Pork Medallions & Apples

Hazel is a big meat eater but she likes it even more if she gets to help cook. I recently stumbled upon the perfect recipe to do together, pork medallions and apples!  Hazel likes to help with the pounding, flouring and Apple eating. And, if I'm lucky, she might even do a few dishes while washing her hands!

Ingredients
1 pork tenderloin
1 C flour (or more if you are working with a toddler)
salt & pepper
1 C apple juice or cider
2-3 apples chopped
2 T butter
1 T olive oil

Directions
1. Slice the tenderloin into 1-inch medallions, salt & pepper them to taste.
2. With a kitchen hammer, pound the meat thin
3. Pour flour on a plate. Dip meat in flour and shake off excess. Set on another plate
4. Heat oil over medium in a large frying pan. Add meat in batches and cook 2 minutes per side and remove to a plate
5. Add apples to the pan and saute 1 minute
6. Add juice and let simmer and reduce 2-3 minutes.
7. Add butter to form a sauce and let melt while stirring.
8. Add medallions back in to warm nestled in the sauce.  Serve warm.

Slow cooked BBQ Pork with Tangy Broccoli Slaw

We had a busy day and guests on Sunday so I decided to put something in the slow cooker for dinner.  I decided to make pulled pork which I thought would be easy and crowd-pleasing.  It WAS easy, just dump everything in and cook.  Sadly, as per always for me, the pork did not 'shred' easily. So, I just chopped it up and it was still delicious!  Highly recommended.

Served 5 hungry people with leftovers

Ingredients
For the Pork

5 lbs boneless pork shoulder, netting removed and cut into large chunks
1 jar Stubbs Original BBQ Sauce
3 T Smoked Paprika
1 T Garlic Salt
Salt
Pepper
1 C water
1 onion, cut into large slices or chunks

For the slaw
1 bag broccoli/carrot slaw
zest & juice of 3 limes
Salt

For serving
BBQ Sauce (your choice, I used a Carolina style which was fabulous)
Hamburger style buns

Directions
1. Put all the Pork ingredients into a slow cooker (onions on the bottom!). Set for 8 hours and forget it!
2. For the slaw, juice and zest the limes and toss with broccoli slaw. Add a dash of salt to taste. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
3. When the pork is done shred it (hahaha!) or cut into cubes.  Serve with slaw, buns and sauce.

Slow cooked country style ribs

We bought some country style pork ribs intending to Sousa vide them but we just never se it up do I slow cooked them instead.  I thought these were pretty good butwhat a weird cut of meat! It was like two giant ribs. Joey and I shared one!  Next time I would blend the sauce b/c there were big bits of of chipotles.

Ingredients
Country style pork ribs (2 ribs)
1C BBQ sauce
1/2C preserves - I used four berry
Seasoning rub - I used smokehouse maple
Salt
Garlic salt
3 chipotles in adobo plus 1T sauce

1. Blend chipotles, preserves and BBQ sauce
2. Sprinkle rub, salt and garlic salt all over meat.
3. Place meat inside the slow cooker
4. Cook on low in the slow cooker 6 - 8 hours until tender, serve.

Pork Roast with Pears and Shallots

I saw a recipe for pork chops with pears the other day and knew I had to try it - but I had just had pork chops the week before! So I decided to revise the recipe with similar flavors for a pork roast.  I thought this dish was delicious and warming and pretty filling. Joey thought the savory twist to pears was a bit strange but we still both had seconds. The pork was just perfect, juicy and flavorful and the pears were a fun twist on the usual apples. I also didn't add cinnamon or anything so it was all the natural savory flavors.

This was so quick and easy! I recommend it for your family!

Ingredients:
1 2 1/2lb center cut pork loin roast
1 T vegetable oil
3 shallots, quartered
1 C apple cider or juice
3 cloves garlic
salt & pepper
3 T chopped sage
3 pears (quartered but not until right before you add them)

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350
2. In a dutch oven or pot with higher sides, heat vegetable oil.  Salt & Pepper pork roast all over.
3. Brown pork roast on all sides 2-3 minutes each
4. Add cider, garlic, sage and shallots. Nest the shallots around the pork in the liquid and put some of the flavors on top of the roast
5. Insert an oven-safe thermometer into the pork roast if you have one
6. Roast the pork for 20 minutes
7. Quarter and core the pears and add nested around the pork. Flip over the roast or baste with the juices.
8. Roast another 20 minutes or until the pork reaches 145 degrees internally. Let the pork rest 5 minutes before slicing thinly
9. Serve pork with juices and pears

