Delicious Tenderloins and Intimidating Moments

I was a little stressed last night. Someday, I'm going to look back at these moments and laugh, but last night was not funny.

I like to cook, I really do, and I'm not just trying to convince myself of this.

But I have a hard time getting the joy of cooking to show when I have to do too much multi-tasking. For example, keeping a 1 1/2 yr. old from making constant messes (and he does), breading tenderloins (which I was), having 8 yr. old come by every so often telling me how starved he is (he did) , 10 yr. practicing piano and needing help on a new hymn, plus having any other little person needing everything from a snack to bathroom attention can be much for me.(Specially since it seemed I was washing my hands every 5 minutes.) Does it sound like I'm complaining? No, not really. I just want to share this Pork Tenderloin recipe I made last night, and let you know that it turned out very good, but not stress free, quick, or easy. So if you chance to get a craving and decide to make this, take this warning to heart: Do it undisturbed!

By the way, I also decided to make it extra hard for myself by making Old Fashioned Sweet Potatoes.(I needed to use the rest of my sweet potatoes so I had to peel and slice. These are so good that perhaps I thought it was worth the effort.) 8 yr. walked in while they were cooking and said, "Ughh, I like mashed potatoes better.")
The easy part was the Cranberry Stove Top Stuffing, and green beans.

Creamy Pork Tenderloin

2 Pork tenderloins (about 1 lb. each)
1 egg
1 Tbsp. water
1/2 tsp. rosemary or Italian seasoning
1/4 tsp. pepper
dash of garlic powder
1 Cup seasoned dry bread crumbs
3 Tbsp. vegetable oil
1/2 lb. mushrooms, sliced
2 Tbsp. margarine
1 can cream of chicken, undiluted
1 Cup light sour cream
1/4 Cup chicken broth

Cut each tenderloin into 8 pieces.
Place each piece on wax paper and flatten to 3/4 in. in thickness.
In a shallow dish, combine the next five ingredients. Dip pork into egg mixture, then into bread crumbs.
In a large skillet over med. heat, brown pork in oil for 5 min. on each side. Remove to a one large or one large and small baking dish. (I needed a 13x9 and a 2qt baking dish) Keep warm.
In the same skillet, saute mushrooms in butter until tender. Stir in soup, sour cream, and broth; pour over pork. Cover and bake at 325* for 1 hour or until pork is tender.

Yields 16 tenderloin patties.

This recipe comes from The Best of Country Cooking 1999 (Taste of Home books)


When Daddy got home, I looked a tad frazzled. He walked through the door, and reached out for the children with these words: "How's all of my babies?"

They were very normal, but it was I that needed a little therapy.
During dinner he happened to mention a conversation he had with a co-worker. "....Precious Stones are made from lots of pressure."

I hope this thought blesses you as much as it did me.

Pancakes and Homemade Syrup

I thought I'd share the recipe I like best for pancakes. Also, within the last couple months I've been making our syrup and it is starting to grow on me. You can get imitation maple flavoring or the real stuff. I just happen to get Mapleine at Walmart to start out. I don't like the fact that it has sulfiting agents though so once I'm done with it, I'll probably go with the real stuff.

Pancakes

1 Cup of all-purpose flour or soft wheat if you grind your wheat
1 Tbsp. sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1 beaten egg
1 cup of milk
2 Tbsp. cooking oil

Heat skillet to 325* or heat up frying pan on medium. Mix well the dry ingredients with the wet until just blended. Pour desired amount and cook till lightly brown. Flip and do the same. Keep warm in the oven or a covered plate.

*I use buttermilk, and decrease baking powder to 1 tsp. and add about 1/2 tsp. of baking soda. I also add cinnamon to ours if I add fruit like bananas, berries, and apples. Also we usually triple the recipe and get about 18-20 hand size pancakes. What's left over we freeze for later during the week's breakfast.

Homemade Syrup

Boil 1 Cup of water. Add 2 Cups of sugar. Add 1/2 tsp. Mapleine and stir. I boil this over medium heat for about 5-8 minutes. Let it completely cool and store in the refrigerator. Serve in a syrup dispenser.

