Mandarin Pork Loin Roast!

   So I have several posts I need to make but the other night I made this recipe and just couldn't wait to show you guys. This is something my mom made when I was younger and still makes to this day. I was craving it and decided to give it a shot. Now of course it always tastes better when mom makes it but I was pretty proud of myself for how well it turned out. It definitely hit the spot! 

   Start out with a boneless pork loin. Mine was about 4.5 pounds. Preheat your oven to 350. Place your pork loin fat side up in your pan and season with a little salt. Mix up about 4 large cloves of garlic (I grated mine up), 1 tsp cracked black pepper and two Tblsp dried rosemary. I used rosemary from my moms garden that I had dried out. 

   

   Spread that mixture over the fat of the pork evenly. 

   Bake this at 350 for about 45 minutes. 

Mix up your glaze while this is baking and let it sit and marinate together. 

Stir together:

1/2 cup orange marmalade

6 Tblsp orange juice. (I used fresh)

1/4 cup soy sauce

1/4 cup ketchup

2 Tblsp honey

2 1/2 tsp ground mustard

1 1/2 tsp ground ginger

2 large cloves of garlic (I grated mine)

  Stir together and let it sit until you pull the pork out.

 

   Pull the pork out after 45 minutes. It will have a beautiful crust from your rosemary, garlic and pepper rub. 

 

Pour 3/4 of the glaze over the pork loin then top it with 1 can of drained mandarin oranges. (As you can tell I used two cans but it's totally up to you!) 

Bake for another 30-45 minutes (pour the rest of your glaze on about half way through) or until your pork is 145 degrees or so.  If you cook it anymore than 150 your pork can become dry. Mine came out at about 145 and was very moist. 

 

   Make sure you let the pork loin rest for about 10 minutes before slicing into it so the juices can redistribute. 

Serve it up with some mashed potatoes and veggies! 

Oh and don't forget to use some of the drippings to spoon over the pork after you plate it up! 

   This recipe is SO delicious! If you try it out please let me know how you liked it! 

Shout out to my mom for giving me the memories of so many delicious home cooked meals!! :-)

Mandarin Pork Loin:

4.5 to 5 lb boneless pork loin

2 Tblsp dried rosemary

1 tsp cracked black pepper

4 large garlic cloves

Pinch of salt 

1 can mandarin oranges, drained

For the glaze: 

1/2 cup orange marmalade

6 Tblsp orange juice. (I used fresh)

1/4 cup soy sauce

1/4 cup ketchup

2 Tblsp honey

2 1/2 tsp ground mustard

1 1/2 tsp ground ginger

2 large cloves of garlic (I grated mine)

Quick and Easy Glazed Salmon!

               So I threw together this quick and easy dinner tonight and we really liked it. Especially for it being so easy and budget friendly. So I'll jump right in. 

Maple Glazed Salmon!!

       Start out by preheating your oven to 450. Using a shallow pan spray it down with some non-stick spray and place salmon skin side down. (unless you don't have salmon with skin of course!) 

        Now mix together about 4 tablespoons of maple syrup ( I used 100% ), 2 tablespoons soy sauce, a pinch of cayenne and about 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder. (Make sure it's not garlic salt or else it will be to salty. The soy sauce will be enough.) 

        Now use about half of the sauce to brush on the filets. Bake at 450 for about 5 mins. Take out and brush on the rest of the sauce and broil on low until finished cooking. (Mine took about 6 minutes.) 

Cooking time will vary depending on the size of your filets. Just a heads up- Line your pan with some foil. I forgot to do this and the extra sauce on the pan burned and it was a pain to clean off!! 

With this dish I cooked up some yellow squash and zucchini fresh out of my garden. I sautéed them with a little pat of butter and a pinch of sea salt on a lower heat. I like them to be a tiny bit browned. 

         With that I mashed up some red potatoes with a little butter, cream, salt and pepper. 

           And your DONE!!! That's it. It's that easy!!!! I know it's a short and easy recipe but I had to share for that alone. I hope you guys enjoy!!! 

        Want to know what I was sipping on while I posted this blog???? 

Ever heard of a passion tea lemonade from Starbucks? Well I decided to make my own at home to save a little money. With a little help from Starbucks of course! 

I bought Starbucks passion iced tea bags and Minute Maid lemonade (15 calories!!).

You don't even need to sweeten it because the lemonade does that for you. Yum!!!

For the Salmon:

4 salmon filets

4 tablespoons 100% maple syrup

2 tablespoons soy sauce

A pinch of cayenne pepper (optional)

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

For Veggies:

Squash and zucchini 

Teaspoon butter 

Sea salt

For the potatoes: 

Red potatoes

Sea salt and pepper

Cream (I used half and half) 

A couple tablespoons butter

 

Spicy Italian Sausage Fettuccine!!