Herb Oil Rubbed Pork Roast with Carrots and Potatoes

We decided that we needed to cook tonight, so we went to the store to see what was on sale. This is part of a 3 1/2 lb bone-in sirloin pork loin roast. It was only $13. Meat sales are really the best.  This took about 20 minutes of prep and 2 hours to cook. It is tender and juicy and flavorful.  The potatoes and carrots were also amazing - likely because they were soaked in the herb oil rub and crispy on the bottom.  We all loved this and so did Hazel!

This dish uses a cutting board (with a wash in between) and one dish and a few knives. Pretty easy clean-up too!

Ingredients:
1 bone-in pork loin sirloin roast
1/4 C olive oil
1 T butter, melted
1 T herbs de Provence
1/2 T thyme
1/2 T rosemary
salt
pepper
6 cloves garlic (I used 3 of the largest garlic slices ever), minced
1/2 onion, sliced
3 white potatoes, medium dice
3 carrots, medium dice

Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 375. Place the onion slices on a rimmed baking sheet to hold the pork up from the bottom.
2. Prepare the herb butter by combining oil, melted butter, garlic and all the herbs. Stir.
3. Place the pork on the onion slices and rub all over with salt and pepper. Rub the herb-oil onto the pork and let it drip onto the tray
4. Tent the pork with foil and put it into the oven for one hour
5. After an hour, add the potatoes and carrots along the edges and sprinkle them with salt
6. When the pork reaches 145 degrees, remove it from the oven and set it on a cutting board to rest.
7. Increase the oven temperature to 400 and cook the potatoes and carrots 15 minutes longer.
8. Slice the pork and serve with carrots and potatoes. The onions on the bottom are also pretty delicious.

Pork with Cherry Sauce

I like watching Everyday Food videos with Sarah Carey whenever I can. I love meals that are 30 minutes are less but still delicious and easy to make. THIS meal is one of those things. The cherry sauce was pretty good I thought but Joey found it too sweet. The pork had a nice crispy outside which made it extra delicious. The recipe calls to be served over polenta but I chose duchess potatoes (recipe coming soon!). I thought this was a delicious meal and quick and easy. It could also impress your guests instead.

Ingredients
1lb pork tenderloin
1/4 C flour
3 T olive oil
salt & pepper
1/4 C red wine
1/4 C chicken broth
12oz frozen cherries, defrosted
2 t fresh grated ginger
2 shallots, thinly sliced
polenta or duchess potatoes for serving

Directions
1. Pound tenderloin to flatten and then cut into four equal pieces. Season with salt and pepper. Dredge pork in flour and shake off excess.
2. Heat 1 T olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add pork and cook 2-3 minutes per side until cooked through. Remove pork to plate and tent with foil.
3. Reduce heat to medium. Add shallots and cook 4-5 min or until softened. Add wine & broth and cook stirring until reduced by half about 3 minutes.
4. Add cherries and ginger and cook until softened, about 2 minutes. Smash some cherries with the back of a spoon and leave others whole.
5. Add pork and juices back into the pan and cook about 2 minutes until everything blends together. Server pork and sauce over polenta or potatoes

Roasted Rack of Pork

At Sprouts on Saturday, I was intrigued by French cut rack of pork! I've never cooked French cut of anything but this seemed like the time to try it!  This roast was only $5 and was obviously enough for two so I bought it.  Roasting this was a breeze just like roasting always is and the result looks fancy, good for a crowd with a larger roast of course!

I didn't use fresh herbs because I didn't have them but I think that a nice herb-garlic paste would be delicious on this. Think chimichurri with rosemary, sage and oregano.  Next time that's what I'll do. This time I put some dried herbs and garlic on it and the flavor was nice but the stabs of rosemary into my gums was not.

I served this with roasted black grapes and asparagus. A new flavor profile? Maybe so.  Also this is a 5-ingredient recipe.

