Chaotic cooking- Pork Tenderloin with Pan Gravy

Pork tenderloin is just delicious. You can add all sorts of fancy spices and/or herbs to it, or you can just dust it with salt and pepper. I love it because you can do so many different things with it. It freezes and thaws well so if you happen to catch some on sale and won’t need it for a while, you can take advantage of the savings and save it for later. We had two pork tenderloins hanging out in our freezer and decided Monday was the day. So, we thawed them and they awaited their fate. To be brutally honest, I totally forgot to take photos from the beginning so there’s no photo of the “spice line up” but I’m sure you can visualize it. Due to the fact that you can do so much with a tenderloin, this is merely one of many pork posts to come.

You don’t need very many ingredients to follow along with this post and many of them will likely be staples in your pantry. If they aren’t, I highly suggest that they do become staples.

You will need:

Pork tenderloin

Mustard powder

Smoked paprika

Ground thyme

Himalayan pink salt (plain table salt will do in a pinch, but it’s not nearly as good as the pink salt)

Fresh ground pepper

Canola oil

White wine (optional, but preferred)

Chicken stock

Cornstarch

Onions (one or two of your own choice)

Garlic

The first thing I did was to lay my two tenderloins on the cutting board (already thawed) and gently pat them dry. Next, I sprinkled them with fresh ground black pepper, Himalayan pink sea salt, mustard powder, ground thyme, and a bit of smoked paprika. Rub it in all over, flip the tenderloin over and repeat. While you are doing this, have a frying pan with some canola oil (I usually prefer olive oil in my cooking but it has a lower smoke point than canola and that gets messy and stinky here) getting good and hot on the stove. When your pan is nice and hot, carefully lay your tenderloin in there. It will sizzle and splatter, that’s ok. Give it a good sear in the pan and let it get nice and dark before you flip it over and do that to the other side. You’ll kind of need to roll it and sear it on all sides, as well as both ends. Just grab your tongs (if you don’t have some, stop reading and go buy some before you resume this post) and hold the pork upright to sear the ends. Here’s mine going in the pan before I realized I was cooking and should probably be taking photos along the way…

Next, set your seared pork aside and turn your oven on to 375. Now, take a look at your pan. You see burnt. I see beautiful. This, my friends, is where the flavour is. This is going to be your gravy. There’s actually a great method to getting this flavour off the pan without scrubbing. It’s called deglazing. Reach into your fridge and grab the bottle of white wine. Don’t have wine? It’s not necessary but it sure adds nice flavour. Don’t worry, this recipe is still family friendly. Any alcohol will quickly cook off when it hits the hot pan. If you don’t want to add wine, then skip this step, because the next step will also help you lift off that porky goodness. Right after you add the wine (or don’t), add some chicken stock to your pan. The chicken stock works better than a beef stock would. Give it a really good stir with your spatula. Let it come to a boil. As is boils, you should be able to easily sweep your spatula over the bottom of the pan and notice that most, if not all, of the crunchies have come unstuck and become absorbed into your amazing sauce. At this point, your sauce will be quite watery. Grab any old spoon from your drawer and place a spoonful of cornstarch in a small bowl. Add a splash of water and whisk until you’ve got a fairly runny mixture. It will look like watery milk. Add this slowly to your sauce and whisk. As you whisk and it boils, it’ll thicken your sauce into a velvety and delicious pork gravy. If you like a thinner or thicker sauce, you can adjust this by adding more chicken stock to thin it out, or cornstarch slurry to thicken it. Whenever you add the slurry, just be sure to give time for it to thicken or you may end up with a gelatinous gravy glob. Once you’re happy with your sauce consistency, set the pan aside. Here’s how mine looked.

Pull out a clean cutting board. Peel an onion of your choice. You can choose yellow, sweet, or white. I had a white onion and a shallot on hand so I used those. Slice your onion(s) into rings and lay them in a casserole dish then throw in a couple of peeled garlic cloves. Now, garlic is a personal thing so I’m not about to tell you how much to add. Drizzle them with a bit of olive oil and dust them with fresh ground pepper and pink salt. Now lay your pork on top of the onion bed, and cover it all with your amazing gravy. By this time, you’ll likely have had most of your household stop by to see what the amazing smell is. Pop in the oven uncovered and bake. The amount of time you bake for depends on how you like your pork. Set a timer for 40 minutes and check after that, cooking in 5 minute time increments after that until you reach your desired level of deliciousness. Once your pork is done, loosely lay a sheet of tinfoil over the pan and let it rest. This step is crucial. If you skip this, you’ll end up with dry pork. Please don’t blame me if this happens, you’ve been warned. Let it rest for roughly ten minutes or until you’re finished putting the finishing touches on the rest of your meal. We ate this with roasted asparagus and my coconut ginger rice (I’ll post a blog about this rice in the future). The rest is easy, slice your pork into medallions, lay some of those delicious roasted onions on top, and drizzle with your amazing pan gravy!

