Cajun Pork Tenderloin with Mango Salsa

Cajun spice is one of my favorites because you can use it on just about everything. It's great on fish, shrimp, chicken, beef, veggies and rice and today we are going to use it on pork. Now a true pork tenderloin is not to be confused with the pork loin as it is much smaller and actually is  taken from the rear of the pork loin. Generally they will weigh about 1-1/4 pounds. They usually come packed in 2 per package and cost about 4 dollars a pound. Watch for them to be on sale which of course is the best time to buy them. They will have a little bit of fat that you need to trim off but it's a pretty simple procedure as long as you have a good sharp knife. I guess the first thing we need to do is make the salsa. I like to make this a few hours in advance so the flavors have  time to blend together. Here's what you will need:

Ripe Mango, peel and dice                                 1 each
Ginger, fresh, minced                                         1 Tbs
Garlic cloves, fresh minced                                2 each
Roma tomato, diced                                           2 each
Jalapeno, fresh, seeded and diced small             1 large
Green onions, chopped                                       4 each
Cilantro, fresh chopped                                       1 Tbs
Lime juice                                                            2 limes
Black pepper, fresh ground                                 about 10 turns of pepper mill
Olive oil                                                               2 Tbs

If you've never used a mango before you will find them a little different to clean. In the middle of the mango is a large seed that is pretty much the shape of the mango, turn the mango on its side and cut starting toward the center of the mango and follow the contour of the seed so you get a nice big slice. Repeat on the other side and then trim whats left off also. Now you can take a spoon ad scoop the mango right off the skin. Some will have you take a knife and cut through the mango down to the skin, you can slice or dice and then scoop it out with a spoon. This works well also. Any way once you have everything cut up mix all the ingredients well and put in the fridge and let those flavors grow for a while.

I thought we might have some roasted sweet potato crisps to go with the pork. Take a couple of medium size sweet potatoes and scrub them good with a vegetable brush. Slice them thin, about 1/8 inch, coat them with a little olive oil and lay them out flat on a cookie sheet. Season them with some black pepper, a little garlic powder, and a touch of sea salt. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. These will only take about 20 minutes in that hot oven and if you're not careful they will burn. I turned the pan at 15 minutes and they were close at 22 minutes some of them were burnt. I think you might have to pull some off as they get done. Anyway they are pretty tasty and went well with the pork. You can do the same thing with a regular potato also. They will never stay hot so just plan on serving them at room temperature.

Lets cook pork. We  have one family member that doesn't care for the hot spicy stuff so we will season 1 of the tenderloins generously with Cajun spice and the other we will use some fresh ground black pepper and a little garlic powder. Get that grill hot and away we go. The pork will only take about 20 minutes on the grill. Start with the grill medium hot so you get some nice color. This usually takes about 10 minutes, then turn one side of your grill down low and put the pork on that side. In about 10 more minutes it should be done. The last 5 minutes or so brush a little of your favorite BBQ sauce on the one without Cajun spice. Of course I had some of both and they both go very well with the Mango Salsa. For many years they have told us that pork has to be cooked to death, 165 degrees or higher for it to be safe. This generally leaves it very dry and tasteless. Now they are saying 145 degrees is good but I have always cooked it to about 140 degrees for my personal taste and I'm still alive. It comes out nice and juicy, tender and full of flavor. Use a meat thermometer and when you reach 140 pull that pork off the heat. Let the pork rest a little before you slice it, about 10 minutes. This helps seal in the juices and gives you a little time to get everything on the table. This recipe should easily feed 4 and have some leftovers for the next day. Slice the pork up, put it on a platter, top it with some salsa, time to eat. Enjoy!!!

Grilled Chicken Kabob

What would we ever do if there were no chicken in the world. I suppose someone would come up with something to replace it but it just wouldn't be the same. There are just so many things you can do with chicken, the options are endless. Today we are going to cut it in cubes and put it on a skewer with some veggies. For this you will need about 2 pounds of boneless chicken breast meat. Of course the first thing you need to do is rinse the chicken well with cold water. I guess I better list some ingredients so we can get started.

