Herbed Pork Tenderloin

Oh hello there! Miss us? Sorry we haven’t posted in 2 weeks; last week was our birthday week so we decided to take a break and this week we have been incredibly busy – registering our car in Pennsylvania (yes, Erica is an official PA resident now!) and figuring out our moving situation (two weeks until we move away from campus to a cute Pittsburgh suburb!). Finally, Erica had a couple tests to study for.

Alright, enough whining. Declan went grocery shopping this week, by himself, without a list. Usually this turns out to be a disaster, however something caught his eye that he couldn’t resist to buy – a $5 pork tenderloin. We’ve never cooked pork tenderloin before but it was cheap and a whole pound so Declan picked it up. We did some research and found some good recipes but ended up making up our own. So here it is kids…

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Where is the tenderloin again? Is that near the axilla?

• Servings – 2
• Prep time – 10 minutes
• Cook time – 45 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 pound pork tenderloin patted dry
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• 1 small onion, finely minced
• 2 cloves garlic, finely minced
• 1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon basil
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika

Protocol

1. Preheat your oven to 400F.

2. In a shallow plate, mix together all of the ingredients above except for the pork.

3. Roll the pork in the rub making sure to cover the entire surface.

4. Transfer the pork into a baking dish and roast in the oven for 40 minutes or until the meat reaches 145F (you might want to check around 30-35 min or so).

5. Remove from the oven and let rest for 10 minutes.

6. Serve and enjoy!

-D&E

P.S. Today is Erica’s last class as an undergrad!

Cinnamon Sugar Donuts

Okay, so we really like cinnamony-sugary-sweet things. And by we, we mean Erica. So when we (actually we, not Erica-we) stumbled across an easy recipe to make homemade cinnamon sugar donuts (or doughnuts if you prefer), we knew we had to try them out! And when better than for our first Easter brunch together?

These came together so quickly and it’s actually pretty likely that you already have everything on hand that you need. And if not, you can buy a can of biscuits seriously anywhere (I’m positive the Rite Aid on our campus would have them). They would be great if you’re having friends over or if your parents are visiting for the weekend and you want to cook up something for the morning!  If you want icing instead of the sugar, here is a yummy, but simple one!

Oh, and if anyone is in Pittsburgh this Saturday, stop by Pitt Ballet Club’s variety production featuring Alice in Wonderland at 1pm and 5pm in Bellefield Hall! (Sorry, had to pitch it! :))

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You’ll never buy them again!

• Servings – However many biscuits your can makes
• Prep time – 5 minutes
• Cook time – 5 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 can biscuits
• 1 cup sugar
• 1.5 tablespoons cinnamon
• 3/4 stick butter (6 tablespoons), melted
• Vegetable oil for frying

Protocol

1. Pour enough oil into your pan to make it just less than 1/2 inch deep. Turn on the heat to medium-high heat to let the oil heat up.

2. Take your biscuits out of the can and separate them. Does opening these cans scare anyone else, too?? Put your melted butter in one bowl and mix your cinnamon and sugar in another.

3. Using a small round cookie cutter or plastic bottle cap (don’t judge us for using a wine bottle cap), cut out the center of each biscuit. Keep the holes though – of course you’re going to fry those up, too!

4.  To test if the oil is hot enough, add a single hole to the pan and it should sizzle and bubble around the edges. The hole should turn nice and golden-brown within a minute or so if the oil is hot enough.

5. Carefully add the donuts to the hot oil (ours fit in one pan). They fry up fast so the first one should be close to flipping by the time you add the last donut. You want to flip them once they turn pretty and golden-brown.

6. Once all the donuts are flipped, the first should be about done. Remove them all to a plate as they finish browning. Fry up the holes now!

7. Once everything is fried, dip one at a time in the melted butter, then in the cinnamon sugar mixture.

8. Serve and enjoy!

-D&E

Easy Boeuf Bourguignon (say what???)

Before you run away because of the scary title of this post, here us out. Just because this meal has a fancy French name for it doesn’t mean that it is complicated to make.

Difficult pronunciation≠Difficult recipe

We first stumbled upon this recipe on our favorite blogger’s site Chez Sasha (link to original recipe here). She made Boeuf Bourguignon to celebrate her 3 year anniversary of blogging, we made it because we were bored. At first we were a little intimidated but digging deeper we noticed that the hardest part of this recipe if waiting for it to cook.

