Grilled Pork Tenderloin with Mustard-Molasses Glaze, Roasted Sweet Potatoes and Brussels Sprouts, and Cranberry Couscous

Fall weather is finally peeking its head out in Charleston and last night's dinner was the perfect fall cooking teaser. I had two pork tenderloins in the freezer and John had a friend coming over for dinner so I called upon Epicurious.com for some ideas. For whatever reason, I searched on "pork tenderloin and mustard." I don't quite remember why mustard came to mind now I think back... But anyways, the fourth recipe listed was Grilled Pork Tenderloin with Molasses and Mustard and it had 54 reviews, most all of them glowing, so I gave it a try.

For two pork tenderloins I doubled the recipe. John actually assembled the marinade for me while I was at work and we let it sit in the fridge for about 5 hours.

*1/2 cup mild flavored molasses

*4 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar *4 Tablespoons dijon mustard

*4 Tablespoons course grained mustard

When I got home, I preheated the oven to 400 degrees to roast my vegetables. I then peeled and cubed two medium sized sweet potatoes and cleaned one bag of fresh brussels sprouts (slicing off the bottom part, removing the outer leaves and halving length wise). I tossed the vegetables in a bowl with:

*a few tablespoons of olive oil

*1 tablespoon of maple syrup

*1 teaspoon of kosher salt

*1 teaspoon of dried thyme

*1 teaspoon of dried rosemary *some freshly cracked pepper

Once everything was evenly coated, I spread the mixture on a lightly greased cookie sheet and put them into the oven. After 20 minutes I gave the vegetables a shuffle around with a metal spatula and put them back in for another 15 minutes.

As soon as the vegetables went in, I removed tenderloins from the marinade, patted them dry with a paper towel, and seasoned with kosher salt and cracked pepper. John started the pork on the grill (he cooks it for about 8 or 10 minuets per side for the perfect medium temperature) and I poured all of the left over marinade from the zip-lock into a small sauce pan. I added 2 more tablespoons of cider vinegar per the recipe and boiled over medium -high heat for a couple of minutes until it thickened up a bit more.

Lastly, I prepared one box of Olive Oil and Garlic Couscous per the package instructions adding two Tablespoons of dried cranberries (roughly chopped) in with the spice packet and water. Couscous is one of my go-to weeknight side dishes. You can jazz it up a dozen different ways and it takes 8 minutes max from start to finish.

I let the pork rest 10 minutes before slicing it diagonally and plating with the vegetables and couscous. I served the mustard-molasses sauce in a small pitcher on the side to pour over the pork and it was absolutely heavenly. The sweet-tangy glaze worked very well with the toasty, sweet and savory vegetables and cranberry couscous added another nice touch of fall.

Having company for dinner is always the best excuse for dessert. John picked up cupcakes from the Cupcake store in town. They have 9 or 10 different flavors and they are scrumptiously adorable piled high with frosting and decorated with sprinkles. Last night we had a selection of chocolate, red velvet and Fluffernutter (banana cake with peanut butter/marshmallow fluff frosting!)

P.S. We had left overs again tonight but I baked some ciabatta rolls and made sandwiches with the pork and left over glaze. The only thing I would do differently next time would be to make a third tenderloin!

P.S.2. I just learned that brussels sprouts has the extra s in there! Who knew!?

Asian Tuna Burgers

Whenever possible, I like to sit down on Sunday afternoon with a few cookbooks (or with the laptop) to peruse recipes and plan our meals for the week. I normally plan three different dinner menus and one night of leftovers- I don't plan for Friday or Saturday nights because we're often out and about. I also take my coffee, breakfast and lunch to work every day which is a great money saver and much healthier than eating out.

So yesterday afternoon I did my grocery run (you'll have to check back to see what else we have on the menu for the week!) and Harris Teeter had some beautiful tuna filets. They often have fresh/local tuna on sale for as little as $5.99/lb which is amazing- we're very spoiled. I decided to make tuna burgers which are one of John's favorites and an easy, healthy Sunday night dinner for two. I ended up with about 0.9 lbs of tuna so I decided to make three burgers. (John had one left over for lunch today.)

