My Latest Trials in the Kitchen

Beau and I have made a couple of good meals recently and I thought I'd share. If you think for a second that I'm trying to have a foodie blog here, I will laugh at you laughing at me. :) I just love to know what my friends make on an average day so I thought I'd share some of ours...


We have done this first one many times and I finally took pictures. On my IPHONE. Nothing says "appetizing, bulbous raw pork" like iPhone pictures. But you get the drift....this one is on Beau's diet and pretty guilt free. Not to mention, delicious.


Mediterranean Stuffed Pork Loin
Courtesy of The Slow-Carb Cookbook (page 28)


INGREDIENTS: 
1–2 lbs pork tenderloin 
1 red pepper, finely chopped 
1–2 garlic cloves, finely chopped 
6 oz spinach 
1/4 cup chopped almonds 
Pitted kalamata olives (neither of likes olives so we don't use these)
Olive oil or butter for sautéing 
Optional: 1/4 cup crumbled Feta cheese (optional? Cheese is not optional)


ACTIVE COOKING TIME: 15-20 minutes
TOTAL TIME (START TO FINISH): 1 to 1 1/2 hours 
SERVINGS: 3-6
DIRECTIONS: 
1. Drizzle some olive oil or butter in a frying pan over medium heat. Add red peppers 
and garlic to the pan. After a few minutes add the spinach and cook until it wilts. 
Remove from heat.
2. Butterfly cut the pork tenderloin (cut vertically down the middle until almost 
through, but not quite through the pork). Place saran-wrap over the butterflied 
pork and pound it as flat as you can without breaking through the pork (use a meat 
tenderizing hammer for best results). 
3. Once the pork is thin, add the ingredients from the pan on top of the pork, spreading 
it all over. Add the almonds, and optional feta cheese and olives.
4. Gently roll the pork into a tube/roll. If you are using a smaller pork loin, or were not 
able to pound it very thinly, you may just be folding the loin over rather than rolling it. 
In this case, securing the loin with toothpicks or kitchen twine will be necessary.
5. Drizzle the pork with olive oil and butter and bake at 375°F for about 40–60 minutes 
(depending on the size of the pork roll). When the pork is cooked to your liking, let it 
cool slightly and then slice.

Step 3 - We actually used too much stuffing this go round and the meat almost didn't meet back up. You can't have a stuffed anything if the sides don't meet! So, beware of your stuffing amounts.

Please refer to the "bulbous raw pork" comment above. Eww.

I think my favorite flavoring are the almonds and feta. Shocking, I know!

Next up, my first recipe from Crockin' Girls. You remember, these 3 girls from Texas had the digital world buzzing when their Facebook page for crock pot recipes (you know, the things that have been around pretty much since electricity) racked up over 1 million followers in like 3 days. Brands like Geico, American Airlines and Lexus don't even have that many "likes"! But I digress. So, I skimmed their recipes and the one titled "My Husband's Favorite" jumped out. Done! The comments were very favorable as well. And you have SIX very full, very satisfied Thumbs Up from the Reynolds! 


My Husband's Favorite
1 can golden mushroom soup
1/2 cup white cooking wine
1/4 cup butter
1 pkg of cream cheese
4 chicken breast
Cook on low for 5 hours.
Pour sauce over angel hair pasta

SO easy and SO good! But you really can't go wrong with butter and cream cheese! I served it with asparagus and garlic bread. Delish.

Side bar: I guess I should add this part since I opened my big mouth about their Facebook numbers. If you follow that link, you will see there are only TWO girls and now only 500K fans. One girl bailed early on and then they had to start over with a new page when Crock Pot threatened legal action against them for using their name on the original page. And FB doesn't allow a company to simply switch names with that kind of following. Probably a HUGE miss on Crock Pot's part since women haven't been this excited about crock pots since our moms were barefoot and 9 months pregnant with us but whatev. Oh, the DRAMA! You bet I was interested in all that! ;)


Fun Food for Kids
I got this idea off Pinterest since I have no desire to invent anything on my own with the internet at my fingertips. I tried to name it but YOU try coming up with a name with the words "weenie" and "noodle" and still sound kid-friendly. Go on, I dare you.

Thin pasta strung through turkey dogs. This part was a breeze and took only a few minutes.

I added cheese. Only b/c I add cheese to everything. Oh, and salt.

Success! But only in the beginning. It quickly became the world's most fun food. He started lasso-ing them over his head and never ate another bite. We will not be doing this one again until he's older. :)

Send me your recipes if they a) are easy and b) make me look like a hero in the kitchen! :)