Pork Tenderloins

Cooking on the grill!

The finished product. It looks burnt, but the topping is only caramelized.

Hi there!  Hope your day is going well!  It is 60 degrees and rainy here in Michigan on December 4th!  I’m not complaining about it!  I am quite fine with the day!  My day has been completely filled again!  Today is co-op day for the oldest and I am the registrar for it, and today is registration for next semester.  I then got a call for my 12 year old to attend a ballet class today for a couple of hours about 1/2 hour away, piano classes at 1:15-2:15 at my house (have I mentioned that having piano at the house is the BEST thing?) and then pick up my oldest from co-op and drive my 12 year old to her normal ballet class the opposite direction from the other class!  Sometime in there dinner will be made….actually I’m getting ready to pre-make the potatoes and the tenderloin was already pre-made and froze until ready for use!  How convenient!  This recipe for the pork tenderloin is very, very good!  I made it a couple of months ago and ran out, went out and bought another huge tenderloin, and divided it in three and mixed the marinade in the bag and froze them for a later date.  All I do then is take it out of the freezer to thaw the night before and then plop it on the grill to cook!  It is one of my husband and my favorites!

Here’s the recipe:

Ingredients

2/3 cup balsamic vinegar
1/3 cup Olive Oil
2 tbsp soy sauce
4 1/2 tsp Brown Sugar
3/4 tsp pepper
1/2 cup rosemary, fresh, finely chopped
5 cloves Garlic, minced
2 Pork Tenderloins, 2 1/2 lbs
1/8 tsp salt, to taste

Notes / Directions

Directions:
To make the balsamic-rosemary marinade, in a food processor, combine the vinegar, olive oil, soy sauce, brown sugar and pepper and pulse until blended. With the motor running, drop the rosemary and garlic through the feed tube and continue to process until fairly smooth. Place the tenderloins in a nonreactive dish and pour the marinade over them. Cover and let stand at room temperature, turning occasionally, for up to 2 hours.

Prepare a charcoal or gas grill for direct grilling over medium-high heat. Remove the tenderloins from the marinade, reserving the marinade.

Well, my dinner is all made!  I made some glazed baby carrots and everything is ready to be warmed up for my husband when he gets home from work!

Have a great day!

 

Garlic Cheddar Mashed Potatoes

Boiling the potatoes and garlic

Ready to hand mix with other ingredients

All done! Yum!

I made these potatoes and froze them a couple of months ago and they tasted very good.  I am making them fresh for dinner today with my pork tenderloin.  I figured I’ll steam some carrots with them and it will be a healthy, yet tasty dinner.  Make sure to check out my pork tenderloin recipe post.

Here’s the recipe for the Garlic Cheddar Mashed Potatoes:

Ingredients

6 potatoes, peeled and diced
6 cloves garlic, peeled-not minced
1/3 cup buttermilk  (check out recipe for this down below))
3/4 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp paprika

Notes / Directions

Cook potatoes and garlic together until tender. Mash with buttermilk, cheese, salt and paprika.To make buttermilk, use just under one cup of milk and add 1 tbsp of white vinegar

This is very simple and very good!

Enjoy!

Chicken Shawarma

I absolutely love chicken shawarmas!  I love the taste of the chicken that has been slow cooked all day with a marinade and I love the white garlic sauce that you dip the  pita bread in.  We don’t get to go to my favorite Lebanese restaurant very often so I thought, “I can make it myself!”.  So, on to Pinterest I went to look at recipes!  I found a couple and combined them and this is what I came up with:

This is the recipe for the marinated chicken:

2 lg.  chicken breasts
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1 Tbsp minced garlic
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground cloves

Combine all together in a zip-lock bag and marinade anywhere from 4-24 hours in the fridge.  After it’s done marinating, you can grill it until cooked through. I used the leftovers from a baked chicken so I didn’t have to cook the chicken.

Mixing the ingredients

All mixed up

For Tahini sauce (to spread on the pita bread)

Sesame seeds-1cup( or use tahini) (Look below for Tahini recipe)
Olive oil-1/4 cup
Garlic(paste) – 2 cloves (Look below for recipe)
Cumin powder- 1/4 tsp
Yogurt– 2tbsp
lemon juice-2 to 3 tsp
Water
Salt to taste

Sesame seeds cooked and cooled and ready to be mixed with the olive oil

Pouring the olive in

:

This is what it looks like after I run it through the food processor

The finished product after I added the other ingredients

Sesame seeds are ready to be baked

Tahini recipe:
Ingredients
2 cups sesame seeds
1/3 cup olive oil, plus more as necessary
Procedures
1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place sesame seeds in a rimmed sheet pan and cook until lightly toasted toast, but not browned, about 5 minutes, tossing seeds ever couple of minutes with a spatula. Remove from the oven and let cool slightly.

