Sweet and Spicy Pork Tenderloin

 You know a recipe is really good when you forget to take a picture of the yumminess. I made this last week and it was so good. I don't do pork tenderloin very often but I think this recipe will be getting put into rotation from now on. On first taste you get the sweetness from the brown sugar but it's not overpowering and then as you finish the bite, the pepper kicks in on the back of your tongue. I loved it. It was husband approved as well so that is an added plus.

Sweet and Spicy Pork Tenderloin

1-1.5# pork tenderloin

2 T Olive Oil

2 T Dark Brown Sugar

1.5 t Ground Red Pepper (Cayenne)

1 t Garlic Powder

1 t Onion Powder

½ t Paprika

1 t Salt

½ t Cracked Black Pepper

⅛ t Nutmeg

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Trim any extra fat and silver skin from tenderloin. Mix spices and liberally coat all sides of the tenderloin.

In a hot large non-stick skillet (best if you use one that can go directly into the oven) heat olive oil. Add tenderloin (Note: if it is too large, simply curve the tenderloin to fit the pan) and sear the first three sides for 2-3 mins. If you are using an oven safe skillet, place it in the oven once turned to the final unseared side. (Note: The heat of the pan will sear it while it started to cook in the oven.) If using an non oven safe skillet, sear the remaining side and transfer to a roasting pan. Cook in the oven until it reaches an internal temperature of 135-140 degrees at the thickest part. For about 15 mins. Let rest for 5-10 mins.

Slice and enjoy!

NOTE: The new standard for pork is an internal temperature of 145. It’s not rare or even medium rare. It’s got the barest hint of pink and helps the pork to stay juicy and tender. The tenderloin can be a dry piece of meat and easy to overcook. Which is why it is so important to let it rest. Resting meat allows for the juices redistribute throughout the meat. Ever had a really good steak or pork chop that just oozes all this juice the moment you cut it? That is what happens when you don’t let the meat rest. And then the actual meat is rather dry as a result. Not good eats. I also pull my tenderloin out at least 5 degrees below the 145. As it rests, the residual heat of the meat and the pan will continue cooking the meat. This is another reason to let it rest and helps it from becoming overcooked.

Homemade Rice-a-Roni

So in my continuing effort to not prepare as much processed boxed/canned foods, I’ve had to let go of a few favorites like Rice-a-Roni. I love that stuff but ugh so much sodium and preservatives. I mourned the loss and tried to find alternatives. Then I found a few copy cat recipes on Pinterest. It took a few different attempts and quite a bit of tweaking but I do believe I finally found a great base recipe.

Homemade Rice-a-Roni

1 T olive oil

1 cup long grain rice

1 cup of orzo pasta

2 cups stock (vegetable, chicken, beef)

½ tsp garlic

½ tsp salt

¼ tsp cracked black pepper

1 T butter (optional)

Heat the oil in a medium pot on medium high heat, add rice and pasta and toast for a few minutes. (Note: if you do not have orzo pasta, you can chop up spaghetti or vermicelli for similar effect. Just make sure to cut it about ¼” or same length as rice.) Add stock and seasonings. Bring to a boil and reduce to low. Cover and simmer for about 20 minutes. Check for doneness. You may need to add another ¼ cup of stock or water and cook for a few more minutes, depending on how al dente you want it to be. Stir in butter and add additional salt pepper if needed. The butter give the rice-a-roni a bit of richness and creaminess that I’ve always associated with it.

That’s the basic recipe. The variations are endless! I have a few below.

For basic beef or chicken rice-a-roni

Use beef or chicken stock. Add a cube of beef or chicken bullion (or equivalent). Stir it in and make sure it dissolves as you are bringing it to a boil.

For herb and butter rice-a-roni

Use a Tbl of butter instead of olive oil to toast the rice and pasta. Use a strong flavor vegetable stock. Add a 1.5 tsp of Italian seasonings (more if you want it a stronger herb flavor). Add 2 Tbl of butter at the end.

For broccoli au gratin rice-a-roni

I use chicken stock but can use vegetable if desired. Add ⅔ cup of finely chopped broccoli in the last few mins of cooking. Stir in a ½ cup of shredded colby jack cheese at the end.  

I found that I tend to always add bullion to mine but that’s because I like the more pronounced flavor. If you want it more on the milder side, then keep it out.