I totally forgot to take a photo after it came out of the oven. Oops! I’m not used to documenting my cooking along the way yet so I’m not used to slowing and remembering to take photos!

I must remind you that I’m not a chef, nor am I a writer so please bear with me as I figure out this whole food blog thing. Please let me know if you give this “recipe” a try! Send a photo of your pork tenderloin! Thanks so much for reading and I’m lining up another cooking post already. Hint-it may just bring you to tears!

Long time, no see!

Well hello there! It has been an awfully long time since I have been here. Life has been incredibly busy this past year. Alright, it just has been busy always. In the past year we have sold our condo, purchased a house, added a four footed friend to our family, and made the switch to homeschooling!

One thing that has not changed over the years is the fact that I love to cook. I also love to bake. I just love food in general. I have been asked over the years for my recipes. I am going to let you in on a little secret. I don’t generally use recipes. I use a recipe as a guideline when baking. I might look at a recipe to see what ingredients are in a dish, and possibly in what proportions. That is about the extent of my recipe following. Another thing that I have been told over the years is that I should write a cook book. Here is another secret for you. I am not a chef! My husband is a Red Seal Chef. I am not. I have zero training in cooking. I have been making it up as I go along. It was only recently that I have seriously considered writing a cook book. I am hesitant though, I am not sure if it would actually sell. With that in mind, I thought I would pop on here and possibly try blogging some of my cooking first. What do you think? I know there are a million other cooking blogs out there already. Would mine be just another block of text to scroll past? Would you be interested in following along once or twice to humour me? Please let me know in the comments!

The Demon in My Dreams

I’m laying awake, frozen with fear. Dripping with cold sweat and tears streaming down my face. My heart is racing, and possibly even missing a beat here and there. Everyone else is sleeping peacefully; blissfully unaware of the danger that still feels so near to me. My dream still feels so real to me. I’m completely exhausted and yet terrified to fall back asleep. I can still hear the words, whispering from my dreams, “I’m coming for you”. If I fall back asleep, he will catch me in an instant. The demon in my dreams is persistent both when I’m sleeping or awake.

Domestic abuse is no joke. People tell you to just “get over it”. You can go through years of counselling and take all the steps on the road to healing. You can be making progress in healing. Sometimes, despite all efforts, the demon in your dreams is still there. He’s there, he’s very real to me, and he refuses to go away. When you try to explain yourself, it’s really easy for people to brush you off. I think they don’t want to, or can’t understand. People say things such as “Oh, she’s *just* depressed”, or “She *just* has anxiety”. They make it sound as if it’s a choice, it’s your fault, or that you’re just being silly. Don’t you think that if I could be rid of this demon once and for all, I would?! Maybe the words need to be “No wonder she struggles with depression”, or “No wonder she has anxiety”. Domestic abuse is not a joke. It is not something to be swept under the carpet. It is not something you can just “get over”. It shakes you down to your core and has a lasting impact on your life to some extent. When you refuse to acknowledge and understand that domestic abuse is a problem, the abusers win. The demons win. We need to bring those demons to light. Confront them. I understand that confrontation is difficult, and not many people like it or do well with it. It is much harder for one man, woman, or child to try to confront their demon alone in the dark than it is for a host of people to confront those demons together in the light.

Cheesecake!

I love to bake. I don’t generally eat tons of baking, but I do love to bake. Quite often I’ll send banana bread, banana chocolate chip muffins, cinnamon bread, cinnamon raisin bread, an Italian herb bread, or even red velvet cupcakes to work with my husband. I also love to bake cakes for my kids birthdays, and so on. I’ve done Mario cakes, Star Wars cakes, princess cakes, Thomas cakes, Paw Patrol, plain cakes, and the list goes on.

