Episode 4.04 - You Can Skip Social Media And Still Eat Well

You don’t have to be on social media to cook great food, and I’m proving it with a handful of recipes that make weeknights feel a lot less boring. I point you straight to my blog so you can skip the scrolling, grab the links, and see exactly what I’m making with step-by-step recipes and photos.

First up: Caprese pork chops that stay juicy. I share the simple choices that make a big difference, like why bone-in chops help with moisture, how a little chicken broth in the pan keeps things tender, and why pesto plus tomatoes instantly makes the whole plate taste brighter. If you can find burrata, it takes this from basic to special fast, and it’s a great fix if you’re tired of rubbery grocery-store mozzarella.

Then we get into two easy staples that punch way above their effort level: homemade granola and herb-flecked popovers. I talk about reading ingredient labels, why even “healthy” store granola can be full of junk, and how to make a batch that lasts in an airtight container so you’re always five minutes away from a yogurt bowl lunch or after-school snack. The popovers are blender-simple and bake up light, warm, and savory like little dinner rolls with personality.

Finally, I share my new go-to Moroccan chicken, built from a quick spice rub inspired by an American Cancer Society cookbook. Turmeric, ginger, cinnamon, cumin, paprika, and garlic bring deep flavor plus antioxidant and anti-inflammatory benefits, and you can cook it in a skillet or roast it with root vegetables.

Listen now, grab the recipe links, and if you try one, subscribe, share the show, and leave a review so more home cooks can find us.

https://giasitaliankitchen.biz/recipes-mangia

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Transcript

Caprese Pork Chops That Stay Juicy

Homemade Granola With Clean Ingredients

Herb-Flecked Popovers That Puff Up

Moroccan Chicken With Healing Spices

Where To Find Recipes And Next Steps

SPEAKER_00 0:36

Hi, this is Kelly with Gia's Italian Kitchen. Are you not on social media? If you're not, totally fine, I get it. But you're missing the recipes that I'm posting and the beautiful pictures of food that I'm making. So I thought I would give a little shout out here to my blog. So you can go straight to my website and still bypass social media and see what I am making. This month I wanted to highlight a few delicious recipes that you could go check out on my website, Gia's Italian Kitchen Dubis. And I will post the link in the notes. So what I made the other night was Capraze pork chops. Oh my gosh, this was such a fancy but easy way to elevate your pork chops and keep them juicy because a lot of times pork chops get so dry and then they're just gross and no one likes them. If you can find bone in pork chops, actually that is even better because it helps to keep that moisture in the pork. But you could use boneless. I used boneless for this recipe this time just to try it out, and it really did keep it juicy. So I like to use pesto just because you've got a lot more flavors going on there. And then I put a little basil leaf on the top just for color. And then I like to use burrata if you can find it. And I don't know, sometimes I think mozzarella that you find in the grocery stores tastes like rubber. So if you can find that, I would recommend grabbing that. And and then, of course, tomatoes. It was so good. And then a little bit of chicken broth in the pan just to help keep that moisture going while it's cooking. It was so good. So the recipes on my blog, with of course a picture. So then what else do we make? Homemade granola. You know, like anything, and you've hopefully heard me say this before, you know, you need to turn the package over and look at the list of ingredients, no matter what you're buying. But even homemade or even granola from the store has a lot of crap in it. Um, so this recipe for homemade granola, you know, oats, some raw seeds, um, some olive oil. There is the recipes on there. It has some delicious, um, fresh ingredients. It's actually really easy to make. And then you can make um a yogurt bowl with some fresh fruit or frozen fruit, and it's a delicious lunch, even a light dinner or snack or snack for the kids after school. Um, I keep it in an airtight container, it'll stay good for at least a month, um, and it's just ready to go. So that's a great option. Okay, what else did we make? Um, oh, these herb flecked popovers. These are so easy. It's like almost like they get poofy in the oven almost like a souffle, but like way easier. So it um eggs and flour and milk and herbs in a blender, so it you kind of froth it up and you're making it in a muffin tin, uh, and they just magically poof up in the oven, and then they're like savory little cupcakes with no sugar, um, that that just come out of the oven nice and warm and soft and fluffy and airy. Oh, they're so good. Um so definitely try those, super easy. Then the other thing that I think is becoming my new go-to is this Moroccan chicken. So I took a few different recipes from the American Cancer Society cookbook and kind of put this together to make chicken. You could do it in a skillet or you could do it in the oven with some root vegetables, but these Moroccan spices um add so much flavor and actually a lot of really great health benefits, which is why this portion of the recipe was from the the American Cancer Society cookbook. Um, turmeric, ginger, cinnamon, cumin, paprika, garlic, um, and those even together. You're getting antioxidants, anti-inflammatory, but and then of course a little Himalayan sea salt or regular sea salt. Oh my gosh. And I added olive oil to make a rub, and then I rubbed it all over the chicken. It was oh so good. So so good. And really also another easy one because you can mix those spices together, you know, in five seconds. Add some olive oil to make a paste, and then your dinner is pretty much ready to go after you chop stuff up. So um that was oh so good. So I've got all of those recipes from the past few weeks in my blog on my website. Check them out and uh let me know what you think. This is Kelly with Gia's Italian Kitchen. Let's get cooking.