I start with one small shallot and one clove of garlic in the food processor- I give them a rough chop first. Next I cube up the fresh tuna and pulse it all together in the processor until it resembles ground chicken or beef in texture. I move the "meat" mixture to a bowl and add:

*1 Tablespoon toasted sesame oil

*1 Tablespoon low sodium soy sauce

*1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger

*1 Tablespoon chopped fresh parsley

*half of a teaspoon sesame seeds

*2 Tablespoons of finely diced yellow bell pepper

*small pinch of red pepper flakes

*a few grinds of freshly cracked pepper

I combine everything gently (hands work best) and divide to form patties. Just before I'm ready to cook them - I brush the patties with a mixture of half olive oil and half toasted sesame oil and then coat with another sprinkle of sesame seeds. We've grilled these before but this time I cooked them in a nonstick skillet on the stove which works great too. They cook over med-high heat for about 3-4 minutes per side. I like them browned on the outside but still barely pink in the middle.

I serve them on a toasted whole wheat bun with either Trader Joe's Wasabi Mayo (amazing) or Maggi Sweet Chile Sauce (be warned: this stuff is like crack! I put it on everything)- sometimes lettuce and sliced tomato. These are ridiculously tasty and believe it or not will satisfy even the most serious burger craving. (with less fat and calories)

You can really add just about anything you like to the ground tuna or you can leave it plain to serve with ketchup and mustard like a real burger. Honestly the texture is almost identical to a beef burger once cooked and provided you have fresh tuna, it has absolutely NO fishy taste.

Keeping with our Asian flavors we enjoyed some baked sweet potato fries and shelled edamame on the side. Kozy Shack rice pudding cups for dessert!

Seared Halibut with Cherry Tomato Vinaigrette and Potato Pancakes

If you haven't picked up yet on my love of all things Costco, I am a huge fan. John and I drive 30 minutes across town for the cheese, wine and fish selections in particular. The Alaskan Halibut that they bring in occasionally is exceptional. I had a few pieces in the freezer so I perused a few online recipe for ideas. I found this one on foodandwine.com and decided to give it a try. http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/pan-seared-halibut-with-tomato-vinaigrette For those of you paying attention, I actually tried their "roasted salmon with tomato vinaigrette" a few months ago. Very very delicious as well. The tomato vinaigrettefor this one is different from the salmon recipe and equally as delicious. I used approximately one cup of grape tomatoes (still working on my stash from my mom's garden) and I halved the remainder of the recipe for two servings. I also made a few adjustments based on what I had available at home: *Substituted fresh oregano for chives *Substituted champagne vinegar for white balsamic *went with a full tablespoon of parsley *added one teaspoon of capers *substituted coriander for ground fennel I'm telling you this stuff is GOOD. You could eat on any fish or grilled meat or even as a dip or bruschetta topping. John finished up early at the hospital today and offered to make dinner. When I told him that I'd planned to make the halibut, he offered to make some homemade potato pancakes to go with it! I had to give him a food processor tutorial over the phone from work which to the person in the cube next to me must have sounded a little strange... He decided on an Emeril recipe and it was fantastic. He assembed them earlier in the day and had them ready to go in the fridge when I got home. While I seared the halibut, he browned the potato pancakes in a cast iron skillet. He used a rocks glass to press them flat in the pan which was the perfect way to maximize the crispy brown crust on each side. http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/potato-pancakes-recipe/index.html They came out perfectly- the fresh lemon and parsley tied in really nicely with the flavors of the fish. Lastly we steamed some fresh broccoli and seasoned with a little salt, pepper and squeeze of lemon juice. Not to shabby for an easy weeknight meal! Will definitely circle back to this one in the future. John doesn't drink much white wine so with dinner we sampled an inexpensive Costco Zinfandel from Lodi, California called 7 Deadly Zins. As I've said before, Costo's prices on wine are SIGNIFICANTLY better than your local grocery store- by our calculations, an $8 bottle there is a $13 dollar bottle at the grocery. They don't have a huge selection but you can trust that the wines the bring in are good. We actually don't know much about Zinfandels and therefore rarely pick them up but this one was quite nice. It was bold but didn't overwhelm the flavors of the meal.