A couple of weeks ago, my brother in law turned another year older. So, we offered to host cake and coffee for his birthday. When I asked him what kind of cake he wanted, he chose cheesecake. Not just any cheesecake, but a New York cheesecake with salted caramel on top. Sounds daunting to make, doesn’t it? Nope! If I can make this while in the most scatter-brained state, then you can make it too! Here’s how!

New York Cheesecake

Ingredients needed are as follows:

1 1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs
1/2 cup plus 1 3/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup butter, melted (I generally use unsalted, but due to the richness of the cake, I add a pinch of salt in this recipe)
5 packages (8 oz) cream cheese, at room temperature (NOTE: Do NOT skimp on the cream cheese if you do not want your efforts to be in vain. I buy Philadelphia cream cheese bricks for this cake. I had a bad experience with No Name brand and this recipe before. Also, don’t buy the light cream cheese. If you’re eating a New York cheesecake, you’ve already blown your diet out of the water, so you may as well truly indulge and enjoy yourself.)
5 eggs
2 egg yolks
2 Tbsp flour
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream

Step by Step

Prepare your cake pan. I use a springform pan with a piece of parchment on the bottom.
Combine your graham cracker crumbs, 1/2 cup sugar, and melted butter. Press firmly into bottom of springform pan and set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, whip the cream cheese until smooth. This is where it is important to make sure it’s room temperature. If you’re like me, and forgot to pull the cream cheese out the night before then you’re going to find yourself taking much longer with the hand mixer, and wondering why you’ve put yourself in this situation at 7:30 in the morning on a school morning.
Add your eggs and egg yolks, ONE at a time. Please take the time to make sure you fully incorporate each egg before adding the next. Small details make a polished product.
Add the remaining 1 3/4 cup sugar. Blend it all together, making sure you scrape down the sides as you go.
Add the flour and blend it all together.
Add the heavy cream and make sure it’s all blended until it’s creamy and silky smooth.
Pour your mixture into your pan and gently smooth it out. Be careful not to knock out too much of the volume you just spent time building.
Place your cheesecake in a cold oven on the middle rack. I know this goes against your baking intuition, but trust me here. Also, you don’t need to worry about your cake spilling over the pan because we have not added any leavening agents. I can’t promise it won’t leak out the bottom if you haven’t closed your springform pan properly. Not that I’ve ever done that in the past or anything…
Gently close the oven door and turn the oven on to 200*F
Set a timer for 3 hours and 10 mins
Walk away! No peeking!!
When your timer goes off, turn it off, but keep the door closed! Still NO PEEKING!
Set a timer for an hour. If you forget it in there and leave it for two hours, that’s fine too. Forget about it. Resist the temptation to peek. It’s worth it, I promise.
When you remember that you put a cheesecake in the oven hours upon hours ago, or when your timer goes off, it’s finally time to look! Remove the cheesecake from the oven and cover with plastic wrap.
Place covered cheesecake in the fridge and leave it for 8-24 hours before serving.

You could put any sort of sauce, berries, or anything on top of this cheesecake really. We did salted caramel this time and it was amazing. Again, you can do it too. Here’s how!

Salted Caramel Sauce

Ingredients:

1 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 tbsp unsalted butter, diced and slightly chilled
3/4 tsp (or to taste) salt (I used Pink Himalayan because that’s what we had on hand, but Kosher or other large grain salt will do)

How To:

Place sugar in a medium saucepan. Add water. Place on medium high heat. Do NOT stir. This is going to drive you crazy but resist the urge! It won’t burn.
In a small saucepan, warm cream. Do not scald or boil. You just want it warm
Let sugar bubble away and caramelize. It should turn a dark amber colour after about 8-12 minutes.
Once your sugar is caramelized, remove it from the heat and whisk in the warm cream.
Keep whisking and slowly add your butter. This will smooth it out and stop it from cooking any further.
Add your salt and whisk it in.
Drizzle warm caramel sauce over cold cheesecake. If you’d like, add a fine dusting of salt on top to garnish.

It’s time to grab a fork and indulge. Seriously. It’s so good. There likely won’t be much conversation as the cake is being devoured!

