Sunday Dinner

I decided to do a traditional Sunday dinner here at our house tonight. We had pork tenderloin with gravy, roasted sweet potatoes, brown rice with raisins, and salad.

The pork tenderloin was done in the slow cooker. I found the recipe at about.com: Southern Food. Here is the recipe:

Honey Mustard Pork Tenderloin
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 7 hours
Ingredients:

* 2 pork tenderloins, about 1 pound each
* salt and pepper
* 1 small clove garlic, minced
* 4 tablespoons grainy Dijon mustard or country-style
* 2 tablespoons honey
* 2 tablespoons brown sugar
* 1 tablespoon cider vinegar or balsamic vinegar
* 1/2 teaspoon dried leaf thyme, crumbled
* 1 tablespoon cornstarch
* 1 tablespoon cold water

Preparation:
Wash and trim the pork and pat dry; sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper. Place pork in the slow cooker. Combine garlic, mustard, honey, brown sugar, vinegar, and thyme; pour over the pork. Turn pork to coat thoroughly. Cover and cook on LOW for 7 to 9 hours, or on HIGH for 3 1/2 to 4 1/2 hours.

Remove pork to a plate, cover with foil, and keep warm. Pour the juices into a saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat. Simmer for 8 to 10 minutes, or until reduced by about one-third. Combine the cornstarch and cold water; whisk into the reduced juices and cook for 1 minute longer. Serve pork sliced with the thickened juices.

Serves 6

Ingredients:



Sprinkle salt and pepper on the pork tenderloins.





Then, lay them in the slow cooker that has been sprayed with nonstick cooking spray.



Now it's time to mix the ingredients for the sauce. Start with a bit of garlic.



Next, add the brown sugar.



I chose some grainy mustard for this dish. If you don't have any you could definitely substitute dijon.



I also chose apple cider vinegar for this even though I did have balsamic. I just thought the apple cider vinegar would go better with this particular recipe.



Now it is time for the honey.



Finally, add the thyme.



Whisk the sauce ingredients together.



Pour the sauce over the tenderloins.



You'll want to get your hands messy with this next step because the best thing is to turn and coat the tenderloins with the sauce. Then you put the lid on, turn it to low, and let it cook for 7 hours.



After 7 hours have gone by, take it out and let it rest while you make the gravy. Pour the juice into a sauce pan. Add 1 tablespoon cornstarch and 1 tablespoon water into a glass. Mix it up well with a fork and pour it into the gravy. Let the gravy come to a boil for a couple of minutes or until thickened.





Here is the pork after it has cooked. My only complaint is that it turned out stringy (but tender!) and wasn't easy to cut into medallions.



While the pork is cooking, make the roasted potatoes. Here is the recipe:

Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Honey

Serves: 6 servings

4 sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 cup honey
1 teaspoons ground cinnamon
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Put the sweet potatoes into a large bowl. Drizzle the oil, honey, cinnamon, salt and pepper over the potatoes. Roast for 40 minutes in oven or until tender.

Take sweet potatoes out of the oven and transfer them to a serving platter.


Here are the ingredients:



Chop up the sweet potatoes into roughly the same size cubes.



Put them into a bowl and then drizzle with olive oil.



Follow with the honey (remember my tip of measuring out oil before honey?).



Sprinkle with a teaspoon of cinnamon.



Sprinkle with salt and pepper.



Now, transfer to a cookie sheet and make sure they are in a single layer.



Roast them for about 40 minutes, or until they're tender.



Now it's time for the brown rice salad. This was a delicious and kid-friendly way to have brown rice. Here is the recipe:

Savory Brown Rice and Raisins

Ingredients

1 1/2 cup brown rice
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 onion, chopped
1/4 cup raisins
1/4 cup golden raisins
1/4 cup sliced green onion
1/4 cup water
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Cook rice according to package directions.
Heat olive oil in skillet over medium-high heat.
Add onion and cook stirring occasionally until onion is golden brown, about 5 minutes.
Stir in raisins, green onion and water.
Reduce heat to low.
Cover and cook 5 minutes or until raisins are plump.
Stir in cooked rice.
Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Makes 6 servings.

