Loaves and Fishes Stir-Fry

My mom is quite a person.  She's smart, creative, funny, inventive and resourceful.  She's also the type that will give you the shirt off her back, literally.  No really, I've told her to put her shirt back on before.

The other day I was at mom and dad's house and casually mentioned that I needed to stop at the grocery to get some vegetables.  You guessed it, mom sprung into action.  Now get this...she actually had matchstick carrots, asparagus, pea pods, broccoli florets, sliced mushrooms and sliced bell peppers in her fridge.  A stir-fry ready to go.  So, she offered to split it with me.  Because you know, stir-fry doesn't require a lot of any one thing, just a good variety.  It goes far...like loaves and fishes.  

Starting with the broccoli, onion and bell peps

Adding the pork and the rest of the veggies

Then, to top it all off, she said "Oh, I also have this roasted pork loin from the other night.  Why don't you take that too?"  Can you believe this?


So, in the same spirit as my"kitchen sink" fried rice, dinner was born.  The only things I added were diced onion, I sliced the pork into strips, and stir-fried it all with a combo of Teriyaki glaze, soy sauce and garlic.  Whipped up a pot of rice and (as Vivian loves to say) Voila!


My "kitchen sink-ness" has definitely been learned from the master.  I've actually walked into my parents' house and my dad has announced, "We have to go out, there's no food here."  Mom goes into the kitchen, rifles through her freezer and pantry and an hour later dad is eating lamb chops and orzo.  I think he thinks mom is magic.  To some extent, he's right.  So, thanks to my shirt-off-the-back mom, we had a veggie packed, delicious pork stir-fry dinner.  

Finished product

Happy Valentine's Day Dottie!

Finally! A baked french toast that I like!

I used to think adult Sunday School was for lame-o socially inept oddballs.  Sorry, but it's true.  Then, I became one.  (ha ha)  My friend Jan told me about the class she attends and so I showed up.  I have a very cool Sunday School class and I thank Jan for encouraging me to get over my prejudices of adult Sunday School-goers.

The coolest component of my class is, of course, the people.  Kel and I can spontaneously quote "Silence of the Lambs" in unison.  Laurin and I go way back to high school and so far have kept most of those secrets!  My buddy Cannon keeps my brain on its "toes" so to speak and she's one heck of a blueberry picker.  The list goes on and on. Trust me, they are all cool and I consider them all very special friends. 

Another cool thing about my class is that we all like food.  We take turns bringing snacks to class.  Most of us like to cook and I think it's kind of evolving into a friendly contest to see who can wow the crowd or surprise them when we use them as guinea pigs for new recipes!  There are some awesome cooks in the Joy Class:  John and Pattie's shrimp & grits with the jalapeno sausage is a winner.  They work wonders with biscuits and gravy too.  Kristie is the baker extraordinaire.  Cannon whips up a mean grits casserole and recently Trudie brought a fantastic breakfast casserole that she cooked in a crockpot...brilliant!

So yesterday was Britt's turn and she scored about 28 thumbs up.  I've tried a few recipes for baked french toast and have never made one that was real interesting and certainly nothing to write home about.  Britt has solved that problem!  Hers looked beautiful, was delightfully cinnamon-y, and here's the real decadent surprise...it had cream cheese hiding in the middle!  It was appropriate for Sunday School since everyone exclaimed something like "omg" at their first bite.  So, my friend Britt has graciously permitted me to post her recipe. She states that it's not a recipe that she created and she modestly added that she's "just good at following directions."  I think there was a little more to it than that...she added a smidge of Joy-Class-cool-adult-oddball sprinkles or something.

Britt's Baked French Toast

• 1 loaf of good fresh bread (brioche or maybe an egg bread)
• 2 bars cream cheese, cubed
• 12 eggs (yep, that's a whole dozen folks)
• 2 cups milk
• 1/2 cup maple syrup

Tear bread into pieces. Place 1/2 of it in your baking dish (probably a 13"x9" would be best).  Top with cubes of cream cheese then the rest of the bread pieces.  Mix up the eggs, milk and syrup and pour over.  Cover & refrigerate overnight. 

In the morning, sprinkle the casserole with cinnamon then bake at 375 for about 40 minutes.  Serve and be prepared for the "omg's" and other suitable accolades!

