Brown Sugar and Balsamic Glazed Pork Loin

Jason has been hard to please lately. And honestly, I have been utterly sick of cooking the same thing over and over again and can't say I really blame him. This recipe got me out of my rut! YAY! Compliments all around even from our dinner guests. And it looks gorgeous but is effortless. I made a few adjustments according to what I had in my cupboard.

recipe and picture from candcmarriagefactory.com

Brown Sugar and Balsamic Glazed Pork Loin

RUB:

-3 pound pork loin (I used sirloin roast but the recipe calls for pork loin)

-1.5 tsp sage (I used thyme because I was out of sage)

-3/4 t salt

-1/2 t pepper

-1 T garlic powder

Mix the dry ingredients and rub on raw pork with your hands. Place in crockpot with 1/2 c water for 6-8 hours.

GLAZE:

- 1/2 c brown sugar

- 1 T cornstarch

- 1/4 c balsamic vinegar

-1/2 c water

- 2 T soy sauce

Combine glaze ingredients in a pan and heat and stir until it thickens. Brush onto pork several times within the last hour of it cooking. Remove pork and shred/cut. Serve glaze on the side.

Gingerbread Men Shaped Lollipops

I love the holiday season. I especially love that it really gives me an excuse to go all out making all sorts of food goodies to give away. When I first started making lollipops a handful of years ago, I bought a variety of molds at a baking store (SugarCraft). The metal molds made by Sweet Creations are definitely my favorite. You can see what they look like in my Old Fashioned Lollipop post. I love them because they are easy to use and come in a variety of shapes.

In the packs of molds that I bought previously, I had ended up with two person shaped molds. One day, as I was making some root beer lollipops, I looked at those two and thought, "Wow! Those would make awesome gingerbread men for the holidays!" And then my life got busy and the idea got put on the back burner because I didn't really want to buy as many packs of molds as I'd need to get a reasonable number of the gingerbread men molds.

For some reason last month, on a whim, I decided to call the company and ask if they could make me a special pack of all gingerbread men molds. The folks at Sweet Creations were wonderful. Within a week, I had my new pack of molds and was ready to roll! They said they could create any package of molds from the shapes they offer that I wanted! How great is that? I am so happy that I called them, because look at how cute these little lollipops are!!!

I made a batch to give away to the little ones in our family for Christmas. I always make goodies to give to their parents, why shouldn't they get something special too? I made the lollipops exactly as I describe in my Old Fashioned Lollipops post. The only difference here was the addition of the white details. For this I used a stiff royal icing (I used the recipe on a package of Wilton meringue powder) and then let them dry uncovered at room temperature until the icing was dry and hard. Although most of our homes are on the dry side this time of year from the furnace, don't leave the lollipops out any longer than necessary or they could end up absorbing moisture and getting too sticky.

I then packaged them the same way I described in my previous lollipop post. I dusted them with powdered sugar and brushed the excess off with a pastry brush. Into the bags they went with pretty bows and, voila!, perfect little gingerbread men lollipops!

Creamy Rice Pudding from allrecipes.com
Original recipe serves 4

Prep 25 min
Cook 20 min

Ingredients 

• 3/4 cup uncooked white rice
  2 cups milk, divided
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

1 egg, beaten
2/3 cup golden raisins             1 tablespoon butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup white sugar

Directions

1. Bring 1 1/2 cups water to a boil in a saucepan; stir rice into boiling water. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes.
2. In a clean saucepan, combine 1 1/2 cups cooked rice, 1 1/2 cups milk, sugar and salt. Cook over medium heat until thick and creamy, 15 to 20 minutes. Stir in remaining 1/2 cup milk, beaten egg, and raisins; cook 2 minutes more, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and stir in butter and vanilla.

Kara's Dressing

My friend Kara shared this dressing with me months ago and it is delicious! I am a bit lazy so if its good in the bottle, I don't make homemade dressing. I tried this though and its on the rotation at our house. Jason just reqeusted it for this week. Its delicious with whatever salad you make. Kara added low fat bacon bits, sliced almonds, fresh thinly grated swiss cheese and craisins. YUM!