Ingredients
1 2-lb rack of pork
1 clove garlic
1 onion
salt, pepper and herbs of your choice

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Meanwhile cut some slits into the fat of the pork and push in slices of garlic
3. Try making a paste of herbs with garlic and salt. Salt and pepper the roast and then spread with your paste.
4. Roast 1 1/2 hours or until roast reaches 160
5. Let sit 5 minutes

Roasted Grapes & Asparagus:
1. Toss asparagus and a scant bit of olive oil and salt. Lay flat in a small pan
2. Slice grapes in half, or don't.
3. Place grapes & asparagus in the oven for 15-20 minutes

Pork Loin with Roasted Root Vegetables

Last week I bought a 2-lb pork loin roast on sale. I wasn't sure what I was going to do with it but it seemed like a good purchase.  Then my crazy work schedule + Easter happened. Finally tonight I was able to make the loin.  Did you know that pork loin roast takes only about 20 minutes a pound to cook? That means you get more meat for the price and can cook it almost as quickly as pork tenderloin!  This meal took me 45 minutes from start to finish and used just 1 pan and 1 cutting board and 1 knife!

*If you don't like radishes, you should try roasting them! They taste sweeter and a little bit more like a turnip. My husband who does not eat radishes ate these radishes and only noticed that their coloring was different from the potatoes but was happy to have them mixed in.

1 2-lb pork loin roast
5 carrots, chopped into large chunks
1 bunch radishes, halved*
1 C small potatoes, halved
olive oil
salt
pepper
1 clove garlic, sliced

1. Preheat oven to 450 and meanwhile prepare the vegetables
2. Salt and Pepper the pork loin all over and place fat-side down on a rimmed baking sheet. Cut slits into the top of the pork and cut slices of garlic inside
3. Toss vegetables with a little olive oil and salt. Spread veg around the pork loin but not touching it
4. Roast for 40-45 minutes until internal temperature reaches 145 degrees
5. Slice and serve with vegetable medley

Apricot Stuffed Pork Tenderloin

Pork tenderloin was on sale when I was at the store on Wednesday so I picked one up. The great thing about pork tenderloin is that it is just enough meat for a family of four or just two bigger eaters and leftovers for one.  Basically, it's not too many leftovers and it is quick to cook!

I didn't have a recipe in mind but when I got home I reviewed my bookmarks. I read one recipe on Martha Stewart that talked about making a mixture of dried apricots and scallions. The recipe had very mixed reviews but it sparked my creativity.

I finally got around to making the pork tenderloin tonight and made a twist on the apricot stuffing. It was great! This dish got an A from my husband and is definitely something I will make again! This takes just 25 minutes to put together!


Ingredients
1 pork tenderloin
1 large clove garlic, minced
1/4 cup Turkish Dried Apricots, finely chopped*
2 T orange marmalade  (really any jam here, like maybe apricot)
pinch of sugar
salt & pepper
kitchen twine or those handy silicon bands

Preheat the oven to 450

1. Place a large frying pan over high heat and let it heat up. Salt & Pepper the pork. Add pork to the fying pan and brown 2 minutes per side until all sides are brown
2. Mix together apricots, marmalade, sugar, and garlic
3. Cut a slit lengthwise in the pork not all the way through but enough of a pocket to hold the apricots
4. Stuff the apricot mixture inside the slit and tie in 4 places with kitchen twine. If some of the apricot mixture falls out just stuff it back in.
5. Place the pork apricot side up on a rimmed baking sheet and roast 20 minutes or until it reaches 165 degrees.
6. Cut into medallions using your ties as guides.


*If you don't use Turkish apricots they may not cook down as nicely. If you want to use the regular kind you may want to re-hydrate them a little before using.

Pork Tenderloin with Fennel & Apples

We were watching the Food Network the other day and Joey said "I wonder if I would like fennel" after an episode about the licoricey flavor of fennel.  Always eager to add new ingredients into our regular menus, I jumped at the chance. I decided to serve the fennel roasted because Joey's not big on raw vegetables or salads.  As I was cooking, we both had a piece of the stalk to taste. Have you ever tasted the stalk? Crazy Licorice Explosion! It's a really weird sensation because it is crunchy and a vegetable and tastes just like a black twizzler. The roasted fennel turned out to be a plus and the entire recipe was fantastic! I want this to join my regular menu options.  This recipe came together quickly, had a lot of flavor, and was a winner with my family. Will it be for yours?

