Fauxreal Meals: Pork Rind and Parmesan Fried Pork Chops

Mr. Domesticated Diva and I have been trying to eat less carbs during the week.  I have seen pork rinds being used as batter for low carb cooking, but I was too afraid to try it.  Well, this week I grew some balls (not literally) and gave it a whirl.  Here's what you will need...

Ingredients (Make 2-3 Servings):
-6 Thinly Sliced Bone In Pork Chops
-1 Cup of Semi Finely Crushed Pork Rinds (I just put the pork rinds in a small zip lock bag and crushed it with a mallet)
-1/4 Cup of Grated Parmesan Cheese
-2 Eggs (Beatened)
-Salt, Pepper, Paprika, Garlic Powder, and Cayenne Pepper to taste (Remember not too much salt, because the pork rinds and Parmesan cheese is loaded with Sodium)
-Extra Virgin Olive Oil for frying (about 1/3 cup)

Heat up the extra virgin olive oil in a frying pan to medium high heat. 

Mix the crushed pork rinds, parmesan cheese, salt, pepper, paprika, garlic powder, and cayenne pepper in a bowl.  In a separate bowl, add the beatened eggs.

Dip the pork chop in the egg mixture and then the pork rind/parmesan mixture.  You may have to slightly press the pork chops in the pork rind batter to make sure it sticks.  Then, shake off excess pork rind/parmesan crumbs.

Fry the pork chops about 3 minutes per side.  Since these are thin, they will fry up pretty fast.

Here's the final product.  I also made parmesan oven roasted zucchini.  This meal was quite delish.  I have to admit I think I like this pork rind/parmesan breading, better than the flour/breadcrumb type.  It was very flavorful and crisp.  This recipe is definitely a keeper =)

When I Juice, You Juice...Domesticated Diva's Juicing Adventures

So I got bit by the juicing trend, and I can say juicing is amazing!  I found this Black and Decker Juicer randomly at Kohls for $25.  I mean come on...$25 for a juicer is a pretty amazing deal!  It got a four star rating on Amazon, so I decided to give it a shot. 

This is one of the most basic juicers you can buy, but at $25 I am not complaining.  I wasn't even sure if I was gonna like juicing, so this is perfect for the beginning juicers out there!  You do have to cut up your veggies/fruits, since the tube the fruit/veggies goes down is rather narrow.  Also, the juicing cup in the picture is rather small and needs to be dumped into a pitcher or whatever juice container you are using.

Let's back track a little, I got into juicing after watching the documentary Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead.  This is a great documentary by the way =)

Joe Cross (the guy in the film) also has a blog called Reboot with Joe. His blog is chocked full of different juicing recipes. 

The Basic Domesticated Diva Juicing Recipe I usually go by is 2 Veggies + 2 Fruits + Either Ginger Lime or Both

Seems simple enough right!  Yes, juicing can be expensive, but if you buy whatever fruits and veggies are on sale or buy the fruits and veggies that are usually cheaper you can definitely juice on a budget!

Fruits I've Used: Apples, Grapefruit, Lime, Blackberries, Pears, Mangos, Peaches, Oranges

Veggies I've Used: Celery, Parsley, Cucumbers, Ginger, Carrots, Red Pepper

Here are a couple of recipes...

2 Green Apple + 1" Ginger Piece + 2 Stalks of Celery + 1 Lime + 1 Cucumber

1 Small Carton of Blackberries + 1/2 Bushel of Parsley + 1 Apples + 1" Ginger Piece + 1 Lime + 2 Stalks of Celery

1 Red Pepper + 2 Carrots + 1 Apple + 1 Orange

2 Apples + 1 Red Pepper + 1 Cucumber + 1 Lime

2 Mango + 1 Cucumber + 1 Red Pepper + 1 Orange Juice