Fancy Pork Tenderloin Made Easy

 

Do you ever have those moments when you're reading "Real Simple", or your walking through a gourmet shoppe, and you look at the food, and you're like, "*sigh*, wouldn't it be great to have the time to make that?" (Please tell me that I'm not alone in my foodsanity.)

 

If so, this is the fancy dinner for you.  It takes five-minutes of prep, 40-60 minutes in the oven, and then it's time for dinner!

 

Cara's Fancy Pork Tenderloin

 

 

You'll need:

• 1-2 lbs of pork tenderloin
• 1 foot of butcher's twine
• 4-5 slices of bacon/pancetta
• 2 sprigs of rosemary
• Salt and pepper

 

Instructions:

• Preheat your oven to 425-degrees farenheit.
• Sprinkle salt and pepper all over the pork tenderloin.
• Wrap the bacon/pancetta slices around, or over the top of the tenderloin.
• Place the rosemary on top of the bacon/pancetta wrapped tenderloin.
• Hold the rosemary/pancetta-bacon in place with one hand.  Wrap the tenderloin in twine so that the bacon-pancetta/rosemary stays in place.
• Fill a baking pan with 1inch of water.
• Place in the oven in a medium rack (it will dry out on the top rack).
• Lower the heat to 375-degrees farenheit.
• Cook for 40-60 minutes depending on weight.
• **If you feel that your bacon/pancetta hasn't gotten crispy enough for your liking, heat a skillet to medium-high heat.  Place the tenderloin on the skillet, bacon/pancetta side down, and allow it to crisp up for 2 minutes.
• Feel free to add some mixed veggies (potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, onions) to the bottom of the pan to cook with the tenderloin.  Yum!
 

Enjoy!

Helping Our Children Chase and Achieve Their Dreams

"If we did all the things we are capable of doing, we would literally astonish ourselves"
                                                                                                     -Thomas Alva Edison

I couldn't sleep last night.  I woke up at 4am and watched my little girl sleep.  Then I wrote some blog posts for the coming weeks.  After cleaning my house, doing some packing, getting breakfast and lunches ready for the day, I decided to hunker down and read The Richest Kids In America: How They Earn It, How They Spend It, How You Can Too by Mark Victor Hansen. 

When I was in college, my creative writing teacher told me that I had too many interests, and way too many ideas.  She told me that I needed to start writing everything down- and she was right.  I still have that little glitter notebook, and I still jot my ideas down from time to time.  Some are great things that I'm working on today, and some are things that I hope to work towards.

As I sat down and read The Richest Kids in America, I found myself intrigued and encouraged by these driven, passionate, and creative kids who grabbed life by the horns and went for it.  They took risks that most people would be petrified to take.  But most of all, they had amazing parents that stood by them, up for them, and by them as they endeavored to do things that their peers clearly had not.  Instead of thinking up ideas, they took the plunge and followed through on them.

"Creating change is not something that you can do alone, and it is imperative to have a strong network of mentors, advisors, and peers."

I learned a lot from this book about how to encourage my daughter to have a successful, thriving life.  Sure, I knew that she should surround herself with positive influences, but sometimes parents have a hard time conveying that to their children.  This book is great back-up.  It encourages the reader to surround themself with positive people, media, books and information that will stimulate rather than stifle.

I really believe that most parents believe that their children should be challenged in some way.  This book takes it one step further and has work-sheets for the children (and adults!) to help use creativity to bring talents to the surface, passion to unleash potential, and to find a way to implement their ideas to a specific target market.  Many times, we are all herded into a group mentality, rather than an individual mentality, but these kids found ways to be individuals that influence and change the group by listening to their inner voice and by trusting their instincts.  You never know what hobby or activity could bring about a new idea that is a profitable enterprise.

"I want you to be a visionary, but I also want you to create sustainable income that does not own you."

Mark Victor Hansen does a great job of conveying the stories of young entrepeneurs that vary in "backgrounds, interests, and personalities", thus proving, that it doesn't matter where you come from to be successful.  What does matter is how you spend your time.  My Mom used to say, "follow your rainbows, follow your dreams", and she was right.  It took time and research for me to learn how to package it and how it serves people.

We're parents.  Our #1 job is to raise our children to be good people that are self sufficient.  We won't be here forever.  That's just a fact of life.  So why not teach them independence, self sufficiency, trust in their instincts, how to hone in on their creativity, and that charity is incredibly important, from the time they are young?  You never know what they can accomplish unless you encourage them to try!

Meatloaf 4 Ways!

I have a confession...when my husband is on business trips, I eat way more popcorn than a normal person would ever consider consuming...and I tend to live on leftovers.

During Kyle's last business trip, I made Laela and I some delicious turkey meatloaf. You might be thinking, "meatloaf? How boring! How on Earth can anyone live on meatloaf for a week?!" Well, let me tell you this- meatloaf is awesome. You can eat it cold on a sandwich (some people like it with mayo, others with ketchup, or some top it with tons of lettuce, tomato, onion, cheese and/or pesto). You can eat it hot and steaming with mashed potatoes, veggies, and brown gravy. You can chop it up, mix in some bbq sauce in a medium hot pan until it's well heated, put it on a bun and yum! You've got a tasty sandwich!