Recipe from Gastronomer's Guide but I am re-posting it here because what if they stop their blog at some point and then I can't access it anymore? I'd be really sad.

1 fennel bulb, thinly sliced
fennel fronds
2 granny smith apples, sliced
6 cloves garlic, peeled
1 pork tenderloin
3 T butter, room temperature
1 branch rosemary (oh yeah they used thyme but I had rosemary), finely chopped *a sharp knife here is a necessity
salt & pepper
olive oil

Preheat the oven to 425 and prep your vegetables

1. Toss apples, garlic and fennel with a little oil and arrange in one layer on a rimmed baking sheet.  Roast for 10 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, make an herb butter with the rosemary and butter. Preheat a nonstick pan over medium-high heat and add some oil.
3. Pat pork dry, salt and pepper all sides and rub with herb butter
4. Sear pork on all sides in the hot pan
5. Remove vegetables from the oven and toss and push to the edges of the pan. Place the pork in the middle and pour the juices over everything.  Roast another 10-15 minutes until pork reaches 145 degrees.
6. Serve warm with fennel fronds on top

Herdez Verde Salsa Pork Chops

We watch a lot of the food network, there, I said it.  Sometimes they have food & recipe commercials on the FN. After weeks of seeing one for Herdez Verde Salsa Pork Chops, we gave in and made the recipe. We are glad we did! This is now one of our go-to recipes during the week. We love how quick it is, how tasty it is and just easy. We switch out the sides but it would be good with anything, I think the original recipe calls for rice to go with it. I also think the original uses bone-in pork chops but we're partial to the thin boneless chops because they take less time and still taste great.

1/2 smaller size jar of Herdez Verde Salsa*
4 boneless pork chops, thin style
1 white onion
garlic salt
1 T olive oil (the original calls for 4!)
pepper

1. Heat oil in a large skillet with a lid over medium high heat (lid off)
2. Slice onions into rings and place them in the pan, you will be putting the pork on top of these so they should be relatively flat
3. Garlic salt & pepper the pork on both sides
4. Place pork on top of the onions, cover, reduce heat to medium and cook 15-20 minutes or until pork is opaque
5. Remove lid and pour salsa all over pork, let simmer about 5 minutes and serve

*if you aren't a fan of spice use less salsa because it can be spicy!

Buttermilk Marinated Pork Chops

Do you ever need buttermilk for a recipe and then wonder what to do with the rest of it? Why do they sell whipping cream in 1 C cartons but buttermilk only in the quart size? Do they expect me to have a glass with dinner? The worst thing is that you probably bought the buttermilk to make some kind of dessert/bread and do you really want to make another dessert/bread? So today I decided to use the buttermilk to marinate some pork chops we had.

This is a quick recipe and pretty tasty I think. Joey thought they were a little plain. You could definitely make some kind of sauce to go with this, or maybe put it in a salad.  It is very moist. Feel free to mix up the spices anyway.

I got the idea from this blog and basically followed the marinade instructions but not the cooking instructions since I used the really thin pork chops.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 C buttermilk
4 thin boneless pork chops
2 cloves garlic, crushed
salt & pepper
1 t dried thyme

1 t olive oil

Directions:
1. Place all ingredients in a ziplock bag and marinade in the refrigerator for a couple of hours, I did 6 hrs.
2. Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium high
3. Shake off excess buttermilk and cook chops about 3-5 minutes per side or until cooked through

A Dinner Party - Grilled Pork Tenderloin

For the dinner party, I knew there were a few non-fish eaters in the group and I wanted to make sure to accommodate everyone. Plus, what if the salmon was terrible? I decided that the mild flavor of pork would fit with the sauce I wanted to make to go with both meats.  At Costco I got 4 pork tenderloins for a great price! This was way too much meat because the salmon was awesome.

For the pork I loosely based one marinade on Alton Brown's recipe for the ultimate grilled pork tenderloin and then I made up the other one a bit because I didn't really have enough lime juice left.

I didn't keep half the marinade since I doubled the pork and didn't double the recipe. I think it still turned out fine. I didn't want an overpowering flavor because I was making a sauce.

I think that if you had this pork without sauce it might be a little dull.

Marinate for 24 hours with this recipe.

Grill on direct heat about 12 minutes, turning every 1 1/2 minutes or until temperature reaches 145 degrees.

