Honey-Gingered Pork Tenderloin

Hi! I apologize (again) for the lack of posts lately.. I'd like to blame it entirely on the upper respiratory infarction I was dealing with for a couple weeks, but alas, I can not. I just haven't been inspired much to cook new and exciting(to me) things lately.. I've got the culinary blahs. *sigh* Hubbs has become the chef and chief bottle washer of late and he's made some interesting dinners. He even attempted a "Dorie"! Unfortunately the crust got burned and that took away from the rest of the cake, but I give him a BIG A+ for effort! You have to give the man credit, he's terrified of baking and doesn't attempt it often. God love him. ;) In case you're wondering, it was his own creation of Dorie's Hidden Berry Cream Cheese Torte and her Quick Classic Berry Tart or Dorie's Hidden Berry Cream Cheese Classic Berry Tart-Torte. Mmm hmm.. Yeah, he wanted cheesecake and I wanted the berries I had bought to be used up.. so there ya have it. =) Slightly burnt but lovely none-the-less ;) Moving along.. Last night I decided to give him a break and got my arse in my lil kitchen. And although I have a huge fear of pork (yes, my dislike of most cuts of pork has turned into an all-out-terror because of this lil gem that about made me hurl.) I had pork tenderloin hanging out in the freezer so I figured I should use it up. After perusing Recipezaar, I found exactly what I was looking for - something sweet and savory with a lil Asian kick to it. This recipe boasts that it tastes like the lil BBQ ribs that many Asian restaurants serve. The author didn't lie. The sauce is very reminiscent of those BBQ ribs. And I even took a major shortcut by not marinating the tenderloin. I just seared the meat and threw it into the oven to finish cooking, while I made the sauce seperately so that I could spoon it over the tender pork medallions. I can just imagine how even more flavorful this dish would have been had I the time to marinate. So the good news is, if you don't have the time to marinate the pork you'll still end up with quite a delicious dinner. Honey Gingered Pork Tenderloin Courtesy of "FlemishMinx" and Recipezaar.com The recipe below reflects my changes. 2 (3/4 lb.) pork tenderloins Salt & Pepper 2 tsp. vegetable oil 1/4 c. honey 1/4 c. soy sauce 1/4 c. oyster sauce 2 TBS. packed brown sugar 1 TBS. fresh minced ginger 1 TBS. minced garlic 1 TBS. ketchup 1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper 1/4 tsp. cinnamon 1/3 c. chicken stock 1 TBS. cornstarch (or enough as needed) (optional) Adjust oven rack to middle position; heat oven to 400º F. Sprinkle tenderloins evenly with salt and pepper; rub seasoning into meat. Heat oil in 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat until smoking. Place both tenderloins in skillet; cook until well browned, 3 minutes. Using tongs, rotate tenderloins 1/4 turn; cook until well browned, 1 to 2 minutes. Repeat until all sides are browned. Transfer tenderloins to rimmed baking sheet and place in oven (reserve skillet if making pan sauce); roast until internal temperature registers 135º to 140º on instant-read thermometer, 10 to 16 minutes. Once out of the oven, cover loosely with a foil tent and let rest for 10 minutes before slicing. In still hot skillet, combine the first 9 sauce ingredients with a wooden spoon, making sure to scrape up all the bits from the bottom of the pan. Simmer for 10 minutes and then add the chicken stock and cornstarch (if using). Continue to simmer until desired thickness. Slice well rested tenderloin into 1/4 to 1/2 inch medallions and arrange on plate. Drizzle sauce over medallions before serving. If serving this dish to guests, keep in mind the sauce is quite strong and might be best to be served on the side. My Notes: If you are going to marinate the tenderloin first - place pork into a large ziplock bag or a shallow baking dish, whisk together first 9 sauce ingredients in a bowl, and pour over pork. Close bag or cover dish and place in refrigerator to marinate at least 8 hours, but 24 is better. Turn at least twice during this time. When ready to cook, continue on with recipe as instructed above, using reserved marinade for sauce. No no!! Don't go anywhere yet, I'm not done! I need just another minute or two of your time to show off the bestest Valentine's Day card I've ever received before. Ya'll know how I love home made cards, right? Well feast your eyes on this masterpiece: @}`~,~~., My sweet friend and fellow monthly baking clubber (uhh girls? We really need to decide on that name), Brilynn, made me this V-day card, ya'll!! I cropped the top of it where she writes that this card should get her into the dork club (Which I am President, CEO and Queen of) - which made me chuckle and also confused me a bit.. As I had inducted her MONTHS ago and made her Vice President of All That Is Dorky - apparently she didn't get the memo. huh. Thank you, Bril! I heart my hearty homemade card! :D

