Caribbean style Jerk Pork Chops with Grilled apples and Fresh Strawberry shortcake

Caribbean style Jerk Pork Chops with Grilled Sugar Spice Apples and Fresh Strawberry shortcake

The only thing lacking at my house tonight? The steel drums singing with the roar of the ocean. It was a Caribbean style meal at our house, and it smelled so good!  I adore the Caribbean, the food is delicious, the people are fantastic and fun is in the air.  There is nothing like the sound of steel drums to make my spirit soar and my feet move.  We've had a crazy winter and we're having an unseasonably warm day.  To have the last two days be so nice, I had to break out a summer meal.
My little boy and I picked two baskets of strawberries on Wednesday.  We stopped at a "pick your own" farm.  Neither of us had ever been to a "pick your own" farm, it was a lot of fun!  We were both very proud of our baskets of strawberries.  My little boy loves to make "the plan", so, the plan was to make a strawberry shortcake and strawberry milk when we got home.  So far, there's been a lot of eating strawberries, along with the strawberry shortcake, but not so much the strawberry milk. Maybe tomorrow.

Grilled Apples:

Wash and thickly slice two apples
Brush with coconut oil
Sprinkle cinnamon sugar on the apple slice
Then place on grill until sugar is warm and bubbly


Caribbean style Jerk Pork Chops:

4 thick sliced pork chops
Spiced rum
Jerk seasoning
Salt and pepper

Let the chops marinate in the spiced rum for about 30 minutes then rub the jerk seasoning in
Grill until done

Strawberry Shortcake:

Strawberries
Angel food cake
Honey
Dark Chocolate sauce
Cinnamon

Slice the strawberries and place in a bowl
Drizzle with honey, liberally
Sprinkle with cinnamon and stir
Let sit for a while at room temp so the juices mingle
Break up some angel food cake
Spoon strawberries over and drizzle with dark chocolate sauce

Boneless Beef Ribs, Roasted Little Red Potatoes, Baked Beans, Lemon and Orange Jello Cake

I haven't blogged in a few days, because my little boy and my husband have been sick. Monday, my little boy's stomach was upset. This resulted in my having to change sheets, and do an extra load of laundry or two. Blankey got soiled and this caused the little fella' to be really upset, thank goodness we have an extra! Monday night, my husband came home from work and his cold was a lot worse than it had been the night before. So, I had to take care of two sick guys. Our dinner was fried chicken from the deli, with dill & red potato salad. The little guy had peaches, and a Popsicle.
Tuesday I did post the recipe to my favorite food in the world, Beef Roll ups. It wasn't much of a hit with my two sick guys, but I enjoyed them very much. I didn't watch closely enough and I let all the water simmer out of the pot, which meant my roll ups were a little more "done" than I would have liked. But that is a learning lesson, and they were still good. The baby was feeling better, but still not eating really good. He had a little potato salad, and strawberry's, blueberry's and crackers. He loves fruit, thank goodness!
Wednesday we had homemade chicken noodle soup, with grilled salami, cheese and tomato sandwiches. The little boys stomach was feeling better, but now he has a cold. He ate grilled tortilla and cheese, chopped up tomatoes, and some strawberries. He's been drinking a lot of fluids, which is really good, he needs to stay hydrated. We had a little bit of ice cream for desert, covered in blueberries.
Last night, we had some more fried chicken, the rest of the potato salad and broccoli. The baby ate all of his broccoli, a little bit of chicken and most of his potato salad. He's so stuffy and runny that it's hard for him to eat. I hate for him to be sick, I hope he'll feel better very soon.
So, here we are, on Friday. My husband is feeling a lot better, but the little boy is not. He took a 45 minute nap today, and doesn't seem to want to rest at all. I hope he'll eat better tonight, so far he's not had much of an appetite, except for cookies.....hmmmmmmmmm
I have some boneless ribs in the fridge. My brother makes the best ribs I've ever had, but I don't have the rub he uses, so I looked in my spice cabinet. I found some Caribbean Blackening spices, some Garlic powder and Lawry's seasoning salt. I poured some of each into a zip lock bag and added some freshly, cracked black pepper. I added the ribs and rubbed the seasonings in really good. It's been such a beautiful day, I think I'll turn the grill on and grill them up. About 30 minutes or more before I put them on the grill, I'll take the ribs out and let them get to room temperature. They cook more evenly when they are at room temperature.
I've never tried to make the Jello Cake, but I watched either my Mom or Sister do it once, so I think I can do it. I'm using a box cake mix, Lemon flavored. After it's baked I will let it cool, then poke holes in it and pour the Jello over it and put in the fridge until we are ready to eat it. I'm actually going to bake half into a cake and the other half into cup cakes. Just for fun! I have those silicone cupcake baking cups, with feet. So I can decorate the cupcakes to look like fun little monsters. I think the baby will really enjoy that, I know his Daddy and I will!
I'm going to quarter the little red potatoes, drizzle with olive oil, and sprinkle some of the same seasonings over them, that I used on the ribs. Then bake in the oven until they are crispy and delicious. I may even add some Parmesan cheese over them when they are done. Sounds good to me! Guess we'll see. I'll let you know. Bye for now, I'm going to see if the baby will take a nap now.