* I've also used Blackstrap Molasses to flavor it instead of Mapleine. You have to add 1-2 Tbsp. but it works well too. Also, it's thinner than the syrup from the store, but a little of it over your pancakes goes a long way. I also double or triple this recipe and keep the extra in a mason jar in the fridge.
That's all there is to it. Definitely worth the $2+ savings for us!

We usually have this for breakfast on Saturday mornings while we listen to the children's radio programs that come on our local Christian radio station. Shows like Paws and Tales, Adventures in Odyssey, and Down Gilead Lane.

Hope you have an outstanding breakfast this Saturday. If you happen to have pancakes, maybe you'll remember me.

In the Kitchen....

I thought I'd post some recipes from our dinner last night. Perhaps it was all the yummy melted Velvetta cheese taste that has been floating in my mind. :o) We had Please Give Me More Casserole, Cherry Fluff, and Cornbread.

Please Give Me More Casserole
1lb of ground turkey or lean ground beef (If I use ground Turkey, I dash it with a little bit of soy sauce)
1 bell pepper, chopped
1 onion, chopped
1 can of mushroom soup
1 can 8oz tomato paste
1 can of corn or half a bag of frozen corn(16oz bag)
2 tsp. chili powder
3/4 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. salt(optional)
1/4 lb cubed Velvetta -type cheese
1 cup of macaronni

Cook meat with onions and green peppers. Drain if necessary. Cook macaronni and set aside, drained. Add soup, paste, corn , macaronni, and seasonings. Mix well. Pour into casserole dish and top with cubed cheese. Bake for 25-30 min. at 375* or till melted and bubbling. Yum!

Cherry Fluff
1 carton frozen light whipped topping, thawed
1 can crushed, unsweetened pineapple, drained
1 can (21 oz.) cherry pie filling
1 can (14oz) fat free sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup flaked coconut
1/4 crushed pecans or toffee candy bar

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl; Mix well. Chill several hours or overnight. Makes 12 servings.

*************************************************************************
In other news, our local grocery store had boneless, skinless chicken breasts on sale for $1.29 lb!
We stocked up and after dinner canned about 12 quarts, and 2 quarts of pork loin chops! You can't hardly get a can of chicken for probably under $1.50 for 6-11 ounces!

Now, when I want to make supper all I have to do is open a can of chicken and put it into my casserole recipe. That saves me the time of having my act together and cooking the chicken early. And since it made broth, I now have it to put into my rice, creamed spinach, gravies, etc... It gives rice such a good flavor.

I think age has made my husband even sweeter as the years go by, because he stayed up to watch the pressure cooker stay at 15lbs. for 75 minutes. While we were cutting up the raw chicken breasts and putting them in the quart jars, he said kiddingly, "I missed my calling in life. I should have been a butcher."

Quick notes on pregnancy and recipes..(cookies and meatloaf)

I'm sitting here blogging while I eat one of my delicious no-bake cookies. Yum! These things are so good that a pregnant woman should not be allowed to eat these things! I really shouldn't, but I've been craving them for about 2 days. I get a little worried that if I eat too many sweets I'll have such a big baby that I'll have another c-section. I had one of those with my third, and for anyone who thinks this is the way to go(and I've spoken to some who do think this), let me tell you it's not! And I know, because I've had four the normal way and recuperation is a lot better the normal way. (Besides, I get queasy, just thinking about a cut across my lower abdomen.)

Want to know how much my other babies weighed? Probably not, but I'll tell you anyway.

1. 6 lbs 12 oz. (2 weeks early)
2. 8 lbs. 8oz.
3. 9 lbs 8oz.
4. 8 lbs. 12oz.
5. 9 lbs. 2 oz.
6. ?

I have friends who have bigger babies, like 10 lbs+!