Self-saucing Pudding??

huh? A pudding that self-sauces? What the hell does that mean? And there is definitely cake involved... so how can it be called Self-saucing Pudding? Another one of those mysteries I might never find the answer to.. basically because I'm too lazy to look it up on the net. To end the month of January, my dear man - known to the blogging world as "Hubbs" - made his girl a loverly dinner PLUS a dessert! Talk about being a happy camper when arriving coming home after travelling through the frigid and icy weather from my 8 in the dungeon. The house smelled wonderful, the kids were cleaned up and looking especially cute and furry and there was even a tall glass of iced white tea waiting for me at the dining room table. Holy cow! Actually this isn't a rare occassion.. when he doesn't work (due to the icy frigidness) he will clean and cook because he can't stand laying around all day. I don't get that, but God bless him anyway! hehe After eating his, really quite good, salisbury steak with roasted potatoes, we waddled to our designated sofas and hunkered down under our over-sized warm blankets for an evening of Tivo'd shows. I'd say, maybe, an hour or so later, he jumped up announcing he had a surprise and then dashed off to the kitchen. While I sat there and wondered if he'd been hittin' the crack pipe what the surprise was and thanked my good fortune for being with such a good man, I heard dishes clanging and the microwave buzzing. Soon he reappeared with two bowls that were slightly steamy and covered in powdered sugar. When he handed me my bowl, I stared in wonderment at the fluffy cake sitting upon a pool of lemony sauce and took in the lemon scent that was wafting up through that steam. I looked up at him and thanked him.. and then said, "It looks and smells KICK-ASS, but what the hell is it?" He said it was a lemon self-saucing pudding, as if I should know what it was. "What is self-saucing pudding? And how did you make this?" He said he didn't know exactly what it was but it looked good in the picture. "Ahhh", I said. He had gone through my huge pile of cookin' mags put out by Kraft. Free magazines that they send out monthly that I can't seem to throw away after looking through them. And now I'm kinda glad I didn't. *grin* Anyhoo, he found this recipe and said he knew I'd like it. He was right. Firstly, it was warm and gooey.. such a wonderful combination. Secondly it smelled of lemons and that really is one of the best scents in the dead of winter.. Thirdly, it was warm and gooey. Did I mention that already? The cake on top was very fluffy and not too sweet and the "pudding" on the bottom was not as thick as pudding, but not thin like a sauce either - kind of in the middle'ish. It was sweet and tart, a nice balance of both. And lemme tell ya.. it was super easy to shovel it in, because the next thing I knew, mine was gone and I knew not much time had passed while I was blissfully enjoying his creation. The picture above may or may not be my second slice. *blush* Being a supportive husband of a blogger, the dear man actually snapped some before and after pictures and he dog-eared the page so that I could share with you the recipe. After checking it out, I can say that for a tiny amount of effort and a huge amount of lurve - you will be rewarded with the perfect warm and coozy dessert for a freezing cold winter night! Lemon Self-saucing Pudding Adapted from Kraft Foods Magazine 1 yellow double layer cake mix (He used a butter cake mix) Ingredients to make the cake from directions on box - usually a few eggs & some water 2 pkgs. (4 serving size) instant Jello lemon pudding/pie filling 2 c. cold milk 1/3 c. sugar 1 1/4 c. water 2 TBS. confectioners' sugar Preheat oven to 350º F. Grease a 9" x 13" glass Pyrex dish. Prepare the cake as per the box's directions and pour into prepared baking dish. In a large bowl, combine pudding mixes, milk, sugar and water and whisk for 2 minutes or until thoroughly incorporated. Gently pour the pudding over the cake batter. Bake in preheated oven for 55 to 60 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Let set for about 30 min. and serve warm with a sprinkle of confection's sugar. *Hubbs' Note: He suggests putting the cake on a lipped cookie sheet while baking, because some of the pudding ran and is now a black and smoking puddle on the floor of our oven. =) Also, this is going to be our submission to the so sweet and talented Meeta's Monthly Mingle - Sweet Love. Because, really? Look at those pictures - they scream "lurve" in a lemony, warm and coozy way. :D