A couple tips for serving your cheesecake. First, keep it in the fridge until it’s ready to serve. Second, take the time to cut it properly. Run a sharp knife under hot water and give it a quick wipe with a cloth to dry it off. Make one slice. Run the knife under hot water and repeat this again. This is how you end up with a crisp, clean slice of cheesecake.

My photos didn’t turn out the best due to lighting but you’ll get the idea. Mine had wrinkles in it this time, likely because I didn’t bring my cream cheese to room temperature first. That being said, if you start your cake in a cold oven and resist the temptation to peak, you’ll end up with a beautiful cheesecake that will not have deep cracks and crevices. No need to mess with a water bath either! If I can get this cake in the oven on a school morning in our chaotic house, you can surely do it too!

If you happen to make this cake, I’d love to see your photos! Happy indulging!

Words from a Weary Mom

I’m beyond tired. I would say I’m exhausted but it goes further than that. My soul is weary. You might think having five kids has something to do with it. You’re right, it certainly does. Yes, I have five kids aged 6 and under and so we are busy with day to day life, but let me share something with you. Our life is very intense. Three of our blessings have various hurdles to overcome in life. We don’t know what that will look like in the future but while we look forward to the future, we have to live in the here and now. Guess what? It’s intense. Our highs are very high, and our lows are very low. I wouldn’t change it for the world but it does take a toll on us as parents. Every parent would advocate for their child (or so I would hope) to give them everything they could to help them reach their full potential, whatever that may be. Right now on top of daily life, I’m advocating for my children because this extreme cold presents more challenges for our family than it would for your “average” family. Fair is not always fair and I’m afraid some people are very short sighted when it comes to situations like this. So on top of the day to day life that we all face, and the added challenge of life with children with exceptionalities, I’ve got this battle to face and I feel like it’s pushing me to my limits. It has pushed me beyond exhausted and into weary. It might sound like I’m complaining, and maybe I am a bit. You know what? This life is hard. Is it worth it? Every single sleepless night. Every time I fight with my kids about eating and trying to ensure they get proper nutrition. Every late night washing or folding laundry. Every hour I stay awake just to try to snatch a little “me” time or time to just spend with my husband. Every tear shed in happiness with their success, big or small. Every tear shed during the not so great days. Every time I’m screamed at. Every breath I use advocating for my children. Every single sacrifice I make for my children, it’s all so worth it. To the weary parents and care givers out there- you’re not alone. It’s ok to feel weary. It’s a sign that you care so deeply about those entrusted to your care. They were given to you for a reason and not anyone else. To the mom who finds herself folding laundry with tears streaming down her face (this was definitely me today), you’re not alone. When your children go to bed, try to find something to help you rest and recharge. It might not happen instantly but before you go to bed, peek in on your beautiful sleeping children to remind yourself just how worth it all of your sacrifices are. Say a prayer over them. Then go to bed and remember, this is a season. We feel sorrows intensely, but we also love intensely. No matter how weary I am, I will always love my children fiercely, no matter the price.

Happy birthday….Mandy?

Yesterday was a big day! My mother in law celebrated her 65th birthday. She’ll likely clobber me for publishing this, but if you’re reading this… Love you Mom!

For those of you that don’t know, I love to cook and bake. I’m not exceptionally great at making cakes but I sure like to give it a try. It usually ends up with me having an idea and thinking it won’t be too bad. This cake will be simple. It will come together fast. The next thing you know, it’s 4 am and the cake decorating factory has blown up all over my kitchen and all the cleaning elves are on strike. I’m not usually too happy with the end product and tend to focus on what could be better but I do love seeing the look on people’s faces when they see their cakes. Here’s a few photos of some cakes I’ve punished myself with.

On Sunday, my husband and I decided to invite his parents over to celebrate his mom’s birthday. We figured we would make her favourite supper for her, and she could spend some time with the kids and just be spoiled for the day. After 65 years, you deserve a day to not cook or clean up, right? Shortly after inviting Mom and Dad for supper, we had an idea to take it a step further and have cake and coffee and invite hubby’s siblings to join the celebration. We figured we would whip up a cake. Normally I’m a sucker for punishment and would have made a cake no matter how late I’d have to stay up. However, we have an extremely busy week this week and I’m out of the house every afternoon for appointments. We decided to order a cake from his mother’s favourite bakery and just enjoy a nice and stress free evening. I whipped up some cupcakes and the kids decorated them with roses and dinosaur sprinkles to be had after supper. That morning I woke up and ordered the cake at 6 over the phone. I was able to describe what I’d like to the cake decorating lady and I paid for the order. She told me it would be ready by 1pm. Perfect. Easy. Too easy.

