not your momma's pork and beans

i haven't made my menu for november yet. shame on me. i promise to work on that this weekend.

related, i have a bunch of food leftover from my plans for october. because, you know, life happens. so we eat leftovers one day. or we forget to add a veggie to the spaghetti. yeah. so i have enough food for the first week in november and won't have to go grocery shopping until NEXT weekend! yay!

but, as i'm making things, i'm kind of out of plans. and i still need to account for my late nights at class, and that i'm trying to prepare something for husband. AND that it's totally crock pot season and i haven't used mine enough yet.

so i foraged through my cupboards and freezer, and came up with my own pork and beans. i was extremely nervous, but it turned out so good.

here's what you do:

cut up a large onion. put it in the crock. add other things. whatever you want. i added kidney beans and corn and a bit of leftover black beans. this would have been delish with some rotel though, now that i think of it. add it all to the crock.

top with pork chops. i used bone-in, and next time i'd use boneless (because they were so tender that they fell apart. awesome).

then i topped with homemade cream of celery soup. i would use cream of mushroom, but i didn't have it. some worcestershire sauce, some seasonings (basil, garlic, salt, pepper in mine), and that's it. cook on low for 8 hours.

it was so good. i love when i just throw things together and they turn out delicious.

grilled tangy spicy honey dijon pork tenderloin... FOUR INGREDIENTS!

oh yeah, you read it right. only 4 ingredients. well, excluding the pork- so, 5.

2 lbs pork loin
2/3 cup honey
1/2 cup dijon mustard
1/4-1/2 tsp chilli powder
1/4 tsp salt

mix ingredients in a bowl, pour over pork loin in a plastic bag.
marinate in fridge for at least 4 hours, but i do overnight

oil grill grate- heat to medium.
place pork on grill, let flame hit each side to make nice grill marks
grill for about 25-30 minutes, turning every so often for even cooking. stay close- the honey can char on the outside...still will taste ok though:)

KEEP EXTRA MARINADE FROM BAG
and boil while pork is on the grill- stir occcasionally.

when done, slice pork and serve with boiled marinade over white rice.

you will love it (i hope)!

chow!



when done,

stuffed pork loin, etc.

here's a great recipe where I attempted to be the daredevil half of this relationship for once:

This meal was so good, I'm not even going to talk about it. I'm just going to dive right into how delicious it was.
Ok, I lie a little. it was amazing. i cooked up the mushrooms the night before, to make for an easy prep today. they smelled so good, sauteing in the wine. mmmm. then today, i was concerned because it didn't smell quite as good. well, it smelled good, just not as strong. don't know why, it just didn't. maybe my sniffer was broken, because it sure tasted good.

wanna know the best part about this one?

i made it up.

this whole recipe came from inside my noggin.


stuffing:
large container of sliced fresh mushrooms
1/4 or 1/2 cup of red wine (i used cabernet sauvignon, my favorite)
italian seasoning
garlic salt
bread crumbs
cheese blend (i used a parmesan/asiago)
sautee the mushrooms over medium high in just a touch of olive oil. add some italian seasoning, a pinch of garlic salt, and the wine. simmer in the wine until it pretty much boils off, stirring occasionally. put in a bowl, adding about a cup of bread crumbs and a generous sprinkling of cheese, and stir.

pork loin:
how to prepare the pork loin:



this isn't how i did it, but i wish i'd done it by the "roll" method-- the second one she shows you. it'd be so much easier.

mine was more of a double-butterfly on opposite sides (can i patent that method??)-- slice it about 1/2" down the side, straight across until there's about 1/2" meat left to cut. flip it over and do the same thing on the opposite edge.

don't you love my depiction? slice along the red lines, all the way through the loin. and yes, that's a knife next to the pork loin. if you can't tell by my marvelous microsoft paint skills. yo.

 you should now be able to unfold both of those sides and it's a larger rectangle, rather than a long tube.

fill with the stuffing, leaving about 1/2" allowance on the edges.
roll up as tightly as you can, then use kitchen string or twine to tie it up about every inch. at this point, i put mine in the fridge overnight, covered with saran wrap. you don't have to.
put in a 400 degree oven for about an hour.

carrots:
cut into bite-size pieces, like carrot sticks that have been cut in half. saute in very little olive oil with some kosher salt and italian seasoning. cook this way for a few minutes, then add two spoonfuls of white sugar and continue to cook on medium. cover to steam them, but continue stirring every minute or two. be careful not to burn the sugar. honey would be a good substitute for the sugar, if you want.

rice:
buy steam in bag brown rice. put it in the microwave for 4 minutes. serve.