What we are eating this week.

Yesterday I tried this recipe for a pork loin roast.
Tangy Slow Cooker Pork Roast
It had quite a number of very positive reviews, so I was hopeful for a nice tender roast. My pork roasts are usually dry, whether I put them in the oven or the crockpot.  Even an instant read meat thermometer hasn't improved this.  This meat was okay, but not great, and still pretty dry, even though I left the fat on top.  Also, I really felt that the rather bland, not especially tangy sauce needed some help. I ended up whisking in 3 or 4 tablespoons of brown gravy mix, not enough to make it very thick, but enough to add a bit of a salty taste to the rather lack-luster sweet and sour taste that was going on.  This also added a bit of visual appeal, as the sauce was a really unappealing watery looking liquid. My crockpot was set on warm at this point.  I turned the crockpot up to high and let it cook for close to another hour.  Meanwhile I sliced the roast and put the slices into the gravy to stay hot, and maybe get a bit moister.  The end result was passable.  We will eat it, but I won't make this particular recipe again.  Guess I will keep looking for a good recipe,
Anyhow, now I have all this roast pork to use up.

Today, however, it will be burgers on the grill, along with baked onion rings and carrot sticks and cucumber slices. (It's sunny and relatively warm for a change!)
Thursday: pulled pork on buns, corn chips, salad, maybe baked beans
Friday:  leftover pork with gravy, mashed potatoes, green beans
Saturday:  we are going to finish demolishing the kitchen in preparation for installation of new cabinets next week, so we are going out for dinner
Sunday: ham, hash brown potato casserole, (both in crockpots, since stove will be out of commission), rolls, corn and applesauce

The beginning of next week will be microwave, or toaster oven stuff, as I'm not sure how long the kitchen will be out of commission.  Our youngest daughter came over for a day a few weeks ago, and we made a bunch of freezer meals, most of which can be microwaved or baked.

Spinach Salad with Hot Lemon Bacon Dressing

Spinach Salad with Hot Lemon Bacon Dressing

This is a my take on Spinach salad.  It's not the healthiest salad choice you could make, but it is very tasty.  Makes two servings, but can easily be made to serve more.

Salad:

2 eggs

3 slices bacon

1 cup sliced yellow onion

3 cups fresh spinach, cleaned and dried

2 tbsp dried cranberries

Dressing:

1 tbsp bacon fat

1 1/2 tsp lemon juice, fresh is nice, but bottled works fine

3 tsp white sugar (you can increase or decrease this as you like)

Method:

1:   Place eggs in small saucepan and cover with water. Bring water to a boil, cover and remove from heat.  Let sit for 15 minutes.  Then drain, and run cold water over eggs in pan for a few minutes.  Set aside to cool.  Peel eggs and cut into slices or chop when cool.  I prefer them chopped up, but slices look a little nicer.

2:   Fry bacon in skillet, until crispy.  Remove to paper towels to drain and cool enough to handle.  Crumble when cool. Do not drain fat that is left in pan.

3:   Put 1 tbsp of bacon fat into a small saucepan and set aside for the dressing.

4:   There should be just a little bacon fat left in your skillet.  If there's a lot, remove most of it, so the skillet is just barely coated.  Add onions to skillet and cook over low heat, until soft, stirring occasionally.  I do not season the onions, but you could if you want.

6:  Divide spinach between two salad bowls. Top with warm onions, cranberries and crumbled bacon.

7:  For dressing:  add lemon juice and sugar to reserved bacon fat.  Heat over low heat just until sugar is dissolved.  (If you heat it too long, your dressing will solidify like fudge as it cools.)  As soon as dressing is finished, pour over salads and toss to coat.  (This may seem like too small of an  amount of dressing, but a little goes a long way.). Top salads with egg and serve immediately.