Note on Stocks: Now homemade is always the best but I don’t know about you...I really don’t have a whole lot of time to make it properly. This is one of the few items I normally buy out of convenience. However, I do buy low sodium organic stock. Take a look at the ingredients list.

Broccoli Apple Slaw

So on I am picky about cole slaw, especially the dressing. So I really love this salad. The dried cranberries soak up some of the dressing and become so plump. YUM!

Broccoli Apple Slaw

4 cups fresh chopped broccoli
1 cup carrots (medium diced)
1 cup dried cranberries
2 small fiji apples diced
1/4 cup diced red onion
1/2 cup toasted walnuts or pecans (optional)

Dressing:
3/4 cup plain greek yogurt
1/3 mayonaise
3 Tb honey
1 1/2 Tb apple cider vinegar
salt and cracked black pepper to taste

Whisk dressing ingredients in a small bowl. Toss all the slaw ingredients into a bowl and pour dressing over. Toss together and let chill for at least two hours.

It's best served ice cold and honestly it's even better the next day. I'm not a fan of raw onion at all but it works in this salad. It provides just a little bite and balances perfectly with the apple.

Trust me...this is soooooo good. It has been husband and best friends approved. 

The Pickle Experiment...

Well I now have another thing on my list that I won't be buying at the store any longer. And that is pickles. I have long wanted to try my hand at making pickles. I don't know why but then why not? It sounded like fun and well we love pickles.

After many years of heeing and hawing over it I finally decided to do it. It took me a visit to three different stores to find pickling cucumbers (it was December after all) and then another visit to the store the next day as I forgot to get pickling salt. So I set out to make three pints of bread and butter chips for me and three pints of dill spears for the husband. Now his were more along the line of Polish dills...with garlic, peppercorns, dill and such. One of the pints we put red pepper flakes in.

The process was amazingly easy. The Polish spears took no time at all to process. The bread and butter took longer but only because the recipe called for them to sit with salt and ice for a few hours. But while it took longer it was still really easy.

Then came the hard part...the waiting. The Polish pickles needed at least 4 weeks to pickle. The bread and butter I could have opened after a week but I figured to wait until we could open both jars. Every week, I would pick them up to give them a good swirl to distribute the spices and to check to make sure the pickling liquid wasn't getting cloudy. I also check for any signs that the pickling process was not working.

The wait was hard but worth it. I cracked open a jar of the bread and butter pickles Thursday evening. Only one day early! I fished out a pickle chip and crunch. Yay they had that crispness I love in pickles. The flavor was really balanced between the tangy and the sweet...it was just not as strong as I would like. I like the flavors to kinda smack you in the face. But for the first try not too shabby and they got better as they got colder. The Polish pickles were cracked open on Friday night and those were tasty. Again they were crispy and were full of flavor. The only thing for me was that the dill got a little lost so I know next time to add more into each jar.

Again for a first try, I'm pretty impressed with myself. There are a few tweaks I need to make to each recipe and a few things I learned in the process. One is to make sure I make enough brine for the bread and butter pickles. I barely had enough and as time passed, the pickles soak in the liquid so by the time the waiting time passed, the liquid barely covered the pickles. But yay pickles for the win!

This is just now one more processed food we can cut out of our pantry. This list is growing longer and honestly that makes me happy. Now we are not going to cut out all processed foods as I just don't have the time to make everything from scratch. But every little bit helps and it leads us to a more healthy lifestyle.

We already don't do any of the pre packaged rice or pasta dinners any more. I make rice pilaf and pastas now. Very rarely do we use canned or frozen veggies. And the frozen veggies we have been using, I've frozen myself. Same with fruits. I make all our jams, marmalade and apple butter. I make our trail mixes and granola. And I am trying to use the healthiest versions of items that are processed.

It's all about being healthier, wanting support our local farmer's and growers and honestly I really enjoy it.

Coming back to blogger

I'm in the process of shifting things around and changing things about. When I first started my recipe blog it was here. Then I got the idea to create my own domain to house this blog and a few others. But as life progressed, my postings became fewer and far between. Paying for the cost of hosting and such wasn't really worth it for me anymore. I poked around (as I didn't want to lose my recipes) and discovered that I still had this site. So here I am. Yay!

You will note that past entries the pics are tagged with "Liarae.com". Do not be confused. That was my old site. The pictures are not stolen. LOL