Boneless, skinless chicken breast                                                          2 pounds
Green bell pepper                                                                                  1 each
Red bell pepper                                                                                     1 each
Red onion, medium                                                                               1 each
Chives, fresh, chopped                                                                          2 Tbs
Garlic powder                                                                                        to taste
Black pepper, fresh ground                                                                    to taste
Wishbone Italian dressing                                                                      8 ounces

 Clean the peppers and onion and cut them in about 2 inch chunks.Trim the chicken of all fat and cut it up in chunks about the same size. Thread it all on to skewers starting with a piece of chicken, then red onion, red pepper and green pepper and repeat the process until the skewer is full ending with a piece of chicken. (Leave a little room so stuff doesn't fall off.) I had a little extra onion so I turned it around the other way and put it on the end to help hold it all together. This should fill 4-12 inch skewers easily. Again if you are using wooden or bamboo skewers you will want to soak them in water for about an hour before you put this all together. After you have them all assembled put them in a shallow pan and season them generously with the garlic powder and black pepper, sprinkle with the fresh chives and drizzle about 2 ounces of Italian dressing over each one. Find a spot in the refrigerator and let them marinate for a couple of hours or over night if you like. If overnight be sure to cover them.

While they are marinating lets come up with something to go with it. A nice green salad is a good start and today I think we will have some Rainbow Angel Hair Pasta with a Tomato Basil Sauce. Iceburg lettuce really has no nutritional value but I like it just the same and to get the nutrition I load it up with plenty of fresh veggies such as cucumbers, carrots, green peppers, red onions and tomatoes. Toss it all together and you have a salad that is very pretty and good for you too. Now Tomato Basil Sauce:

Olive oil                                               1/4 cup
Garlic, fresh minced                             6 cloves
Onion, yellow diced small                    1/4 large
Black pepper, fresh ground                   to taste
Tomatoes, petite diced                          2- 14.5 ounce cans
Sea salt                                                  pinch
Granulated sugar (optional)                  1 Tbs
Sweet Basil, fresh chopped                   about 1/2 cup

Heat the olive oil in a sauce pan with medium heat, add the garlic and onions and saute until slightly browned, add the tomatoes, black pepper and salt and bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer. In the mean time put on a pot of water to boil for your pasta, keep in mind that angel hair pasta will only take a couple of minutes. While the sauce is simmering lets cook chicken. After you put the water on to boil fire up the grill, if using charcoal start it a little sooner. When the grill is hot go ahead and put the chicken on. Once you get some nice color (about 8-10 minutes) turn the chicken over, cook about another 8-10 minutes and the chicken should be done. You can use your tongs to cut into a piece of the chicken to check if you like. Remember nobody likes medium rare chicken. Now the chicken is done, pull it and bring it in the house, cook the pasta real quick, add the basil and sugar to the sauce, drain the pasta and toss it with the sauce and serve. I think you will find the results of your labor quite pleasing. I've used angel hair pasta today but any pasta you like will work for this dish. I'm anxious for tomatoes from the garden as I am sure that they will make an even better sauce. I'm sure as we get farther in to summer we will have to revisit this dish with some fresh tomatoes. Can hardly wait. Thanks for visiting and enjoy!!!

Ice Cream Crepes

Ok so I promised to give you a way to use up the extra crepes since the cream cheese and strawberry filling wasn't enough to fill all the crepes in an earlier post, (Strawberry Cream Cheese Crepes). First you need the left over crepes, I wouldn't go past 5 days in the refrigerator, after that you will need to make fresh which is what I did today. I cut the recipe in half and that will give you 8 crepes. Here is the recipe cut in half.