My latest discovery for leftover meatloaf may very well be my favorite. I cooked some hericots verts (french green beans) in a medium-hot pan with 2 cloves of finely sliced garlic, 1/2 a roughly chopped tomato, about a tablespoon of olive oil, and some salt and pepper. Once the beans were good and crispy, the tomatoes were oozing flavor, and the garlic was clear and aromatic, I transferred the green beans to a plate.  In the same pan (without turning off the heat) I drizzled a small bit of olive oil (about a 1/2 tsp), chopped the meatloaf to bits (2 servings), threw in 3 chopped up basil leaves, 1/4 cup of chicken broth, and added the other half of the roughly chopped tomato to the mix. I cooked it on medium heat for about 2 minutes, then let it reduce for about 30 seconds on high heat, stirring to make sure nothing stuck to the pan. Man oh man, was it ridiculously delicious. It was like a gourmet meal for the lazy...or the very tired mama.

This meal is proof that no matter how tired you are, you don't have to grab the phone and order that take-out that's just going to make you feel awful.  Sure, it's fine for once in a while, but if you have a life like most people, you're busy, and it's easy to get in a take-out rut.  Do yourself a favor, Drop the phone, and try cooking. This dinner took less than ten minutes to throw together.  The meatloaf itself is only 5 minutes or less of prep.  Plus, the more often you try new techniques and recipes, the more quickly you will be able to get things done in the kitchen.  Be a fearless home cook!

For a really great meatloaf recipe, click here. Just replace the 1lb beef for 1lb ground turkey (I prefer 1/2 dark and 1/2 white for meatloaf).

Once you've tackled that meatloaf, give this one a go! There are more ingredients/steps involved, but it's really delicious! (and it's great for sneaking some vegetables into your anti-vegetable family members!)

CaraCakes Take on a French Hamburger

I was flipping through my Julia Child cookbook, and found myself reading about how the French make hamburgers.  They seemed pretty different than our burgers on this side of the pond, but no less delicious.  Since I didn't have any ground beef, I opted to try a Biftek Haché à la Lyonnaise (Ground Beef with Onions and Herbs) with ground white turkey rather than beef.  And wow, was it delicious.

Here is the recipe straight from Julia Child's "Mastering the Art of French Cooking":

Biftek Haché à la Lyonnaise (Ground Beef with Onions and Herbs)

You'll need:

¾ cup finely minced yellow onions
2 tablespoons butter
1 ½ pounds lean ground beef
2 tablespoons butter, softened
1 ½ teaspoons salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1/8 teaspoon thyme
1 egg
½ cup flour, spread on a plate
1 tablespoon butter and 1 tablespoon oil
½ cup beef stock, canned beef bouillon, dry white wine, dry white vermouth or red wine (I used white wine)
2-3 tablespoons butter, softened

Instructions:

• Cook the onions slowly in the butter for about 10 minutes until very tender but not browned. Place in a mixing bowl. Add the beef, butter, seasonings and egg to the onions in the mixing bowl and mix thoroughly to combine ingredients. Form into patties ¾-inch thick. Cover with waxed paper and refrigerate until ready to use.
• Just before sautéing, roll the patties lightly in the flour. Shake off excess flour. Place butter and oil in a skillet and set over moderately high heat. When you see the butter foam begin to subside, sauté the patties for 2 to 3 minutes or more each side, to desired doneness. Remove patties from skillet to warm plate.
• Pour the fat out of the skillet. Add the liquid and boil it down rapidly, scraping up the coagulated pan juices, until it had reduced almost to a syrup. Off heat, swirl butter by half-tablespoons into the sauce until it is absorbed. Pour the sauce over the hamburgers and serve.
• Makes 6 burgers.

I served this with some fresh spinach that I cooked on medium heat with garlic, a dash of salt and pepper, and a 1/2 tsp of olive oil.  Delicious!

Also, feel free to eat this on a bun.  Kyle loved it that way.  For me, since the weather has been a bit warmer, and this is already a tad on the rich side, I didn't want to weigh myself down with the bread.

**Please note:  your sauce should be the color of caramel if you use white wine.  My sauce began to separate at the time of this picture because I fed my family and waited to take the photo (for those of you that have hungry people demanding immediate nourishment at dinnertime, I'm sure you understand.)

Pancakes!

My little one LOVES pancakes.  She also loves helping me make this delicious, fool-proof pancake mix (Nigella inspired of course) that we always have on hand.  It's a great stand-by for when you're too tired to think of something exciting to make, or when you're trying to get your peanut to eat when they've been on a hunger strike.  Plus, it really does make some of the best darn pancakes you'll ever, ever have.

Pancake Mix

You'll need:

• 4 cups flour
• 3 tablespoons baking powder
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons sugar

Instructions:

Mix all of the above ingredients, and store in a jar or air tight container.

To make the pancakes:

You'll need:

• 1 cup pancake mix
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup milk (it doesn't matter if it's skim, whole, or low-fat)
• 1 large egg

Instructions:

• In a large bowl, combine and whisk ingredients.
• Heat a skillet to medium heat.
• Spray with cooking spray.
• Using a small ladel, ladel a few sponfuls onto the skillet.  Try to keep the ladeled pancake batter from touching.  (It will taste fine, it just won't be as pretty)
• When you see bubbles forming on the pancake, it's time to flip!
• The pancake will rise a bit from the skillet when it's done.  Keep in mind that it's already mostly cooked when you're flipping it, so you shouldn't need to leave it much longer than a minute. 

Serve and enjoy!

**This recipe is also great if you substitute the vanilla extract with lemon or orange extract, and if you like them, add a few poppy seeds!