Grilled Lemon Pepper Pork Loin

I strive for quick & easy dinners every night of the week. Now, we all know that that's almost impossible all of the time. This dinner, though, is one of those that is quick and easy to make and tastes great, too. (You do have to remember to marinate the meat early in the day.)

Lemon Pepper Pork Loin
1-2 to 3 lb. pork loin
1/4 C. olive oil
2 TBSP white vinegar
3 TBSP lemon pepper seasoning (no salt added)
1/4 C. Italian dressing

Slice the pork loin into 3/8 in. slices. Mix the remaining ingredients in a Ziploc baggie. Add meat; shake to coat the meat with the marinade.
Place the bag into the refrigerator for at least 30
minutes.

Remove from refrigerator. Grill pork over medium heat until a tiny bit of pink remains in the center of meat. Remove to a plate and cover with foil. Serve immediately.

Sides:
1 bag of extra wide egg noodles
easy chicken gravy*
canned green beans

It's very easy to make homemade gravy:

Make a roux of 1 TBSP butter to 1 TBSP flour for each cup of gravy.

I made 4 cups.

Melt 4 TBSP butter in a pan over medium heat. Wisk in 4 TBSP flour, stirring constantly. Allow to cook for about 2 minutes or until bubbly.

Pour in 4 cups of chicken broth and continue stirring until the mixture has thickened.

I didn't add any seasonings to this gravy since the pork was seasoned and I didn't want to mix the flavors.

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

Comfort food...that's what my son was in need of tonight. He's been trying to fight off a cold for the last week but it finally got the better of him tonight. His request tonight after dinner..."Mom, can you make something "normal" for dessert tonight, PLEASE? How could anyone resist this request?

My daughter was the first one to chime in with "make chocolate chip cookies!". Since he was happy with her choice, I dug out a favorite cookie cookbook of mine, The Cookie Bible, and found a recipe called "Design Your Own Chocolate Cookies". It's a recipe for your basic chocolate cookie dough and then you choose whichever extras that you would like to add into it. In this case, I added semi-sweet chocolate chips.

The cookies turned out great--they're slightly crispy on the outside, yet chewy in the middle. The chocolate chips stayed semi-soft, too, making them even more delectable! MMMM!!!




Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 C. butter, softened --I used 1/2 C. butter
& 1/2 C. of butter-flavored Crisco
1 C. sugar
3/4 C. packed light brown sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. salt
2 eggs
2 C. all-purpose flour
1/2 C. Hershey's cocoa
1 tsp. baking soda
12 oz. of choc. chips

Instructions

Heat oven to 375*

Beat butter, sugar, brown sugar, vanilla and salt in a lg. bowl until creamy. Add eggs; beat well.

Stir together flour, cocoa and baking soda; gradually add to butter mixture, beating until well blended. Stir in chocolate chips.

Drop by rounded teaspoons onto ungreased cookie sheet.


Bake 8-10 minutes or until set. (it took my cookies about 8 1/2 minutes)

Cool slightly; remove from cookies sheet to wire rack. Cool completely---can you really resist eating these cookies while they are warm?!?

We loved these cookies so much that I've decided to submit them for a BookMarked Recipe. My family has been begging me to make them more of these! This is a definite keeper!

Sunday Spaghetti, Sauce & the Steelers

For us, Sundays, spaghetti, homemade sauce and the Steelers go hand in hand. There's not a bit of Italian in my Irish blood nor is there in my husband's German, Indian and Heinz 57 blood that runs through him -BUT-I've always felt as though I should be Italian. For one thing, I LOVE Italian food...you name it, I'll eat it. (well...try it, anyway)

Pasta and red sauce are staples in my house. My husband would eat it every other day if I cooked it. I'm always trying something new with my sauce. Here's what I cooked today:

Red Sauce w/ Hot Sausage

2 lg. cans of crushed tomatoes w/basil
2 cans of tomato sauce
2 TBSP. minced garlic
2 TBSP dried Italian seasoning
3 links of hot sausage
olive oil

Pour 2 TBSP olive oil into a large frying pan.

Remove casings from hot sausage and crumble into the pan. Cook over medium heat until all pink is gone, and then add garlic & Italian seasonings. Stir to mix.

Add cans of crushed tomatoes and tomato sauce. Stir to mix thoroughly.

Cover with lid and simmer for 2 -3 hours, stirring occasionally.

Serve over spaghetti. Top with fresh grated Parmesan cheese, if desired.

Cooking with Alicia & Annie - Cinnamon Apple Waffles with Cider Syrup

I decided that I was going to make some breakfast items that could be frozen and easily reheated on school mornings. Although my kids love cold cereal, they get bored with it after a while. I dug my waffle iron out of storage over the weekend and now I'm determined to put it to good use.

I chose the Cinnamon Apple Waffles with Cider Syrup recipe from Alicia's for the Cooking with Alicia and Annie Cooking Contest.

The recipe was easy to make following the directions that were provided. I made a slight change to the spices --instead of using the spices that were called for, I used 1 tsp. of apple pie spice. I will use 2 tsp. the next time I make them. I also used peeled Granny Smith apples.

The recipe says that it makes 12 waffles but I only got 10 out of mine batch.

I was disappointed to see that there wasn't a recipe for the cider syrup. Instead, I served them with butter and Maple syrup to my daughter. My son and husband had butter and cinnamon sugar on theirs. Everyone liked them.

A tip to freeze them: Freeze the waffles in a single layer on a baking sheet until frozen, then stack between layers of waxed paper in plastic freezer baggies. To reheat, warm in the toaster.


Cinnamon Apple Waffles
1-1/2 c. all purpose flour
2 tbsp. sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. apple pie spice
1/2 tsp. salt
2 eggs, separated
1 c. plus 3 tbsp. skim milk
3 tbsp. vegetable oil
1 c. finely chopped peeled Granny Smith apples, about 1/2 lb.
Vegetable cooking spray


Instructions:
Combine first 5 ingredients in a bowl; stir well and set aside.

Beat egg whites (at room temperature) at high speed of an electric mixer until stiff peaks form; set aside.

Combine yolks, milk, and oil in large bowl; beat at medium speed of an electric mixer until well blended. Add flour mixture, stirring just until moistened. Stir in apple.

Gently fold egg whites into flour mixture.

Coat a waffle iron with cooking spray; allow the waffle iron to preheat.

Pour 1/4 cup batter per waffle into hot waffle iron. Bake about 5 minutes or until steaming stops.
Yields 10 servings

Yummy Halloween Treats!

I love Halloween and all of the cooking, baking and decorating to go along with it!

All of my recipes pictured here are being featured at FamilyCorner.com. Just click on the title of each treat to read the recipe. :)


Mummy Cookies




Spooky Eyeballs on a Stick




Pumpkin Cake Balls




Vampire Bat Cake Balls




Tombstone Cheesecake Cups