Slow Cooked Apples & Pork Tenderloin

The next couple of days can be the most hectic of the year. When we are home I find myself looking for healthy, tasty, & easy dinners. This dish will have your house smelling like the holidays with only a tiny bit of effort!  This will also be on our New Year's Day menu - Enjoy!!!  

Slow Cooked Apples & Pork Tenderloin

Slow Cooked Apples & Pork Tenderloin
Serves 4

1 1 & 1/2 pound pork tenderloin, washed and patted dry
1 onion, chopped
2 pink lady apples, unpeeled, cored and chopped***
1 Tbs butter
1 Tbs of olive oil
1/2 cup Chardonnay
3/4 cup Maple Syrup
3 Tbs Apple juice
1 Cinnamon stick
3 Sprigs of thyme
Salt & Pepper


Spray the surface of your crock pot with cooking spray & turn to low setting.
Melt butter in a black iron skillet over medium high heat and then add olive oil . Salt and pepper the tenderloin.  Once the butter and oil start to slightly smoke, sear the tenderloin for a minute or two per side, just slightly brown & add to your crock pot.  Add the apples and onions to the skillet and allow them to lightly soften, for about 5 minutes.  Add all remaining ingredients, except for thyme & cinnamon stick, to the skillet and allow it to come to a slight boil.  Cover the pork tenderloin with the apple sauce, add the thyme & cinnamon stick, cover and cook on low for 8 hours.
Remove cinnamon stick and thyme sprigs.  Serve over rice or egg noodles & Enjoy!

***If you can't find pink ladies - Honey Crisp, Golden Delicious or Jonagold will do too

Speaking of keeping it easy we have started a new tradition of  vacationing for Thanksgiving.  Our favorite spot is at a lodge on a lake in Georgia surrounded by a gorgeous pine forest. Below are a few of our favorite Thanksgiving scenes from this year.

When a Gingerbread House just won't do...

The Lodge ready for the Holidays

Beautiful walkways all around the Lodge

A Christmas tree Clark Griswold would approve of

Thanksgiving Carving Stations & Iron Chef Competition

Caviar Station

The Raw Bar

The Cheese Display

Dessert anyone??? (This is only 1/4 of the selection)

The end of our Thanksgiving Meal

A long walk after our meal - I had to stop by my favorite herb garden

We took Taddy to see the Linger Longer Express

Champagne cocktails at sunset to end the day - this is the best picture I could get with a 25 pound Scottie in my lap

Fiesta Soup

We had this waiting for us when we got back from getting Christmas Trees last Friday night. Easy & yummy!!!

Fiesta Soup
Serves 4-6

1 onion, chopped
1 lb ground sirloin
2 cups frozen corn
1 can dark kidney beans, drained and rinsed
2 14 1/2 oz cans diced tomatoes with green chilies
1 3.8 oz can of sliced black olives
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
The following spices***:
   1 tablespoon chili powder
   1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
   1/4 teaspoon onion powder
   1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
   1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
   1/2 teaspoon paprika
   1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
Salt & Pepper to taste
Tortilla chips, sour cream, shredded cheese & pickled jalapenos for serving

In your dutch oven add a touch of oil at medium high heat, add onions and allow to soften for about 10 minutes. Add sirloin and allow it to brown. 
Now your cooking preference:
Crock pot method - add everything to your crock pot, stir well & set to low for 8 hours or high 4
Stove top method - add everything to your dutch oven (were you would have prepped your onions and sirloin if you were going this route), bring to a simmer and stir every now and then for an hour.

Serve over crushed tortilla chips and top with cheese, sour cream & jalapenos - and of course more chips.

*** You could always use the prepackaged pouches of "Taco Seasoning" if you wanted.  I tend to find it is much more economical to make my own out of my own spice cabinet.

Just because they are so darn cute - here are Walter & Weezie in their Christmas Sweaters (of course Walter has already torn his apart - thank goodness Jonathan got this shot before that happened!)

French Onion Soup

French Onion Soup
Serves 4
3 onions, halved & thinly sliced
2 Tbs butter
1 Tbs flour
1/4 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sugar
1 tsp minced thyme, divided
1 cup red wine
3 cups low sodium beef broth
1/4 cup sherry
4 slices wheat bread
4 thick slices Swiss cheese

In a crock pot add the onions and butter and cook on high for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes. Add the flour, pepper, salt & 1/2 the thyme to the onions and mix well.  Pour in wine and beef broth and cook for 7-8 hours on low or 3 1/2 -4 hours on high.  Add the sherry and bring the soup back to the high setting for 15 minutes.
Cut the bread to fit the top of your serving bowls.   If your serving bowls are oven ready - ladle the soup in, top with sliced bread and then top with cheese.  Place in a oven preheated to 425 degrees until cheese is nice and bubbly.  If not using oven safe bowls, place your bread slices with cheese in a 425 degree oven, allow your cheese to melt & then serve your soup with the cheese toast floating on top.  Drizzle with the remaining thyme & serve.