Pork Medallions with Port Wine & Mustard Sauce

I don't recall if I've ever mentioned my most favorite restaurant in alla world? It was a small place that looked like any other small restaurant/bar - I don't really recall anything that special about the atmosphere. But the food? Oh dear sweet Jebus. It was fantastic. Unfortunately, the owner couldn't keep the place open - which shocked the hell outta me as it was ALWAYS packed. Rumors were the owners of the building upped his rent and he couldn't afford it.. other rumors were he got into a lil tax/money trouble.. whatever - the bottom line was I didn't have my favorite place to eat anymore and I was more than a lil sad. =( Their signature dish was pork tenderloin medallions in a port wine & mustard sauce. not only did they give you TWO pork tenderloins (I ate for days!) but this sauce that was poured over them was amazing. So amazing that in all the years we went there - I never had anything but the pork medallions. I just couldn't imagine anything else being as good. Wayne, my Mom and some friends always ordered different items and never was there a complaint, but for me.. it was that damn sauce. It's been a good 4 years or so since the restaurant closed. I've tried to recreate this sauce twice now. The first time was kind of close - but it called for pears. There were no pears in the original, but I thought what the hell and tried it. It was good.. very good. And then I lost the recipe. Mmm hmm.. so I tried again just this week. Not even close, quite frankly. I decided to just dump and pour and hope for the best. Well I didn't get the sauce I was hoping for, but I did get quite a fantastic sweet & tangy sauce that really went well with the pork. The first thing you'll notice when you taste is it's sweetness, but then you'll taste the mustard's tang and the port wine is very nice in the background. I think the only thing I'll change the next time I make this is to cut down on the brown sugar a bit. Hubbs didn't work that day so he wanted to contribute to the meal. I asked him to find a good side dish, preferably potatoes. He decided on an Onion and Potato Casserole that was quite nice, although probably not the best accompaniment for the medallions. Next time something lighter to offset the richness of the sauce might be better. But I'm including this recipe as it was very tasty and would be a fantastic side dish for just about any meat prepared a different way. Port Wine & Mustard Sauce 1 c. Port wine 1/4 c. dijon mustard 3/4 - 1 c. beef stock 1/4 c. brown sugar 1 TBS. butter Pan drippings After you've roasted your pork (I roasted mine in the same skillet I used to sear it in and then carefully made the sauce in the same skillet - keeping a thick kitchen towel over the handle at all times to remind my dork arse that it was searing hot) remove it to a dish and cover with foil to keep warm. In the skillet add the 1 c. of port wine sauce, stirring with a wooden spoon or spatula to lift off the lil brown bits of goodness. Simmer the wine until it reduces by half. Add the mustard and about 1/2 c. of beef broth and continue to simmer until this has reduced by 1/2. Finally add the brown sugar and more broth depending on how thick you want the sauce to be. I don't think I added much more the second time - maybe a 1/4 cup or so? Anyhoo, simmer this slowly until you've reached the consistency you'd like then add the butter and stir until your sauce becomes silky. Drizzle over medallions and serve. Onion and Potato Casserole 3 c. sliced onions (2 large onions) 2 TBS butter 1 (10.5 oz.) can condensed cream of celery soup 1/2 c. water salt and pepper to taste 1/4 tsp. dried thyme 6 med. potatoes, sliced thin and parboiled 1 c. shredded cheddar cheese Preheat oven to 350º F. In a skillet, cook onions in butter until lightly browned. Add soup and water, season with salt and pepper and thyme. Arrange potatoes and 1/2 c. of the cheese in a buttered 2 quart casserole. Pour onion mixture over potatoes & cheese and top with remaining cheese. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until heated through and lightly browned. Serves 4 My Note: The only thing thing he did differently was cut the recipe in half.

A Night Off..

