Baby Evie!!

This post has nothing to do with food, I just want to show off my incrediably adorable neice Evie!

Liane had her all dressed up to see me:)

Yay! I got a smile!! I had to distract her with the sock monkey while I took this. It's like she knows when there's a camera around.

Just hanging out, looking cute. Love you Evie!



Pork 2 Ways

I'm pretty proud of myself. Going from hardly ever using up leftovers to two posts about it! This was dinner last week, but with conventions and work and...well life I guess, I didn't get around to posting. Both these dinners were soooo good (in my humble opinion). Seriously though, they were crazy easy, hardly any ingredients and pretty fast.

Honey Herb Glazed Pork Tenderloin


You'll need:

• 1 1/2-2 lb. pork tenderloin
• basil, chives, rosemary
• 1 tbsp honey
• corn on the cob
• green beans
• almonds

Soak the corn on the cob (in husks) for 20-30  minutes in a pot of cold water. Wrap them in foil. While they're soaking rub tenderloin with salt, pepper, chives, rosemary and basil. Pour honey over top and brush or rub on. Stick tenderloin on the grill on high heat for a few minutes on each side then lower to medium and put corn on the top rack.

While Those are grilling trim your beans and throw them in a pot of water and bring to a boil. Chop up some almonds. I've made these before with bacon in them too and they were amazing but my bacon was frozen solid because I didn't remember to take it out.

The corn and tenderloin cooked together for about 15-20 minutes. The honey made an amazingly delicious carmalized crust on the outside of the pork and the inside was so juicy and fell apart when you chewed it. I was nervous about the corn, it hasn't seemed to be good lately, but this was perfectly sweet and the texture was great.

Enjoy!

Part Two


This dinner is full of cheats but it was the best stir fry I've ever had!!! I had it 3 times because it made so much and I loved it each time. I had a little less then half of the tenderloin left over so I chopped it up, threw it in a deep pan with Wegmans tariyaki sauce and heated it though. Then I threw in a bag of the Wegmans frozen Japanese Style stir fry veggies (follow directions on bag). In the meantime I had been making white rice.We use Nishiki white rice (it's awesome). You could do brown rice to make it a little healthier, but due to my husbands love for white sticky rice, we don't.

Serve over rice. I add extra soy sauce to mine (I love soy sauce, I could drink it!) but it's not necessary.  The End!

Simplifying: Our Closet

How many of us have had bags full of clothes sitting around for months waiting to go to Goodwill? Please tell me I'm not the only one! In an effort to continue getting rid of things and organizing our apartment I've decided to finally take care of them. And why not be rewarded for your efforts with a tax receipt? Hey, every little bit counts.

Matt 'discovered' a cool new second hand store the other day when he was out with his mom. It's called Savers and it's in the old Circuit City building by the McKinley Mall. You can donate Housewares, clothing, books, appliances, furniture...and the list goes on. The cool things is, they partner with local non-profits and pay them for all the donated items they receive. The featured non-profit at the McKinley location is the Epilepsy Foundation.

I went through all of our clothes, shoes and bags and took out anything that doesn't fit or we just haven't worn in the past 6 months and added it to what I have already collected. Then I went through and made a list of all the items and their condition (all are good, or very good. I wouldn't donate something if it wasn't any good, chances are they wouldn't take it anyway). I read that this is a good thing to do and staple it to the receipt for a tax deduction, just to cover your bases.

I plan on taking everything over on Monday, and here's hoping I don't come home with anything! Matt already came home with some things from there the other day. We're supposed to be getting rid of things!!! I guess I'll overlook it since he got me some cute bracelets:).

Berry Picking

Even though this year I was going to be all about going and picking all sorts of fruits I've already missed strawberries. I really should have printed out a seasons guide for everything so that wouldn't have happened. But I haven't missed blueberries and raspberries and I'm determined to go picking!

If anyone is interested in going please let me know, I think it would be really fun! I've been looking at local places to go (within an hours drive) and I found Awald Farms. They're open every day from 8am to 6pm and pretty close by, maybe 40 minutes from my house (closer for those of you in OP). I'm thinking of going in about a week or so. I'll call ahead of time to make sure everything is ready for picking and get all the details. Message here if you'd like to join or text me:).

I can't remember the last time I had a blueberry pie. I think I'm due:)

Just Call Me Paula Dean...

