EASY BEEF TENDERLOIN

Christmas Eve dinner was just the two of us this year so I made a beef tenderloin with sauteed mushrooms and twice baked potatoes. Tonight that left over tenderloin will make some great hot beef sandwiches. YUMMY!

BEEF TENDERLOIN
1 (3 pound) beef tenderloin roast 
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 bunch green onions, sliced thin
4-5 mushrooms, sliced thin
1/2 cup melted butter

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 
  
• Sprinkle garlic on bottom of shallow, glass baking dish and then layer green onions on top. 
• Place roast on top of onions.
• Whisk together soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce and butter.
• Pour over the tenderloin.
• Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes, then turn the roast over, and continue cooking 35 to 40 minutes, basting occasionally until the internal temperature of the roast is at 140 degrees for medium.
• Let meat rest for 10 to 15 minutes before slicing

CHICKEN ADOBO

When  you look up recipes for Chicken Adobo ou have to choose between either a Phillipino recipe or a Mexican recipe.  I couldn't choose so I decided to combine my favorite ingredients from each of them and make my own recipe.

Chicken Adobo
1 1/2 to 2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts
  3tablespoons butter
1 large onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, sliced VERY thin
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 cup orange juice
3 tablespoons honey
1/2 tablespoon achiote seeds
1 cup boiling water
1 teaspoon basil
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon cayenne
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

• Cover achiote seeds with boiling water. 
• Cover and set aside overnight. 
• Drain seeds discarding water.
• Place seeds, orange juice, soy sauce, vinegar, cayenne, paprika, cinnamon, honey, salt, pepper and garlic in a food processor. Grind until well blended.
• In a large wok or skillet, heat butter over medium-high heat. Sear the chicken on one side until light golden brown, about 5 minutes. Flip the chicken over and sear the other side for another 5 minutes.  
• Add the onions over the chicken.
• Pour the seed mixture over chicken and heat through.
• Serve hot over rice and vegetable sides. 

Taste & Create Partner List

Here is the T&C partner list for our extended Holiday Event! I apologize for the delay. Please remember to submit your creations to Nicole's Taste & Create website by January 24th, 2012! Over the holidays, you'll have extra time to create something fabulous!

If you have any questions or problems, check out the How it Works page, or please feel free to email me at cowgirlmin07 [at] gmail [dot] com.

Have you heard of Taste & Create? It's a monthly food blog event in which participants are randomly paired off, and must choose and create a recipe from their partner's blog. It is great fun! A picture of everyone's creation and a brief "review" gets posted on the Taste & Create website, linking back to your own blog post.

If you'd would like to sign up for the NEXT event, please email me by the 8th of the month. (keep in mind the next month is actually February 2012, then every month again after that) You'll be randomly paired with another food blogger, and the fun will begin!

Can't wait to see what you all create!

Bizzy Bakes & Samayal Arai

Searching for Spice & Tasty Treats

For Such a Time as This & Seduce Your Tastebuds

Study Food & That's So Vegan

Avocado Pesto & The Bad Girl's Kitchen

Angry Asian Creations & Always Eat on the Good China

Sizzling Tastebuds & No Reason Needed

Veg Junction & Cook's Hideout

Roasted Salmon with Lentils

We have one boy, H-Bomb, who LOVES salmon (and all seafood!) and one boy, Sawed Off, who doesn't like salmon at all. We keep serving it. Last night, when I served up this roasted salmon with lentils, Sawed Off immediately said he doesn't like salmon, he didn't want to eat salmon, etc. complain etc. I asked him if he wanted sauce. He said no. Then I poured sauce on his dad's salmon, and Sawed Off said, "That sauce smells good." So I asked him if he wanted the sauce on the side or on top, and he said on top!

Sawed Off ATE that salmon and loved it, and even asked for more sauce on top! Give this recipe a try, even if someone in your family has mixed feelings about salmon. You might be surprised. And if you like salmon, try this recipe, it's a good one!



