Pork Tenderloin Recipe Success

I'm always trying to find new ways to cook pork tenderloin. It's always a favorite cut of meat in our household because it comes vacuum packed, giving me a few extra days to get around to cooking it before it goes bad.

I can't take credit for this one, but can't find the link either, so here it is, without me taking any credit.

Maple Pork Tenderloin
1 tenderloin
splash of oil for pan
1 tsp sage
salt, pepper

3T maple syrup
3T vinegar (apple cider or in a pinch rice wine)
1t dijon mustard

Rub the tenderloin with the sage, sprinkle with salt and pepper. Brown the tenderloin in a pan with a splash of oil to keep it from sticking. This should take about 6 minutes on med-hi. Lower the heat to med-low and cover. Cook an additional 10 min or so until temp is 150F. Remove from pan and keep warm.

Wisk together 2T maple syrup, 2T vinegar, and dijon. Place 1T vinegar in pan and heat until bubble, scraping the pan to bring up brown spots.

Add maple mix to pan and heat until it thickens, return pork and turn for an additional 2 min.

Remove pork from pan. Add the additional 1T maple syrup, heat, and pour the juices over pieces of pork.


I served it with polenta and butternut squash and was tempted to make a cranberry sauce for it. Maybe next time.

Homemade Bread

Yogurt Bread
2 pkg yeast
1.5 C warm water
1C yogurt
1Tbsp salt
5-6 C flour

I made this in my Kitchenaide mixer. I put the yeast and warm water in the bowl and let it get fizzy. Ass yogurt and salt. Mix on 2 and add flour slowly. Allw mixer to kneed the bread for 5-10 min on speed 2-3.

Allow the dough to rest for 30-60 minutes.

Use the mixer to punch down the dough for 5-10 seconds.

Kneed the dough on speed 1-2 for less than 60 seconds.

Shape the dough and place it on a greased sheet. Allow the bread to rise 40 minutes. Make three slashes on the dough and brush with water. Bake for 35-40 min at 400F. Brush with water every 15 minutes.

The Toddler Wants to Bake Pie UPDATED

For two days now, A has been begging me to make a pie. I have no pie fruit, no cans of pie filling. What to do?! I scrounged around in the cupboard and found two boxes of instant pudding. Can you make a decent pie out of INSTANT chocolate pudding? We'll find out!

Without further ado, the "Toddler wants to bake pie and the cupboard is bare" Pie recipe:

A's Chocolate Pie
10 graham crackers, crushed
1/3 C butter (or whatever's left in the tub in this case)
2 Tbs sugar
2 boxes chocolate pudding
2 squares of baker's chocolate, melted
2 cups milk

Melt the butter in the pie pan in the microwave.

Add grahams and sugar and press into the pie pan to make a crust.

Blend pudding mix with 2 cups of milk with an electric mixer.

Fold in melted chocolate and scoop into the pie crust.

Refridgerate for an hour.



It's cooling right now so we don't know if it's any good, but the spatula tasted wonderful! A went through three clean shirts while licking various chocolate-covered tools, so it will probably be a hit.


UPDATE: Served chilled with cool whip on top, this pie is definitely a repeatable experience. It disappeared and the adults fought over the last two pieces.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Cookies

The toddler informed me, upon picking her up from daycare, that she wanted to make cookies. So, we went home and put together some peanut butter chocolate cookies with dark and milk chips. They're in the oven now and I can only imagine that they'll be delicious. The original Dark Chocolate and Chip cookie recipe has been easy to adapt to a number of different variations over the years and all have been fabulous. 8 minutes until we know!

The Chocolate Cookie
1/2 C butter
1 1/2 C sugar
2 eggs
2tsp vanilla
2C flour
1/2 C cocoa powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1-2 C chocolate chips, mixed milk and dark
1/2 C peanut butter

Beat butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla until smooth.

Add cocoa, baking powder, salt and flour, mix.

Fold in chocolate chips and peanut butter.

Bake at 350F for 11 min.

