Crock Pot Pork Tenderloin w Garlic Chili Sauce

My husband has been TCB lately- and the "B" in that business stands for- his job, me, Logan, Leela, Arthur, the laundry, the dishes, and pretty much anything else you can possibly imagine- while I am trying to get my knees strong again and not feel like they are being stabbed with spoons every time I go down one of the three flights of stairs that I must traverse all day long, he has come to the rescue to make sure this place doesn't just fall right apart.

I wanted him to come home to something super yummy on Friday night because this has been a looooooooooooooooooooong week.

This recipe was pure improv at it's finest and I can happily say it turned out fantastic- we both loved it!

Here is what you will need:

1 pork tenderloin about 2lbs

2 spoonfuls garlic chili sauce

2-3 T soy sauce

1 T honey

2 T BBQ sauce

2 T water or chicken broth

In a small bowl, whisk together the chili sauce, soy sauce, honey, bbq sauce and water or broth.

Place the pork in the crock pot, pour the mix over it.

Cook on low 7.5 hours- to serve- shred with forks in the pot to get all covered in the saucy mix. 

Serve with cornbread and more honey! 

Easiest Crab n Corn "Bisque" you'll ever make!

This is a total cheater recipe- once again thanks to the gloriousness that is TRADER JOE'S! Oh, TJ's what would I do with out ya?!?
You can scoop up every little thing you need for this at TJs and it's not too pricey- the crab is not cheap- but you wouldn't really want it to be, would ya?

Here's what you will need:

1 Container roasted red pepper soup from Trader Joes
1 Bell pepper chopped
3 garlic cloves minced
1 can of corn kernels (drained and rinsed- or use 1 heaping cup of frozen corn!)
1 1/2 cups crab meat- in the fridge section at TJs you will use about 2/3 of the large container- freeze the rest or make some mini-crab cakes to go with this!!)
1/4 chopped cilantro
1/4-1/2 tsp siracha sauce
olive oil
salt & pepper to taste
avocado to garnish if you want

Heat about 1 T olive oil in a medium soup pot over medium heat- add garlic, sautee till fragrant. Add soup, corn, bell pepper, crab and siracha.
Stir until heated thorough- serve with chopped cilantro and avocado and some majorly crusty bread

Beet & Potato Breakfast Hash (Nate rules)

One of the million, zillion awesome things about my husband is that he knows I love beets, hot wings, and sushi and indulges those obsessions whenever possible.
Recently, I took my very first mommy-vaycay away from my little man, and spent a whole day & night in grown-up land. Which in this case looked like this:

In all my excitement of being a grown-up on an airplane all by myself for the first time in a while, I stocked right up on magazines, and even had a 9:30 am bloody Mary at the airport- dreamy.
This one was necessary because I drooled on the cover, and then had to by it.

Nate actually read it on our flight home and found the Beet Hash with Eggs recipe you can find on page 64.


Here is Nate's version of that recipe:

2 bunches fresh red beets, tops removed, peeled and diced into cubes
8 Yukon Gold potatoes washed and diced into cubes
1 yellow onion diced
3 eggs* (this is what our pan would fit- we had leftover beets & potatoes, see below...
Salt, pepper, fresh parsley (chopped) and olive oil
small pat of butter

Place the beets and potatoes in a high sided skillet- cover with water, bring to a boil, add salt and cook until tender 10-15 minutes
Drain, set beets and potatoes aside
Add butter and a few T olive oil to pan, over medium heat- add beets and potatoes sautee about 10 minutes, add onion, cook stirring until tender.
Stir in a few T chopped parsley.
Make "wells" in the beet/potato mix and crack an egg into each well.
Cook until egg whites are fully set but yolks still runny.


We had about 2 cups of the beet and potato mix leftover- so we put that on a foil lined cookie sheet, chopped half a bulb of fennel- drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with salt- cook at 425 for 35 minutes for an awesome Fall side dish!

Logan's Lunch

Since Logan is growing like crazy (14 months now) and eats so many fun foods- I thought I'd start a lunch post (and breakfast & dinner) so I remember these meals with the next bambino and have them to reference if I blank out on something for Logan at any point! Hope it's helpful to you too!!
Any "lunch meat" mentioned is low-sodium, or sodium free and no-nitrates- the best I am able to find between Whole Foods, Sprouts, and Trader Joe's- my main stops. I also buy organic whenever possible, so that is implied as well- I usually update this post w my phone so the descriptions will be super short and sweet- comment ANY time for more details or recipe specifics and I will be happy add them!