Hubbs had stayed home Monday with a sore back. Being the stubborn man that he is, did he stay off his feet and keep ice on his back all day? Uhhh no. His back must have been extremely painful as he NEVER misses work because of aches and pains.. but yet he managed to wash 3 loads of his work clothes, tidy the house, play with the kids outside - after he blew the leaves AND he made me dinner. I coulda killed him. ha! I had high hopes that the man would take it easy for ONE day.. just lay around and relax and do what had to be done to make his back feel better, as I've had back problems before and I know how excruciating the pain can get. He says moving around made it feel better - so move around he did. hehee! Course he ended up staying home Tuesday because it hurt worse, but who am I to say I TOLD YOU SO??!! :P So this dinner he made me.. Hubbs is a pretty good cook - he makes the best chicken soup I've ever had and his chili and beef stew aren't too shabby either. I refer to him, on occasion, as the "Bowl Chef" - if it is to be served in a bowl, he can make it well! hehe I was quite surprised with this dinner - he knows how much I lurve my Cooking Light cookbook so he took it down and went through it and picked two recipes to make - and neither required a bowl to serve it in! His first dish was Hashbrown Casserole with Bacon, Onions and Cheese. Out of the two this was my favorite. It was a creamy and smokey casserole that was really flavorful. I think it'd be the perfect side dish to pork chops, chicken or steak. He went with beef to serve with it, specifically Asian Beef. This was also very flavorful, but we both agreed, probably not the best to be served with a bacony potato side. It really needed a more benign side dish, to allow it's flavors to be the "star" of the dinner. Tender sirloin steak marinated in soy, ginger, rice wine vinegar, brown sugar and sliced green onions. The recipe called for the whole steak to be broiled until cooked the way we prefer, but he asked me if I'd mind showing him how to stir-fry. So he sliced it into bite sized strips while I heated the wok and just a few minutes later we had Stir-fried Asian Beef. I liked this, as it had a sweet tangy flavor and the onions really came through as well. I think this marinade would be much better on pork and I'd like to try it that way one day served with rice. All in all it was a very nice dinner made by a very nice man =) Hash Brown Casserole with Bacon, Onions and Cheese Adapted from Cooking Light's Annual Recipes 2006 6 bacon slices 1 c. chopped onion 2 garlic cloves, minced 2 (32 oz.) package frozen Southern-style hash brown potatoes (We just had plain refrigerated hash brown potatoes, so he doctored them up with red bell pepper) 1 c. (4 oz.) preshredded Classic Melts Four Cheese blend, divided (Never heard of that particular cheese, so he just used shredded 4 cheese Mexican blend) 1/2 c. chopped green onions 1/2 c. fat-free sour cream 1/2 tsp. salt 1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper 1 (10.75 oz.) can condensed 30%-reduced-sodium, 98%-fat-free cream of mushroom soup, undiluted Cooking spray Cook bacon in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat until crisp. Remove bacon from pan, and crumble. Discard drippings in pan. Add 1 c. onion and garlic to pan, cook 5 minutes or until tender, stirring frequently. Stir in potatoes, cover and cook 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Combine crumbled bacon, 1/4 c. cheese, green onions, sour cream, salt, pepper and soup in a large bown. Add potato mixture; toss gently to combine. Spoon mixture into an 11 x 7-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Sprinkle with 3/4 c. cheese. Cover with foil coated with cooking spray. Refrigerate 8 hours or overnight. Preheat oven to 350º F Remove casserole from refrigerator, let stand at room temperature 15 minutes. Bake casserole, covered, at 350º for 30 minutes. Uncover and bake an additional 30 minutes or until bubbly around edges and cheese begins to brown. Yield: 6 servings - serving size about 1 cup. Asian Beef Adapted from Cooking Light's Annual Recipes 2006 1/3 c. chopped green onions 3 TBS. low-sodium soy sauce 2 TBS. rice wine vinegar 2 TBS. brown sugar 1 tsp. toasted sesame oil 1 tsp. minced garlic - about 1 decent sized clove 1 tsp. minced ginger (recipe called for bottled, he used fresh) 1 pound flank steak, trimmed (he used a 1 lb. sirloin steak) Cooking spray Preheat boiler Combine first 7 ingredients in a small bowl, stirring with a whisk. Place steak on a broiler rack coated with cooking spray. Pour soy mixture over steak. Broil steak 3 inches from heat 5 minutes on each side or until desired degree of doneness. Let stand 5 minutes; cut around grain into thin slices. Yield: 4 servings - serving size 3 ounces Note: If using a more tender cut of meat, such as we did, you can get away with stir-frying this, by cutting the meat into strips, adding a tsp. of oil to a well heated wok and then placing the meat along with a couple TBS. of the marinade and stir-frying until meat is done the way you like it.