Sesame seeds cooked and cooling

2)  Place sesame seeds in work bowl of a food processor with olive oil. Process until smooth and paste as consistence slightly thinner than peanut butter, adding more oil if necessary. Store in an airtight container in refrigerator.

Garlic paste:

Mix it all in a food processor.

This is the finished product:

Ingredients

– 2 heads of garlic
– 1 tbs sea salt

– 1 cup olive oil
– 1/2 cup lemon juice

Directions:
1.  separate all the garlic cloves & peel them.
2.  blend the garlic & salt together until it’s a smooth, creamy paste. I used my smaller food processor for this.
3. alternate adding oil & lemon 1 tbs at a time. Add a tbs of olive oil first & then blend until it is completely combined. Then add a tbs of lemon juice & once again blend until completely combined. Once you’re about half way through the lemon   & oil, you can start adding them 3tbs at a time. Once it’s all been added, you want to continue to blend until the mixture starts to thicken & take on a yogurt or mayo like consistency.
4. refrigerate until ready for use

For the shawarma:

The vegetables I cut up

1 English cucumber

1 tomato

Romaine lettuce (cut into strips)

Pita bread

Instructions:

Spread Tahini sauce on pita.  Layer marinated chicken next and then top with vegetables.  Wrap pita up and enjoy!

Adding the Tahini and meat

YUM!

Baked Mashed Potatoes

Are you tired of the same old mashed potatoes?  Would you like a new variation that you bake?  Here is a style of mashed potatoes that will give a new twist to what you may normally serve.

Ingredients:

4-5 potatoes

1 can creme of chicken soup

1 1/2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese

1/8 tsp. of garlic powder

1 1/2 cup of French fried onions

Directions:

1)  Peel and dice potatoes.

2)  Boil water and cook potatoes until tender

3)  Drain potatoes and mash with a masher

4)  Add soup, cheese and garlic powder to saucepan and stir over medium heat until cheese melts.

5)  Spoon mixture into a baking dish.

6)  Add French fried onions and top with remaining cheese

7)  Bake at 375 for 5-10 minutes

Enjoy!

Honey Lime Chicken Enchiladas

Good Friday to you!  Today is a beautiful, sunny day, though it is a bit cold out!  Today is one of those days that we have nothing scheduled!  I LOVE those days!  No ballet, no 4H meeting, no co-op…….just school at home!  It’s nice to have those types of days sprinkled in the week!  Next week we only have two days of school since it is Thanksgiving.  My daughter is in the Nutcracker next week so we will be busy going downtown to dress rehearsals all week, besides Monday, which is my oldest daughter’s 14th birthday.  It will be a fun, but busy week!  Today’s agenda for dinner is Honey Lime Chicken Enchiladas.  I took my chicken breasts and put them on low in the crock pot last night so they would be ready to be marinated this morning.  I took them out of the crock pot, shredded them and put them in the marinade sauce for the afternoon.  Talk about easy!  Here’s the recipe:

Ingredients

6 tbsp honey
5 tbsp lime juice
1 tbsp chili powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 lb chicken, cooked and shredded
10 tortillas
1lb cheese, shredded
16 oz enchilada sauce
1 cup heavy cream

Notes / Directions

Marinade:
6 tablespoons honey
5 tablespoons lime juice
1 tablespoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

Directions:
Whisk the first four ingredients and toss with shredded chicken in a Zip-loc bag.Let it marinate in the fridge for at least a 1/2 hour, but preferably a half day or so.

Pour about 1/2 cup enchilada sauce on the bottom of a 9X13 baking pan.

Fill the tortillas with chicken, saving marinade, and shredded cheese, saving about 1 cup of cheese to sprinkle on top of enchiladas.
Put rolled tortillas in 9×13 pan as you go.

Mix the remaining enchilada sauce with the cream and leftover marinade (if there is any). Pour sauce on top of the enchiladas.

Sprinkle with remaining cheese.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes until brown and crispy on top.

Enjoy your day!!  Remember to ‘Like” me on Facebook and pin anything on your Pinterest if you want!

Egg Brunch Casserole

This is a picture I took in my crock pot.  Notice the egg yolk?  I apparently didn’t whisk my eggs enough and this came out on top!  I decided to keep it like that and see if it cooks through! It’s smells delicious!!