I'm short, FYI, and there's only one place for this baby to go. Thankfully, I've lost all my weight with all the babies. But since I have no stomach muscles to talk about (or they've become so flexible that they just keep on stretching) my belly seems to just keep going while I'm pregnant.

Here's a quick meatloaf recipe. I've never been able to make a meatloaf that I was sincerely impressed with, but this one is a worthy kind. It gets its merits from the glaze and the fact that it cooks in about 17 minutes!

Carrot Meatloaf

2 cups shredded carrots

1 green pepper cut up in small pieces(optional)

1 cup dry bread crumbs or quick oatmeal

3 eggs, beaten

1/2 cup milk

1 envelope dry onion soup mix or about 2Tbsp of beef bouillons, 1Tbsp onion powder, 2tsp. salt

2 lbs lean ground beef

1/2lb. ground pork (optional)

Glaze: 1/2 cup ketchup, 1/4 cup packed brown sugar, 2 tsp. prepared mustard

In a bowl, combine carrots, green pepper, crumbs, eggs, milk and soup mix. Add meat, and mix well. On microwave-safe platter, shape mixture into a circle with a 9 in. diameter; form a 3 in. hole in the center. Cover with wax paper and microwave on high for about 16-18 minutes, or until no pink remains. Make sure it is rotating every 3 min. Drain. Let stand for 5 min.

Meanwhile, in a cup mix glaze ingredients. Spread half of glaze over meatloaf. Microwave on med. for 1 minute. Remove. Warm left over glaze to serve.

Yields: 10 servings. Recipe halves easily.

No Bake Cookies

2 cups sugar

1 stick margarine

3 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa

1/2 cup milk

Use a big saucepan to heat on med/high. Let ingredients boil for 1 1/2 to 2 min. (No more than 2 min.)

Add quickly 1 cup peanut butter and 3 cups of quick oatmeal

Stir and scoop onto wax paper to cool. Makes about 2 doz. cookies

Hope you enjoy these two recipes. The meatloaf comes in handy when you need to make a quick meal. The cookies...well you can't just have one.

Sweet Potatoes and some more...

Last night we canned 14 quarts of sweet potatoes. Plus, I have a crate full of fresh potatoes to go along. Was this my idea? Not really. I just suggested to my husband that since I used up all the potatoes we grew in the garden by Thanksgiving that we should buy some now that they're on sale. He bought 60 lbs! They were on sale at Wal-mart for $0.25/per pound and he thought this was a super deal! So last night we canned. The nice thing about this is that we spent a lot of time together in the kitchen, and now I have 14 qt. jars of cooked sweet potatoes to make some nice things like biscuits, a quick side dish, or my favorite -sweet potato casserole. This really is the best sweet potato casserole recipe. I've tried others and this is the one for us. I wrote it down in a notebook I still have from when I first got married. It's time to put it somewhere else, don't you think? Hope you find you like it too!

Best Sweet Potato Casserole

3 cups mashed sweet potatoes

3/4 cup sugar

2 eggs

1/3 cup milk

1/4 cup. butter or margarine

1 tsp. vanilla

(Sprinkle cinnamon and nutmeg into potatoes. I would say about 1/2 -1 tsp. of cinnamon and 1/4 - 1/2 tsp. of nutmeg. It depends on your tastebuds.)

Mix sugar, eggs, milk, butter, and vanilla into sweet potatoes. Mix well. Pour into buttered 9x9 baking dish. Prepare topping.

Topping:

1 Cup brown sugar

1/3 cup of butter

1/2 cup chopped pecan (I sometimes cut this in half and add coconut)

1/3 cup flour

Mix all ingredients for topping. Crumble on top of potato mixture. Bake at 350* in preheated oven for 30-35 minutes.

In other news, I had a pretty good time preparing food for Thanksgiving this year. I can't say that of every Thanksgiving Day. There have been some years when I really dreaded all the preparation, but this year was very good for me. I made a turkey, gravy, refrigerator yeast rolls, two sweet potato casseroles, some corn, and a Dump Cake (with the cherries we froze this year). I don't think I made anything else, if I did, I can't remember. My stepdad made the other half of the dinner so don't think we forgot the mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, pumkin pie, ham, and green beans. I saved the water I boiled my potatoes in to make my bread today.