Thanks Britt not only for feeding us yesterday but for sharing this awesome recipe with everyone.  This will be in my repertoire from here on out. 

Parenting and Food

Being a parent means a lot of things but one biggie is this:  Put your money where your mouth is!  This was proven to me yet again last evening.

My whole life I've not liked tomatoes.  I order everything "no tomatoes."  I'd say I actually get it as ordered about 75% of the time.  Now, I'm ok with cooked tomatoes:  sauce, in chili, in pasta, on pizza, etc.  Just not raw.  The thought of chomping down on one of the "signature" Southern delights (white bread, mayonnaise and big slabs of tomato) just gives me the heebie-jeebies.

As I've gotten older though, I've learned like everyone else, that our tastebuds do change as we age.  I've been explaining this to Vivian pretty much as long as she's been alive.  Yesterday Vivian made me practice what I preach.  

I went to pick her up at my parents' house.  Mom had a snack plate out that consisted of blanched asparagus, celery, carrots, bell peppers, blue cheese and grape tomatoes.  So, little Vivver wanted to make me a plate.  When it came to that tomato, she said "I know you don't  like tomatoes, but I want you to just try it.  You might like it!"  Wow, that sounds like me verbatim.  I was trapped...there was no way I could get out of this one.  She used the Green Eggs and Ham maneuver on me.  So, I sucked it up and I ate that damn tomato.  To my amazement, I actually proved my own point.  It wasn't that bad. In fact, I might even try another one sometime soon.  And little Viv was beaming..."See?  I told you!"

Thank God she gave me a pass on the celery.

Greek Salad Craving

I hate to admit it, but my mind wandered today during the sermon at church. I was listening and following along but *all of a sudden* feta cheese popped into my mind.  This of course led to olives, peppers, lettuce.  Oh no...I'm dreaming of a Greek salad during church. I'm pretty sure there's no specific commandment in the Bible like "Thou shall not daydream about Greek food in the Temple" but it's probably something God would frown upon...right?  

This is my church.  It's a beautiful building and was the 1st house of worship built in Columbia

Well, completely by accident, my mind went there.  Next, it was whirring around like the Tasmanian Devil...my eyes began moving (I'm a visual person) trying to locate a Greek place anywhere near where I was headed today.  Then, inside my head, I heard a loud Hosanna!  (I was in church, you know)  I could call ahead on my way to work, pop into the Grecian Gardens and bag myself a big ol' salad to go.  Yes, it's a plan.  That is what I'll do.  Wait, who's that talking?  Oh yeah, I'm in church...it's the minister.  I'm back, I'm listening, I'm back from mental vacation.

Here's the thing.  In some ways, I've become kind of cynical about restaurants.  You ask for something in most places and you have a teenager screw up their face, pop their hip out to the side and say,  "Oooh,  we HAVE TO charge extra for that."  This amuses me on a couple levels.  I love the concept of having to charge extra to satisfy your customer. Who made this rule and who enforces it? "You have to charge them more.  I command it.  I will strike you with furious anger if you give them anything!"  The other thing that's so funny about it is people like my Mom.  She loves this comment.  She then replies with something like "I have money.  This is my order.  I can pay for it." No one in my family is going to walk away bickering over $.75 but it's ridiculous that a restaurant owner would even risk losing any customer over such a pittance.  

Anyway, I called Grecian Gardens today from the car.  A very pleasant young man answered.  I said, "Hi.  I'd like to place a pick-up order.  I'd like a small Greek salad, with no tomato, and I'd like some extra feta."  (Disclosure:  I know from years of experience that you can ask for extra anything and they may sprinkle a little on top or ignore you altogether.  But, every now and then, someone surprises you and does what you ask)  There was no further discussion other than him asking me my name.  No charging extra dialogue...just "thank you very much, it'll be ready in 10 minutes."

So, when I got to the office and opened up my salad box, I was delighted at what I found.  It was a big, beautiful Greek salad with FIVE olives, FIVE pepperoncini (the small tender kind that I love), no tomatoes (so many people in restaurant kitchens apparently think I'm just joking when I say no tomato, so they give it to me anyway) and...get this...not an extra sprinkle of feta on top.  NO, NO...they gave me a container of extra feta!  Can this be happening?  And, I'd forgotten that Grecian Gardens does this, but there was also one of their signature small round loaves of homemade bread!  This salad was shaping up into a true event.  