The story of a drunken fat-ass chicken...

As I've said before.. Wayne is pretty good in the kitchen. He rarely follows a recipe and just throws things in a pot that usually ends up quite tasty. But when it comes to something he's not familiar with he get's a little hmm.. how shall I say? Uptight? Yes.. uptight. Like all of us, he wants his new creation to turn out beautifully but when chartering unfamiliar waters he fusses over every detail and over thinks each step. If I hadn't been in that situation a few times myself, I would think he's going nuts.. but instead I try to be as understanding and helpful as I can, until he leaves me and then I quietly giggle behind his back. I'm so not nice, am I? ;) So as I was stuck in bed on Saturday, he was out on his sofa watching some show on Food TV that featured a chicken, with a beer can shoved up it's heiney, being grilled. Grilled? Beer? Poultry? I'm sure he could barely control himself while watching. Kinda sorry I missed his reaction. When I did venture out to see that the world still existed, and by that I mean I needed coffee, he hopped off the sofa and announced that he was going to grill chicken for dinner! Ta-da! Having not known what he had just witnessed, I was like.. "okay.. good for you, honey" and kind of looked at him strangely. He's never gotten excited over grilled chicken before, so I didn't get what got his britches in such a bunch? I propped myself up on my loveseat (yes, we have designated living room furniture) duly putting my feet up on all the throw pillows (that info is for my doc if she's reading - and I know she is.. right along with Val Kilmer and Tyler Florence) and listened to him go on and on about this fabulous beer can chicken. I was a bit alarmed as part of the story was about how the chef drank half a can of beer and then proceeded to cut the top of the can off. So I'm picturing in my mind's eye, Hubbs guzzling half that beer down (wasn't such a hard image to conjure up) and then trying to saw off the top with a circular saw.. there was blood, lots of blood and foamy beer everywhere. *shudder* After hearing his story and making him promise to not cut the top of the can off and to poke an extra hole or two in the top instead, I encouraged him to grill his lil heart out. His first duty was to run up to the store to buy a chicken and down the hallway he went (I think he actually skipped down the hallway) to our bedroom to get dressed. Once presentable and with a quick kiss on my cheek he was off. Fifteen minutes later he was back and carrying FIVE bags of supplies and a case of beer. That would be F.I.V.E. (5) bags (I wasn't shocked over the need to purchase a case of beer for one can shoved up the poultry's bum). I watched him unpack a very large chicken (big enough to feed a huge family), lighter fluid, a bag of charcoal, apple juice?, potatoes, several heads of garlic and two bottles of Hershey's Chocolate Shake chocolate milk for me (squeeee!). He so knows what meds to buy me when I'm ill. =) I snagged the milk from his hands, kissed him and went back to bed. Over the next two hours, he came into the bedroom with various comments and questions about how to season the chicken, what temperature the grill should be at, what to do with the gizzards and neckbone, should he be basting?, how will he know when the chicken is done? What temperature was that again, honey? Where do I stick the thermometer? Just wanted to let you know it's looking good and smelling great!, Shouldn't the skin be getting brown by now? So I sent him back outside with the camera and told him to take me a picture so I could see how it looked... This was after two hours.. it looked pretty sad to me and I couldn't help but to laugh. He's got one of those smoker things that can be used as a grill and a steamer as well.. here I thought he was using either our propane grill (that can also be used with charcoal) or the grill we take camping. Unfortunately, the smoker grill thingie just doesn't get hot enough for huge items to cook thoroughly (unless, of course you are smoking it for hours and hours and hours) when grilling. So that bird, which normally would have taken two hours tops, still had a good two hours or so to go. I thought he was going to faint when I mentioned that lil tidbit to him. So I told him it might be a good idea to preheat our oven and bake the chicken there. If he were to put the racks on the bottom there would be plenty of room for the chicken to still stand up on it's can. (no pun intended) I could tell when he brought the chicken in as the smell of smoke wafted back to our bedroom. I about died. He, obviously, forgot to take the old chips out of the smoker before putting the charcoal in. Gah. A little background here.. he bought a bag of wood chips a few weeks ago - a type he'd never cooked with before and I couldn't tell ya what the hell kind they were - to smoke a pork roast and some ribs. Whatever the hell type they were, they totally ruined the roast and ribs.. the taste was putrid and we still marvel at how we managed to even try the meat because getting a piece of it past our noses was amazing in itself. I waited to hear the oven door shut before I called him back to the bedroom and reminded him of the stanky and putrid pork. He said he took most of the chips out, he just left a few in.. well a few was a few too many. Can you see where this is going? Forty five minutes later, we had a beautifully browned chicken.. cooked to perfection. He took it out and let it rest. After five minutes we were both gagging. The smell was atrocious. We had hoped that because he had taken out most of the evil chips, that maybe just the skin would have that putrid taste and the meat would be fine. But noooooooo.. we were wrong. The whole fakkin thing tasted exactly like the pork of a few weeks ago. We had tears streaming down our faces.. because of the smell and the way we were both manically laughing. Three hours of cooking one chicken and some potatoes and none of it was edible. It looked fantastic.. but.. Gah. "Hello, Donatos? Yes, we'd like to order a large pizza..."

