Spice Rubbed Pork Tenderloin

 

Last night we had the most excellent pork tenderloin for dinner with a side of broccoli and cheese.   I put a dry rub on the tenderloin and cooked it on the Big Green Egg  - perfection.

 

Spice Rubbed Pork Tenderloin
1 Tablespoon sugar                        ¼ teaspoon mustard powder
1 Tablespoon chili powder            ¼ teaspoon thyme
2 teaspoons salt                               2 pounds pork tenderloin

Combine all ingredients, except tenderloin.

Rub over tenderloin.  Place in baking dish and cover and refrigerate at least 30 minutes.  

I lit the Egg and got the temperature up to about 350.  I cooked the tenderloin for 45 minutes, turning as needed.

The pork looked absolutely beautiful when I pulled it off the Egg.  I was hoping that it was going to taste as good as it looked. 

I covered it with foil and let it rest for about 15 minutes.  I sliced it and served it and I am happy to report that it did not disappoint.  The tenderloin was tender and juicy with a nice smoky flavor from the rub.  I love this rub recipe - it's the perfect combination of sweet and salty and spicy.   

I will admit that I struggle to come up with side dishes on most nights.  I tend to get stuck in a vegetable rut and I end up making the same ones over and over again.  When Green Giant offered to send me a coupon for a free bag of frozen vegetables as part of the Foodbuzz Tastemaker program, I jumped at the chance.  I know the importance of making vegetables a part of our daily diet so I am always looking for new ways to incorporate more of them into our meals. 

I was impressed at the variety of Green Giant vegetables at my local supermarket.  I had a hard time deciding which variety to choose.  I finally settled on broccoli and cheese which is a family favorite. 

I love the new steamer bags.  The vegetables that I chose already had the cheese sauce in the bag so I simply put it in the microwave for 5 minutes.  

This may have been the easiest side dish I've ever made.  The vegetables were nice and crisp and the cheese sauce really helped to enticed my family to eat more vegetables.  With only 45 calories per serving, I feel like this was a healthy way to get more vegetables onto our plates. 

There is really no good reason not to include vegetables with our meals when Green Giant has made them this easy - and delicious.   Give them a try.

Bon Appetit!

Change of Plans

I headed to the grocery store on Monday with my weeks worth of menu's in hand as usual.  I had done my best to plan out each and every meal that we would be eating and I even made a detailed list of groceries that I needed to buy in order to make all of those meals.  Sometimes even though I'm armed with good intentions and thorough plans I end up getting blindsided at the supermarket.  I have learned that preparation can only take me so far, I am still at the mercy of the grocery store.  This was one of those weeks where it seemed like everything that was on my list was NOT on the supermarket shelves.  I had to do some last minute substitutions when I got to the grocery store and realized that they were out of most of the ingredients that were on my list.  I also swap out meats or produce when the grocery store is running a sale and sometimes I buy things on sale and freeze them for another week's menu.  Usually this works out for the best anyway and my revised menu often turns out even better than the original.

One of the things that I was looking for was chicken with ribs and there was none to be found but the store did have turkey legs that looked really good.  I had planned to make Sticky Grilled Chicken so I decided to try the recipe with the turkey legs instead of chicken.

Sticky Grilled Chicken Turkey Legs
¼ cup ketchup                         ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
¼ cup marmalade                    ½ teaspoon chili powder
½ clove garlic                          ¼ teaspoon dry mustard
1 Tablespoon vinegar              turkey legs

 Combine ingredients in saucepan.













Bring sauce to a boil and simmer 5 minutes.

Grill turkey legs on the Big Green Egg for 30 minutes.











Brush with marinade and grill 30 minutes longer.

The turkey legs were REALLY good.  I liked the sauce even better on the turkey legs than I do on chicken.  I love when last minute substitutions turn out for the better. 

Everyone picked their up turkey leg and ate it with their hands.  We were all pretty messy by the end of dinner but it was so worth it.  The sauce on these turkey legs was really tasty.  I highly recommend Sticky Grilled Turkey Legs for anyone who might be wandering through the grocery store in search of dinner inspiration. 

Bon Appetit!

Apple Pancake

It's so exciting to watch my kids develop new talents and skills.  My daughter is starting to hang around the kitchen more now than she ever has before.  She's very curious about the things I make and she's usually willing to help when I need an assistant.  