Zucchini "Lasagna"

I'm still working on some of the amazing vegetables that mom and dad brought down from the garden last week. I had quite possibly, the largest zucchini squash that you've ever seen. I had big plans of stuffing it with ground turkey, veggies and cheese but I was looking for something quick and easy on Sunday night so I called an audible at the last minute. I still had a huge container of fresh tomato sauce that we made for the strombolis so I decided on a baked zucchini casserole that really turned out to be similar to a lasagna. I sliced the zucchini thinly. Again this thing was huge so it was probably the equivalent of 3 or 4 normal sized ones. I greased a baking dish (med sized, smaller than a 9 x 13") and started with a thin layer of sauce at the bottom. I then layered zucchini slices, slightly overlapping each other. I topped that with some fresh buffalo mozzarella, some freshly sliced basil (maybe 3 leaves), a sprinkle of dried oregano, and a generous grating of parmesan cheese. I repeated the layers once more: sauce, zucchini, cheese and herbs. I then ended with a third layer of zucchini, topped that with sauce and then sprinkled more parm and a few thin slices of mozzarella on the very top. OH! and I actually had two lonely Italian chicken sausages in the fridge that I browned, crumbled and tossed in with the cheese layers. You could add more sausage to "beef" up the dish as a main course or go without for a vegetarian meal or side dish. I covered the pan with foil and baked it at 375 for about 30 minutes. Then removed the foil and baked for another 20 or 25 minutes until brown and bubbly. (I would stick a knife through the middle to see if the zucchini at the bottom of the dish is tender to ensure its cooked through.) You could also blanch or par boil the squash before assembly to cut the cooking time down. Sunday we had the "lasagna" straight up with some garlic toast on the side. However Monday, I served it over whole wheat rotini pasta (I tossed the pasta with some left over sauce) and it was a bit more substantial. Next time, I might add some eggplant slices and roasted red peppers to jazz it up even more.

Claudia's Coconut Cake

It is hard to pick a favorite of my mother-in-law Claudia's desserts, but I would have to say this one is very near the top of the list. She made it for us one of the very first times that I visited and I'd never had anything like it. As a huge coconut fan, it was right up my alley. I made it for the first time over the weekend and though I had a few minor assembly snafus, it tasted wonderful! I started with a white cake mix. I baked two 9" round layers per the package directions. (I think Claudia actually does this in three layers but I only had 2 pans handy.) While the cake was in the oven, I prepared the filling: 1 cup sugar 1/2 cup milk (skim worked just fine) 2 T flour 2 T butter 12 oz sweetened flaked coconut Mix together in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and stir in a splash of vanilla. I set this aside to cool while my cake layers cooled. You then poke some holes (I used the handle of a wooden spoon) in the cake layers and top with the coconut filling. The gooey syrup sinks into them leaving a layer of coconut over the top. When it came time to stack the layers, I decided to sandwich them together, leaving all of the coconut in the middle. This is where I think three layers would work better to more evenly distribute the coconut and cake ratio. Also, because the filling had seeped into my layers, it was extremely difficult to pick the up without breaking them. It would have been better to start with the bottom layer, top it with filling, then stack the second cake layer and topped it with filling once in place. *Claudia let me know that this is indeed the best approach! Next I made the 7 minute frosting. I have always been a little intimidated by 7 minute frosting but I am proud to say that I bit the bullet and gave it a try- successfully I might add! I mixed the following together in my kitchen aid mixer bowl: 1 1/4 cups sugar (recipe calls for 1 1/2 but I cut it back some and it worked great) 2 egg whites 1 T light corn syrup 5 T cold water pinch of salt I then beat it with a handheld mixer over a saucepan of boiling water for 7 minutes and like magic, I had perfectly fluffy, marshmellowy frosting. *You want to be sure that the bowl isn't touching the hot water in the pan. I read that it could make the frosting grainy.* At the very end, you're looking for it to hold peaks similar to a meringue- then add 1 tsp vanilla. This frosting is absolutely delicious with this cake. It makes for a beautiful presentation too!