Let rest briefly and then slice and serve on a platter.

Coffee-Cocoa Rubbed Pork Chops with Blueberry Hoisin Glaze

This past week, while browsing my list of 80 favorite food blogs, I noticed that the Pioneer Woman was doing some product placement grill contest.

*Note: Product placement is seriously crazy recently. I am all for product placement that fits in, but when they make it all exaggerated and obvious it sort of ruins the show/contest/everything. I'm in advertising, I know about marketing your brand, but still. It is getting ridiculous.

I thought a lot of the Pioneer Woman Grill Contest (Beans) looked great!  So today I set out to make the pork chop recipe.  It was...not a hit in our family. I actually did like the sauce but because I was eating the sauce, I didn't taste the rub. The rub was definitely not good so I understand....but maybe I didn't make it well? Who even knows.

But let me tell you, pork loin chops--about 12 minutes on the indirect heat, cooked so perfectly. Try it, with another rub or maybe this one because it was probably good and just not to us...

Now for some uses of hoisin sauce...

The recipe.

Weeknight Spare Ribs

One of my goals is to get the whole family interested in what to have for dinner.  It is a lot of pressure to decide night in and night out what to make for dinner so it's a real treat when someone else makes one of the buying decisions.

This weekend, as we browsed the meat aisle for sales, Joey picked up a rack of pork spare ribs. I was a little leery about it because I was pretty sure ribs take several hours to cook and couldn't be made on a weeknight.

We got home and I took a quick search around the web and found this easy recipe from Martha Stewart.  It does take about 1 1/2 to 2 hours to prepare but since Joey works closer to home than I do he was able to start the dinner and we finished it together when I got home later--I hardly had to wait at all!  We only followed Martha's cooking time and spices--we bought our bbq sauce.

These ribs were tasty, tender and a nice change for a weeknight. We also filled up on only about 3-4 ribs a person which seems small in usual times.  This would be good served with any variety of sides like greens, beans and bread.

Ingredients (serves 2)
1 1/2 lbs pork spare ribs
2 T chili powder
Salt & Pepper
BBQ Sauce - any style

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
2. Rub the chili powder, salt and pepper all over the ribs.  Then wrap them tightly in a double layer of foil (so you don't get tons of fat on the pan).
3. Place foil packet on a rimmed baking sheet and cook about 1 1/2 hours or until ribs are fork tender.
4. Just as cooking time finishes, heat the grill** to medium
5. Remove ribs from oven and brush both sides with bbq sauce.  Grill 2-3 minutes per side and serve.

**Several people didn't grill these and just brushed with sauce and put the ribs under the broiler briefly. It would work fine if you're against using another appliance or if you have a charcoal grill and the turning on process takes a long time!

Spicy Pork Tenderloin

Have you watched that show Worst Cooks in America? Remember that episode when they made late night gourmet diner snacks and Bobby Flay made some nachos?  Yeah, so those nachos are SO complicated that I can't ever imagine making them as a late night snack much less dinner.  Instead of making the whole thing, I just used a version of Bobby's dry rub to make this pork tenderloin. I say a version because I don't really have all the different kinds of chili powder Bobby is always putting in his recipes.  This pork was spicy and sharp but pretty delicious too. If you want to make the monray sauce be my guest, but I recommend this pork with some roasted carrots and a Hawaiian roll.

Adapted from Bobby Flay's recipe
1.25 lb pork tenderloin, cut in half
2 T canola oil
2 T light brown sugar
3 T ancho chili powder
1 T regular chili powder
1t cinnamon
1/2 t nutmeg
1 1/2 t cajun spice mix (I just have this, you can just omit it)
Kosher salt
5 turns fresh ground black pepper

1. Salt the pork generously on all sides.
2. Mix all the other spices together on a large plate and dredge the pork into the spices. By dredge I mean really push the meat into the spices and make sure all sides are covered. Shake off excess.
3. Heat 2 T oil over high heat in a large skillet. When the oil is hot, add pork and sear each side for about 2 minutes.  Then reduce heat and cook 6-10 minutes more until a thermometer registers 135-140. Remove to a cutting board and let sit 10 minutes. Serve with roasted carrots.