It must be the pregnancy doing that to me, because I go through strange phases in the kitchen when I'm pregnant. Really, I do.

I really got into cheese with my first. I began to love cheese, specially Gouda.

Maybe the second and third pregnancies were normal, because I don't remember anything in specific.

I just about became a vegetarian with my fourth pregnancy. I was making things like Spinach/Tofu Pizza!

With my fifth pregnancy, I was all about bread. Sourdough bread, banana bread, whole wheat bread, 7 grain bread, lots and lots of bread. The thing is that I didn't have a bread mixer like I do now, so I was kneading it all by hand. I made bread till the week I went into labor.(And still do.)

I'm not sure what the kitchen specialty will be now, except that I've been reading different cookbooks lately and making Chinese food.

Maybe our baby GIRL likes egg rolls and crab ragoon! (That is if the ultrasound is right). I sure do.

Apple Fritters

This is a good recipe from the Taste of Home
30 min. Cookbook.

Apple Fritters

2 1/2 Cups all-purpose flour or if you grind, soft wheat
1/2 Cup instant nonfat dry milk powder
1/3 Cup sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
2 eggs
1 Cup water
2 Cups chopped, peeled tart apples

Oil for deep frying
Confectioners' sugar

In a mixing bowl, combine the first five ingredients. Beat eggs and water separately and stir into the dry ingredients just until moistened. Fold in apples.
In a deep fryer or electric skillet, heat oil to 375*. Drop batter by teaspoonfuls into oil and fry until golden brown. Drain. Dust with confectioners' sugar. Serve warm.
Yields about 3 1/2 dozen

Enjoy! We had these for dinner last night with baked sweet potatoes, Golden Baked Chicken, and green beans. They were a real hit with the children. We also had enough left over to have them with eggs, juice, and syrup this morning.

Yummy Pork Chops!

Thought I'd quickly write these down. They are my creation and I often forget those!


Blue Cheese Pork Chops

Preheat oven to 375*

Pack of Pork chops or Pork steaks (about 3 or 4 for us)
About 3-4 Tbsp. of Blue cheese dressing
About 1 tsp. of Tony Chachere's Original Creole Seasoning

Trim fat and cut steaks into smaller portions if steaks are large.
Mix everything together. Put the pork in something like a 9x13 pan. Cover with foil. Make five to six small (1/4 of inch or so) slits on top of foil and bake for about 50min.

Enjoy!


We had these this evening along with broccoli, macaroni and cheese, and stuffing.
Yum!

Taco Soup

Here's a quickie for you, good and healthy too. We had this last night and then we went... I tell you about that later.

TACO SOUP

2lbs ground beef
1 med. onion, finely chopped
1 can(28 oz) crushed tomatoes
1 can(15oz) tomato sauce
1 cup water
1 can of corn(drained) or whatever frozen veggies you have on hand that you like
1 can (15oz) pinto beans, drained
1 envelope taco seasoning mix
sour cream,shredded cheese, sliced avocados, tortilla chips(optional)

In a large pot, brown beef and onion, and drain. Add tomatoes, tomato sauce, water, corn, pinto beans, and taco seasoning. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 5 minutes. If desired, top each serving with cheese, and then sour cream.


Yields about 10 servings

Enjoy!

Playdough

Yesterday, I made multi-grain muffins. There's something about the barley in the multi-grain that taste good to me. My 4yr. old walked in, grabbed the step stool, stepped up and made herself at home. I already had the bowl out and was beginning to put the ingredients in.
"Can I please put something in it, Mommy. Please?"
I proceeded to let her put in the baking power, the salt, the milk, the oil. "Can I stir it up?"
With a little help she did that too. That's when I looked down at her and for a moment I was lost in my own thoughts.