Roasted Salmon with Lentils
Prep time: 10 minutes
Total time: 45 minutes
Serves 4

3/4 cup lentils, picked over and rinsed
1/2 small onion, chopped
1 large celery stalk, chopped
(I also added 1 large carrot, peeled and chopped)
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 garlic clove, minced
1/3 cup chopped fresh parsley
Coarse salt and fresh ground pepper
4 skinless salmon fillets (6 ounces each)
nonstick cooking spray

Combine the lentils and 2 1/2 cups water in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil; reduce the heat and simmer, covered, for 5 minutes. Add the onion, celery (and carrot); cover, and continue cooking until the lentils and vegetables are just tender, 15 to 25 minutes more. Drain, reserving the cooking liquid. Transfer the lentil mixture to a medium bowl.

In a small bowl, whisk 2 tablespoons of the reserved cooking liquid with the vinegar, oil, mustard, garlic and parsley; season with salt and pepper. *I prepped all these ingredients while the lentils were cooking, then added the cooking liquid at the end.* Toss half the dressing with the lentil mixture.

Heat the broiler. Season the salmon with salt and pepper. Coat a baking sheet with cooking spray. Arrange the salmon on the sheet; broil until opaque throughout, 8 to 10 minutes. Spoon the lentils onto 4 plates; top with the salmon, flaking it into large pieces, if desired. Drizzle with the remaining dressing.

This recipe comes from a weeknight favorite of mine, Everday Food: Great Food Fast.

It's a great cookbook for fairly last-minute dinners, and I turn to it often.

Taste & Create: Buckeye Bars

*Taste & Create is an amazing monthly food blog event, created by my friend Nicole of For the Love of Food. Participants are paired up randomly, and each create a recipe from their partner's blog! It is so fun! Please join us. The deadline to sign up is the 8th day of each month, email me at cowgirlmin07[at]gmail[dot]com if you're interested! For the months of December and January, the Taste & Create will be combined into a single event, with the signup deadline on December 8th and submissions due by January 24th, to give us all extra time to create something fabulous!

My partner this month was Stephanie of Fun Foods on a Budget. So many recipes to choose from, but for me time was of the essence! I just got back from a fabulous family vacation in sunny Mexico, so I needed something quick. I was all set to make Stephanie's recipe for Universal Muffins, originally from The Tightwad Gazette. But then. I decided to cruise through her Cookies & Bars category one more time, in the spirit of the holiday season or something. And that's when I ran across these babies.

Buckeye Bars. I love Buckeye Balls, so the idea of having the same great taste without making individual candies? Wonderful.

In the end I decided to use almond butter, because we are out of our regular natural peanut butter and I didn't want extra sugar. These went together so quickly and nicely in the food processor that I really don't think making the balls would be that much trouble, so I will probably do that again before Christmas.

Also, I must say that I had the same trouble with my chocolate that Stephanie did, but I did leave my bars in the refrigerator overnight before attempting to cut them, so who knows the appropriate timeframe in which to cut them.

And really, I am going to stick with the peanut butter from now on. The almond butter is too gooey, so the bars didn't set up very well. They are sort of a sticky (although yummy) treat that can only be served cold (and are still sticky then). So, my experimentation is a bust, but that won't stop me from eating these AND making them with peanut butter again this season!


Buckeye Bars
1 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup finely ground graham cracker crumbs
1 cup powdered sugar
1 cup chocolate chips

Combine peanut butter, graham cracker crumbs, and confectioners' sugar in a bowl or a food processor until smooth.

Line an 8-inch square pan with foil, with ends of foil extending over sides.

Press peanut butter mixture into pan evenly. Microwave chocolate chips on high for 1 minute; stir. Microwave 15 to 30 seconds or until chocolate is melted; stir until smooth. Spread over peanut butter layer.

Refrigerate 2 hours. Use foil handles to lift bars from pan before cutting to serve.