Roasted Carrots
carrots
olive oil
thyme
salt

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees
2. Toss carrots cut into like-sized pieces with olive oil and salt and sprinkle with thyme
3. Roast 20-25 minutes or until carrots are tender

Pork Chops with StirFry Vegetables

I have been getting the Everyday Food Magazine for years and have always loved it. Then when we got an iPad, I was thrilled with the extra features the ipad version promises including videos and step by step pictures.

Recently, Sara, the editor in chief has started a series of videos that come to me via email each morning.  The video series is a feature of "dinner tonight" and provides quick and easy dinners that you could make even if you were coming home from work and had to have the kids in bed by 7.

As you have probably noticed, I haven't done much cooking lately and have really been jonsing for a homemade meal.  I decided tonight was the night and whipped up this recipe in a matter of minutes (12 total I think).  I really liked the meal.  The vegetables were gussied up just enough to make them taste a little bit different, the pork chop was flavorful and cooked perfectly.  Joey thought the texture of roasted bell peppers (from the jar) was a little strange but I liked them because I have had them before--he thought they didn't provide much in the way of texture.  If you have that same issue you could easily omit the peppers or throw in some raw ones or another quick cooking vegetable like asparagus or um...something quick cooking and colorful of your choice!

The recipe is for 4, so I reduced the quantities at the store in my head based on what we usually eat. Also if you are adding a jalepeno, I recommend looking for a small one and mincing it instead of just rounds.  Our stirfry was very spicy because the jalepenos they sell here are supersized.

Recipe & Video
For 2
Recipe reprinted here in case they take it off the website and I want to make it! (:()

2 bone-in pork chops
salt
2 T olive oil divided
1 1/2 inch piece fresh ginger, peeled with a spoon and roughly chopped
1/4 lb green beans cut into 1 inch pieces
3/4 bunch scallions, whites chopped; greens cut into one inch pieces
2 roasted peppers from a jar, chopped into medium pieces
1 jalepeno (chopped or cut into rounds, you can remove the seeds if you want)

1. Sprinkle salt on both sides of the pork chops liberally. Heat a large skillet on high for 2 minutes. Add 1 T olive oil and move the pan to get the oil all over.  Add the pork chops. Cook on high 4 minutes per side or until cooked (but for me the 4 minutes per side was perfect)
2. Meanwhile, cut up all the vegetables
3. Remove pork chops from the pan and keep warm on a plate in the microwave (don't turn it on, just leave them there)
4. In the same pan add the remaining 1 T olive oil and reduce heat to medium high.  Add beans, whites of scallions and ginger and cook until beans are crisp tender about 3 minutes.
5. Add jalepeno, scallion greens, salt to taste and bell peppers and cook about 1-2 minutes more until peppers are heated through. Serve vegetables and pork chops together.

Center Cut Pork Loin Roast and Vegetables

We have a store called Sprouts Farmer's Market near our house, previously called Henry's. It's kind of like Whole Foods in that it has a great produce section, lots of bulk pantry items, a glorious coffee section and really expensive packaged goods--but it's cheaper than Whole Foods.

I love Henry's except shopping there goes against one of my strongest arguments for not going to Trader Joe's--you can't always get everything you need for a recipe there or do all your shopping. But Henry's aka Sprouts is a good place to go sometimes and especially when you didn't go to the actual Farmer's Market.

So anyway, I was shopping at Sprouts this weekend and I noticed there was a sale on Center Cut Pork Loin Roasts. The other great thing was that the roasts were small--2 1/2 to 3 pounds at most. So I picked up a roast for $4. Then I added a couple of vegetables to my cart--a turnip, some carrots, an onion, some white sweet potatoes, some apples.

Tonight after work I thought it was high time to make the roast. The thing is I knew it would take about 25 minutes a pound to cook--so I was looking at dinner in an hour and a half. No big deal right? People eat latish dinners all the time...well it was ready at 9:30 and it was totally worth the wait! I made up this recipe almost entirely by myself--I only based the cooking time off another recipe and stuffing the middle with apples from something I read on Epicurious. Make this recipe! But maybe start earlier than 8pm.

Serves 4 with this size roast but you may want to increase the vegetables

Ingredients

Center Cut Pork Loin Roast, 2 1/2 lbs

1/2 C Apple Cider

1 Apples, chopped small

1/4 C craisins (or dried cherries!)

