Chipotle Pork Tenderloin Sliders and Sweet Potato Fries!!

It's baseball season... LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Baseball season!!! But with only so much hours in a day, it's been a while since Gremlin Mom's been cooking, dang (sorry)! But, tonight, we're BACK! With pork tenderloin sliders and sweet potato fries...with my man-boy Joe, coming for dinner, and Baseball Stevie!! Could this boring chilly, dank Tuesday night get any better??? HECK NO!! Happy Mom with 2 of her 3 boys in the house for din!! Ka-ching!!! Here goes! First, I had these two enormous sweet potatos. Full of flavor and packed with nutrients! So, I peeled these babies and sliced them in half then quarted the halves into strips! Then, I drizzled a little olive oil (not much) and sprinkled some salt, pepper, and garlic powder with a tiny bit of ceyanne pepper. Toss to coat, and pop into a 400 degree oven. These will take at least 30-40 minutes to get crispy on the outside, and tender on the inside! Onto the pork! Next, I had this pork tenderloin, and wondered how to make it different... special. So, I did the usual, loaded it up with flavor with a sprinkling of salt, garlic powder, and chipotle seasoning! Seared it on medium high heat in a little olive oil, turning on all sides for about a couple minutes per side. Then popped it into my 400 degree oven with those sweet potato fries! After 15 minutes, I checked the temp on that pork, and it read 130 degrees (and I want at least 137-140), so I popped it in for another 5 minutes, and it was perfect! Now the hard part, cover and let the meat rest for at lest 10 minutes. Imagine boys standing in your kitchen with forks in hand humming a slow, painful durge sounding like the jeopardy theme song... while shooting me indignant looks of dissatisfaction... for every one of those 10 "meat resting" minutes....PAIN! While that meat rested, I put together a little fresh greens to go on top (or with) that pork! Simply slice up about half of a red onion, throw in some grated carrots with some fresh greens! Top with some chipotle ranch dressing! We like "Maries" chipotle ranch, and a little goes a long way! So, time to slice the pork,and assemble the sliders!!! I like to slice my pork a little thick, about 3/4 to an inch. I also sliced these mini potato rolls in half, added the pork, a handful of greens with carrots and onion, and some jalapeno peppers! So good! Super tender pork sliders with crispy fresh greens and creamy chipotle dressing! And with a side of delicious crispy sweet potato wedges!! And look who just walked in! My JOE!!! My heart's exploding!!!One of my favorite man-boys to feed!! Happy Mom!!

Chipotle Chicken Soup!!

So, tonight, we had a lot of leftovers... stuff that needed to be used up... kinda like, take it or leave it! So, I decided to make some soup... No recipe, no plan, no flippin' idea what I was thinkin', but I just went with it! So, first things first. Tonight we had a sad old rotissarie chicken carcass, with... some... chicken left. So, I pulled what little chicken was left, and plopped those nutrient packed bones into some boiling water for about 40 minutes with a little salt and pepper. While that was boiling away, I tried to think of what I could use to flavor this soup. Before you know it, I was possessed by the chipotle goddesses, and discovered these babies in the pantry... 2 cans of fire roasted diced tomatoes (my favs), some chic peas (another protien fav), some jalipeno peppers (oooo... spicy, heck yeah!), and some left over stock from last week.... Here we go!!! First, I washed some beautiful kale greens I got from my friend Jeannie's farm share, and vowed to get a farm share from this place... it's like micro-green HEAVEN!!! (Jeannie, you ROCK, and I'm bringing you some soup tomorrow!) So, next, I chopped an onion and some garlic. Those of you who know me know I'm about to lie about how much garlic I used, and you will know to double it.... So, I chopped up one onion, and 3 (wink, wink) cloves of garlic (as in 6... not playin' addin' flavor)!! After I boiled those bones I drained the stock and popped that same pan on the stove with my onions and a little olive oil and sauted on medium heat for about 4-5 minutes. Then, I added some shredded carrots, cause they were sad and lonely and left in the veggie drawer. After another minute, I added the garlic and this super flavor weapon.... This chipotle spice rub, 1 huge tablespoon!!! Next, I added my 2 cans of tomatoes. Look at those charred beauties.... I'm officially excited about what's going on here, and can't wait to see it through!! After adding the tomatoes, I added the stock, about 6 cups all together (old and new). To that, I added my greens, 1 package of baby spinach and my farm share of kale (about 2 cups) and let it all wilt down. I also added my chopped jalapenos, about half a cup. After about 10 minutes, I added my chick peas, chopped italian chicken sausage (4 links), and the left over chicken I pecked off the bones before I made the stock. Let the soup cook on medium low for about another 10-15 minutes at least, to come together! Tonight, it was all about "use it or lose it"... using leftovers... and it could NOT have been any better! Spicy, super tasty, and satisfying! Dinner Joe's way.... a big bowl of chipotle chicken soup! Dinner Stevie's way... soup with some toasted focaccia (leftover from last night... and wicked tasty toasted)!! This was so good, I would make it again!!! Even without the leftovers!!! So spicy and so good!

Steak and Greens!! Thank You Farm Share!!