Eggs, lightly whipped                                 2 each
Milk, skim                                                 2/3 cups
Flour, all purpose                                       1/2 cup
Salt (optional)                                            1/8 tsp
Butter, melted                                            1 Tbs

After whipping the eggs add the milk and whip a little more. Add the salt and gradually add the flour, whipping the batter as you add. Continue until all flour is added and batter is smooth. Add the butter and mix well, set aside until you're ready to make crepes. Using an 8 inch skillet with medium high heat, spray lightly with pan spray. Using a 1/4 cup measuring cup (not quite full) add batter to the pan and kind of swirl around in the pan to spread the batter evenly. When the crepe is slightly browned turn the crepe with a thin spatula, I like to flip them like an omelet but that might take a little practice. Cook briefly on the opposite side(it should brown a little also) and turn it out onto a sheet of wax paper. Continue process until crepe batter is gone, spraying pan for each crepe. After the crepes cool some you can fill them with ice cream. Pull your ice cream out and let it soften for about ten minutes. It will take about 3 to 4 ounces of ice cream to fill the crepe. I usually do about 1/2 a scoop so it is easier to shape and do this several times to have enough to fill the crepe. Get it all on there and roll the crepe up, place it on a cookie sheet and repeat the process until you have all the crepes filled. Place the cookie sheet in the freezer and let them freeze back up. Usually an hour or two should be enough time. Now there are many things you can top these with, Hot Fudge, nuts and whipped cream and of course the maraschino cherries is a good one, also pecans praline is excellent. Chocolate syrup with whipped cream and nuts, you can cook up some fresh pineapple with butter and brown sugar and add a shot of rum and it goes on and on and on but today I want fresh strawberries because they are plentiful and sweet and that's what I have in the refrigerator right now. So get those berries sliced up and sugar them up while the crepes are freezing back up. Top the crepes with a generous amount of strawberries and some whipped cream and away you go.
If you want to cut back on some fat and calories try it with frozen yogurt and fat free whip topping. Still lots of great flavor. Enjoy!!!

BBQ RIBS

What better way to celebrate Memorial Day than to have a large platter full of BBQ ribs. Get those grills ready, make plenty of sauce and look for the best deal you can find on some baby backs. There are a ton of ways to approach this task. I myself prefer to keep it as simple as possible. Some people soak their ribs in a sort of brine, some boil them before they grill them, they rub them, marinate them, I'm telling you there are many different processes that are used to produce a good rib. Today we are going to slow cook them out on the gas grill. Now on the under side of the ribs you will find a very thin membrane. If you push from the edge of the rib on a bone toward one end you can get this loose and get underneath it. Lift it up and pull it off. When this cooks it becomes very tough so you want to be sure to remove it. Now season the ribs with what ever you might desire. I like to use some garlic powder, black pepper, and a little Cajun spice or Mrs. Dash Spicy Blend. Once you have the ribs seasoned and the grill is good and hot you're ready to start cooking. Start out with a pretty hot grill so you can get some nice color on the ribs, start them meat side down and cook for about 20 minutes, turn them over and reduce your heat. If possible you want to roast the ribs from this point. Turn all you burners off but one and move the ribs to the other side of the grill so they aren't directly over the heat. Let them set for about 10 or 15 minutes until your grill has adjusted and check the temperature gauge on the grill. You want it to be 300 to 325 degrees and you're looking at 3 to 4 hours cooking time. Now lets go inside and get some other things ready. I guess first we should talk about sauce. Make it or buy it? If you have a good recipe and you like to make it that is great. Economically I find it's cheaper to buy a good sauce, and quicker. I like Sweet Baby Ray's myself. I've made sauce in the past but by the time you get all the ingredients you end up spending a small fortune.......for BBQ sauce? Any way we all have our preference so when it comes time to sauce the ribs use your favorite. I've decided today we will have some potato salad, fresh corn on the cob and some garlic bread to go along with our ribs. I boiled some potatoes and eggs earlier and they are in the fridge cooling. Lets list out the ingredients and get started.

