Roasted Yellow Squash Boat

Preheat the oven to 400.

Cut a large yellow squash in half, chop off the ends, and scoop out the seeds.

Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with garlic powder, ginger powder, oregano, and sea salt. 

Bake for 15 minutes.

Fill with quinoa and top top with pork tenderloin. 

(today's pork was rubbed with garlic powder, chili powder, oregano, and cumin) 

Due to the size of the squash, the skin may be too tough, but you can eat the inside!

Cumin-Rosemary-Ginger Pork

This is the first time I cooked pork in the oven instead of in the crock-pot or on the stove-top.  I had originally intended to stick the 1 1/2 pound tenderloin in the crock-pot to make some of my delicious apple-cider cinnamon pulled pork, but I never quite got around to getting out the crock-pot.  So, I decided to use the oven for once.

I coated the pork with ginger, cumin, and rosemary, and stuck it in the 400 degree oven for 30 minutes.  Then, I flipped it over and cooked it for another 30 minutes.

I had some for dinner along with zucchini spaghetti (sauteed in olive oil with garlic and ginger) and quinoa. 

It was delicious.  

Pulled-Pork Pizza

I've got a bunch of pulled pork left over from NYE.  I love my pulled pork sandwiches, but tonight I wanted something different for dinner.  I also had some artichokes and mushrooms laying around, and I decided they needed to go on a pizza.  With the pulled pork. 

the crust: 2 tsp yeast, 1 c hot water, salt, garlic powder, 1/2 c wheat flour, 2+ c flour

bbq sauce

mushrooms & artichokes

pulled pork

colby jack cheese

baked @ 400 for 20-25 minutes

don't forget the vegetable

deliciousness

 almost gone...

New Year's Eve

This was the 3rd or 4th year in a row for my annual NYE dinner party.  I make all the food, and just ask that guests bring whatever they want to drink.  I've made guacamole and spinach dip every year, but those are probably the only menu items that have stayed consistent.  I feel like my kitchen expertise has grown by leaps and bounds in the last year, and I put a lot of thought into making this year's menu the most spectacular spread of food I have ever accomplished.  

Due to various conflicts, only a handful of people were able to make it this year, but those of us that were there had a great time and agreed that the food was amazing.  

Sweet Potato Cannelloni

filled with crab, onion, celery, cream cheese, alfredo

Cider-BBQ Pulled Pork

pork tenderloin rubbed with flour & cinnamon

slow-cooked in the crockpot for 9 hours

Slider Rolls

choice of plain or cider

Mini-Quiche

choice of bacon or mushroom

Quinoa Salad

with carrot, celery, broccoli, mushroom

olive oil/garlic/ginger 

Cole Slaw

choice of honey & mustard or mayo & ranch

Spinach-Artichoke Dip

spinach, artichoke, cream cheese, alfredo sauce

Guacamole

avocado, lime juice, salt, garlic powder, tomato

Pumpkin-Cheesecake Truffles

choice of dark chocolate or white chocolate

The biggest hit!

I'm told they "melt in your mouth"

I didn't eat any of the white chocolate ones, but I definitely devoured some of the dark.

I'm gonna have a tough time beating this menu next year!  

But I will find a way...of course.

As a side note: as far as I'm concerned, the year ends in June and starts in August.  Which means there are about 5 more months to get through before the year ends. 

But for those of you who go by the number you write at the end of the date...

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Sweet Potato Cannelloni

Pulled-pork filled Sweet Potato Cannelloni

adapted from this recipe at Fifteen Spatulas

Slice a Sweet Potato as thinly as you can. (They should be thin enough to 

bend a bit without breaking) I'm pretty proud of my knife skills tonight...the 

Website I got the recipe from said you need a mandolin to get the slices 

thin enough.  I used my French Chef Knife.

Bring a pot of water to a boil, and then drop in your sweet potato slices. Boil them for 3-5 minutes.  You want them to be flexible, but not so soft that they break.  When you think they are done, remove them from the water and lay them out to cool/dry.

For my filling, I used some pulled-pork* salad that I made with some of the  I made last weekend: Pulled Pork, Granny Smith Apple, Mayo, Avocado.  

*1+ pound pork tenderloin, flour/cinnamon rub, 1/2 bottle raspberry wheat Shocktop Beer, c. 2 cups apple cider, and some Jack Daniel's Honey Smokehouse BBQ sauce

When the sweet potato slices are cool, spoon some pork salad onto a slice and carefully wrap it, placing it seam-side down on a plate.

My cannelloni looked so small and lonely on the plate, so I also made up a pasta dish to go with them.

I sauteed sweet potato slices and mushrooms, boiled some rotini, heated up some pulled pork, and made gravy out of the liquid I saved from the crock pot when I made the pulled pork.  Mixed it all together, and had a tasty pasta dish to go with my cannelloni.

deliciousness.

Beer-Batter Pork Tenders

It was one of those days...where I was so exhausted by the time I got home from school, I couldn't even begin to think about putting on running shoes and dragging myself out for a run.  So I parked on the couch with a book (something I don't get to do nearly often enough).  Then, I started thinking about dinner.  And about how maybe playing in the kitchen could turn my day around.  

I had some pork chops in the fridge that I needed to cook tonight.  I was going to bread and fry them on the stovetop, but then I decided that it has been awhile since I made beer batter.  So I grabbed a Guinness out of the fridge and made beer batter.  I think the arm workout I got while whipping the egg white made up for my lack of a run today.  Beer Batter recipe here.  (except this time I used Guinness, and used little enough of it that I only needed a scant 1/2 c of the white flour)

I cut the pork into strips, covered them in beer batter, and dropped them into a pot of hot olive oil.  I also beer-battered some mushrooms I had lying in the fridge.  

the egg white actually got stiff before I gave up...

beer-batter mushrooms & pork

pasta with spinach, asparagus, and sun-dried tomato alfredo

Crock-Pot Ginger Veggies

I've been thinking about buying a crock-pot for a little while now, and yesterday I finally went out and bought one.  I'm hesitant to use it on school days because the idea of leaving it on all day while I'm away is rather scary.  But I think I will have fun with it on weekends.

For my first-ever attempt at crock-pot cooking, I made veggies, potatoes, and pork chops.

2 stalks of celery, chopped

3 small carrots, chopped 

1/3 yellow onion, chopped 

4 medium-sized yukon gold potatoes, chopped

small handful of cranberries

1/4 c chicken broth

1/2 c apple cider

ginger root, grated

soy sauce

rice vinegar

olive oil

3 pork chops (seasoned with garlic powder, onion powder, sage, thyme, mustard powder)

Spread the chopped veggies in the bottom of the cooker, then spread the potato chunks on top.  Mix in the grated ginger.  Sprinkle with soy sauce, rice vinegar, and olive oil.  Pour in cider and chicken broth.  Rub the pork with the seasonings and then lay it on top of the veggies & potatoes.  Cook on high for 3.5-4 hours.

It did turned out on the broth-y side.  It would probably be fine with half the amount of cider and chicken broth.  I wanted to err on the side of too much because I wasn't sure how much liquid was needed to ensure everything cooked properly.

It was a great meal for a chilly fall day!  I loved the flavor that the ginger gave to the veggies.