Easy Cranberry Pork Roast

I don't remember where I originally got the idea for this dish and I had forgotten all about it until my son mentioned it to me the other day. I couldn't even find the original recipe which tells me I must have just gotten the idea from somewhere and then did my own thing.

This is a dish you make in the crockpot and let sit all day but the end result is out of this world. The pork just falls apart and the sauce ends up sweet and savory and tastes delicious served over hot buttered noodles. You can use any small pork roast or those small long round pork loins work good too.

EASY CRANBERRY PORK ROAST
1 small to medium Pork Roast or 2 of those small pork loin tenderloins
2 cans of whole berry cranberry sauce
1 large onion
1 cup of orange juice
Garlic Powder
Cracked Pepper
Noodles

Coat your pork roast or tenderloin with flour and brown in a skillet with 2 T. of oil on medium to high heat until brown on all sides.

In your crockpot add the cranberry, orange juice and seasonings. Cut you onion in half and slice each half into thin slices. Break apart the slices and add to the crockpot. Stir all the ingredients in the crockpot until blended.

Add your pork and spoon some of the cranberry mixture on top.

Cook on high for about 2 to 3 hours and then turn down to low for at least another 3 hours or until meat just falls apart.

Serve pork on hot buttered noodles and spoon the cranberry sauce mixture over the top.

Enjoy!

The leftovers are great for shredded barbeque pork sandwiches the next day!

Pork Medallions With Balsamic-Honey Glaze

Here's another recipe I haven't made in many years. Cooking this fills your home with the most wonderful aroma. I love the smell of Rosemary and what's great is I just discovered there is a large Rosemary bush growing in the backyard so all I had to do was go out there with my little scissors and snip me off a few sprigs. Now I can have it any time I want!

This is a very simple meal to prepare and cooks up in no time. I love these small pork loins you get prepackaged from the store as most of the fat is already trimmed off and you can sliced them to whatever thickness you wish or just season it and throw it on the grill.

Most of the time I served this with rice but tonight I thought it would be nice to make some oven roasted potatoes with just a touch of Rosemary added to them.

PORK MEDALLIONS WITH BALSAMIC-HONEY GLAZE
=====Balsamic-honey glaze=====
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
3 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoons dijon mustard
salt & freshly ground black pepper

=====For the pork=====
2 lbs pork tenderloin
canola oil, for searing

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Make the glaze: Put garlic and rosemary in a small bowl. Add the vinegar, honey, olive oil, mustard, and salt and pepper, to taste, and stir to combine.

For the pork: Slice the tenderloin into 1-inch thick medallions (rounds). Cover the bottom of a medium skillet with a light film of canola oil and heat over medium-high heat until hot. Add the pork slices in 1 layer, season with salt and pepper, and sear for 1 minute. Turn and sear for 1 more minute, until lightly browned.
Pour the glaze over the slices and turn them to coat.

Cover and simmer for about 20 to 30 min, turning over about half way. Remove from heat and keep warm, loosely covered until ready to serve.

To serve place pork medallions on a platter and spoon the balsamic-honey glaze over them. Garnish the platter with the rosemary sprigs.

Meat Loaf With Tomato Relish

Meat Loaf is one of those recipes that everyone makes differently. My kids were always asking me to write down my meat loaf recipe but I found it was hard to put down on paper exact measurements because I don't know that I ever made it exactly the same way twice. Just like Spaghetti Sauce or a good stew, you just throw in a little of this and add a bit of that. Oh I had the basic ingredients that I would add each time but I also experimented a lot over the years too.

This is a meat loaf recipe that I don't make as often as my personal one because it takes a lot of prep work but every now and then when I feel like changing things up a bit I will make this version. It comes from Tyler Florence of The Food Network and I saw him make it a couple of years ago. He said this was his dad's recipe for Meat Loaf. The only thing I changed in this is Tyler's recipe calls for putting a few strips of bacon on top of the meat loaf and baking it until it is crispy. I don't add bacon to mine but everything else is the same.