She's my third-born. She had so much hair when she was born that she looked like Elvis. She looks so much like her daddy. The year she was born I had the 4 yr. old, the 2yr. old, and now her. The next year was also my first year officially homeschooling. She spilled shampoo bottles on the floor, got into finger paints, played with the Vaseline..etc. It took forever for her to talk and for us to be able to understand what she was saying. But she could hold a tune to Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, Jesus Loves Me...and a few other tunes when she was two. Somewhere between 3-4 yrs. old she stopped making me huge messes. She began to steal my heart with her sweetness. She began to share her thoughts with me. She began to ask me questions about God. She became my little helper.
Every couple of months I make her a new batch of playdough. I got the recipe from a homeschooling friend. She loves it.

Playdough
Combine in a saucepan:
1 Cup of flour
1/2 Cup of salt
2 tsp. cream of tartar

Combine:
1 Cup of water
1 Tbsp. oil
1 Kool Aid envelope

Add liquids to dry ingredients. Cook over medium heat, until stiff.
Knead moderately hot dough for a few minutes and it's ready to play with. I store ours in a plastic container.

My Birthday and a Recipe

Tomorrow is my birthday. I will be 34. This is the first time that I can think that aging has bothered me. I've started noticing crows feet around my eyes when I smile and when I look in the mirror I can tell my age is starting to show. It almost brings a melancholy sort of feeling over me to think that my body is changing while my mind doesn't feel old at all. Time stops for no one.(except Joshua and Hezekiah) But time is not gonna slow down for me. Funny, how I think I'm aging yet I'll only be 34. I've barely started living to some, and maturity has barely begun. If you're a returning visitor to my blog, this would be a perfect opportunity to leave a comment. It would bring on a smile, and brighten me up.

Jalapeno Chicken (it really needs to be Spinach Chicken at our house because it doesn't even have jalapenos in it most of the time when I make it.)

2-4 chicken breasts (boiled and cut up in small pieces)
1 clove of garlic
A few slices of jalapenos w/o the seeds
1 med. onion
2 Tbs oil
1/4 tsp. cumin
1 can cream of chicken soup( 10 oz)
1 frozen pkg. of chopped spinach
1/2 tsp. salt
1 pt. of light sour cream
1 pkg. tortilla chips (8oz)
About 2 cups of your favorite shredded cheese like Mozzarella, Cheddar, or Monterey Jack

Simmer garlic and next 7 ingredients in oil. Add spinach and cook a few minutes till spinach is tender. Stir in chicken and sour cream. Heat through and remove from heat. Pre-heat oven to 350* In a 2 qt. casserole layer in the amount of 1/3 corn chips(keep that bottom layer the lightest), 1/3 cheese, 1/2 of chicken mixture. Repeat layers, ending with cheese. Bake 30 minutes, uncovered.

Serve with biscuits, rice and if you want more veggies, a salad.. Delicious!

Baked Oatmeal: An easy breakfast for Sunday morning rush

Sunday mornings...Daddy says,"No one eats till they are ready." That means: dressed, hair combed, teeth brushed, shoes on, ready to walk out the door. But with 5 children, I don't have a lot a time. If you make this before you start getting ready, this will feed all of them better than cereal.

Baked Oatmeal
Mix together well:
4 Cups of quick-cooking oats
3/4 Cup of sugar
3/4 Cup of brown sugar
1 tsp of salt
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp of vanilla abstract(optional)
1 1/2 Cups of milk
1/2 Cup of oil
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 Cup of raisins(optional)
1/2 tsp. of cinnamon(optional)

Pour into a greased 9 x 13 pan.Bake uncovered, at 350* for 30-35 min. When done, serve in a bowl with additional milk if desired. Enjoy!
(7-9 servings)

Alternate: 1 Cup sugar and 3 0r 4 Tbsp. molasses. The molasses taste wonderful in this!

Regular Oatmeal at our House:

Mix in a bowl:
1/2 Cup of Oatmeal
1-2 Tps. of brown sugar
3/4 Cup of milk
Microwave 1:40 seconds
Add a little butter, a little cinnamon, and some raisins. Let it sit about a minute and enjoy! (1 serving)

I've made this so much, it takes me about 10 minutes or less to prepare the baked oatmeal.