Zero Point Vegetable Soup

I'm always on the lookout for low point weight watchers recipes.  I found a zero point vegetable soup recipe and it inspired me to create my own, using what I had on hand. This is easy, filling and zero points plus. Crockpot Vegetable soup I used a crockpot but this would be easy to adapt to stovetop. Amounts are approximate, I just chopped veggies and tossed them in. 1 package dry onion soup mix 8 cups water 1 1/2 cups canned crushed or diced tomatoes (I used leftovers, but I think a 14 oz can would work.) 3 or 4 beef or vegetable bouillon cubes 1 cup salsa (mostly because I was trying to clean stuff out of refrigerator, I used medium but both dh and I found the soup a bit too zippy, I'd use mild next time) 1 each: medium onion, large carrot, large celery rib, chopped 1 each: medium zucchini, and summer squash, quartered and sliced 2 to 3 cups chopped green cabbage (half a small head) 1 small fresh tomato, diced Combine all ingredients in crockpot. Season with your choice of herbs and spices. (I used basil, garlic, parsley, and lovage because that's what's growing outside my back door.). Cook on high for 4 or 5 hours or until veggies are cooked to your desired texture. It should at least come to a slight boil to really develop the flavor. I had planned to throw in some cooked spaghetti squash from the freezer for the last little while, but I forgot.

Creamy Potato Soup

As I was rummaging in the refrigerator for dinner ideas yesterday, I came upon the whipping cream that I had used in a recipe earlier in the week.  I decided that it would need to be used up, and that decision resulted in this soup.  I made this in a 2 quart crockpot, but it could easily be done on the stovetop, or increased for a larger crockpot.

Creamy Crockpot Potato Soup

3 cups water
4 chicken bouillon cube
2 large russet potatoes, peeled and cut into half inch cubes
1 large carrot, peeled and chopped
1 medium onion, peeled and diced
1 clove crushed garlic (this would be about 1/3 teaspoon if using dried minced garlic)
1/2 cup whipping cream (milk can be substituted)
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup (approximately) dry instant mashed potato flakes ( adjust amount used to get soup to desired thickness)
Fresh parsley, chopped ( dry will work as well)
5 to 6 ounces Diced leftover ham, or chopped smoked sausage (optional)
Freshly ground pepper, to taste

Combine water, bouillon cubes, potatoes, carrots, onions and garlic in the crock of a 2 quart slow cooker.  Cook on high for 3 to 4 hours, or until vegetables are tender.  Stir in cream, milk, potato flakes, parsley and meat if using.  Cook on low for another hour or so, until soup is warmed thoroughly and somewhat thick.  Makes 4 servings.

I think that some finely chopped green pepper would be good in this soup, but I cook for a picky eater, so I did not try it.  I contemplated adding cheese to this too, but I decided that using whipping cream in the soup had probably added enough fat to the pot already.  If I had used all milk, I might have added some cheese.

Ribbed Headband with Flower Trim

This is so easy that you still have time to make one of these for Christmas.  I made this one is just a little over an hour.

WW yarn (I used Bernat Special Value yarn)
J hook
Yarn needle
Large button (optional)

Stitches used:
Ch (Chain)
DC (Double crochet)
HDC (Half double crochet)
FPDC (Front post double crochet)
BPDC (back post double crochet)
TC (Triple Crochet)

Even if you have never done post stitches before, you should be able to make this headband.  Here is a link to an article from Crochet Today that explains how to do post stitches, and shows some of the lovely effects that can be achieved with them.   (If you Google front or back post stitches, you'll find lots more tutorials for these stitches.)

Size: 4 inches wide by approximately 18 inches in diameter.
Can easily be modified to make larger or smaller.

My headband is worked quite loosely so it is somewhat lacy in appearance.  Using a smaller hook and working more tightly will create a more solid headband.  You will need more rows to get enough length, and  a longer beginning chain to make it as wide as mine.  The pattern works with any uneven number of DCs in the first row.  The stitch pattern could also be used to make a ribbed scarf.

