Chili Rubbed Pork Tenderloin With Apricot Ginger Glaze

I kind of went pork crazy at the grocery store a few months ago.  They were having great sales and I couldn't resist stocking up for this recipe as well as packing in a few good tenderloins (of which I currently have an 8 pounder in the freezer, funny story for another time).  I was searching for something fun that wouldn't require us to use the grill due to the below 0 temps outside at the time.  This is what I found and it was delish!  I ended up having enough glaze that I used it on some roasted chicken the next week, another good meal.  I served roast potatoes with the pork and brown rice with the chicken.

Ingredients

• 2 (1 pound) pork tenderloins, trimmed or chicken
•  
• Spice Rub:
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1 tablespoon garlic powder
• 1/2 tablespoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
•  
• Glaze:
• 1 1/2 cups apricot preserves
• 1/2 cup barbecue sauce
• 1 teaspoon grated ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon hot sauce
• 1 tablespoon chopped cilantro
• 1 lime, juiced
• 
  
• Directions

1. Place chili powder, garlic powder, sugar, salt and pepper in a jar; shake to blend. Rub spice mixture onto pork tenderloins. Cover tenderloins and refrigerate for 2 to 24 hours.
2. Prior to grilling, melt apricot preserves in saucepan over medium heat. Remove pan from the heat and stir in remaining glaze ingredients. Place half of the glaze in a serving bowl and hold for service.
3. Prepare grill at medium-high heat. Grill pork tenderloins for 15-20 minutes, or until the internal temperature of the pork reaches 160 degrees F. on an instant-read thermometer. 
4. When approximately 4 minutes of cook time remains, brush the pork tenderloins with the apricot glaze remaining in the pan. Cook for 2 minutes, turn the pork tenderloins and brush glaze on other side. Cook for an additional 2 minutes. Remove pork from the grill and let set for about 5 minutes before slicing. Serve with reserved glaze.

I ended up cooking it in the oven  and found this great advice on one of the reviews. "I followed the advice of another reviewer here and baked the tenderloin in the oven at 300 degrees for 1 hour 10 minutes, brushed on some glaze, put back in oven for 10 additional minutes, turned tenderloin over and brushed rest of glaze on other side and baked 10 more minutes (total baking time of 1-1/2 hours)."

*Allrecipes.com has been great lately!  Check out this recipe at http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/chili-rubbed-pork-tenderloin-with-apricot-ginger-glaze/Detail.aspx

Kale Chips

Nate Mustache Man (he said we wanted a fun name) and I never really celebrate Valentines day,  super crowded restaurants and forced lovey eyes just aren't really our thing.   So I made what I termed our Gourmet Redneck meal.... Brats, Bread, Chips and Chocolate Pudding.  But... the brats were homemade Jalapeno Cheddar Elk brats, the bread a Rosemary Olive Oil French bread, the pudding was Pots'de Creme (I'll have to post the recipe for that soon, so easy and delicious) and some yummy Kale Chips (I have been wanting to make these for quite some time and this gave me a good excuse). They were AMAZING!  The only downside was the little broccoli tasting burps after eating nearly a whole pan :)
Once again here is the link for an awesome food blog with pretty pictures of Kale.  Enjoy.


Ingredients:
- 1 bunch (about 6 ounces) Kale 
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- Sea salt, to taste


Directions:
Preheat oven to 300°F. Rinse and dry the kale, then remove the stems and tough center ribs. Cut into large pieces, toss with olive oil in a bowl then sprinkle with salt (go easy on the salt, Kale is fairly salty on it's own). Arrange leaves in a single layer on a large baking sheet (I lined mine with some foil). Bake for 20 minutes, or until crisp. Place baking sheet on a rack to cool.


*Thanks Smitten Kitchen for the yummy recipe http://smittenkitchen.com/2010/03/baked-kale-chips/

Asian Market

I went to an Asian market yesterday down in Denver.  I love asian food, but cooking it at home is a bit intimidating for me. So many foreign spices, sauces and ingredients.  But I'm doing it, I'm jumping in, Fish Sauce and all!  I also love how inexpensive items are there I walked away with a TON of groceries for about $30.  I will post some of the recipes as I try them out.... working on fresh veggie Spring Rolls with a Spicy Peanut dipping sauce.  Love it!

English Muffins

Lately I have been trying to think of things I can make that we buy regularly at the store. English muffins came to mind,  a staple at our house and a pricey item to buy every other week or so.

I know I am a bit late to jump on The Pioneer Woman bandwagon, but I am obsessed! I love everything about her website. Cows, food, photos, humor, cool design.

All that to say that is where I came across this recipe. Check it out here for all the fancy food pics or below is the recipe. Oh and by the way... SUPER EASY!

Ingredients:

• 1 cup Milk 
• 3 Tablespoons Butter 
• 2 Tablespoons Honey 
• 1 cup Warm Water 
• ¼ ounces, weight Yeast 
• ¼ cups Cornmeal 
• 5-½ cups Flour (I used 3.5 cups whole wheat and 2 cups all purpose) 
• 1 teaspoon Salt 

Directions:

Combine milk, butter, and honey in a saucepan over medium heat. Warm until butter starts to melt, then whisk briefly. Remove pan from heat and allow liquid to cool to lukewarm.

Pour water into a mixing bowl and sprinkle with yeast. Stir gently with a fork. Set bowl aside for 10 minutes, or until yeast has dissolved.

Line baking sheets with waxed paper and sprinkle with a generous amount of cornmeal.

Pour cooled milk mixture into yeast mixture and gently stir until well blended. Add 3 cups flour and beat vigorously with a wooden spoon until smooth. Beat in remaining flour and salt until the dough is no longer sticky. Scrape the dough onto a floured surface and dust with flour. Flour hands and knead dough for 3-4 minutes. Let rest 5 minutes.

Roll out dough with rolling pin to about 1/2 inch thick. Cut the dough into circles (a tumbler or mason jar does well). Transfer muffins to prepared baking sheets and sprinkle with cornmeal. Cover with a dry, lightweight towel and let rise until doubled in height, 35-45 minutes.

When muffins have risen, heat a skillet over medium heat. Carefully lift muffins from the pan and place on the ungreased skillet. Cook about 10 minutes on each side, using a spatula to flip them. Transfer to a wire rack to cool before splitting (with a fork) and toasting them.
* Recipe obtained from http://thepioneerwoman.com/tasty-kitchen-blog/2011/01/homemade-english-muffins

Back At It!

Ok... so I have never really been any good at this blog thing... just check out my original blog here.  Yes that is right last post was 3/29/10. I blame that on 1. having a baby and 2. having a camera that is on it's last leg (3.2 megapixels is still cutting edge right?) and 3. running out of space on our computer to hold tons of 3.2 megapixel photos.   And really is a blog cool without photos?  I don't think so... but this is a recipe blog and most food photos look kind of creepy to me anyways.  So upcoming on the blog is Homemade English Muffins, Chili Apricot Pork, Greek Yogurt, healthy "cream of" broccoli soup and some other fun ones.  Prepare yourselves for some un-photographed delicious recipes!