I didn't take an ingredients photo of this. Start by sautéing the onion.




Add the raisins and green onion. Also add 1/4 cup water, turn the heat to low, and cook for a few minutes.



Add the brown rice to the skillet. Add salt and pepper and warm the ingredients.



After this you have a great brown rice salad.



And you also have a delicious dinner!

Beef Stroganoff

A couple of days ago my dad gave me some mushrooms he wasn't going to be able to use up before they went bad. I instantly thought of stroganoff (I had been craving it for a week or so). I had half an onion and a tub of sour cream in my refrigerator that were in the same predicament as dad's mushrooms.

Ingredients:
1 lb. ground beef
1 1/4 cups sour cream
1-2 cups sliced mushrooms
1/2 onion, chopped
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
1/2 cup beef broth (I made from bouillon)
16 oz. package pasta



Chop the onions. You can also slice them; it just depends upon how you like them in your stroganoff.



Put the ground beef, mushrooms, and onions in a skillet. Add the garlic powder.



Then, add the mustard.



See? All happy in the pan.



Break up the meat and brown it.



While the meat is browning, combine the sour cream and the beef broth.



The ground beef is browned, so put the sour cream/broth mixture into the skillet.



Once the water is boiling, add the pasta. You can use whatever pasta you have on hand. I only had rigatoni but normally I'd use egg noodles or rotini. Also, you won't use all of this pasta so you can either cook half a bag or do what I did: put the cooked pasta in a freezer bag to be added to a dish later (soup or stew).



Simmer the stroganoff sauce until it has thickened nicely.



Add a tablespoon or so of dried parsley if you feel like it.



Serve with a salad and you have a nice, quick dinner!

Banana Muffins

I had several bananas that were ripening on my counter. I needed to find a good, healthy recipe for banana muffins I could make for my middle son to take for breakfast. I found just what I was looking for on Better Budgeting. More importantly, I already had the ingredients so I didn't need to go to the store. Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

1/2 c. honey
1/2 c. oil
2 eggs
1 c. mashed bananas
1-1/2 c. whole wheat flour
1-1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt

Directions:

In a bowl combine salt, flour, baking powder and baking soda. In another bowl combine honey, eggs, oil and banana making sure to mix well. Add banana blend to the flour mixture, careful not to over mix. Pour into greased muffin pans or paper muffin cups. Bake at 325 degrees for 25-30 minutes. Use a toothpick to test for doneness. Remove pan to rack, and let stand for 10 minutes. Invert pan and let finish cooling on rack. Best served warm. Makes 1 dozen muffins.

Variation: Banana bread... bake mini-loaves 40-45 minutes and for 1 regular loaf bake 1 hour.

(Yes, I forgot the oil in the ingredients photo! D'oh!)



Measure the flour into the bowl.



Then the baking powder.



Baking soda is next!



Finally, the salt.



Put your bananas into a bowl.



Use a fork to mash them up. Mash 'em up really well.



Measure out one cup of mashed bananas into a separate bowl from the flour mixture.



I put the remaining mashed bananas into a freezer bag for future use and placed it in the freezer.



Look! Here is the vegetable oil I forgot!



Pour the oil into the half cup measure.



Now comes the honey. A little trick is to use the measuring cup for oil before honey. That way the honey doesn't stick in the measuring cup.



Two eggs into a separate bowl or measuring cup:



After you beat the eggs, add them to the banana mixture.



Mix very well to incorporate all the liquid ingredients together. After you've done that, pour it into the flour.



Mix the liquid and flour just enough so all of the flour is moistened. You do not want to overmix muffin batter.



Pour by the heaping tablespoon into greased or lined muffin tin.



Bake in the oven. I think I had to bake mine for about 40 minutes. I haven't tried them but they look delicious!



It makes me happy to provide a healthy muffin for my son for his breakfasts. He loves it and it makes him feel like he's having a treat.