Chain 15 fairly loosely.
1st row:  DC in 3rd chain from hook and in each chain across. (13 DC) (Ist two chain count as a DC in this row.)
2nd row:  Chain 2, (counts as first HDC here and throughout rest of pattern), turn, *FPDC in next stitch, HDC in next stitch* repeat from * to *  to end of row, working last HDC into the turning chain. (7 HDC's and 6 FPDC's)
3rd row:  Chain 2, turn, *BPDC in next stitch, HDC in next stitch*, repeat from * to * across, working last HDC into the turning chain

Notes:  Each row has 13 stitches in it.
You will always BPDC into the previous rows FPDC and vice versa.  All HDCs are made into the HDCs of the previous rows.
Repeat rows 2 and 3 until headband is long enough to fit around your head snugly. (I did 32 rows, all worked loosely, and my headband was about 18 inches long before I sewed the ends together.) Sew ends together.

Flower trim:

Chain 4, join with slip stitch to form a ring.  *Chain 3, slip stitch into ring to form a loop*.  Repeat from * to * 6 or 7 more times, making chain 3  loops around the outside of the ch 4 ring.  (each loop will form a petal, and you can make any number of petals, I made 7)
Once you have your  loops made, you will stitch into the loops to form petals.
Into each loop do:  1 SC, 2 HDCs, 2 DCs, 1 TC, 2 DCs, 2 HDCs, 1 SC .  This will form a petal.  In between each petal I slip stitched into the area between each loop, but I don't think this is necessary.

Sew flower to headband, using it to hide the area where you joined the ends.  If desired sew a button to the center of the flower.

Alternatively, a row of large buttons or a felt flower would also be an effective and attractive way to hide the seam.  (or maybe your sewing is better than mine and your seam looks good and doesn't need hiding!)

Crockpot Pork Tenderloin

Last week, I was lucky enough to get pork tenderloin for $1.99 a pound.  I've always thought that slow-cooking is not really the best way to make pork tenderloin, but I've changed my mind after trying this recipe.  This turned out moist and delicious and not anywhere near as sweet as I was afraid it might be.  I started with this recipe from  All recipes.  I did not have all the ingredients, so I had to make a few minor changes.  Also spicy food does not agree with me, so even if I had the fresh red chile peppers, I would have left them out!

Crockpot Pork Tenderloin
Approximately 8 servings

2 (about 1 pound each) pork tenderloins, Doubt that it really matters how much meat you use.
splash of olive oil (for browning if you choose to do that)
1/2 cup teriyaki sauce (I used Sweet Baby Rays)
1 cup water
1 chicken bouillon cube, crushed
1/4 cup light brown sugar
1 tsp dried minced garlic
1/8 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 large onion, sliced in thick slices (so that Miss Picky could easily fish the onion pieces out)
freshly ground black pepper (optional)

Brown pork tenderloins in oil, in a heavy skillet over medium heat.  (I suspect that you could leave out this step if you wanted.)  I browned mine and then spent 5 minuted cleaning oil spatters up!
Combine teriyaki sauce, water, chicken bouillon cube, brown sugar, garlic and red pepper flakes in crockpot and whisk to combine.  Toss in sliced onion.  Add tenderloins to crockpot and turn to cover with sauce.  Grind a bit of fresh black pepper over top of the meat if you want.  (I did and did not find the meat too peppery.)
Cook on high for 4 hours, spooning sauce over tenderloins a few times during the cooking period. 

Be aware that this meat was so tender that it did not slice cleanly so the presentation was not as nice as you would expect from pork tenderloin.   I spooned the sauce over the meat to serve.

I think this would probably make good pulled pork sandwiches as well.

Finally Finished Something

I started this baby dress quite a while ago, but ran short of the pink yarn, (Bernat Satin), and was unable to match it.  It finally  dawned on me that I could do the skirt in a different color.
The dress pattern is 'Flower Baby" from the magazine Crochet Today May/June 2008
The hat pattern is my Shell baby Hat,  the flower pattern on the hat is improvised.
The booties are knit from this pattern.
These items will be donated to the local pregnancy resource center.