You keep it in the fridge and the best part about it is that it actually gets better of the course of a couple of days as the filling and cake continue to soak into one another. Because the recipe calls for only egg whites (for the cake and the icing), it is relatively low in fat however I'm pretty sure that the astronomic amount of sugar kicks it off the healthy dessert list. (sorry) A small piece will do you- so you could easily serve a crowd with smaller slices. *Annie, if you're reading this, I promise to retract my sugar fangs this week so that I can fit into that bridesmaid dress in 17 days!!!

Zabaione with Fresh Berries

My Dad doesn't get much kitchen time in these days between me, my Mom and my sister but he has a couple of specialties that for which we'll gladly step aside- cast iron blackened fish, fresh cinnamon rolls, bagna calda, and magic star biscuits to name a few. One of his FAVORITE desserts to make is zabaione. It an Italian egg custard, whipped until light and foamy and served over fresh berries. After a great dinner at Hank's seafood restaurant downtown, Dad was inspired to whip some up for dessert.

He started with 12 egg yolks in the metal Kitchen Aid mixer bowl and added 3/4 cup white sugar. (The ratio to use is 1/4 sugar to every 4 egg yolks if you want to scale the recipe.) He then set the metal bowl over a pot of simmering/barely boiling water to create a make shift double boiler. With a handheld mixer, he beat the eggs and sugar over the hot water for about 7 or 8 minutes until it was light, foamy and a pale yellow color. Last time I tried to make this by myself, my water was too hot and my yolks started to cook, resulting in a gluey, gummy mess- so be careful.

Once the consistency was right, he added 3 or 4 Tablespoons of Marsala wine, mixed it until incorporated and set it off the heat to cool a little bit. Meanwhile I filled four large martini glasses (large red wine glasses also make for a beautiful presentation) about half way with fresh sliced strawberries and raspberries. Dad poured the custard over the top and we garnished with a few more berries. *These portions were quite large, you could definitely serve this for six people.

It is a very quick dessert though at the same time very sophisticated; rich yet light and airy. I was thankful to have another lesson on the subject from Dad, I'll surely be making it again soon!

Lemon Chess Squares

This was one of the very first recipes that I learned back in middle school- maybe even elementary school - and I have to tell you that I still absolutely love it. Chess squares are the perfect treat when you're looking for a cookie-pie-cake-bar fix all in one. The concept is really versatile too. Starting with a canvas of cake mix, cream cheese, eggs and sugar- you can make an infinite number of variations. This lemon version is really one of the best. It's very similar to a lemon square but easier to make! Preheat oven to 350 degrees. (Be sure the rack is in the middle of the oven, you definitely don't want it any lower or the bottom gets too brown.) In a mixer you start with: 1 box of lemon cake mix 1 stick of butter (softened) 1 egg Zest of one lemon Juice of half a lemon Mix until it forms a ball- will be dough like. Press it into the bottom of a greased 9 x 13 pan to form a crust. Next, mix together: 1 pkg cream cheese (softened) *Beat this first until smooth, then add the rest 1 box of powdered sugar (set aside a few tablespoons for dusting later) 2 eggs Zest and juice of one lemon (you could actually go with two for more of a zing)

You pour the batter over the crust layer and bake for approx 30-35 minutes. I always check it at 25 mins and then let it go until the top is just barely golden brown and the center still has a little jiggle to it when you move the pan. DO NOT OVER BAKE.

Once it is completely cooled, dust with powdered sugar and cut into squares. These are super fast, portable to take to a picnic but also elegant enough to serve as a dessert. I served these after our Pork Kebab meal the other night, garnished with fresh mint and a couple of fresh raspberries and they really hit the spot!

A few other great combinations that I've tried:

*Use a chocolate cake mix, omit lemon and add some vanilla extract or Kahlua to the filling

*Use a devil's food cake mix, add 2 or 3 T cocoa powder to the filling

*Use a yellow cake mix, add vanilla and almond extract to filling- serve with fresh berries

*Use a red velvet cake mix, add vanilla and almond extract to filling

*Use a spice cake mix (or add pumpkin pie spice to a yellow cake mix) and add 1 cup of canned pumpkin (and one extra egg) to the filling

If you eat 1/3 of a pan of these in one sitting as I've done before, you'll look a little like my cat Caesar after a big meal...