1 T fresh lemon juice

1/2 t cinnamon

salt

English Prime Rib Rub, to taste

1 large white sweet potato, cut into medium chunks

1 large onion, cut into thick rings

1 turnip, cut into medium chunks

3 carrots, cut into rounds

1 apple, cut into medium chunks

1 t olive oil

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees

2. In a small bowl mix the cinnamon, finely chopped apple, craisins, lemon juice and cider.

3. Cut a bit of an incision all the way through the pork and try to stuff in as much of the apple mixture inside

4. On a jelly roll pan toss vegetables with the olive oil and lay onions down flat as a sort of rack for the pork roast.

5. Salt the vegetables and pork and sprinkle with some English Prime Rib Rub or seasoning of your choice

6. Place the roast on the onions and move the vegetables to surround the onions. Pour the rest of the filling on top of the roast and vegetables

7. Roast for 25 minutes per pound--about 1 hour and 35 minutes in this case turning the pan midway through and tossing the vegetables at least once so they don't stick to the pan

8. When the pork reaches 150 degrees remove from oven and slice on a carving board with a mote as the juices will start to flow

9. Sneak a little of the crispy pork fat that has caramelized from the top of the roast. Don't tell anyone about it and eat it all yourself

Grilled Baked Apples and Pork

It's October. We had one week that really felt like fall at the end of September. But then summer came back and today it was like 108 in the valley. I love summer, but sometimes I really want a little taste of fall; especially when all the food magazines and websites are selling me on apples and pumpkins and pork.

So today I decided to be totally California and use the grill to make a fall favorite--baked apples. I also made some pork loin steaks which some might refer to as deconstructed pork roast. This fall dinner was delicious, fast and did not heat up the house like the oven it was already outside.

Baked apples on the grill! So fun! Also doesn't that pork in the picture kind of look like a fish? Hehe. it's pork actually.

Ingredients

2 4oz each boneless pork loin steaks (I've never seen these before, but they were only $5 for like 1 1/2 lbs.)

salt

English Prime Rib Rub (okay so this is from Penzey's spices but I'm sure you could use your favorite choice of spices but this one was really fall)

2 apples, cored (I'm not good with coring apples, so I just dug out a hole with a melon baller and we cut around the core when we ate)

2 T brown sugar, packed

Baking spice (another Penzey's but it's like cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, good stuff)

1 t butter

foil

Directions

1. Heat gas grill to medium high (around 4oo)

2. Meanwhile, dig out a hole in the apples and stuff with brown sugar, butter and spices

3. Wrap each apple in a square of tin foil and scrunch tight

4. Put the apples on the grill (top side up so the sugar stuff doesn't leak out), close the lid and set a timer for 10 minutes

5. Salt & English Prime Rib Rub the pork. After the apples cook 10 minutes put the pork on the grill.

6. Grill 5 minutes per side and continue to cook the apples (10 more minutes total)

7. Use care while unfolding the foil as steam will escape quickly. Eat!

Pork Chops with Pineapple Salsa

Last week the grocery store was having an amazing sale on pork. I was able to procure 3 center cut pork chops for the low low price of $2.50! Total! Even though I had just purchased pork, I got those chops anyway. The best part was that they were not even close to their date or anything, just a great sale!

After a few days of not really doing much cooking do to a ridiculous amount of leftover roast beef, I finally looked up recipes for my chops. A recipe from epicurious sparked an idea in my mind for a pineapple salsa match to my chops. In the end, I kind of made up the recipe and it was pretty delicious. I recommend this recipe to all you pork chop and pineapple lovers out there. And I suppose you might be able to use something like mango instead.

Ingredients

3 Center cut pork chops

salt

English prime rib rub or other favorite seasoning

2 limes

1 serrano pepper

1 pineapple

2 t olive oil

1. Chop your pineapple into bite sized pieces. Zest some lime into a bowl and add pineapple pieces. Chop the serrano pepper removing seeds and pith and add to the bowl. Squeeze the juice of one lime over the pineapple. Stir and refrigerate at least 10 minutes.

2. Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium high heat.

3. Salt and season the pork chops on both sides

4. Cook chops in the heated pan about 3 minutes per side until cooked through. After the first side is brown, add the zest and juice of your remaining lime.

5. In the last two minutes, add some of the juice from your salsa and some of the pineapple.

6. Serve warm with the pineapple salsa spooned over pork.