The True and Tried Biscuit

I got married when I was 18 years old. I was so young. Maybe girls shouldn't marry so young. There was a time when young ladies were considered old maids if they weren't married by 21. God desires of a us to stay pure till we get married. There's something lost if we don't.
Faithful to stay pure so that our passion will be pure. Someday I hope to teach this to my girls. There's so much I want them to know that I didn't know.

I'm very grateful to God it was to a faithful-God seeking man I got married to. And even though I thought I was mature, I was not. At least not in many areas of life. One of these being the laundry. I remember crying over having to put away all of one or two weeks worth of laundry by myself! We didn't have a washer and drier so we went to the laundrymat. Now, I laugh. Boy, did God have my number. Talk about slowly breaking me in.
I did prepare for somethings though. One of these things was making biscuits. Bread wasn't served at dinner in my home. We were meat and potato type folks and there was not a lot of room left for the bread. But Jimmy was a breadman. The kind that liked biscuits and gravy. So I learned to make biscuits. Someone I knew took the time and shared the process with me. I will be forever thankful to her for this. These biscuits are not the best, but they are the ones he wants. I've tried several others but always go right back to these. The grass always seems greener on the other side I guess. They have proven to be really good for 16 years. Here's the recipe:

Mix together:
1 cup of flour
1 tsp. of baking powder
1/2 tsp of salt
Add:
2/3 cup of buttermilk
1 Tbs. oil

Mix together. Dough is ready when it almost unticks from the bowl.(semi-sticky) Get your baking pan and pour about 3 Tbs. of oil in it. Now, this is the messy part, but once you get confident, it goes real quick, an it will be worth the mess. Grab with your hand a biscuit size amount of dough in your hand and coat with flour, then coat with the oil in your baking pan so both sides are coated. Just leave that biscuit in the pan and do another until all the dough is gone. Bake at 425* for 15-20 min.
This recipe yields about 5 -6 biscuits.

Enjoy!

Introductions...I like to make bread.

Ok, ok. I must admit. I'm not very computer savvy. So this is my first post. I'd like to learn how to put cute clipart, but my 10-month old is wanting attention at this very moment. So I'll make this post quick..real quick. I like making homemade bread. I'll cut and paste the recipe I currently use to feed my darlings:

I got this recipe sometime last year and thought I'd pass it on. It makes 5 good loaves of bread if you use regular bread loaf pans.This recipe works good kneading by hand or with a mixer. If you use a heavy duty mixer you won't have to let it rise the second time. If kneading by hand, I always let it rise the second time. I make them with whole wheat flour, and sometimes substitute about 1 cup of 7-grain flour into the mix.

Mix:1/3 C. of hot water with 3 Tbs. of active dry yeast and a pinch ofsugar in a glass container. Let this sit 10 minutes, to make sure the yeast wakes up and starts bubbling. Don't use anything metal.

Meanwhile mix:5 C. of hot water
2/3 C. of oil
2/3 C. of molasses
1 Tbp. salt
3 Tbp. vital gluten( or dough enhancer)
Then Add slowly and mix:
Yeast mixture and 6 C. of flourContinue mixing in 1 cup of flour at a time until dough unclingsfrom the bowl. You probably will mix in about 12-14 c. of flour.
Knead 8-10 min.
After kneading by hand, let it rise till double somewhere warm.Cover with plastic wrap and a towel. When double punch down, shapeinto loaves and place to rise in greased bread pan.If mixer knead, then shape into loaves and place in greased breadpan, covered with plastic wrap and a towel.
Let it rise till double and then bake,uncovered in a 350* preheated oven 30-35 min. When done, remove from baking pans immediately and let it cool.I always let them cool, and then I pre-slice them and put them in the freezer. That way I can take them out as I need them and if frozen, pop them in the toaster.Enjoy!