She's also started to use my camera more often.  She is responsible for most of the pictures of me in the blog.  Her photography skills are exceptional. (Maybe she'll be able to teach me a few things about my camera.)  Last week she snapped this picture of Mia last week carrying her "blankie" around the house.  Yes - she's an 85 pound dog with a favorite "blankie". 

My daughter helped me arrange all of the apples in the Dutch Apple Pancake that we had for dinner a couple of weeks ago.  I totally enjoy her company when I'm in the kitchen - and her help.

 

We are still eating up the apples from our trip to the apple orchard last month.  I love these apples so much that I use them sparingly so that none are wasted.  The apples definitely added something special to this pancake.  I made a similar pancake with strawberries several months ago. 

Dutch Apple Pancake
¼ cup brown sugar                          2 Tablespoons butter
¼ teaspoon cinnamon                     ½ cup Bisquick
2 apples, sliced and peeled              2 eggs
1/3 cup water

Mix brown sugar and cinnamon.  Add apples and toss to coat.

  

Heat water and butter to boiling.  

Reduce heat and add bisquick.  Stir until mixture forms a ball.

Remove from heat and beat in eggs, one at a time.  Beat until smooth.

 

Spread batter into a greased pie plate.   Arrange apples on top. 

Bake 23 minutes at 400.

The smell of warm apples and cinnamon filled the house while this delicious dinner baked in the oven.  My family gobbled up the whole pancake for dinner.  The cinnamon sugar from the apples makes a nice syrup for the pancake but my son added a little extra syrup to his piece.  This was a great breakfast for dinner meal on a cool Fall evening.  There's something special about bringing my family together over a warm meal. 

Bon Appetit!

I'm in love

 

It's no secret that I have an ongoing love affair with bagels.   I can think of no more wonderful breakfast than a warm, fresh from the oven bagel.  Ever since my favorite bagel shop in Athens closed last year, I have been going through some serious bagel withdrawal.  Don't get me wrong, I haven't boycotted my favorite carbohydrate breakfast altogether but my experiences with bagels have been less than satisfying lately.  I have made attempts at homemade bagels in the past but they turned out to be somewhat disappointing.  My homemade bagels were tasteless and tough.  Last weekend, I was browsing through my new issue of Cooking Light and I found a recipe for "Real Bagels."  The recipe promised a "chewy revelation."  My interest was peaked so I decided to give them a try.  I figured that I had nothing to lose.

Real Bagels (recipe adapted from Cooking Light, Nov. 2011)

2 cups warm water

1 teaspoon yeast

6 cups flour

2 teaspoon kosher salt

12 cups water

3/4 cup sugar

Combine water and yeast in mixer bowl and let stand for 5 minutes.  

Add 5 c. flour and salt to yeast.  Knead 2 minutes.  Add remaining flour and knead 8 minutes.  Place in a greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let rise 30 minutes.  

Divide dough into 12 equal portions.  Shape each portion into a ball.  

Make hole in the center of each ball using a finger and stretch to 1.5” in diameter.  Place bagels on a silpat lined baking sheet.  

 

Spray bagels lightly with cooking spray, cover with plastic wrap and let rise 10 minutes.  

 

Combine water and sugar in a large pot and bring to a boil.  Gently lower 3 bagels at a time into water and cook 30 seconds.  

Transfer to a greased wire rack.  Repeat with remaining bagels.  

 

Divide bagels between 2 baking sheets and bake 14 minutes, at 450, rotating halfway through cooking. 

The bagels came out of the oven golden brown even though my photograph didn't really show their color well.  Since I was serving the bagels for our usual Sunday night "breakfast for dinner" meal, I decided to make them into bagel sandwiches.  

A sunny side up egg, a slice of colby jack cheese, a slice of rosemary ham and a warm bagel = sandwich perfection.  We ate our bagels sandwiches while they were still warm from the oven and - oh my goodness - they were good.  I concur with Cooking Light that these bagels were  a "chewy revelation."  My love for bagels is rekindled and now that I have a great recipe to make them in my own kitchen I am ready to try new bagel variations.  I can definitely some see whole wheat and cinnamon bagels in my future. 

Bon Appetit!

Guilt Free Fettuccini

I love getting free food in the mail.  Who wouldn't?  Last week, I received this jar of Classico Light Creamy Alfredo Pasta Sauce as part of the Foodbuzz Tastemakers program.  (Just one of the benefits of being a food blogger.)