I thought today would be a good day to have a ‘breakfast’ dinner.  I found an easy recipe for an egg bake in the crock pot!  I threw it together this morning and forgot about it, besides smelling the scrumptious aroma filling the house!  My mouth is watering and I’m not sure I can wait until dinner to dive in!  But I must, since it needs to cook thoroughly!  I bought a honeydew, which I will cut up and we will have bagels with it too.  I enjoy having a ‘breakfast’ dinner once in a while!  Here’s the recipe:

Ingredients

12 eggs
8 bacon, strips
1 small onions, chopped

1 green pepper, seeded and chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
32 oz hash browns, frozen
1 1/2 cups cheese, shredded
1 cup milk
1 tsp dill weed
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper

Notes / Directions

Spray crock pot with oil.  Cook bacon until crisp, break into bitsSauteonion, garlic and pepperPlace 1/3 hash browns into bottom of crock potAdd 1/3 bacon, garlic and cheese

Repeat layer, ending with cheese

In large bowl add eggs, milk, dill, salt, pepper. Pour over everything else

Cover and turn on low

Cook for 8-10 hours

How easy is that?  Can’t wait to eat it!!

Don’t forget to check out and follow my Pinterest page.   I am building up quite a collection of recipes!

Have a great day!

Double Crunch Honey Garlic Chicken Breast

Even though this is not what I am having for dinner tonight( I’m actually making potato soup from a kit tonight!), I thought I would share it because it is one of my very favorites!  This is also a good item to make ahead of time and freeze until you need it.  This tastes so good that you will want to make it over and over! Here’s the recipe:

Ingredients

2 cups flour
4 tsp salt
3 tbsp ginger
2 tbsp nutmeg
2 tsp thyme
2 tsp sage
2 tbsp paprika
1 tsp cayenne pepper
4 eggs
8 tbsp water
2 tbsp olive oil, for sauce
4 cloves garlic, for sauce
1 cup honey, for sauce
1/4 cup soy sauce, for sauce
5 tsp black pepper
4 chicken or pork chops

Notes / Directions

Make an egg wash by whisking together:4 eggs
8 tbsp waterSeason the chicken breasts with salt and pepper, then dip the meat in the flour and spice mixture. Dip the breast into the eggwash and then a final time into the flour and spice mix, pressing the mix into the meat to get good contact.

Heat a skillet on the stove with about a half inch of canola oil covering the bottom. You will want to carefully regulate the temperature here so that the chicken does not brown too quickly. The thinness of the breast meat practically guarantees that it will be fully cooked by the time the outside is browned. I find just below medium heat works well. I use a burner setting of about 4 1/2 out of 10 on the dial and fry them gently for about 4 or 5 minutes per side until golden brown and crispy.

Drain on a wire rack for a couple of minutes before dipping the cooked breasts into the Honey Garlic Sauce. Serve with noodles or rice.

Honey Garlic Sauce

In a medium saucepan add

2 tbsp olive oil
3 – 4 cloves minced garlic

Cook over medium heat to soften the garlic but do not let it brown. Add:

1 cup honey
¼ cup soya sauce (low sodium soya sauce is best)
1 tsp ground black pepper

Simmer together for 5-10 minutes, remove from heat and allow to cool for a few minutes. Watch this carefully as it simmers because it can foam up over the pot very easily.

Enjoy!  I know I do!!

Green Beans With Almonds and Bacon

My last post is the main dish (Oriental Noodle Toss with Black Beans) we will have for dinner this evening.  This is the vegetable we will have with it.  It is very easy and very good tasting!  My picky girls even enjoy it!

Here’s the recipe:

Ingredients

1 lb green beans
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup sliced almonds
3 slices bacon, cooked
1/4 tsp garlic powder
to taste salt

Notes / Directions

1 pound green beans
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup sliced almonds
3 slices of cooked bacon
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
salt to taste1 Snap off the tough ends and remove strings from green beans. Cut green beans in half.
2 In a large saucepan place green beans in 1″ of boiling water and simmer for 10-15 minutes or until tender. Drain.
3 Melt butter in a small saucepan. Add bacon, almonds, garlic powder, and salt and stir.
4 Pour sauce over green beans. Toss and serve.
5 Time Saving Tip: To save time use precooked bacon. Microwave precooked bacon for 30-60 seconds to make it extra crisp.
6 Tip: To make the green beans more festive for the holidays, add 1/4 cup of dried cranberries.

Happy Monday!