Crock Pot Chili Cheese Dip

Chili Cheese Dip

8 oz Block of light cream cheese
1/2 onion,diced
8 ozs Queso Cheese, cubed
1 3 oz can of green chilies, minced
1 can Rotel, drained
1/4 cup of chicken broth
Chips, Salsa, Jalapenos to serve with

Lightly saute the onions and chilies on the stove top.  Spray your crock pot with cooking spray.  Add the onions & chilies, cheeses, & rotel.  Cover and cook on high for one hour - stirring every 10 minutes or so.  Add the chicken broth after 40 minutes and stir well.  Enjoy!

If you like it spicy - I add chopped jalapenos & a couple of dashes of hot sauce.  Serve with a sprinkling of jalapenos.  There really couldn't be an easier appetizer for a football game.  You can leave on the Keep Warm setting for several hours, just be sure to stir every once and a while.

My favorite arrangement for the summer - Zinnias & Rosemary

Sweet & Spicy Pork Tenderloin

Sweet & Spicy Pork Tenderloin

Sweet & Spicy Pork Tenderloin
Serves 4

1 1lb pork tenderloin
1 sweet or yellow onion, chopped
1 cup hot mustard BBQ sauce

Spray your crock pot with cooking spray.  Add the onion to the bottom of the crock pot. Lightly salt and pepper your tenderloin and place on top of the onions.  Drizzle the hot mustard sauce over the top of the pork & cover the crock pot. Cook on high for 3 1/2 to 4 1/2 hours (or on low for 7 1/2 -8 1/2 hours), remove from pot (will be fork tender) and place on serving tray, cover with the mustard and onion gravy in the pot.  Tent with vented foil for about ten minutes, slice or shred & serve.  Hope you enjoy!

Note - you can also do 2 pork tenderloins and just double the sauce without any other modifications.

Mediterranean White Bean Soup

OK - I was pretty proud of this one.  All the flavors blend so perfectly together & to make it even better it  was done in the crock pot. Hope you enjoy!

Mediterranean White Bean Soup
Serves 6

2 cans of white Northern Beans, rinsed
1 can small black olives, rinsed
1 can petite diced tomatoes
1 onion, chopped
1/2 cup sliced roasted red peppers
3 cups of chicken broth, 4 if no wine
1 cup of red wine
1 link of turkey smoked sausage, coined & quartered
1 tablespoon of Herbs de Provence
6 fresh thyme sprigs
Salt & Pepper
1 tablespoon of butter
Brown rice
Grated Gouda or Havarti

Put everything but the butter, rice and cheese in your crock pot and cook on low for at least eight hours (even longer is fine - it just gives the flavors more time to blend).  Right before you are ready to serve turn heat to high and add butter & let it return to a low boil.  Serve over rice (or not) and top with a sprinkle of cheese (or not).

This was a wonderful Monday night meal.  I mixed everything together the night before & my husband, JK, turned the crock pot on right before he left for the day (I would have but I leave 2 hours before he does).  Walking into the house from the office was awesome, the entire house smelled wonderful.  We started the week off on a healthy note and I had delicious lunch for the rest of the week. For dinner I enjoyed with the rice & cheese and for a healthy lunch I just enjoyed the soup as is.

Chicken Noodle Soup

The powers that be were in line when I decided to make chicken noodle soup for Sunday supper.  Overcast, thunderous, rainy and downright gloomy.  This is a recipe you can speed up or slow down. Your choice too on the spice - leave it out or add more.  Here we go...

Chicken Noodle Soup
2 cups each
   carrots, eyed
   celery, sliced
   onion, diced
4  fingerling potatoes, chunked
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
6 cups chicken broth
1 tsp herbs de Provence
3 cranks Black pepper
2 cranks Mediterranean Sea Salt
1 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp crushed red pepper
1 tsp hot sauce
2 Bay  Leaves
8.8 oz German Egg noodles
1 bag washed spinach
1 tablespoon olive oil

Add carrots, celery, onions, potatoes, oil, pepper, salt, red pepper, hot sauce, herbs de Provence,  garlic & bay leaves to bottom of crock pot.  Toss together lightly.  Place chicken breasts on top and add chicken broth, cover and cook on low for 6 hours, remove chicken & add pasta & remove bay leaves, stir together, and recover for 45 minutes.  In the meantime shred chicken and hold back from the soup.  After 45 minutes add spinach & shredded chicken 10 minutes before ready to serve supper - serve with saltine crackers or cornbread, Parmesan cheese and hot sauce . Perfect for a Sunday or easy night dinner.  Adjust meat, spice & cooking time as you need - hope you enjoy!