Another Saturday night, and I'm one boy down (birthday sleepover... Happy Birthday Connor!!), but I have one grown man-boy left who will pop in for dinner before work! Yay!! The great thing about tonight, is this farm share!!! Thank you Jeannie!!! Tons of delicious greens ready for some action! So tonight, it's all about these fresh tasty farm share greens and a big ol' steak to go with!!! Cue your inner cave man, it's about to get meaty!! So we have these fresh greens, super fresh and local, so I don't want to mess with them too much, I just want to let them "deliver" all their tasty nutrition and flavor, so, to go with the greens, we have fresh, local asparagus! YESSSSS! It's spring, and around here that means asparagus season, so we eat it as often as we can, and tonight, it will add some tasty warmth and flavor to those fresh greens! Trim the ends and wash and let dry. But first... I started with some focaccia!! Which is just bread.... a warm, fresh, Italian version of tasty flat bread... not hard, and super delicious!!! First, I started by adding 2 teaspoons of yeast to 1 cup of warm water. I added a little drizzle of honey, and here's why... we're trying to wake up the yeast, and the honey is like food for the yeast, to wake it up, and add some flavor. Park this cup of water and yeast on the counter for about 10 minutes. It looks pretty gross now, but will wake up and get bubbly and ALIVE soon! In ten minutes it will look like this! I measured 3 cups of all purpose flour, 2 teaspoons of kosher salt, and 3 teaspoons of Italian seasoning to my food processor fit with a dough blade. If you have a bread maker, you can use that, or just add it to a bowl... old school style, you know, like Grandma did!! Add 3 tablespoons of olive oil to the yeast and water, then add the liquid to the flour while running the processor. I let it run for about 2 minute... to knead the dough... because I'm lazy, but I love fresh bread!! Then, I popped it onto the counter with a little flour and kneaded about a minute more (not 10... because... say it with me... "I'm lazy"). Pop the dough into a greased bowl to rise for about an hour. I popped mine into my warm microwave and let it sit, covered with a dish towel! After an hour, it will double. Then, I plopped it onto a greased baking sheet and let it rise a second time, for about 30 minutes. Now, onto the rest of dinner.... I drizzled that fresh asparagus with olive oil and salt, pepper, and garlic powder and popped it into a 400 degree oven for about 8-10 minutes! Yum!! Then, I prepared these beautiful bone-in rib eye steaks with a little olive oil, salt, pepper, and garlic powder and let them sit on the counter and get to room temperature (at least 30 minutes). Now, I'd usually grill these babies, but my grill is an unfortunate fatality due to this years relentless winter, so tonight, we cooked them in a smoking hot pan on top of the stove. First I let the pan get hot (medium high heat at least), then I opened the windows, and added those steaks to the pan for 4 minutes on the first side. Then I turned and cooked on the second side for 3 minutes. Then, I popped them into a 375 degree oven for 2 minutes and pulled them out. They are officially DONE, and hopefully medium rare, so we have to pull them out and let them rest. While the meat rests, I drizzled a tiny bit of olive oil to the focaccia, and dimpled the dough by pushing my fingers in slightly. Then, I popped that focaccia into a 450 degree oven for about 15 minutes. Time for dinner!! Tonight, dinner Joe's way.... Big ol' beautifully cooked bone in rib eye steak with salad greens, accented with Boursin cheese and crunchy pistachio nuts with roasted asparagus and tomatoes! Super delicious, full of meaty flavor with our tasty local greens!! And as usual... the best thing about tonight's dinner... was the man-boy! Anytime you can cook for your grown boys.... spend time with your grown kids.... PRICELESS!!!

Chicken Dinner Winner with Stuffing and Roasted Carrots!!

Another super busy school day... ending with a chilly afternoon softball WIN for the Frontier Lady Red Hawks!! Which meant, we didn't get home until about 6:45.... so how do you make dinner on a school night like this? CHECK THE FRIDGE! What do we have? WOW! Tonight we have half of a rotisserie chicken! BOOM! Super lean protein ready for some sides! Tonight, how about a side of carrots (our favorite) and some stuffing (cause that's what we got)! So, peel and chop the carrots into long, irregular chunks. Drizzle with some olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic powder and thyme. Mix together and coat those carrots in all that flavor, and pop into a 375 degree oven! These may take anywhere from 25-35 minutes, so while they get going, lets start with stuffing!!! This is what we had, so this is what we're having for dinner! I chopped about 3 stalks of celery and a medium size onion and sauteed in some olive oil for about 10 minutes, or until tender. Next, I added about 1 and 1/2 cups of chicken stock to the veggies, and here's why. Stuffing is like 1 part flavor (onion, butter), 1 part moisture (stock or water), and one part old bread (or in this case, stuffing mix). Most stuffing has a big old heaping,helping of butter for flavor, but we didn't want the fat. We wanted the flavor!!! So I added stock instead. Now, I must have seen this somewhere before, cause I've been dying to try this... I added the stuffing to a greased muffin pan. Then, I popped those mini stuffing muffins to the 375 degree oven (with my carrots) for about 25 minutes.... and they were perfect!! So dinner tonight... Some delicious left over chicken, but with some seriously awesome roasted carrots... our favorite! And our new favorite... stuffing muffins... quick and easy!!! Super crispy, crunchy, savory stuffing with sweet, caramelized carrots, and protein packed roasted chicken!! Winner winner chicken dinner!