Fig Glazed Pork Tenderloin is a Hit!

I have to admit, the hubs isn't a huge fan of pork tenderloin, but I always trust my favorite blogger Your Home Based Mom, and I knew she wouldn't steer me wrong.

This recipe was fantastic, great on the grill, great for summer, and I can imagine would be even more fantastic come fall with some nice roasted butternut squash and some fresh hearty bread on a cool evening! I bet if you were extra lazy and didn't want to leave your warm house you could also do this in the oven and it would still turn out fantastic.

This pork was done to perfection - tender, juicy, and flavorful. There was a great glaze on the pork when it came off the grill and then I made some of the marinade and heated it up before serving to have a small sauce with it. Even better!!


Ingredients

1 pork tenderloin 3-4 lbs.
1 13 oz. jar fig preserves (RI peeps, for a cheaper fig jam, hit up Christmas Tree Shop!)
3 tsp whole grain dijon mustard* We used a horseradish ale whole grain mustard and it was KILLER!
2 tsp balsamic vinegar
Instructions

Mix together preserves, mustard and vinegar.
Line pan with foil and place tenderloin in pan
Brush with glaze mixture on both sides
Bake at 350 for 40-50 minutes or until meat is cooked* We did ours on the grill and did about 8-10 minutes a side on about 400 degrees on the grill
Brush with glaze several times during cooking process.

* I also made an extra smaller portion of the marinade with the jam, mustard and vinegar and heated that on the stove top to have a nice sauce at the end. I highly recommend it!!

Thanks Leigh Anne for a pork tenderloin recipe that was husband approved for a make again!!

Mushroom Brucetta

We made this meal, get this, at Memorial Day. Yes, that's how long it's been since I've downloaded photos from my camera and blogged. WOWSA!

We had some wonderful fresh herb crusty bread from La Salle Bakery in Providence that I sliced up and grilled with a little olive oil on it. I topped the slices of bread with fresh tomatoes from the farmer's market, lightly grilled portabella mushrooms that were marinaded in oil, garlic, salt, pepper and balsamic, and some fresh mozzarella cheese.

DELISH! Great light summer meal!

You say G-Ro, I say Gy-Ro

Once again, one of my favorite food blogs did not disappoint at all with this recipe - Thank you Elly!

Her Chicken Gyros are out of this world delicious and easy!

I served them along with some small eggplants from our garden that I coated with salt and pepper and grilled. The whole meal was just wonderfully delicious and I can't wait to make it again!

See, look at this picture, doesn't it just make your mouth water??

It's a Kabab!!!

I have been eyeing this recipe from my Southern Living Easy Weeknight Favorites for quite some time but wasn't quite sure about all of the ingredients - so I decided to switch it up a bit and go with the basic idea and the sauce.

Honey Ginger Chicken Kabobs.

1 1/2 lb. boneless skinless chicken cut in to cubes

salt and pepper

1 yellow pepper seeded and cut in to 1 inch pieces (omitted)

1 red pepper seeded and cut in to 1 inch pieces (omitted)

1 can or jar baby corn drained (omitted)

1/3 cup hoisin sauce

1/3 cup honey

1/2 tsp. minced ginger

1 clove garlic crushed.

*ok before I start with the directions you're probably thinking, everything says omitted, so what did you put on your kabobs?!? I swapped the peppers for zucchini slices and mushroom caps and omitted the baby corn all together because I just couldn't see how they would stay on the skewers.*

Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper. Thread chicken and vegetables on to skewers

Combine remaining ingredients and stir well. Brush lightly on kabobs. Grill kabobs for approx. 12 minutes, turning and basing with sauce mixture.

I had so much extra zucchini and a few remaining mushroom caps, so I whipped up some udon noodles and tossed with some remaining sauce and the veggies to make a nice little side dish.

Wonderful dinner!

Nice Fresh Summer Meal

I found this recipe on My Recipes.com which is the page that hosts the Cooking Light Recipes.

It sounded nice and summery and perfect.