So before proceeding there are a couple things to point out. Sasha recommends that you use a full-bodied red wine, “like Burgundy, Pinot Noir, or my favorite, Malbec.” We had neither of these so we used what we had leftover from our St. Patrick’s day celebration:

Lake Country…The anytime table wine.

Sasha is probably shaking her head by now. But this recipe turned out really well! If you have some old red wine laying around give this recipe a try, no need to go out and buy fancy expensive wine (although we trust Sasha that this recipe tastes better with it).

Also, traditionally this recipe is made with bacon and mushrooms. Sasha left these out and so did we. Finally, this stew is typically served with mashed potatoes or noodles. Sasha served her’s over potatoes and so did we.

So if you want to impress your friends or family, invite them over for this meal!

Boeuf Bourguignon

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It’s French for Beef Bourguignon. The more you know.

• Servings – 4 to 6
• Prep time – 10 minutes
• Cook time – 2 hours

Ingredients

• 1 to 1 1/2 pounds of beef tips, cubed
• 2 large carrots, sliced diagonally
• 1 large onion, sliced
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 cup red wine
• 14 ounces beef stock

Protocol

1. Season the beef with salt and pepper. Pre heat your oven to 325F.

2. In a Dutch oven over high heat, sear the beef tips in about 3 tablespoons of olive oil. It should take about 2 to 3 minutes a side. Sasha suggests performing this step in 2 batches as to not crowd the pan.

3. Set the beef aside and turn down the heat to medium. Add in the carrots and onions and saute for 6 minutes. Add in the garlic and cook for another minute.

4. Add back the beef to the pot and stir in the flour. Cook for another minute.

5. Add in the tomato paste, thyme, red wine, and beef stock, stir to combine. Cover with the lid and bring to a boil.

6. Transfer to the oven and cook for 2 hours. During this time you can make your mashed potatoes or noodles.

7. Serve and enjoy!

-D&E

Best Cinnamon Toast Ever

So not to simply post everything that’s popular on Pinterest, but this recipe deserves the attention – Pioneer Woman’s Cinnamon Toast. We never knew we were making cinnamon toast the wrong way our whole lives!!! Pioneer Woman is truly an American hero for opening up our eyes to the real way to make this – so thank you!

Obviously this is supposed to be a breakfast recipe, but we decided to try it out late Monday night. We normally read together every night before bed (you probably either find this cute or weird) and our latest read has been the entire Chronicles of Narnia series. We’re about halfway through – on Book 4: Prince Caspian. Erica grew up on the books so it’s fun to read them together now, 15 years later! Anyway, we wanted a snack and figured what’s better than delicious cinnamon toast late at night? Nothing, except maybe some of Declan’s mom’s cake.

You probably have all of the these ingredients already – so do yourself a favor and make this right now. For whatever meal you happen to be needing: breakfast, lunch, dinner, or snack!

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Old dogs can learn new tricks – if the trick is how to make a better cinnamon toast!

• Servings – As many as you want
• Prep time – 5 minutes
• Cook time – 12 minutes

Ingredients

• Butter, softened
• Sugar
• Cinnamon
• Vanilla extract
• Bread

Protocol

1. Preheat your oven (or toaster oven!) to 350F.

2. If you need to soften your butter, microwave it for 10-15 seconds but make sure it’s not melty. We used about 1/2 stick (4 tbls) for 5 pieces of bread.

3. Add your cinnamon, sugar, and vanilla (start out with only a few drops) to taste. Use a fork to mash everything together until consistent.

4. Spread the butter mixture onto the pieces of bread and go out all the way to the edges so the bread won’t burn. Place the slices on a foil-lined baking sheet for easy clean-up (particularly useful late when midnight snacking).

5. Bake in the 350F oven for 10 minutes.

6. Switch the oven to broil after the 10 minutes and place the toast under the broiler for 1-2 minutes.  The toast will go very fast, so don’t leave the oven now!

7. Once the top is nice and brown and bubbly, remove from oven. Slice and enjoy!

-D&E

Gnocchi in a Browned Butter Sage Sauce

Need dinner in fifteen minutes? Need to impress someone? Just want something different than the pasta and marinara you make all the time? This recipe is awesomely yummy and can be finished in no time at all! Browned butter is nutty and complements the gnocchi well.

