Crockpot: Pork Tenderloin

One would think being my mother's daughter that cooking would be second nature to me. Ha quite the opposite. The kitchen was like a foreign country to me with recipes a language I could not comprehend.  My mother is the woman that cooks ALL holiday dinners for both sides of the family and I grew up with a home cooked meal on the table every night.  I guess I became accustomed to simply sitting down at the table when the meal was piping hot and ready to be consumed.  In addition, I was never the child that wanted to pull up a chair and "help mom" unless she was making cookies or brownies to which I could lick the bowl and beaters clean. You could say I was SPOILED ROTTEN.  My sisters always joked about who would take over the coveted Thanksgiving dinner when mom passed down the reigns, and with little faith they hoped I would simply remember to pick up a pre-made dessert from the food store.

 

Fast forward a few years and I've really grown to love cooking all thanks to the increasingly popular Crockpot. Thanks to Pinterest, I came across a recipe titled "Best Pork Ever" and thought I would give it a whirl.  Thanks to Monica's recipe, I fed the family with the most moist pork I have ever eaten, no exaggeration. 

  

4 garlic cloves

1/4 cup soy sauce

2 T. country dijon mustard

4 T. honey

2 T. fresh orange juice

1 T. finely chopped fresh rosemary

freshly ground pepper to taste

3 T. olive oil

pork tenderloins (2-3.5 lbs.)

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Take tenderloins out of package. Rinse and pat dry. Place in a 9x13-inch Pyrex sprayed with non-stick cooking spray.

Take a paring knife and poke holes in the tenderloins (on the top side only) about an inch deep. Peel garlic cloves and quarter each clove of garlic-lengthwise. If they're really big, cut them a bit smaller- about the size of slivered almonds. Place the garlic slivers in each pocket. Set aside while making marinade.

 

 

In a measuring cup or in a medium bowl, whisk together all the ingredients except for the olive oil. Then slowly drizzle the olive oil while still whisking.

Pour the mixture over the tenderloins and put into preheated oven. Bake, uncovered, for 45 minutes, basting once halfway through the baking process.

 

Once removed from the oven, allow the tenderloins to rest on a cutting board for about 10 minutes before slicing. Spoon the pan sauce over the tenderloin medallions and enjoy!

I served the pork with Parmesan Asparagus and Garlic Parmesan Pullapart Bread. This flavorful meal will surely please.

Traveling Tacos

Another hectic weekend in the books, which took us all over the southern half of New Jersey.  We begun Saturday bright and early heading to Franklinville for a 20 mile charity ride in honor of a fallen police officer.  Much to our surprise, this event was scheduled to coordinate with the Franklinville Festival where I was introduced to Traveling Tacos.  I was so enamored by this simple concept, I immediately began thinking about when I could introduce this to my friends and family.  What a fun and easy way to feed a crowd!  

 

 
The vendor had taco meat prepared in a crockpot.  Each customer picked an individual size bag of chips.  This vendor provided Cool Ranch Doritos or Nacho Cheese.  However, I am sure Sun Chips or Fritos would be just as delicious. After crunching the bag a little, the meat and toppings of shredded lettuce, cheese & sour cream were added and finished off with a fork.

 

In you live in the Vineland area, I would suggest attending this fair next year.  They surely know how to entertain the whole family from the multiple bounce houses to the fireworks finale.

All Things Fall

Fall is absolutely my favorite season and waking up this morning to the crisp air made me a very happy camper.  Some of the reasons I LOVE autumn include:

The Changing Leaves

Corn Mazes

Smell of Burning Fireplaces

Sweaters, Leggings & Boots

Hayrides

Bonfires

 

Caramel Apples

Hot Chocolate

Pumpkin Carving

Halloween

 

Happy Friday!  Get out and enjoy this beautiful weather.

Pantene Beautiful Lengths

 

In the past, every few years I would cut my hair for Locks of Love.  I am not one who likes status quo.  So a little style change seemed to work out perfectly.  As a result, I never fathomed it would be so difficult this time around.  

 

 Sitting in the chair showing my stylist multiple pictures of Julianne Hough's adorable bob haircut, I began to sweat profusely.  Was this the first sign that I wasn't ready for such a drastic change? Or was it the fact that I couldn't sleep at 5am and was so antsy I decided to go for a 6 mile run in the pitch dark? This rare occurrence of me up early and WANTING to run obviously stunned my boyfriend because his only response was that someone might "steal me." Never the less, I got dressed and hit the pavement.  It was the most serene run -- just the seagulls and I occupied the boardwalk in the wee hours of the morning.  I didn't have to yell at any shoobies, which is a common occurrence since they typically leave their common sense and courtesy at home while on vacation.

Anyways, this time I had family members, 6 of us in total, partaking in the BIG cut.  My aunt recently experienced her second go around with cancer and my cousin thought donating our hair was a small contribution we could make in the fight.  This time around, I decided to donate to Pantene Beautiful Lengths since they only required 8" vs the 10" that Locks of Love now need.  Our group ended up donating to both inspiring organizations and I was happy to do my part.  Now I just need my hair to hurry up and grow again! I guess as you get older, change becomes much harder.  Is it bad to admit I have even googled how to make hair grow faster?