September 25, 2012

Turkey, avocado & cream cheese mini samiches on whole grain bread. 4 black berries, 1/2 a plum, 1 slice of avocado (by request) & 5 fishie crackers.

September 26, 2012

First experiment w a "samich roll up" (out of tortillas) chicken breast, avocado, cream chee & string chee on wheat grain bread. First attempt to flatten bread and roll- FAIL. (see top right square) Then I put the bread under some Saran wrap and rolling pinned the tar out of it- MUCH BETTER!! We were on the road for lunch today so I also brought crackers, a squeezie, a plum, water and milk.

September 27th, 2012

1 egg omelette w peas, string cheese and quinoa inside- topped w avocado & whole fat Greek yogurt

Sept 28th

Samich rollup with cream cheese, chicken lunch meat and squaw bread- pear slices- avocado slices and a piece of Pumpkin Pear Goodness (click for recipe)

October 1st

1/2 a pluot, peas, 1 turkey meatball (Trader Joe's- frozen section- his FAVE), shredded cheese, brown rice

October 2nd

Sausage with Sascha- gnawed on half a sausage, bun, tasted liverwurst (and liked it) also had some celery, Wasa cracker & a squeezie- HappyTot

October 3rd

Sweet potato quesadilla- shred raw sweet potato and put on a tortilla w shredded cheese! Yum! He also had pear, avocado, a spoonful of hummus and assorted crackers.

October 4th

Pizza at Pitfire. 

Topped with cheese, sauce, mushrooms, red bell pepper & zucchini. He also had some of Haily's spaghetti w marinara & 1/4 of an avocado.

October 5th
Whole wheat waffle with peanut butter & cream cheese, handful of frozen peas, Annie's organic cheese bunny crackers, string cheese, 1/4 of a pear

October 8

Sushi- brown rice, nori, avocado & sesame seeds. Also; sliced pear, carrots & fiber O's from TJs

(the next three are out of order- sorry!)

Mac n chee from Gelson's- frozen peas (he's cutting three MORE teeth so these double as pain relief and a veg) 1 turkey meatball from TJs- shredded cheese and a few multigrain crakers

On the road (AGAIN) whole wheat tortilla wrap with cream cheese, turkey and avocado- fig cereal bar, Happy Tot squeezie & crackers for snackin'

Pasta with basil and an amazing calzone from The Bite Me Kitchen stuffed with vegan cheese, artichokes, bell peppers and other yummy goodness

October 12

I was away at lunch today - so I made a PB & cream cheese sammy before I left- he had this with frozen peas, string cheese, and a banana

October 15

Baked Yukon gold potato (with full fat Greek yogurt, shredded cheese) also 1/4 of an avocado, 1/2 a plum and some Organic Fiber O's from TJs 

October 16

PB & strawberry roll up - can be served as a handroll or little cut rolls sushi-style! haha! I made the non-cut-roll up again to take to his first USC game on Saturday :)

October 17

Ok so I like rolling stuff up with lavash flatbread- this one is cream cheese and ham for a fun day at the Pumpkin patch! We also brought a Plum Organic squeezie, apple slices & fiber Os from TJs

October 18

yet another lavash roll up! Cream cheese with shredded cheddar- his favorite.

Also with crackers, avocado & plum

October 19

sheets of seaweed (2) brown rice, avocado, sesame seeds (deconstructed sushi-hahaha) 2 zucchini sticks, pear slices & string cheese

October 22

Out again! The Original Rinaldi's samiches in El Segundo- great kids menu

He had the grilled cheese which was on crazy delicious bread- also some fig I brought with us, a side of avocado & coconut water

October 23

Keepin' it classic- PB & "J" samich- as with the PB & strawberry roll up above- I just did super thin plum and pear slices on this one with peanut butter on whole wheat bread- he had some grapes, a seaweed sheet and plain Greek yogurt with chia seeds in it as well :)

OCT 24

Ham, avocado & hummus roll ups (spread hummus on a piece of ham- add sliced avocado- roll & slice!) Greek yogurt w/ chia seeds, kiwi, fiber o's, sesame crackers

Oct 25

Wheat tortilla w shredded cheddar & peanut butter- also sea weed, crackers & more Greek yogurt w chia seeds

"Deconstructed" ham & cheese samich w yellow mustard (which he LOVES) sesame crackers and Greek yogurt

MOM- QUIT TAKING PHOTOS AND GET MY STRAW INTO THE JUICE DARNIT!!

Kale, spinach, apple, kiwi, mango juice with a turkey and shredded cheese roll up

whole wheat zucchini pancakes! He did not like these very much and I thought they were really tasteless- so no recipe to post yet, making a new batch soon- stay tuned! 