We love sage, but any dried herb would do well here – whatever you have on hand. If you don’t have dried sage but aren’t sure if it’s worth buying, it is delicious on any kind of chicken or pork! If you’re like us and love gnocchi too, try our other recipe – Sweet Creamy Gnocchi.

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How can something this tasty take 15 minutes to make?

• Servings – 2 large
• Prep time – None
• Cook time – 15 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 lb gnocchi (tri-colored look extra pretty!)
• 6 tablespoons butter (3/4 stick)
• 1 teaspoon dried sage
• Sprinkle of salt and pepper

Protocol

1. Place a large pot of water over high heat to boil.

2. Melt the butter (it goes faster if it’s sliced) over medium heat.  Keep stirring the butter over the heat as it goes through three stages – melted and kind of foamy, no more foam, and finally turning golden brown in color. It’s important that you keep an eye on it so it doesn’t overcook! It goes from brown to black quickly.

3. As soon as you see the golden brown color, remove from heat and pour into a bowl to stop the cooking process. Stir in your teaspoon of sage.

4. By now the the water should be boiling, so add your gnocchi to the pot. Cook according to the instructions on the packaging; most gnocchi take 2-3 minutes to cook.

5. Drain the gnocchi and return to the pot.  Add your butter and sage sauce and taste.  Add any salt and pepper (if you used salted butter you most likely won’t need any additional salt).

6. Serve and enjoy!

-D&E

Easy Broccoli Salad

Erica really likes salads.  She orders them at restaurants, makes fun ones at home with lots of toppings, but sometimes lettuce just gets boring. We have the solution! Instead of using lettuce as the base for a salad, why not… broccoli?

Broccoli is full of all sorts of good stuff – like vitamin C, fiber, and antioxidants. It’s fun to mix up your veggie side dish routine and try something different.  This recipe was really what we had on hand, so any variations would be just as delicious! If you try it out with any different ingredients, let us know if the comments below!

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But really, raw veggies are so much better for you!

• Servings – 4-6
• Prep time – 5 minutes
• Cook time – None!

Ingredients

• 1 bag broccoli florets
• Handful of baby carrots (about 10ish, or use 1 medium carrot)
• 1 stalk of celery
• Handful of sprinkly cheese (we used about 1/2 cup of mozzarella)
• 2 or 3 strips of bacon, cooked and chopped or crumbled
• Dressing of choice (we love using Penzey’s Italian Dressing base with balsamic vinegar and olive oil!)

Protocol

1. Make sure all your veggies are washed and dry. Chop to whatever size you like.

2. Mix everything and add your dressing!  It’s best to add the dressing over each individual portion, so the rest can be refrigerated and saved for later.

3. Serve and enjoy!

-D&E

Carrot Spice Muffins

Happy pi day! Being engineers and loving math, we think that today is a great day! But sadly, today’s recipe will not be a pie. 😦 We have yet to make one – but this will be our new goal for next year’s pi day!

Today’s recipe does involve baking though… These muffins are really yummy and the recipe makes a dozen so you will have enough for about a week or so of breakfasts! They’re also not super sweet, which we liked for breakfast muffins (these aren’t cupcakes!), but you could always add a teensy bit more sugar to your tasting. Feel free to play around with this recipe (we’re thinking of adding zucchini next time?) and let us know how it goes!

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Vegetables in a baked good? Yes please!

• Servings – 12 muffins
• Prep time – 10 minutes
• Cook time – 30 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cup all purpose flour (you can sub whole wheat if you want)
• 2/3 cup brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon baking spice (if you don’t have this – just use 2 tsp total of cinnamon)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• Pinch of salt
• 2 eggs
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2(ish) cups of grated carrots (3-4 medium carrots – it’s super easy to do with a cheese grater)

Protocol

1. Preheat oven to 350F.

2. Combine flour, sugar, spices, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a large bowl.

3. In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs, oil, and vanilla together.

4. Add the wet mixture to the dry mixture and stir until just combined. This will seem kind of dry, but it’s okay – the carrots add a lot of moisture.

5. Add the carrots and stir until evenly distributed.

6. Divide the batter between 12 muffin cups and bake at 350 for 28-30 minutes.

7. Let them cool and store them in an airtight container.  For breakfast, try microwaving them for a few seconds to warm them up! Enjoy!

-D&E