I did alter the recipe by using boneless, skinless chicken breasts instead of thighs since that is what I had on hand - and it worked just fine. I made the marinade as the recipe calls and it hardly seemed like enough for my two chicken breasts - so I'm not sure how it would work for 12 chicken thighs! I would recommend doubling the marinade at least if you did all 12 chicken thighs.

For the tomato salad, I used a mixture of parsley and basil and I have to tell you, the parsley wasn't exciting it it, it didn't lend itself well to the salad, so next time I'd go with all basil in the recipe and would suggest that for you to make it as well.

Grilled Chicken with Tomato Salad

Chicken:
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 garlic cloves, minced
12 chicken thighs (about 3 1/2 pounds), skinned
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Cooking spray

Salad:
2 cups grape tomatoes, halved - I used 2 pints and it was fine with enough for leftovers.
2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley - again, go for basil
2 tablespoons diced red onion
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
1 tablespoon capers, drained
2 teaspoons extravirgin olive oil
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 garlic clove, minced

Preparation
To prepare chicken, combine first 3 ingredients in a large zip-top plastic bag. Add chicken to bag; seal. Marinate in refrigerator 2 hours, turning occasionally.

Prepare grill.

Remove chicken from bag; discard marinade. Sprinkle chicken evenly with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Place chicken on a grill rack coated with cooking spray; grill 9 minutes on each side or until done.

To prepare salad, combine tomatoes and remaining ingredients in a large bowl; toss well. Serve with chicken.



Very good, great for a summer cookout!

No Tasty Pic. But You MUST Make These!

These were incredible chicken sandwhiches. Quicky easy meal. You just have to remember to start it the night before to marinade the chicken breasts fully.

This came from Taste of Home.

Honey Citrus Chicken Sandwiches

6 boneless skinless chicken breast halves - 4 oz. each
1/4 cup orange juice
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup honey
2 T vegetable oil
1 T mustard (I used dijon)
1/4 tsp. poultry seasoning
1/8-1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
6 slices cheese
6 rolls
6 thin tomato slices
6 red onion slices
lettuce

Flatten chicken breasts and set aside. In a large resealable plastic bag combine the first 7 ingredients. Add the chicken and seal bag and turn to coat. Let marinade in the fridge over night.

Drain, discard marinade. Grill oncovered over medium-low heat turning occassionally for 10-12 minutes or until juices run clear. If desired top with cheese, and let it melt a bit.
Top with goodies and enjoy.

I just used American Cheese but we wanted to use goat cheese. I omitted red onion. I also only made this for two people with two chicken breasts, but I used the full marinade.

"These are great ribs!"

As quoted by the hubby.

It's funny I found this recipe on myrecipes.com (it's the collection site from the con de naste publications) and I read it and went ooo we're making this. And I looked at it again the day I went to make it and went, this sounds really familar, so I got out a cookbook and there it was - I had it at home the whole time!

These were by far fabulous - I mean incredibly fabulous!

You must make these and follow the recipe! The only thing I didn't do was broil the ribs first - too hot to heat the house - so I grilled them outside on the grill and that helped give the ribs a nice grill flavor and the beans.

Sweet and Saucy Ribs (southern living)

Ingredients
2 (16-ounce) cans pinto beans, drained
4 pounds country-style pork ribs, trimmed
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 medium onion, chopped
1 (10.5-ounce) jar red jalapeño jelly
1 (18-ounce) bottle hickory-flavored barbecue sauce
1 teaspoon green hot sauce

Preparation
Place beans in a 5-quart electric slow cooker; set aside.
Cut ribs apart; sprinkle with garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Place ribs on a broiling pan.
Broil 5 1/2 inches from heat 18 to 20 minutes or until browned, turning once. Add ribs to slow cooker, and sprinkle with onion.
Combine jelly, barbecue sauce, and hot sauce in a saucepan; cook over low heat until jelly melts. Pour over ribs; stir gently.
Cover and cook at HIGH 5 to 6 hours or at LOW 9 to 10 hours. Remove ribs. Drain bean mixture, reserving sauce. Skim fat from sauce. Arrange ribs over bean mixture; serve with sauce.
Note: For testing purposes only, we used Kraft Thick 'n Spicy Hickory Smoke Barbecue Sauce and Tabasco Green Pepper Sauce.