He did like the plain zucchini cut into sticks, w his sea weed and string cheese.

blury pic- SUPER JUICY orange slices and a waffle with cream cheese and peanut butter

YA! LUNCH RULES! Veggie & fruit juice, scrambled eggs, shredded cheese, avocado, and hummus on sesame crackers.

Mixed veggies, barley, 1/4 of a piece of naan with hummus on it, seaweed, a turkey meatball and a sweet rice roll (half) for a treat!

Ham, cheese and cream cheese samich with yellow mustard- a favorite- repeated- he loves it.

Whole wheat naan with peanut butter- a whole orange "ball" he played with, but eventually let me peel and then he ate several slices, & a Plum squeezie packet 

Pizzadilla- 

1 piece of lavash/flat bread cut into 2 slice-o-bread sized pieces- mozzarella and tomato sauce inside cooked just like a quesadilla- this was a big hit

Crock Pot Pineapple Salsa Chicken

I know this is seriously the worst photo ever, but I threw this together VERY quickly after a long day of running around at the park while our giant pot of BLACK BEANS cooked.
After I took out the beans, it was 3pm so I figured it would just be easiest to throw dinner in the pot so I didn't have to do anything else, besides 100 laps around the living room vrooming trucks with Logan.
The crockpot has that stuff on it because I didn't wash it after I removed the black beans just kept goin'.

Here's what you'll need:
1 lb boneless skinless chicken breast
1 jar tropical salsa- I used Trader Joe's pineapple salsa- look for something with pineapple or mango if you can find it
1 can of pineapple pieces, in it's own juice, not drained.
1 cup chicken broth

All in the pot- cover 3.5 hours on high or 7 hours on low.
Serve with rice, beans and veggies.

Gotta keep my hands free and my eyes on the kiddo, he's an active little man.

YAY CROCK POT.

Pork chop "carnitas" burritos

Welp. I've gone and done it now all right. I have something called "runners knee" in BOTH of my knees- and I am not a runner, unless I'm being chased or the ice cream man is moving too fast. We have 3 stories at our place, and a flight of stairs up from where we park. Add the squiggly kiddo, 8 year old weenie dog baby, diaper bag with WAAAAY too much stuff in it, groceries, laundry and life in general to that and busted up knees may (and in my case did) result.
So in addition to his usual roles of bringing home the bacon, keeping is all laughing & smiling, and just being a super hero in general - Nate is really picking up my slack & taking care of things here- he's been putting Logan to bed every night, doing the laundry (on the the 3rd floor since I can't hang) and making amazing dinners like this one!!!

Here's what you will need:

2 pork chops
Adobo seasoning, Penzys Northwoods Fire seasoning, Salish/smoke salt
Tortillas
Rice
Salsa
Black beans
2 green onions chopped
1 red bell pepper, cut into strips

Rub chops w seasonings- ok I promise I will make him write this down next time-mostly adobo then the Penzys then a bit of the smoke salt. Keep in mind Adobo is REALLY salty so you can always mix the spices in a small bowl and taste before rubbing to keep the saltyness balanced.
Slow grill em at about 250 for 45min to 1 hour, until internal temp is 150-160 degrees.
Chop the chops into little bits.

While the chops grill mix 15oz black beans in a sauce pot with a few big spoonfuls of salsa and the bell pepper- stir until heated through.

Cook brown or white rice on stove top according to package directions.

Make burritos with rice, salsa beans, pork & green onion in tortillas~ enjoy.

Slow Cooker Black Beans

Thought I would do a quick post so you can SEE how glorious this is- above is 2 lbs of dried black beans, cooked up in the crock pot- total money spent $6.50 because I used organic chicken broth to cook them in, total if I used water $3.25

The smaller containers all went into the freezer and the large container was used for meals throughout the week.

As previously mentioned I followed the instructions from A Year of Slow Cooking  I like these instructions because you don't really have to sweat "measuring" so much.

Here are the basics:

Buy dry black beans.
Put the dry beans in a large bowl and pour in enough water to cover the beans with about 2 inches of water above them. Soak 8 hours, I just do this right before bed.
Pick out any that are split or floating or not pretty.
Drain water, rinse beans.
Pour beans in slow cooker, cover with enough liquid (broth, stock or water) so there are 2 inches of liquid above the beans.
8 hours on low.

For fun you can always do a jar of salsa then use stock, broth or water for the rest of the liquid. OR add garlic, onions or other spices to kick em up!