I love warm, tropical places, and I definitely love tropical flavors. Plus, The Tropics was also a restaurant we used to occasionally go to when I was a kid. It was several towns away, but my aunt lived there, and we would often meet up to see her and other friends.
Tonight's recipes definitely hearken of warm sunshine and sultry breezes. To begin, these Slow Cooker Tropical Pork Chops have a interesting flavor combination, especially compared to many slow cooker recipes that inevitably taste the same as many others. The balance of sweet fruit, tart lime, and chili sauce is really nice. I used boneless pork chops, and they could cook longer than the recipe suggests, especially to tenderize them a bit. I didn't have all the fresh herbs to top off the chops, but I did use some toasted almonds and green onions.
For the second act, I made these Banana Brownies that are popping up on Pinterest all the time. These bars are full of banana flavor and very moist, but totally not what I expected. The white chocolate flavor is virtually unnoticeable. Nevertheless they are yummy, and I'm glad there's only an 8x8 pan to work through. One final word, these were a snap to make. I defrosted bananas from the freezer in the microwave, quickly melted the butter and chocolate, and minutes later slid the pan in the oven to bake. Mine took closer to 25 minutes to bake, but they were sharing the oven with the rice I made to accompany the pork chops.
So, if you need a break from winter, even if it's only at the dinner table, here are two little getaways you might like!
Tonight's recipes definitely hearken of warm sunshine and sultry breezes. To begin, these Slow Cooker Tropical Pork Chops have a interesting flavor combination, especially compared to many slow cooker recipes that inevitably taste the same as many others. The balance of sweet fruit, tart lime, and chili sauce is really nice. I used boneless pork chops, and they could cook longer than the recipe suggests, especially to tenderize them a bit. I didn't have all the fresh herbs to top off the chops, but I did use some toasted almonds and green onions.
For the second act, I made these Banana Brownies that are popping up on Pinterest all the time. These bars are full of banana flavor and very moist, but totally not what I expected. The white chocolate flavor is virtually unnoticeable. Nevertheless they are yummy, and I'm glad there's only an 8x8 pan to work through. One final word, these were a snap to make. I defrosted bananas from the freezer in the microwave, quickly melted the butter and chocolate, and minutes later slid the pan in the oven to bake. Mine took closer to 25 minutes to bake, but they were sharing the oven with the rice I made to accompany the pork chops.
So, if you need a break from winter, even if it's only at the dinner table, here are two little getaways you might like!
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