Ok so I realized the lighting in my pictures are awful. I'll try and so something about that soon.
Today I'm going to show you a recipe I make that my papa gave to me. It is SO delicious!!
(Remember to season your food with salt and pepper always. Season as you go and taste until you think it's perfect. In this recipe don't season until you've added at least the heavy cream to the dish. The sausage will be salty so you could easily over season it.)

Here's what you need:

Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 Tbsp fennel seed
1 Tbsp Italian Seasoning
2 Tbsp crushed red pepper ( we like it spicy!!)
1/2 Tbsp chili powder
1/2 red onion, chopped
2-4 large cloves of garlic (we love garlic so I added 4)
1-1.25 lb spicy Italian Sausage
1 1/4 cup whipping cream
2 cans diced tomatoes in juice
1 Tbsp dried or fresh sage. (Optional)
1 lb pound Fettuccine
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

My husband and I live near St. Louis and yesterday we went up to a place called The Hill. It has AMAZING Italian restaurants, bakeries and Italian grocery stores. We went into this grocery store we love called Vivianno's and bought some of their fresh (dried) fettuccine noodles. It comes in a 5 lb bag and is priced really well! As I'm walking around the store I see their cheese section. They will just cut you any size you'd like and I decided on the Parmesan. Now I've always bought my wedges of parm at the regular grocery store and I love it. Well they had parm that was 8.99 per lb and 18.99 per lb. I decided to get the more expensive imported one. I told her to cut me about 8-9 bucks worth and then she cut us off a piece of each kind to compare them. HOLY CRAP!! It's a night and day difference, the imported one was so good!! Of course I won't buy that all the time but at least I know where to go to get amazing cheeses.
Anyway since I had bought the fettuccine and that amazing Parmesan I decided to make a fettuccine and remembered the recipe my papa had given me. This recipe isn't how I usually make my fettuccine sauce and this one has tomatoes in it. I will show you my fettuccine sauce soon.

I start out with a little bit of olive oil in the pan and add the crushed red pepper to it. Heat that a little while so the red pepper flakes flavor the oil. When your oil is nice and hot add your hot Italian sausage. Let the bottom brown up real nice before you start and crumble it up. I use a potato masher to crumble it up. That makes it much more easy to get smaller chunks. And it's faster!

After the meat is browned and cooked through add your fennel seeds, chili powder and Italian seasonings. (I even added a little more red pepper flake. We LOVE spicy!) Add your dried sage if you have it. If you have fresh wait until later. Mix that up and add your sliced up onion and garlic. I grate my garlic in. It's much easier than chopping it up.
Side note: if you don't have fennel seed and you don't feel like running to the store don't worry about it! Your sausage should have fennel in it.

After your onions and garlic have softened add your heavy cream. If you don't have heavy cream add half and half. Heavy cream will make your sauce thicker and creamier though. Let that simmer low for about 5 mins. This helps it thicken.

Now add your diced tomatoes and simmer low for another 15-20 mins. While that is simmering cook your pasta. Make sure you don't over cook it and make it soggy! Cook it until its al dente. Which means it still has some bite to it. Not crunch, bite! :)

Reserve about 1/2 to 1 cup of your starchy cooking liquid from the pasta. Only use this if you don't have quite enough sauce and your pasta seems to dry. You probably won't need it but just in case you'll have it.

A minute or two before you drain the pasta chop up your fresh sage and add it to your sauce.

Drain pasta and put it back into the pot you boiled it in. Add your sauce to it and toss it vigorously for about a minute. This helps coat all the pasta and it also helps the pasta soak a little of that sauce in. Since you cooked your pasta to al dente it can continue to cook a little so it draws some of that hot sauce in.

You can add your Parmesan before or after you toss the sauce with the pasta. Just make sure it's well incorporated.
You can use pre-shaved Parmesan and even the grated Parmesan that comes in the plastic can. I usually buy a wedge and grate it in myself. I feel like I get more out of it that way. (Maybe not. But it feels like it) :) Also if you have the crushed garlic out of the jar that's fine too!!

Now just serve in a bowl and top with some more freshly shaved parm.
We usually serve it with some buttered bread. Yum!

Another thing I wanted to add was that if your family doesn't like spicy you can still make this!!! Just use a sweet Italian sausage and omit the red pepper flakes! It is still just as delicious and full of flavor!! :)

I make this recipe a tad different than my papa. Remember you can make any recipe your own and to your family's liking/needs. He adds some dry basil which I didn't have and he adds a splash of dry red wine to the sauce. We don't drink wine so I didn't have any. I do use wine to cook but normally it's a white wine and I didn't want to go buy any red for just a splash. But by all means add it if you have it!!
I hope you guys enjoy!