Idaho baking potatoes, boil, peel and dice                    7 each
Large eggs, boil, peel and dice                                       4 each
Celery stalks, diced small                                               3 each
Green onions, chopped                                                   1 bunch
Mayo                                                                                2 cups
Yellow Mustard                                                              1/4 cup
Garlic powder                                                                  1/4 tsp
Sea Salt                                                                             1 tsp
Fresh ground black pepper                                               to taste(lots)
Granulated sugar                                                              1 Tbs
Sweet pickle relish                                                            3 Tbs

Mix all ingredients well in large mixing bowl and chill until ready to serve. I planned to grill the corn but it would seem that I am out of charcoal lighter so we will boil it. Get it cleaned and in a pot of cold water and when the ribs are close to being done we will start the corn. I saw a recipe for corn that once the corn was done they drizzled olive oil and fresh lime juice on it and added fresh basil and black pepper also. I tried this today but I used butter instead of olive oil. I thought it was pretty good and would have it again.  For garlic bread I found a nice whole grain baguette and cut it into about 12 nice thick slices, buttered both sides and sprinkled generously with garlic powder. Put it all back together in the shape of the loaf and wrap it in foil for the grill later. You will want to put it on for about 20 minutes or so toward the end of cooking time for the ribs. While the ribs are cooking you will want to go out a few times and  rotate them. Move the one that is the farthest away from the heat so that it is closest and slide the others over. This will help them to cook more evenly. Well it has been about 3 hours since you started the ribs so lets start to apply some sauce. Apply a nice coating to the top side of the ribs and close the lid, let them set for about 20 minutes and turn them over and coat the bottom side, close the lid and let them set for another 20 minutes, start the corn, take your bread out with you and turn the ribs again so you can coat the top side one more time generously with BBQ sauce. Toss the bread on the little rack that sits above the other racks and close your lid. In 20 to 30 minutes everything should be done. Ribs are kind of a long and painstaking process but the outcome is well worth it. You know they say Memorial Day marks the beginning of summer festivities so we  have a lot of grilling coming up. Enjoy!!!  

Stuffed Cheeseburgers

This recipe is not for the weak of heart or stomach. This burger is massive and will definitely fill you up and then some. You probably wouldn't want to eat like this every day but every once in a while....aw what the heck! To make 4 burgers you will need about 2 pounds of ground beef. I like to use 85% lean, you lose some of the fat but get to keep some flavor. Anything leaner than that seems dry and flavorless. So lets list some ingredients:

Ground beef, 85% lean                           2 pounds
Red onion, minced                                  1/4 cup
Dill pickle, minced                                  1/4 cup
Cheddar cheese, shredded                       1/2 cup
Fresh ground black pepper                       to taste
Garlic Powder                                         to taste

Dijon mustard                                          4 tsp

To start separate the burger into 8 equal portions weighing about 4 ounces each. Shape them into balls and pat them out nice and flat and round the edges good. Be sure to get them good and flat. Now spread 1 tsp of Dijon mustard on 4 of the hamburger patties and build on top of that dividing equally the pickles, onions and cheese. About a Tbs each of onion and pickle and about 2 Tbs of the shredded cheese. Now take one of the other patties and top each one that has filling on it. Start pressing the sides together making it all in to one big burger. Pick it up and work the sides pressing and shaping in order to  get a good seal. Repeat the process with the other three until the task is complete. You will want to cook these out on the grill on medium heat. If you cook them too hot they will shrink more and pull apart and also they will burn but not be cooked in the middle so medium heat is important. Season them up with some garlic powder and black pepper and toss them on the grill. Now even though you have some cheese in the middle  you will want to top them with some cheese also when they are done. Twenty to thirty minutes on the grill should get them done. Top each with a couple of slices of your favorite cheese for the last few minutes and you've got yourself one heck of a cheeseburger. You don't have to if you don't want to but I think a toasted bun (I suggest a whole wheat kaiser) always adds to the flavor of the burger. Spread a little butter on that bun, add a little garlic powder and toss them on the grill until they are nice and golden brown. Serve this up on the toasted bun with some lettuce and sliced tomatoes, more pickles, maybe some roasted potatoes and unbutton that top button on those jeans because you're gonna need to make some room. Enjoy!!!