Red and Green or White and Red

This week's recipe: Quinoa Salad with Black Beans and Corn. We liked it so much, we had it twice! The first time, we used white quinoa with a red pepper, and the second time we used red quinoa and a green pepper. You wouldn't think it would make a difference, but it does! I picked this gem up from the babyfit.com website.

Quinoa Salad
1 1/2 C raw quinoa
1 15 oz can of black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can of sweet kernel corn, drained
1 1/2 Tbs red wine vinegar
1 bell pepper, chopped
4 scallions, chopped
1 tsp garlic, minced
1/4 tsp cayenne
1/4C cilantro, chopped
1/3 C lime juice
1/2 tsp salt, plus more to taste
1 1/4 tsp ground cumin
1/3 C olive oil

Prepare the quinoa as directed on package.

Mix beans with vinegar and salt and pepper to taste.

Add beans, corn, bell pepper, scallions, garlic, cayenne, and cumin to quinoa and mix well.

Whisk together lime juice, salt, cumin, and add oil while whisking. Add to the salad and salt and pepper to taste.

This tastes even better as leftovers.

The husband requested an immediate repeat, while the toddler turned her nose up the second time I served it. I think that's more about her being 2 years old than her not liking it, though.

Sloppy Garden Joes

Another husband-approved dish! This one comes originally from www.babyfit.com. I have made a few small alterations to it, with great success. It has officially been placed on the "make again" list with a recommendation to try it out with various types of BBQ sauces.

Sloppy Garden Joe's Chili

• 1 onion, chopped
  
• 1/2 green pepper, chopped
  
• 1 lb. ground turkey
  
• 1 8 oz. can tomato sauce
  
• 1 15 oz. can stewed tomatoes, not drained
  
• 1 8oz. can mushrooms, drained
  
• 1/2 cup barbecue sauce
• 1 15 oz. can of black beans, rinsed
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/4 tsp oregano
• 1 tsp liquid smoke
  
• salt and pepper to taste

1. Sauté onions, green pepper and ground turkey in a pan over medium-high heat until turkey is cooked through. I added a little canola oil to the pan to keep the turkey from sticking since I was not using a non-stick pan.

2. Add tomato sauce, crushed tomatoes, mushrooms, beans, garlic, oregano, liquid smoke, barbecue sauce and seasonings and bring to a boil.

3. Reduce heat and simmer until the children are down for the night, stirring occasionally.

4. Serve with cheese, if desired.

Serves 8.

Pizza Crust Nirvana

I finally found a pizza crust recipe worth repeating! I have been searching for 15 years for one that I liked! Oh, my, stars! It's grand. The whole family devoured it!

Here it is: pizza crust.

We topped it with:

pepperoni
Italian sausage (chicken, with mozzarella cheese in it)
red pepper
black olives
feta

I used Ragu's jarred pizza sauce, gourmand that I am. LOL. It was divine. Seriously, the toddler ate three pieces all by herself! My husband did not complain about it being too doughy, and I did not complain about it being too hard/crunchy.

Next stop, grilled pizza...

Nola Bar Update

Nola bars made with Virginia peanuts, m&ms, and raisins are delicious. Also, lowering the sugar content made a notable positive alteration to the flavor. Less cookie-like, more satisfying.

Homemade 'Nola Bars

I tried a new recipe for granola/energy bars this weekend. I think I'm in love.

I got the recipe from Readers' Digest, of all places. Here it is.

I used walnuts, currants, and choc chips. Wowsa. I LOVE it. The sweetness comes largely from the chocolate chips, which surprised me. I think I could leave out the chocolate and then play with savory granola bars. Maybe do sesame and ginger? Craisin and orange zest?

YUM! The toddler approves, too.

More Adventures in Cooking

I wanted to make banana bread last weekend. I REALLY wanted to make banana bread last weekend the way only a pregnant or nursing mother wants a specific food. I had three ripe bananas and walnuts, so the only thing stopping me was my lack of white flour. I had some, yes, but was it enough to make banana bread?

But wait! I had a whole bag of whole wheat flour! Surely the moistness of the bananas could overcome the dry nature of whole wheat flour and make a good bread, right? I got online and found that yes, indeed, whole wheat banana bread is easy and good. There were a LOT of recipes to choose from, so as usual, I picked the best parts of each and combined them into MY recipe.

