Family Dinner - Always a Feast!

Mia studying Portuguese

Tzatziki Dip

Tonight we are expecting family driving down from Prince George which is about a nine hour drive to Vancouver.  I thought it would be nice to make a Pork Tenderloin with mashed potatoes, steamed broccoli and carrots and as a side dish I made Tzatziki dip and a raw veggie platter.   Both the meat and the dip recipes I found on the internet.  My husband was a bit leary of me trying a new recipe for company.  I had faith!  I had also read about 20 of the reviews so I was very convinced it would be good.  

Slow cookers are great in the fact that you can do housework and the dinner just cooks away while you get other things done.  Nice to have company on a Friday - the house always gets a more thorough clean.  So I shall share the recipe I found but with a few alterations of my own:

PORK TENDERLOIN IN THE SLOW COOKER

• 1 (2 pound) pork tenderloin
• 1/2 package envelope dry onion soup mix
• 1/2 onion cut in circle slices
• 1/2 cup water and 1/2 cup beef broth
• 3/4 cup red wine
• 3 tbsp. minced garlic  + 3 cloves garlic
• 2 tbsp. soy sauce
• fresh ground pepper
• pinch rosemary and pinch thyme
• 2 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
• fresh parsley

Place a few garlic pieces into the tenderloin (called studding - I learned that today).  Put the meat into the slow cooker and empty the 1/2 pkg of onion soup mix on top as well as the fresh onions.  Pour water, broth, wine, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce all over.  Add the rosemary, thyme, parsley, and black pepper.  Put slow cooker onto low, cover and cook for 4 hours turning meat half way through cooking time. Serve the cooking liquid on the side in a gravy dish to use over mashed potatoes.

We enjoyed this with plenty of cornbread, some rye bread and of course a bit of red wine.

North 54 restaurant, Prince George British Columbia

For dessert, believe it or not we still had room, for some of my lemon loaf and my sister-in-law brought us some delectable dark chocolate covered humungous juicy strawberries from her restaurant, North 54 located in Prince George.  The restaurant is so popular that they unfortunately had to turn people away as they were so booked for Valentine's Day this year.





As with all good family dinners it is a good time to have a few laughs and enjoy each others company as we did.  We did however,  have to keep checking to see if Mia was trying to sneak back into the kitchen to steal another morsel of food.  I have never known a cat to have quite a personality  such as hers.  She is a sweetheart though. If you liked this blog you could see my more recent blog at : http://www.jaxjule.wordpress.com

Stewing about Dinner

First off - very sad about Whitney Houston.  People with too much money, too many chances to get into trouble with drugs and alcohol and too much fame can be a lethal combination. We just experienced the same with Michael Jackson and his death at 50.  It's sad for the loved ones that get left behind.  We did get to experience the beautiful music that was Whitney's.  Too bad she couldn't have lived to see her daughter have children and to have more memories.  Instead drugs seemed to control her and so her life was only made up of 48 years.

I felt like stew for dinner tonight in the crock pot.  Last night we had sardines from Portugal - my husband is Portuguese and these frozen sardines are actually from the Atlantic ocean near his hometown of Peniche, Portugal.  It's a healthy fish but you should really fry or barbeque them outside as they have such a strong smell.  Once we cooked them on a little hibachi on our rooftop deck in the summer and my skirt seemed to absorb the fish smell.  I had to wash it twice!!

So tonight - I just bought a package of stewing beef and swished each cube around in a small cereal bowl of flour and salt and pepper.  Then I shook each piece to get a bit of the excess flour off and dropped them into a fry pan of a few tablespoons of hot olive oil.  After a few minutes turn each piece with a fork and add some pieces of chopped garlic and some sliced onions.  Brown all for a few more minutes about 5 minutes and then spoon all into a crock pot (slow cooker).  I added about 1/2 cup of red wine that wasn't very good but will add a bit of flavor to the stew.  Put it on high and then peel a few potatoes and carrots and even a turnip if you like and cut up into wedges and boil for about 10 minutes and drain the water and add the vegetables to your crock pot.  I added a bit of Hungarian paprika and some fresh parsley, a few dashes of Worcestershire sauce and some thyme.  Cook for about an hour until your veggies are fork tender.  Don't overcook and don't stir much as you don't want to break the potatoes. A few slices of rye bread are a nice accompaniment or crusty rolls.  Serve with a nice glass of Merlot - tonight we have a California wine - Barefoot.  Enjoy!!