Greek Rubbed Pork Chops

I love using rubs and I have a bunch of recipes for those rubs. One of our favorites is the Greek rub. Here is your cast of characters:

1/2 T. salt
1 T. dried oregano
2 1/4 tsp. onion powder
2 1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1 1/2 tsp. black pepper
1 1/2 tsp. beef bouillon granules
1 1/2 tsp. dried parsley
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. ground nutmeg

Combine all ingredients together:
Rub on all sides of your favorite pork chops:
You can also use this rub on chicken, beef, lamb, and turkey. Our favorite use is on pork chops and then we grill them for 7 minutes on each side. You can also use this rub with meat that you bake, broil, or fry. But...it's like a million degrees in my house so that stove is not being turned on for all the money in the world!

Here's the finished product...believe me, the smell is amazing! Something about the unexpected cinnamon and nutmeg that put these chops over the edge!
I served these with a zucchini from our garden and a yellow squash from the local Krogers -- I took it outside first and showed it to my own little yellow squash plant to show him what he was capable of! I cut the squash into chucks and put them on some skewers. I sprinkled them with some Mrs. Dash before grilling them for 5 minutes on each side. Very tasty and simple!
We also served some corn that we grilled -- Kroger's had them 5 ears for $1.00. When I grill my corn I cut off all the hanging stuff (no fires please) soak them in water for a little bit before placing them husks, silk, and all on the grill. I grill them for 15 minutes and then flip and grill for another 10 minutes. I let them sit on the counter in their husks for about 5 minutes before I start to clean them. I've found the easiest way to clean them is to use latex gloves. It helps cut down the heat on my hands and the latex really grabs at the silks.
Those corn cob ends are the bomb -- they are from Pampered Chef and just screw in the ends as easy as pie. Enj0y making this great dinner for a hot summer evening!

Chocolate Trifle

My husbands aunt visited us last night so I pulled out all the stops and made several items for dinner last night. The first I'll be featuring is the Chocolate Trifle that I made for dessert because dessert should always take first place!! This is a really simple recipe and if you don't have a trifle bowl you can make it in any bowl you like.
Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups cold milk (I used skim but you can use what you like)
1 container cool whip (I used fat free)
2 4-serving boxes of instant chocolate pudding (I used sugar free)
2 Heath bars (chopped up)
1 Angel Food Cake
Whisk together the milk and the pudding and let sit while you prepare the cake cubes.
Tear/cut/chop/whatever the angle food cake into approximately 1" pieces and place 1/2 of them in the bottom of the trifle bowl.
Sprinkle 1/2 your candy bar pieces over the cake. If you are making this during a warm day and you don't have a/c in your house, you might want to put the candy bars in the freezer for a little bit before you try chopping them up. I normally like to use smaller pieces of candy so you get some in every bite but I didn't have time to put them in the freezer so they didn't break up quite as easy.
By now your pudding should be pretty well set up -- if you were especially quick with the previous steps you might want to take a break and let your pudding set up. Once your pudding is set fold the cool whip into the chocolate pudding. Do this slowly so you can keep the mixture light and fluffy. I usually leave mine a little bit streaky rather than over doing it and squishing all the fluffy out -- that an official hoity-toity culinary phrase, feel free to use it at will.
Once you've finished folding spoon 1/2 of the pudding mixture on top of the cake. If you want to make your trifle have very careful layers, you will need to work with the cake cubes to make sure you don't have any openings before spooning the pudding mixture on. I was in a hurry to finish this so I didn't worry about that step. This completes your first layer. Do another layer exactly the same - cake, candy, pudding.
I use a standard size trifle bowl and it fills it all the way to the top. Cover and place in fridge for at least 2 hours.
Because I didn't take the time to make definite layers with my cake this is what the side of mine looked like. If you take your time, you can make it very pretty. But, trust me, it tastes amazing no matter how pretty it is or not.

When you are ready to serve spoon into bowls and top with a dollop of cool whip and some chocolate shavings. Kay has great instructions on her site to make your own. Secret Squirrel's wife gave me this fabulous collection of decorative shavings that I'm using so I didn't have to make any. (Sorry there's no picture of this part -- we were so excited to eat it that I totally forgot to grab my camera!)

If you are taking this to a potluck you can decorate the top to dress it up a little. Here's one I made for a family gathering a few months ago. I spent a little more time on this one and decorated it with some chocolate. You could also pipe some cool whip on top and garnish with some additional chopped candy bars too. I folded this particular one too much -- see how it doesn't reach the top of the trifle bowl?
WW Info:
Serves 12
3 pts per serving (without additional candy toppings)

Enjoy and remember to put dessert first!!