Yummy in My Tummy

The past few weeks have been nothing short of ridiculously crazy, so I made it my mission to actually prepare some meals this week.  For some reason, meal prep is so overwhelming for me.  So I have a new system.  I'm going to alternate nights:  one night make something that takes effort, one night make something super simple.  Hopefully we find ourselves eating something besides pasta on a regular basis.

This week, though, I made a few recipes that I thought were ultra-tasty.  MacGyver snarfed them up, too, but he's not a great gauge of food....he'll eat absolutely anything.

On Monday, we had Panera, because we bought a sofa and a new mattress.  Expensive busy awesome day.  There's just no time to prepare meals when one is busy flopping down on couches and mattresses.  Also, the Sunbean now asks every day if we can go mattresses shopping.  She enjoyed the jumping part.

On Tuesday, we had Crispy Southwest Chicken Wraps.  Good gracious, these were delicious.  And easy, really.  The pan-cooking part was a tad messy, and they didn't stay rolled, but they still tasted good.

Wednesday was my off-day.  Pasta and sauce.  Done.

Then yesterday, we had pork tenderloin and Roasted Smashed Potatoes.  Another win-win-winner.  The potatoes were simply fantastic, and easy.  They did take quite awhile, and set off the smoke alarm at least 3 times.  But well worth it.  As for the pork tenderloin, I did something I rarely do, and that's create a recipe.  I googled around and couldn't find what I was looking for, so I just went with it.  And no one got food poisoning, so I'll call that a win.

Here's what I did.  First, I trimmed off the fat from the tenderloin.  Then I sprinkled both sides with pepper, garlic salt, and a load of cinnamon.  In an oven-safe pan, I heated some oil (EVOO) and a generous amount of honey on medium heat.  Then I browned both sides of the pork for 5 minutes each.  I stuck the pan in the oven for about 10 minutes at 400 degrees, and she was done.  I put the pork on a plate, and then put the pan back on the stovetop.  I added a little water to the sludge in the pan, and simmered that for a few minutes.  I then sliced the pork (holy amazing....the expensive organic stuff is soooooo worth it), and dumped the stuff in the pan over top.

Not to toot my own recipe-creating horn, but that was some tasty pork.  So if you're in the cooking mood this weekend, try one of these.  We weren't disappointed.

Tonight is another off-duty night, so we're having pizza and milkshakes with friends.  Best recipe yet.