Last Friday was super busy for me.  I had spent the entire day in the kitchen working on a cake and then preparing food for a catering order.   I was making good progress so when 5:00 rolled around, the last thing that I wanted to do was stop everything and make dinner for my family.  I decided to scrap the meal that I had planned for dinner and I reached for the Alfredo Sauce instead.

I pulled some Papperdelle pasta out of the pantry and I had some chicken breasts in the refrigerator.  

Ben lit the Big Green Egg and started grilling the chicken while I put the water on to boil the pasta.

I also warmed the Creamy Alfredo Pasta Sauce in a small saucepan on the stove.  

When the chicken was cooked through, I let it rest for a few minutes while I drained the pasta.  I tossed some of the Alfredo sauce with the pasta and served it in a big pasta bowl.  I sliced the chicken and served it over the pappardelle with more Alfredo drizzled over the top. 

Dinner was ready in under 20 minutes and it was delicious.  I even had time to throw together a quick salad while I waited for the pasta to cook.  We all really liked the Alfredo sauce.  It was light and creamy with a nice complex  flavor.  I typically stear clear of Alfredo simply because of the fat and calories but each serving (1/4 cup) of this sauce has only 60 calories and 5 grams of fat.  I am a fan.

Bon Appetit!

Breakfast Blues

Everyone knows that breakfast is the most important meal of the day but the reality is that it's not always easy to convince my family to eat a good breakfast.  There are a lot of obstacles that can interfere with eating a healthy breakfast but that doesn't mean that I have to surrender to the dreaded Pop Tart.

Inspired by Fage yogurt and their theme of "good living" I decided to change up my breakfast menu and introduce some new flavors to try and spark some new interest in the most important meal of the day.  Good living for my family means enjoying meals together and nourishing our bodies with good food at the same time.  With this in mind, I came up with a variation of my buttermilk pancake recipe that incorporates some of the tangy goodness of Fage yogurt.  My family loves pancakes and adding yogurt to boost their nutritional value was just an added bonus.  What I didn't expect was just how light and flavorful the pancakes were going to turn out with the addition of Fage yogurt. 

Buttermilk Pancakes
2 cups flours                                      2 cups buttermilk
2 Tablespoons sugar                        1/4 cup Fage Yogurt
1/2 teaspoon salt                              2 eggs
1 teaspoon baking powder              3 Tablespoons butter, melted
1/2 teaspoon baking soda               1 Tablespoon vegetable oil








Mix dry ingredients. 











Combine buttermilk, sour cream, egg and melted butter.












Add to dry ingredients and stir gently.  Let batter rest 10 minutes.









Pour oil into bottom of skillet.  Wipe out excess with paper towel.  Drop ¼ cupfuls of batter into hot skillet.











Flip and cook until browned on both sides.

Drizzled with warm maple syrup, these pancakes were absolutely delicious.  They were light and fluffy and slightly tangy.  I had to make a second batch because everyone gobbled up the first batch and asked for more.  That speaks for itself. 

If you have never made pancakes from scratch or if you use the same pancake mix every time, it might be time to try something new.  This recipe is easy to make and your family will notice the difference.  Sometimes changing a recipe is all it takes to bring the love of breakfast back to your family.

As part of the Foodbuzz Featured Publisher program, I have been entered for the chance to win a trip to Greece courtesy of FAGE. You too can enter to win one of three trips to Greece by entering the FAGE Plain Extraordinary Greek Getaway here: http://www.fageusa.com/community/fage-greek-getaway.

Bon Appetit!

Dinner in a bag

Busy weekend planned?  You might need to make Tacos-in-a-bag for dinner to feed your family this weekend. 

My mom made these tacos for everyone when we were spending some time at their house two summers ago.  We had so many outstanding meals over the course of our visit but the one that my daughter talked about the most? - tacos in a bag.  She was totally enamored by the concept of eating her dinner out of a Fritos bag - she begged me to make them when we got home.




This week I recreated my mom's famous taco in a bag dinner for my daughter.  I had some leftover ground turkey taco meat in the refrigerator and several small bags of Fritos in the pantry.   Add some shredded cheese and lettuce and viola - dinner was done.

Directions:
Before opening the Fritos, break up the chips by squeezing the bag.  
Scoop some of the ground taco meat on top of the chips.
Add toppings.  (cheese, lettuce, salsa, sour cream, etc.)







These are so handy because they are completely portable.  My daughter ended up eating her taco in a bag in the car on the way to church this week.

This is a great way to use up leftover taco meat without making the same meal twice.   I am willing to bet that your kids will like it just as much as mine do.

Bon Appetit!