Here's the pint sized version and the adult version. Yum!
For dessert we had the Coldstone Cupcakes. Limited time only. They are pretty darn good. I still don't think they are worth all the money but I bought them for our anniversary so we splurged a little.
Tuesday - Cranberry Pork Tenderloin and mashed potatoes
1 pound pork tenderloin
1 can (16 ounces) whole-berry cranberry sauce
1/2 cup orange juice
1/4 cup sugar
1 Tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp ground mustard
2 Tbsp cornstarch
3 Tbsp cold water
Place the tenderloin in a 3-qt slow cooker. Combine the cranberry sauce, orange juice, sugars, and mustard; pour over pork. Cover and cook on low for 5-6 hours. Remove pork and keep warm. In a small saucepan, combine cornstarch and cold water until smooth; stir in cranberry mixture. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Serve with the pork.
It was good. The pictures show us eating a ton of sauce on our potatoes, well, that was before we decided the sauce was to sweet to eat that much of. I also made my own cranberry sauce because I have frozen cranberries and wasn't going to pay $1.69 for a can of cranberry sauce. So here's the recipe for that.
Cranberry Sauce
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup orange juice
1/2 of a 12 ounce package fresh cranberries
In a medium saucepan over medium heat, dissolve the sugar in the orange juice. Stir in the cranberries, and cook until they start to pop (about 10 minutes). Remove from heat, and transfer to a bowl. Cranberry sauce will thicken as it cools.
Wednesday - Leftover Cranberry Pork Tenderloin
Thursday - Mushroom Cheese Bread
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1 can mushroom stems and pieces, drained
1/3 cup mayonnaise
2 Tbsp shredded Parmesan cheese
2 Tbsp chopped green onion
1 loaf unsliced French bread
We also added sausage
In a bowl, combine the mozzarella cheese, mushrooms, mayonnaise, Parmesan cheese, onion and sausage. Cut bread in half lengthwise; spread cheese mixture over cut sides. Broil 4 inches from the head for 5-10 minutes or until lightly browned.
This is really fast and easy to prepare. We use sausage in ours and of course add more cheese! If you do add the extra cheese don't adjust the mayo amount. I think the recipe calls for a little too much mayo. I wouldn't use as much mayo if I only had the called for 1 cup of cheese. We dip our cheese bread in pizza sauce.
Friday - Spaghetti
I have to have my spaghetti with fettuccine noodles. It's just a lot better that way!! The sauce is a recipe I just put together that night. It turned out really yummy! I liked it a lot! Jared even commented that he thought the sauce was really good that night.
1/3-1/2 pound ground meat
1/4 cup chopped onion
1 can mushrooms, drained
2 cans tomato sauce
2 ounces cream cheese
salt
pepper
Italian seasoning
Cook ground meat and onion. Drain the grease. Add the tomato sauce, cream cheese, mushrooms and seasonings to taste. Cook until heated through and cream cheese has been blended in.
I would say the sauce recipe makes about 4 good sized servings.
Saturday - Stake Enrichment and then a birthday party so NO COOKING!! Yippee!
Sunday - Sweet Orange Chicken
2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 2" cubes
1/2 cup cornstarch
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoons butter
1 1/2 cups water
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons fresh orange juice
1/3 cup seasoned "Red Pepper" rice vinegar (can also use regular white vinegar to not make it spicy)
2 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon orange zest
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon minced garlic
2 tablespoons yellow onion
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 cup water
Heat oven to 350 degrees F. In a shallow bowl combine the cornstarch, garlic powder and black pepper. Dip each piece of chicken in cornstarch mixture and coat evenly.
Melt butter and pour in a shallow baking dish, large enough to accommodate chicken in a single layer. Arrange chicken in pan and bake uncovered for 30 minutes at 350 degrees F.
Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan combine water, fresh orange juice, rice vinegar, soy sauce, orange zest and whisk over medium heat for a few minutes. Then stir in brown sugar, ginger, garlic, and onion or green onion and let it come to a boil. Combine cornstarch with water and let it dissolve and add it to the sauce until thickened.
After chicken has baked the 30 minutes, turn each piece over and pour 1/2 sauce mixture evenly over chicken. Bake another 3o to 40 minutes basting (glazing the sauce over the chicken) frequently.
Serve chicken over rice with extra sauce on the side.
Be warned, this chicken takes some time to cook. I tried to hurry up the process by cooking the chicken the first time in a frying pan. It worked just fine but it still takes some time. Then I just placed all our chicken in a 9x9 pan (the chicken was still in a single layer) and poured enough glaze over the chicken to completely cover the chicken. This way I didn't have to be basting it frequently for 30 minutes! It turned out perfect. We thought it had enough sauce on the chicken already and so we didn't use the extra sauce. So if you aren't sauce people I would just make half the sauce recipe, that way you don't end up throwing half of it away like we did.
Then I have a cookie recipe that I made awhile back.
Praline Cookies
Makes 3 dozen
1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter
2 1/2 cups light-brown sugar, firmly packed
1 large egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup heavy cream, plus more if necessary
1 cup sifted confectioners' sugar
pecan halves
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Mix together flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Set aside.
In the bowl, using a electric mixer, cream butter and 1 1/2 cups light-brown sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add egg and vanilla. Beat until fully combined. Add dry ingredients, and beat on low speed until combined.
Drop batter in rounded teaspoons onto ungreased baking sheets about 2 inches apart. Bake until firm and barely golden, 10 to 12 minutes. Transfer pan to a wire rack to cool for 5 minutes, then transfer cookies from pan to wire rack.
In a small saucepan, combine remaining 1 cup light-brown sugar and cream. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Cook, stirring constantly, for 2 minutes. Remove from heat. Add confectioners' sugar, and whisk until smooth. (If frosting thickens, thin with cream.) Place cookies on a cooling rack over a lined baking pan. Spoon about 1/2 teaspoon praline mixture onto each cookie, decorate with pecans.
These cookies were good. The frosting/praline mixture is really really sweet. I'm sure I added more than a 1/2 tsp of the frosting to my cookies and it was way too much. Stick to the 1/2 tsp. Even though it doesn't seem like a lot, the frosting is really sweet and 1/2 tsp will be plenty. I had extra frosting and I even used more frosting than recommended. So you might only need 1/2 of the frosting recipe. You can try it and decide I guess.
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