Food Gourmet the Squaw Creek Way

My cousin Jen, way out in CA, has a new blog about cooking.  I have heard she’s a great cook, but unfortunately, I’ve never eaten anything she’s made. Except maybe no-bake cookies 15 (20?) years ago at our grandma’s house.

 

Anyway, her blog is called Food Gourmet the Healthy Way.

A couple of weeks ago, she had a recipe for pork loin, and I “tried” to replicate it.

 

What is Food Gourmet the Squaw Creek Way?

 

FGtSCW Rule #1: Eliminate ingredients if you don’t have them on hand and/or think they are weird.

 

 

Here was Jen’s list:

• 1 pkg. pork tenderloins (2 tenderloins, about 2-2.5 lbs.)
• 4 garlic cloves
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 2 T. country dijon mustard (whole grain mustard)
• 4 T. honey
• 2 T. fresh orange juice
• 1 T. finely chopped fresh rosemary OR herbs de provence
• freshly ground pepper to taste
• 3 T. olive oil

 

 

 

As you can see, I clearly did not have the right mustard – I mixed regular old yellow mustard with some of that spicy stuff.  I didn’t have any rosemary and I’ve never heard of herbs de provence.

FGtSCW Rule #2: While you cook, give your son something to keep him busy.

Like Dora.  And Sprinkles.  Just throwing out some examples, here.

FGtSCW Rule #3:  Substitute turkey whenever possible.  Chicken?  Nah – turkey!  Ground beef?  NEVER!  Use turkey!  Pork Loin?  What is that?

Okay, so I tried to follow Jen’s directions as closely as possible, but I had to bake mine a LOT longer.  This was a 3-4 pound turkey breast, straight off the farm. :)  Here are her directions:

Yield: 1 cup of marinade.

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Take tenderloins out of package. Rinse and pat dry. Place in a 9x13-inch Pyrex sprayed with non-stick cooking spray.

Take a paring knife and poke holes in the tenderloins (on the top side only) about an inch deep. Peel garlic cloves and quarter each clove of garlic-lengthwise. If they're really big, cut them a bit smaller- about the size of slivered almonds. Place the garlic slivers in each pocket. Set aside while making marinade.

 

Meanwhile, go back to Rule #2 so you can finish the meal.

In a measuring cup or in a medium bowl, whisk together all the ingredients except for the olive oil. Then slowly drizzle the olive oil while still whisking.

Pour the mixture over the tenderloins and put into preheated oven. Bake, uncovered, for 45 minutes, basting once halfway through the baking process.  (I baked the turkey for about 1 hr 15 min.)

Once removed from the oven, allow the tenderloins to rest on a cutting board for about 10 minutes before slicing. Spoon the pan sauce over the tenderloin medallions and enjoy!

FGtSCW Rule #4: Can’t find what you need?  Improvise!!  No baster?  Baby’s medicie dropper will work just fine.

Unfortunately, I don’t have a picture of the finished product.  I cut it into smaller pieces after an hour of baking, so that it would get done faster.  So it wasn’t pretty.  (FGtSCW Rule #5: Don’t worry about how it looks.)  But orange and soy sauce are GREAT flavors with turkey and it was AMAZING!  I steamed some broccoli and rice, and we had a great meal.

 

Next time, I will marinate over night, and use MORE orange juice.

 

Feel free to visit Jen’s blog and see some of her other yummy recipes!