Yield
Makes 8 servings

It's a meat and potato kinda night

I always like to make a nice dinner on Sunday nights - it's a nice way to end the weekend and start the work week off.

Last night I made Weight Watchers Beer Soaked Beef and The Pioneer Woman's Crash Hot Potatoes.

The beef was incredible, moist, tender and great flavor. The marinade is fabulous and the longer you can let it soak the better it will be. And do boil out the marinade after and thicken it a bit for a dipping sauce, it was so tasty.

Beer Soaked Beef

12 oz. beer

2 T olive oil

1 large garlic clove minced - I used 4

2 T fresh lemon juice

1 T dark brown sugar - I added a little more

1 tsp. salt

1/8 tsp. ground cloves

1 1/2 lbs raw lean flank steak 1 inch thick.

In a baking dish mix all of the ingredients and stir and then add steak. cover and marinate in fridge for 2-24 hours.

You can either cook the steak on a grill pan or broiler pan in the oven or you can cook it on the grill outside. We opted for using the outside grill.

Crash Poatoes

The origonal recipe is here, but this is what I did.

Place a pot of water on the stove to boil.

Scrub and clean 6 small red or golden potatoes

Boil the potatoes until tender

Preheat oven to 400

Meanwhile take out a baking sheet (I used my one I use for pizza with the holes in it to ensure crispiness all over and then put that on top of a smaller cookie sheet for any drips)

When the potatoes are done drain them.

Place on the baking sheet.

Take your potato masher and squash them down until they fan out.

You may need to use a knife to get the potato out of the masher.

Once all potatoes are mashed, drizzle with some oil, and season. I seasoned with salt, pepper, garlic powder and paprika.

Place potatoes in oven and bake until crispy brown - about 10 - 15 minutes.

These were out of this world delicious and we swear we could have eaten just a meal of those. We want to try them loaded as well one time with cheese, sour cream, bacon and green onions.

Meat & Fruit

One of my favorite combinations.

Another cleaning house recipe from the other blog

Grilled Chicken Breasts with Strawberry Balsamic Sauce
Season chicken with salt and pepper and grill until the juices run clear.
In a bowl - while chicken is cooking - combine a dozen sliced strawberries, 1 tsp. olive oil, 2 tsp. black pepper, a pinch of salt and sugar and 2 tsp. good balsamic vinegar. Let emulsify. When the chicken is done - place and spoon berry sauce on top and serve. DELICIOUS!!!

Salad - Cheeseburger Style

Yesterday, before we headed out for our first beach stroll of the season, we grabbed two burger patties out of the freezer to defrost to have for lunch when we got home.

Since I had some romaine that was about to go bad, and no buns in the house, we opted for Salads with our cheeseburgers.

These were so good and so easy!!!

I remember a long time ago watching Rachel Ray make a cheeseburger salad so I kinda went with that for inspiration - even though I had no clue what her recipe was.

Salad, Cheeseburger Style

1 head of romaine lettuce, shredded and cleaned and dried
2 tomatoes - wedged
1 medium sliced in half, sprayed with pam, sprinkle with salt and grill face down with burgers. Once cooled, slice or dice and place on top of salad.
8 mini dill pickles, sliced
1 small can sliced black olives
4 hamburger patties, seasoned and grilled
4 slices of cheese, added to burgers on the grill to melt
Croutons

Dressing - combine in a mixing cup (I used this for the 2 of us)
1/4 cup canola oil
2-3 T yellow Mustard
1-2 T Ketchup
1 tsp. black pepper
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
2 T pickle Relish

Place hamburger patty on top of lettuce with toppings.
Drizzle with dressing

(I only made this for two, cutting everything in half - but this is what it would be for 4 - you may want to double the dressing though)

We both really enjoyed this - it was quick, easy, filling and tasty!