Grilled Steak and Onions

Well it's that time of year, burning that grill every chance I get. Tonight we're going to have a nice top sirloin. I like to get my steaks at the local Fareway store. They have a cut they call Top of Iowa, it's a nice thick cut top sirloin and it's trimmed up real nice with practically no fat. It usually weighs in between 1-1/2 to 2 pounds and is always looking real fresh. If you don't care for garlic you should stop right here because tonight we are going to load up on it. First I'm going to mince up about 10 cloves of garlic and rub about 6 of them all over the steak. The rest will go in my red potatoes for garlic smashed. Then I will give the steak a generous coating of fresh ground black pepper. That's it, its ready to grill. I really like grilled onions with my steak so I'm going to take a large yellow onion, peel it and cut about 5 or 6 nice thick slices. Rub these with a little olive oil and sprinkle with a little garlic powder. Now if your coals are ready it's time to cook. I put the baby red potatoes on to boil for garlic smashed potatoes and some fresh steamed broccoli and off to the grill we go. Put the steak on and start the onions at the same time. Grill your steak the way you like it and leave the onions until they get some real nice color before you turn them. About 15 minutes total on the steak gave me a real nice rare to medium rare. Put your steak up on a platter and garnish it nicely with the grilled onions, maybe some chopped fresh chives and a few green onion flowers. Smash those potatoes real quick with some more garlic, milk, butter and a little sea salt and pepper to taste.....time to eat. Enjoy!!!

Strawberry Cream Cheese Crepes

This is a tasty little dessert, not real heavy and full of flavor. Fresh strawberries and whipped cream cheese inside delicate homemade crepes topped with more strawberries. This time of year the berries are getting sweeter and the price is right so it's a great time to put this dish together. And crepes, how fun and special. Not something you see every day and they are really simple to make. To start you need to set out 8 ounces of cream cheese so it will warm up and be easier to whip. Now lets make some crepe batter. Here's the ingredients:

Eggs, lightly whipped                                 4 each
Milk, skim                                                   1-1/3 cups
Flour, all purpose                                       1 cup
Salt (optional)                                             1/4 tsp
Butter, melted                                             2 Tbs

After whipping the eggs add the milk and whip a little more. Add the salt and gradually add the flour, whipping the batter as you add. Continue until all flour is added and batter is smooth. Add the butter and mix well, set aside until you're ready to make crepes. It's good to let the batter sit a little bit so while we're waiting lets get started on the filling. Here's what you need:

Strawberries, washed and sliced                                 2 pounds
(save some berries for garnish if you like)
Cream cheese                                                               8 ounces
Powdered sugar                                                           1/4 cup

Whip the cream cheese and powdered sugar until it's light and fluffy, separate out about 2 cups of sliced strawberries and fold into the cream cheese. Take the remaining strawberries and add about 1/2 cup of powdered sugar, mix well and put in he refrigerator for later. Now lets make crepes.

Using an 8 inch skillet with medium high heat, spray lightly with pan spray. Using a 1/4 cup measuring cup (not quite full) add batter to the pan and kind of swirl around in the pan to spread the batter evenly. When the crepe is slightly browned turn the crepe with a thin spatula, I like to flip them like an omelet but that might take a little practice. Cook briefly on the opposite side(it should brown a little also) and turn it out onto a sheet of wax paper. Continue process until crepe batter is gone spraying pan for each crepe. This makes about 16 crepes. You can make these a day ahead if you like, cover tight after they are cool and refrigerate. To fill the crepes I find it easiest to lay them all out if you have room or at least half and divide the filling accordingly. I did discover that the filling only filled 10 of the crepes so either I miscalculated or I just like fat crepes. Any way I will post a recipe to use the extra crepes in just a day or two so we can use them up. Roll the crepes up nice and tight and place on a cookie sheet. Refrigerate until you are ready to serve. Oh yes the strawberries we saved for garnish, simple, turn the berry with the stem side down and slice down toward the stem being careful not to cut all the way through. Make about 5 or 6 cuts and carefully fan the strawberry out. Plate your crepes on a salad plate, top with a generous amount of the strawberries that you sugared up earlier and top with the garnish. Looks great and tastes even better.