Whole Wheat Banana Bread
3 large bananas, over-ripe and mashed
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 egg
1/4 C molasses
1/4 C honey
1/4 C sugar (white or brown)
1/4 C oil
1 1/2C whole wheat flour
1 Tbs baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 C nuts

Mix the moist ingredients together until blended. Mix the dry ingredients together in a separate bowl. Add the dry ingredients to the moist and fold them in just until moistened. Do not over mix. Allow batter to rest for 15 minutes.

Spray a loaf pan with cooking oil, add batter. Bake for 45-50 minutes at 350F. Toothpick will be clean when done.

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Our other culinary experience to share with you:

MEATLOAF MOUNTAINS
Chad says I am never to make meatloaf again. I must always make meat muffins... ie Meatloaf Mountains. I can't take credit for this recipe as it's not mine. BUT I can take credit for introducing it to you.

Meatloaf Mountains
1lb ground beef or turkey
2 eggs
1 package of dry soup mix, vegetable flavor
1 squirt ketchup (about a tablespoon)
15 saltines, crushed
2-4 servings of instant mashed potatoes, cooked according to package instructions.

Mix all but the potatoes together. Spray the cups of a muffin tin and divide the meat mixture amongst the cups. Cook at 350F for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and divide the potatoes amongst the cups, making peaks on top of the meatloaf. Return to the oven for 10 more minutes.

Everyone in the family loves them and they are completely toddler-friendly as far as cooking goes. So quick and easy!!!

This Week's Recipe Success

Chad recently had a beans and rice urge so we decided to try out a few recipes found on the internet. After monkeying around with the first one until we were satisfied, we came up with the following recipe:

Coconut Beans and Rice
1 can red kidney beans
1 can coconut milk
1-2 cloves of garlic, minced
4 scallions, diced
1/4-1/2 tsp tarragon
1 1/2 C uncooked rice
1 1/4 C water
1 tsp salt
1/2 Tbs sugar
1 can of pineapple tidbits (any size you like)
lime juice
spicy sausage (optional)

Drain pineapple and reserve juice. Mix all ingredients except lime and pineapple juices in a pot. Heat to boiling and turn heat to low. Simmer for 30 minutes, covered. Remove from heat. Add lime and pineapple juice to taste.

We used a spicy chicken sausage with cilantro and full-strength coconut milk. It was pretty delicious, quick to put together, and something that I could cook even with Abby around "helping."

Tofu Yummyness

Tonight's dinner was one of those rare successes with a first-try recipe. Yay! The original recipe, from some website that I can't remember, did not have any veggies, nuts, or raisins, and called for chicken rather than tofu.

Tofu Curry
2T oil
1T margarine or butter
1/2 tsp cumin seed (optional)
1/2C finely chopped onion
1/2 T minced garlic (3 cloves)
1T minced ginger (about 1")
4T tomato paste
1/4 tsp tumeric
3/4 tsp ground cumin
3/4 tsp groung corriander
1/4 1/2 tsp salt
1/8 - 1/4 tsp cayenne
1 block of tofu, extra firm
1 bag of mixed veggies (ours had zuchini, summer squash, broccoli, cauliflower, and green beans)
1/4C cashews
raisins for garnish.

Boil veggies as directed on packaging.

In a pan, heat oil and butter on medium-high for 1 min.

Add cumin seeds and toast for 1-2 min.

Add onion and cook untl it begins to brown.

Add garlic and ginger and cook 1-2 min.

Add tomato paste, spices, and salt. Mix, adding just enough water to make a nice paste.

Add tofu and a handful of cashews, cook for 2 min.

Add 1/2C water, stir, cover, and turn to low. Simmer for 8 minutes.

Garnish with raisins if desired. Serve with rice.


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It was so exactly what I wanted to eat, so satisfying....

Even A ate it!!!! C did not, however, stating that he wasn't a fan of mushy stewy things and that he'd not deprive me of leftovers by forcing down a bowl. LOL.