Mom loves ribs so I had those in the slow cooker and simmering away by 8:30. I set the rice in the instant pot. I baked off a batch of chocolate cupcakes and left them to cool so the kids and I could decorate them after school. All that was left was to trim and season the asparagus. From there I went and wandered into a flower shop, not really sure what I was looking for. The ladies were sooo helpful. I walked out with a custom made bouquet that they put together for me on the spot and even gave me a deal for. (Of course I forgot to get photos of it during the chaos of the day). I drove the flowers home because I didn’t want them to freeze in the van. Then I took off across the river to Arwyn’s doctor appointment. A family friend drove all the way to Picture Butte to pick up the cake for me. I was so thankful. I was also glad again that I ordered the cake because I didn’t need the extra stress. I zipped home after the appointment and fed the baby quick then packed her back up and went to get the kids from school. The kids and I got home and tidied up the house a bit. Then I got a text from hubby saying they had delays and he would be home late from work.

About half an hour before hubby’s parents are supposed to show up, the cake arrives. The box looked a little small. I opened it up and it was the wrong cake. This cake had whipping cream, fruit, and read “Happy Birthday Mandy”. My stomach and my jaw sank. Ordering was supposed to eliminate or reduce my stress level, not increase it. My brother in law showed up right then and offered to go to the bakery and try to exchange it for the correct cake. It’s *supposed* to be a half hour drive but I’m pretty sure he made new record time. In the meantime, I’m trying not to worry and phoning them repeatedly but no one is answering the phone!

He came back with the correct cake! I was so relieved. Either way, we have a funny story and a birthday that Mom won’t soon forget. The dinner was good. She loved the meal and the cupcakes decorated by her grandkids. The kids were definitely ready for bed and we had a lovely coffee and cake (with the correct cake) with Mom, Dad, and all her children and their spouses.

Glitter, Glitter Everywhere!

I once told my step father there was a piece of glitter on his face. A piece of glitter. One. He absolutely flipped out! He hated glitter vehemently. I have no clue why. If I were vindictive, I would mail him an envelope packed full of all the glitter we were never allowed to have as children. However, we are not called to live that way and my mother had to go and instil values in me such as being the bigger person and so on and so forth…

As I looked around today, I saw glitter everywhere. I mean, everywhere! It made me happy. It’s such a reminder of the sparkle that life has. My daughters (ok, and my sons too) love to wear glitter in their hair. Some of the dress up clothes and doll clothes have glitter. Some of the kids clothes have glitter. I was writing Christmas cards today and my hands and table and everything else within a ten mile radius was covered in glitter, and likely will be for the next 6 months. As I was writing out the cards today, the snow was swirling and falling and glittering outside.

It’s December 2 already. The stores have been full of glittery decorations and wrapping papers and cards and things of all sorts for a while already. I don’t think there’s such a glittery time of year as Christmas. I’m not one to choose really glittery decorations, but as I was staring out the window at the glimmering snow, I was reminded that it’s absolutely ok to feel happy about glitter. God decorated the world in glittery snow today. I don’t know if you’ve had any glitter stuck to you ever but that stuff just does not brush off easily. Each little glittery speck is a reminder of grace. Grace is not easy to brush off. It’s almost as if it’s intended to stick to you. It’s pretty amazing to me that it’s during the Christmas season, where we celebrate the birth of Jesus, who is Grace, that God sends the glittery snow to blanket the world.

Are you a glitter hater? One spec of it and you do anything within your power to scrape it off yourself? Or are you reminded of beauty and grace when glitter is rained down upon you? I personally choose to stand with arms stretched outward, my face to the sky, and embrace the glitter!

Just An Ordinary Wednesday

So I have been talking about starting a blog for what seems like forever. I finally jumped in and did it! I will write more later as I have children to whisk off to school soon but I just wanted to say hello and thanks so much for reading!!

I hope we are able to share some good times together. I will just be sharing our ordinary day to day lives with you. Our story, if you will. It will be peppered with recipes and stories of our never dull house, and everything that happens in between!

Remember to stop and look for the extraordinary in this ordinary Wednesday!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton

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