Stuffed Peppers ala Hubbs

When we saw that the bell peppers were really taking off in our garden, I mentioned to Hubbs that stuffed peppers sounded so good. That was a week or so ago. Yesterday, when I got home from the dungeon, what did I see?? 8 beautifully stuffed peppers sitting in a baking dish ready to go into the oven! I couldn't believe my eyes.. dinner - done! (almost) And I didn't have to lift a finger! Don't get me wrong, Hubbs treats me well.. but dinner being made for me in the summer was truly a treat and completely shocking. heheee He does cook, actually stuffed peppers is one of his specialties, but never in the summer. Well, I thanked my lucky star (and him!) and relaxed the rest of the evening. I'm totally hooked on Rescue Me. Anyone watch that show? Denis Leary and an equally hysterical cast in a show about New York Firemen. I've wanted to watch it since it first came on a few seasons ago, but never managed to remember what night it was aired. So I've been renting the complete past seasons on DVD and catching up so I can watch this season repeated this fall. It is an excellent show. Rather raunchy (which I love) and very addicting. Thank gawd for Blockbuster. Anyhoo.. while peppers baked, I started to watch the first disk of season 2 while lounging on the loveseat. After work.. on a week day.. I thought I had died and went to heaven! heheee When the peppers were done, we took them outside and ate on the deck. They were fabulous. The peppers were tender and you could really taste the difference between these peppers and peppers bought from the store. Nothing like veggies right from the garden. We had garlic bread and a salad of fresh cucumbers from the garden, as well. Yum! The stuffing was made up of part ground round and part pork sausage with sage. He then added a few more ingredients, covered them with the last of my marinara and additional tomato sauce and voila.. stuffed peppers. =) Wayne's Stuffed Peppers 1/2 lb. ground round 1/2 lb. pork sausage seasoned with sage 1 med. onion, diced fine 3 cloves garlic, minced 1/4-1/3 c. Minute Rice, uncooked 3 to 4 C. your favorite marinara sauce or seasoned tomato sauce Salt & Pepper to taste 8 bell peppers (Ours were kinda of long and narrow - so if you use bigger peppers, probably only 6) Preheat oven to 350º F. In a large bowl, combine meats, onion, garlic, rice and S&P well with your hands. Slice the tops of the peppers off, reserving them, and clean the inside of the peppers free of membrane and seeds. Stuff meat mixture evenly in peppers and slap the tops back on. Place a layer of tomato sauce or your favorite marinara in a 9 x 13 x 2 inch Pyrex baking dish and then add the stuffed peppers. If they won't stand up straight you can either cut off a bit of the bottoms to steady them or simply cook them on their sides. Top off peppers with more tomato sauce/marinara and cover loosely with foil. Bake 1 hour and 15 minutes or until the peppers are fork tender and the filling is cooked through.