This all started a few days ago when I had an intense craving for maple, maple Anything! That lead to memories of going to the Erie County Fair with my parents as a little kid, and being dragged through the boring buildings. The only up-side, getting free samples of maple butter :). Then I read this post and was inspired to make all sorts of flavored butter. 

Blackberry Butter, Raspberry Butter and Maple Butter

You will need:

• 6 sticks of unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup raspberries
• 1/2 cup blackberries
• 1/2 cup pure maple syrup
• 1 tsp. brown sugar
• 8-4 oz. mason jars (mason jars, I know, right. Looking back I should have gotten 8 oz. jars)

Whip 2 sticks of butter on high speed with whisk attachment. Add 1/2 cup raspberries and mix on low speed with beater attachment for 5-10 seconds (until berries just begin to break apart). Add a pinch of salt. Also you can add some confectioners sugar to sweeten it further if you'd like.

Follow the same directions for the blackberries :).

For the maple butter cream together 2 sticks of butter with 1/2 cup maple syrup and 1 tsp. brown sugar. Next time I may add some cinnamon to half the batch and see how that tastes.

A perfect topping for waffles, pancakes, french toast or just an english muffin. I froze one of the maple ones and a blackberry/raspberry one (I had a little left over from each so I just mixed them together). We'll see how they freeze. I'd assume they'll be fine but there's no telling until I take them out and defrost them :).

Yum!

Organization and Simplification

These are two things our apartment needs desperately. We have roughly 840 square feet to work with and I feel like we're not working with it wisely.

So, in a sudden burst of motivation today I decided to take action! I've been looking for a solution for the many bags of flour, wheat flour, oats, confectioners sugar, granulated sugar, brown sugar!!! Ahhhh!!! Then I read this post awhile ago and found my solution. Mason jars! That was it.

 Then at my in-laws the other day it came up that I wanted to go to the Super Flea with hopes of finding cheap ones (they're a bit pricey at the grocery store) and Rose said she had a ton and to take some. Score! So I came home with 8 large mason jars last night and went and bought new rims and lids today and got to work.

I gave them a good wash and got out all my random bags of flour, sugar and everything else I have. As soon as they were dry as a bone (moisture=bad news) I got to filling.

And this is what I ended up with. Eight jars, neat as a pin. I'd like to go back and get even more to store rice and pasta in. Silly me, I almost only took 4 and was talked into eight and now I want more! 

I know it may not seem like a big thing, and it may not be saving me tons of space, but I feel good about it. And hey! you've got to start somewhere.

Double Duty

Sirloin Steak with Bearnaise Butter, Mushrooms and an Herb Salad

For the Bearnaise you'll need:

• 1/2 cup chopped shallots
• 1/2 cup white wine vinegar
• 3 1/2 tbsp chopped fresh tarragon, divided
• 3 1/2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley, divided
• 3/4 cup plus 2 tbsp butter, room temp
• 1/2 tsp grated lemon peel

Place shallots, vinegar, half of the tarragon and half of the parsley in a small saucepan. Simmer over medium-high heat until vinegar is reduced to 3 tbsp, about 3 minutes. Strain into a small bowl, pressing on solids to release any liquid. Discard solids, cool tarragon vinegar mixture. Mix butter, lemon peel and remaining chopped tarragon and parsley in medium bowl to blend. Mix in cooled tarragon vinegar. Cover and refrigerate, it can be kept for up to 3 days in the fridge.

Source: Epicurious

Sear steaks on high heat on the grill on both sides for a about 3 min each side. Lower heat to medium-low and finish cooking steaks til they are to your liking. (My camera died so I have a whopping 2 pictures of this meal. One of mushrooms and one of the finished product.) 

While the steaks are resting melt 3 tbsp butter in a frying pan. Add washed and sliced mushrooms to the melted butter and saute until tender. Mmmm, just thinking of this makes me drool :).

Mushrooms:)

For the herb salad I washed and chopped up a handful of parsley, basil and a few stalks of chives and mixed them with chopped green leaf lettuce. Add some chopped heirloom tomatoes, cukes and crasins and you've got yourself a yummy salad. Slice steak and serve with bearnaise butter and mushrooms.

Enjoy!

Now, ready for this creative genius? It's pretty intense. Two days later, in an effort to use the left overs and not let them go to waste like I so often do, I made this:). It's the steak...on TOP of a salad. But the steak is chopped up and it's on a pretty plate so it's totally different:)