KARA'S DRESSING
1/3 c sugar
2 t chopped onion ( I used dried minced onions)
1/2 t salt
1 T poppy seeds
1/3 c vinegar
1 t dijon
2/3 c vegatable oil

Andes Mint Cookies

I am going to a cookies exchange tonight and am making these from my mother-in-law and thought I would share. They are a little labor-intense but SO worth it. They are kinda like the Pepperidge Farm cookie but WAY better. Y'know the ones right?

Anyway....these are the real better-tasting homemade ones.

1 c butter (no subbing here)

1 c sugar

1/2 c packed brown sugar

2 eggs

1 t vanilla

3 c flour

1 t baking soda

1/2 t salt

65 Andes Mints

Cream butter and sugars. Add eggs. Then vanilla. Combine dry ingredients separately then add gradually to wet ingredients. Cover and refrigerate 2 hours. Shape a tablespoon of dough around 42 mints, forming rectangular cookies. You want the dough to be thin around the cookie (even the dough is this pic is too thick). Please 2" apart. Bake at 375 for 10-12 minutes. Melt remaining mints and drizzle on top of cookies (not show in pic).

BYU Mint Brownies

If you make the 2000 mile sojourn out to BYU every year to indulge in these brownies stop now. Here is the secret recipe originally in the family cookbook by Jessica! It makes and entire cookie sheet full! They are great to cut then freeze. Also great as Christmas gifts to those who have never partaken (Yes, its a word. My word.) of the divinity that are BYU mint brownies. Get ready to be idolized. :)

BYU MINT BROWNIES

 2 1/4 sticks butter. melted

3/4 c cocoa

2 1/4 c sugar

6 eggs, slightly beaten

1 1/2 t vanilla

1 7/8 c flour

1/8 t salt

Preheat oven to 350. Mix together butter and cocoa. Mix in sugar. Stir in eggs and vanilla. Add flour and salt; mix well. Pour into greased cookie sheet. Bake 15 minutes. It may bubble, poke hole and pat down. Do not overcook! Cool completely then frost.

Mint Frosting:

4 c powdered sugar

8 T butter, melted

1 t peppermint extract

3 drops green food coloring

4 T milk (or until spreading consistency)

Spread in thin layer on top of brownies. Work fast because it dries quickly! Put in fridge to cool.

Chocolate layer:

16 oz. semi-sweet or milk ( I use ss) chocolate chips

1 1/2 T butter

Melt together. Pour evenly over cooled mint frosted brownies. Let stand at least for 15-20 minutes before cutting to serve but I think they are best cold! Keep in fridge.

No-Bake Oatmeal-Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Bars

 



   I made these a few months ago and loved them. I don't usually like no-bake cookies, but the picture looked so good, I couldn't resist! And, I'm glad I did b/c they were so yummy.

No-Bake Oatmeal-Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Bars
from Brown Eyed Baker

Ingredients:

3 cups old-fashioned oats
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips, divided
1 cup creamy peanut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups granulated sugar
½ cup milk
½ cup unsalted butter
½ teaspoon salt

Directions:

1. Line an 8-inch or 9-inch square baking dish with parchment paper and set aside. (You can use a 9x13-inch if you want thinner bars.)
2. In a large mixing bowl, stir together the oatmeal, 1 cup of the chocolate chips, the peanut butter and vanilla extract; set aside.
3. In a small saucepan, combine the sugar, milk, butter and salt over medium heat. Bring to a full boil (there should be bubbles covering the entire surface) and boil for 2 minutes.
4. Immediately pour the hot mixture (carefully!) over the oatmeal mixture and quickly stir to combine, ensuring that all of the oatmeal mixture has been moistened. Turn the mixture into the parchment-lined pan and use the back of a spoon to press it evenly into the pan. Sprinkle the remaining 1 cup of chocolate chips over top and gently press them into the top of the mixture.
5. Allow the bars to sit at room temperature to set up, which takes about 30 minutes. Use the edges of the parchment paper to lift the bars out of the pan and cut into squares. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week.
Note: Like any no-bake cookie, the final texture of these really depends on how long you boil the sugar mixture. If it doesn't boil long enough, the cookie mixture will be too soft; if you boil too long, they could turn out dry and crumbly. I like to set a timer just to be sure.