoes; I knew we still had some asparagus in the fridge as well.

Grilled heaven:



Chicken, asparagus and gold potato spears, all grilled up by my favorite grill master (Doug).

Ketchup for the potatoes and Country Bob's All Purpose sauce on the chicken:



Kind of a slightly less tangy version of Heinz 57. I got it free with a coupon a while back, so I was excited to finally try it. Tasty!

So awesome. Not pictured: Bud Light Wheat beer pre-dinner; 3 strawberries and a Barney Butter packet for dessert.

May or may not make some cocktails tonight since I don't have to work tomorrow... Probably not the best idea if I'm planning an outdoor run in the morning though, haha.

Totally watching Dog the Bounty Hunter and feeling good. I gotta admit, I'm hooked on this show. I can't believe I haven't met him in person yet, seeing as just about every other episode is right here in Colorado Springs! Come meet me, Dog!