So, as guilty as I felt about conjuring up the idea of ordering this yummy pile of deliciousness during church, I quickly got over it.  Clearly, there was a plan for me today.  Have a perfect salad, done the way I like it, and a little bit of culinary joy on this fine Sunday!

Men and Food

My sister and I share some food "hates."  It's kind of weird. Could taste be genetic?  My knowledge of biology tells me no, but it makes me kinda wonder.

We loathe:
celery
hard-boiled eggs
meat with bones in it
meat with fat on it

So, imagine my amusement to receive this email from her today...enjoy!

If I were to write a food blog, it would include the comment I got last night during dinner.  I was being lazy and decided to thaw out some frozen chili for dinner.  My guilt made me decide to make a great salad.  So, I reached to the back corners of the cabinets and pulled out hearts of palm, garbanzos etc to really make a “Salad deluxe” to go with it.  I also boiled an egg for the salad while the chili thawed.  So the comment I got about dinner...WOW you even boiled an egg.  Not impressed with heart of palm but a hard boiled egg..now that’s impressive!  I have to remember how easily impressed they are when I am stressing about what to make.  

Maple-Balsamic Pork Tenderloin

Sometimes my sense of time, or really lack of sense of time, amazes me.  I have recipes all over the place.  Loose ones are on top of my microwave, some are stuck in my "staple" cookbooks, many are in my Master Cook software program and some are in my head.  This afternoon I was contemplating dinner and remembered a "couple of years ago" my sister sent me an email about the "best pork tenderloin she's ever made."  It lives on top of the microwave.  I've never made it, but it's been on top of that microwave for whenever the big day arrived for me to actually bust a move and make it.  Well, today was the day.

Here's the sad part.  At the table, I told Neil that I'd gotten this from K a couple years ago, but hadn't gotten around to it.  As I sit here typing to you friends, I look at the email that I printed oh-so-long-ago only to discover that Katherine sent this to me on September 17, 2005.  I am ridiculous. Almost 5 years ago?  Clearly, I understated...I don't even know what having a sense of time entails.  I'm embarrassed, but alas, I will press on with my life.

So here's the deal.  It is a Weight Watchers recipe that came from their online WW program in 2005. Is it still there today?  Who the heck knows.  It's entitled Maple Balsamic Pork Tenderloin and the point value is 4.  Finally got it on the plate Chez Akre tonight and I'm glad I did!  I served it to the Vivver minus sauce because I've just conceded that she's not always ready for my accoutrements.  Result?  She loved it.  Especially once I told her it had maple syrup in it.  Neil?  Well, he gave me one of his complimentary responses that involves him eating the design off the plate.  (That's a good thing in Neil-speak.)  I loved it myself.  It was fast and easy, healthy and highly flavorful.  I recommend it, therefore I will share it with you.

• 1 1/2 lb pork tenderloin
• 1/2 cup Maple-Balsamic dressing (below)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper

Slice tenderloin lengthwise, cutting to but not through, the other side.  Open up like a book, laying it flat.  Place in a large ziploc bag.  Add 1/2 cup dressing. Seal and shake to coat the meat.  Refrigerate anywhere from 20 minutes to 8 hours.  Prepare the grill to medium high.  Remove the tenderloin from marinade and sprinkle with salt & pepper.  Grill 8 minutes per side or until thermometer registers 155 degrees.  Remove from the grill and let rest 5 minutes.  Slice across the grain into thin slices and drizzle with the reduced sauce *See these instructions below*

SHHHH...it's resting!

• 1/2 cup V8 (I had none, so I pureed some canned diced tomatoes and added a little water to thin)
• 1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 1 Tbsp rosemary
• 2 tsp Dijon
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 1/2 Tbs olive oil

Combine all ingredients except oil. Gradually whisk in the olive oil to emulsify.  While the pork is on the grill, place remaining dressing in a saucepan and bring to boil.  Reduce heat and simmer until it becomes syrupy.  Use as a drizzle for the meat.

A little drizzle of sauce and joined by friends brown rice & steamed green beans

Give it a whirl...I think you'll like it.  If you think it might take you 5 years to get around to it (like me) then print this, stick it on top of your microwave and pull it out every now and then to remind yourself it's there!  Whenever you actually do make it, I wish you Bon Appetit!