MEAT LOAF WITH TOMATO RELISH
==== Tomato Relish ====
extra-virgin olive oil
1 onion, finely diced
2 clove garlic
2 bay leaves
2 red bell peppers, finely diced
2 tomatoes, halved, seeded, & diced
1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 (12-ounce) bottle ketchup
3 teaspoon worcestershire sauce
salt & freshly ground black pepper

==== Meatloaf ====
3 slices white bread
1/4 cup whole milk
1 1/2 lbs ground beef
1 lb ground pork
2 eggs or 1/2 Cup egg substitute
leaves from 2 fresh thyme sprigs

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Cut crusts off of the bread and tear into chunks.

Coat a skillet with a 2-count of oil and place over medium heat. Saute the onion, garlic, and bay leaves for a few minutes to create a base flavor. Throw in the red peppers and cook them for a couple of minutes to soften.

Now add the tomatoes; adding them at this point lets them hold their shape and prevents them from disintegrating. Stir in the parsley, ketchup, and Worcestershire; season with salt and pepper. Simmer the relish for 5 minutes to pull all the flavors together. Remove it from the heat; you should have about 4 cups of relish.

Place the torn white bread in a bowl and add the milk to just barely cover, swish the bread around in the milk and let it sit while you get the rest of the ingredients for the meat loaf together.

This is where you get your hands dirty! In a large mixing bowl, combine the ground beef and pork with 1 1/2 cups of the tomato relish, the eggs, and thyme; season with salt and pepper. Squeeze the excess milk from the bread and add the soaked bread to the meat mixture. To test, fry a small 'hamburger' patty of the meatloaf until cooked; the patty should hold together but still have a soft consistency. Taste the patty for seasoning.

Lightly oil a cookie sheet. Transfer the meat mixture to the center of the cookie sheet and form into a log about 9 inches long and about 4 inches wide. Coat the top of the meatloaf with another 1/2 cup of the tomato relish.

Bake the meatloaf for 1 to 1 1/2 hours until the meatloaf is firm. Rotate the meat loaf while it's baking every now and then to insure that it cooks evenly. Remove the meatloaf from the oven and let it cool a bit before slicing. Serve with the remaining tomato relish on the side. Unbelievably moist!

Potato Parsnip Hash, Pork Loin on the BBQ & More

Tonight was a night to try out new recipes. Everything the hubby and I made was a new recipe we had not tried before. I think overall everything was a complete success!

The main dish was Pork Loin Roast with a nice spice rub, wrapped in foil and cooked on the barbecue. Then I made a Potato and Parsnip Hash and the hubby cooked some sweet potato and butternut squash on the grill as well.

For the squash and sweet potato he just sliced them down the middle lengthwise scooping out the center of the squash. Then he coated all the slices with a brown sugar, salt and pepper mixture and wrapped them in foil. He cooked them on the barbecue for about 30 to 45 min or until tender. You need to turn them once or twice while they are cooking.

The pork loin roast was very easy to do. We used a small pork loin roast that was about 2 lbs and very lean. You can get whatever size you want, just be sure to test the center with a meat thermometer to make sure it’s cooked thoroughly.

We took the pork loin and rubbed it with a pork seasoning (you can use any seasoning you wish) and then wrapped it in foil and placed it on the barbecue. I believe it took about 45 minutes but be sure to use your meat thermometer. You want it to reach the temp for rare to medium. It comes out extremely tender! Great with applesauce!

The last thing we made was Potato Parsnip Hash. I saw this recipe on Rachel Ray’s show on the Food Network and wanted to try it. It was delicious! I had never tried parsnips before but with the potatoes and onions they tasted very good.

POTATO AND PARSNIP HASH

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 medium baking potatoes, scrubbed clean, cut in half lengthwise, thinly sliced into half moons
2 large parsnips, peeled, cut in half lengthwise, thinly sliced into half moons
5 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves removed and roughly chopped
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 small onion, finely minced
1/2 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley

Preheat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat with 3 turns of the pan of extra-virgin olive oil, about 3 tablespoons. Add the potatoes, parsnips, thyme and season with salt and pepper, stir frequently and cook for 10 to 12 minutes, or until the potatoes and parsnips are nice and tender and lightly browned. Add the minced onion and continue to cook until they are tender and the potatoes are nice and brown. Once the hash is cooked add the chopped parsley. Stir to combine and transfer hash to a serving platter. Serve it up.