Root Beer Pork

The best place to search for new recipes is the Internet.  Raise your hand if you use Pinterest!  The Internet is where I find a majority of my meal ideas, but occasionally, I'll find one in a magazine as I'm flipping through its pages.   I found this one in a magazine, but the irony is, it credits the recipe to allrecipies.com.  

Go figure!

Root Beer Pork

Ingredients:

2 pounds pork tenderloin

1 12 oz can of root beer

1 bottle of your favorite BBQ sauce

Hamburger buns

Directions:

Place the pork in the slow cooker; pour the root beer over the meat.  Cover and cook on low about 5-6 hours or until well cooked and shreds easily. 

Drain well and stir in BBQ sauce.  Serve over hamburger buns. 

Breakfast Casserole

Near the end of the school year, all the teachers hosted a Parent Appreciation breakfast.  I signed up to bring a breakfast casserole.  Since I'd never made one before, I made my family one on Saturday to test out the recipe.  I'm so glad I did, because it turned out great! 

I added mushrooms to the "real" casserole and that version was my favorite.  Green peppers definetly deserve a spot in this recipe too.  

I have to make this again because the picture is sad, but don't be fooled.....this casserole was really tasty! 

**This is a make-the-night-before dish, so plan ahead!  It's perfect for feeding company. 

Ingredients:

1 lb spicy pork sausage

1/4 cup onion, chopped

1/2 cup mushrooms, chopped (optional)

1/4 cup green peppers, chopped (optional)

2 1/2 cups frozen diced hash brown potatoes

5 eggs

1 3/4 cups milk

1 cup Original Bisquick mix

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

Directions

Spray a 13x9 glass casserole dish with cooking spray.  

In a skillet, cook sausage, green peppers, mushrooms and onion over medium heat for 5 minutes.  Stir in potatoes.  Cook another 5-7 minutes, until the sausage is cooked through and the potatoes are slightly browned. 

Drain the mixture onto paper towels, then spoon into the casserole dish. 

In a medium bowl, stir eggs, milk, Bisquick and salt and pepper until well blended.  Stir in cheese. 

Pour over the sasuage mixture and mix well.  

Cover with foil and refrigerate for 8 hours. 

Heat oven to 350º and bake casserole for 45 minutes.  Uncover and make another 10 or 15 minutes (until a knife inserted into the middle comes out clean)

Serve with your favorite hot sauce, salsa and sour cream. 

Source: bettycrocker.com

Carnita Roll Ups

You know how when you think of certain meals you've eaten your mouth literally starts to water.  That's the reaction I get when I think about this meal.  

So easy and so so good!  

It calls for salsa so I knew my husband wouldn't eat it.  

Lucky me!  

I ate half of what I made over the course of a few days and the rest of the meat is in my freezer patiently waiting for me.  I'm thinking about pulling it out tonight so it can thaw in time for lunch tomorrow.

 Carnita Roll Ups

Ingredients

4 lb pork tenderloin roast

1 cup salsa

1 1/2 cups brown sugar

1 cup Coke (NOT DIET)

salt and pepper to taste

7- inch tortillas

2 cups Monterey Jack cheese, shredded

Directions

In a crock pot, place pork.  Season with pepper.  Add salsa, brown sugar and coke.  Cook on LOW for 4-5 hours (or until cooked)

Once pork is cooked, remove from the crock pot and shred.  Remove half of the sauce in the crock pot and return the shredded pork. Mix together so all the meat is covered in sauce. 

On a cookie sheet, spray lightly or use a baking mat.  

Preheat oven 375º

Lay out a tortilla and fill with 1/4 cup of pork.  Roll tight. Repeat with as many as you can. 

Sprinkle the tops of the tortillas with cheese and bake about 10 minutes. 

Remove from oven and let cook

Serve with ranch, sour cream or any type of dipping sauce. 

Source:  Sugar N Spicegals

Spinach and Cheese Tortellini

This came from a cookbook my husband got me for Christmas (I made it easy for him and sent him the link to buy it from Amazon).

I follow their food blog, but there is something great about having the actual cookbook in hand.  (Their picture makes this meal look about 1,000 times better, but despite my iphone photography, this meal is super good)

Spinach and Cheese Tortellini

Ingredients:

1 120z package of cheese tortellini

4-5 strips of bacon

3 cloves of garlic, minced

2 Tablespoons flour

2 cups milk

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon pepper

1 1/2 teaspoon dried basil

1/4 red pepper flakes (or more to taste)

1 medium lemon

2 cups spinach, roughly chopped

3/4 cups mozzarella cheese, divided

3/4 cups grated parmesan cheese, divided

Directions

1.  Preheat oven to 350º

2.  Cook tortellini according to packaging

3.  Cook bacon on a skillet until crisp.  Remove from skillet and place on paper towels to drain.  Reserve 2 tablespoons of the drippings and discard the rest. Add garlic to the skillet and cook until tender and fragrant.  Add flour to pan and whisk for about a minute.  Slowly add milk and continue to whisk until smooth.  Add salt, pepper, basil and red pepper flakes and bring the sauce to a simmer

3.  While sauce is simmering, zest the lemon.  Cut the lemon in half and juice it.  Add 2 tablespoons of the zest and 1 tablespoon of juice to the sauce.  Continue to simmer and stir until thickened.  Remove from heat. 

4.  Drain the tortellini and return to the stockpot you used to cook it.  Chop the bacon and reserve 1 tablespoon of it and add the rest to the pasta.  Add spinach, 1/2 cup mozzarella and 1/2 cup parmesan and then add the sauce.  Gently stir to combine.

5.  Place the pasta mixture in a casserole dish and top with remaining cheeses and crumbled bacon. 

6.  Cover the pan with foil and bake for about 20 minutes.  Remove foil and bake another 5-10 minutes until the cheese on top is melted.

Grilled Pork Tenderloin

Following food blogs is a favorite past time/time waster for me.  Recently, my favorite one is Mel's Kitchen Cafe.  She's got some great meal ideas and 9 times out of 10, they are easy to make and taste as good as her pictures.  

When I saw this recipe for grilled pork tenderloin, I wanted to try it because her picture makes it looks so appetizing.  Also, I'd never cooked (or eaten) a pork tenderloin. 

At the store when I went to get the pork there is a selection of pre-marinated tenderloins you can buy.  They looked tempting, but I was eager to try out Mel's marinade.  It was worth the effort. And I think grilling gave it the nudge it needed to be a "repeatable" meal. 

Grilled Pork Tenderloin

Ingredients:

2-3 pounds pork tenderloin

3/4 cup olive oil

1/3 cup soy sauce

2 Tablespoons Worchestersire sauce

1 Tablespoon dry mustard

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon pepper

2 Tablespoons red wine vinegar

1 teaspoon dried parsley flakes

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 Tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice (about 1 lemon)

Directions:

Combine all the ingredients except the pork and whisk together, until well combined.  Pour the marinade into a ziploc bag and add the pork tenderloin.  Make sure the marinade covers the pork completely and squeeze all the air out of the bag.  Marinade for 8-10 hours. 

Preheat an outdoor grill.  Grill the pork about 3-4 minutes on each side or until the internal temperature is about 155º.  

Remove from grill and place on a plate, tenting with foil.  Allow to sit about 10 minutes before serving. 

*Tastes great over rice.  I used Basmati rice.