Crockpot Brown Sugar Balsamic Glazed Pork Tenderloin

My daughter has this runny nose. It somehow creates this constant smear of dirt on the side of her cheek. I call it “booger face”. Gross, right? Well, if you have kids you know exactly what I am talking about- you don’t get to them with a tissue every time they need it and so they wipe their runny nose across their cheek with their hand. It ends up collecting dirt as it dries and leaves them looking like they just rolled their face around in the backyard. I’ve spent the last two days wiping her face clean on 30 minute intervals. And now I have a 102+ temperature. GREAT.

I am keeping a good 3 foot distance between me and my 5 month old for the moment. There is nothing worse than a sick baby. But because I know I can’t, all I want to do is pick him up, squeeze him, and plaster him with kisses… I just want to devour that baby! I’ll have to settle with just appreciating his cuteness from afar until I am better though.

On a totally different note- I made this crockpot pork for Dave last week. I am always looking for new things to make for him, to keep things interesting. I don’t know why I bother though. I am sure he wouldn’t feel any different about the meals I made for him if I simply rotated the same 3 meals for the rest of his life. I swear, if food wasn’t necessary for survival he wouldn’t eat. He’s crazy.

So since I don’t eat pork, I didn’t personally try this meal and can’t tell you what I thought of the recipe. I can tell you that my Husband ate it until there were no more leftovers and he was very pleased with it. It is also highly rated at the site where I found the recipe. Not to mention that it was super easy to make as well. It is a crockpot recipe after all!

And even though I don’t really eat meat, I do have a great appreciation for a good caramelized crust. The original recipe has you start to glaze the pork during the last hour of cooking and then serve it as is when it is done in the crockpot. I didn’t both glazing it in the crockpot and instead glazed in on a sheet pan and put it under the broil. I repeated this 3 or 4 times to get a good caramelized crust going. I just think its a better method, even if it is a bit more work. There is no way it will caramelize in the crockpot, will it? I don’t know, I don’t make enough crockpot recipes to have any idea. Anybody out there know whether of not it would?

Crockpot Brown Sugar Balsamic Glazed Pork Tenderloin

2 pounds Pork tenderloin
1 teaspoon Ground sage
½ teaspoon Salt
¼ teaspoon Pepper
1 clove Garlic; crushed
½ cup Water
½ cup Brown sugar
1 tablespoon Cornstarch
¼ cup Balsamic Vinegar
½ cup Water
2 tablespoons Soy sauce

Mix together the seasonings: sage, salt, pepper and garlic.
Rub over tenderloin. Place ½ cup water in slow cooker; place tenderloin in slow cooker.
Cook on low for 6-8 hours.
hour before the roast is finished, mix together the ingredients for the glaze in a small sauce pan: brown sugar, cornstarch, balsamic vinegar, water, soy sauce.
Heat over medium and stir until mixture thickens, about 4 minutes.
Brush roast with glaze 2 or 3 times during the last hour of cooking. (For a more caramelized crust: remove from crockpot and place on aluminum lined sheet pan, glaze, and set under broiler for 1-2 minutes until bubbly and caramelized. Repeat 2 to 3 more times until desired crust is achieved.)
Serve with remaining glaze on the side.

adapted from Big Oven

Tagged as:
crockpot,
dinner,
meat,
pork,
Savory

Chicken Marsala…Restaurant Style

December 18, 2014 by danielle Leave a Comment

Chicken Marsala

Ingredients

1 package chicken cutlets, thin
3 Tablespoons olive oil
1½ cups cornstarch
1 small package sliced mushrooms
1 cup Marsala wine
2 tablespoons butter
1 cup chicken broth
1 Tablespoon cornstarch
Baby Broccoli (optional)
1 Tablespoon heavy cream
salt/pepper to taste

Instructions

Heat oil in a skillet on med-high.
Dredge cutlets in cornstarch and season with salt/pepper.
Pan fry to brown to both sides. Remove chicken to a plate.
Add mushrooms to pan and brown.
Put heat on high and add marsala, butter and broth.
Add the 1 T. cornstarch and cook until liquid reduces by half.
Add cream, salt/pepper to taste.
Return chicken to pan to simmer in sauce just a few minutes until cooked through. Add baby broccoli now as it only needs a few minutes to cook. Enjoy!
Top with scallions for garnish, if desired!

3.2.2807

You May Love These, Too! XOXO

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Baked Whole Wheat Corn Dogs

With baseball and BBQs in full swing I thought it would be the perfect time to bake up some homemade corn dogs!

My little girl is a bit of a hot dog snob, so… I had to really hit it out of the park this time. With only 4 hot dogs left in the house, I didn’t have room for failure today.

It’s fun (and a bit challenging sometimes) to give her healthier alternatives to foods that all kids grow up with!

My mom and I have tried our hand a few times at making baked corn dogs. But we’ve always used more of a batter rather than a dough.

Looking back, I now know that was our first mistake.

While the corn dogs always tasted good, they were difficult to make/handle/deal with, had way too much breading around the hot dogs, and never looked appealing.

I basically used this recipe that I found as a base and made some minor adjustments for whole wheat and more spices.

If I hadn’t been making these for my daughter, I would have added more cayenne and/or chili powder. I like a little spice to my corn dog batter, personally.

This time around I went with more of a dough. A whole wheat dough at that! It’s thicker than a batter and was super easy to work with. Just wrap those dogs up in their blankets and tuck them in!

Of course, the usual hot dog is deep fried, so these don’t quite have the same taste or texture as your standard run of the mill corn dog.

No, these are actually better in my opinion.

Baked Whole Wheat Corn Dogs
TheSkinnyFork.com

The Skinny:
Servings: 10 • Size: 1 Corn Dog • Calories: 186.7 • Fat: 6.5 g • Carb: 28.8 g • Fiber: 3 g • Protein: 4.8 g • Sugar: 7.5 g • Sodium: 298.5 mg

Ingredients:
Dough:
1/2 C. Fat Free Milk, Hot
1/2 C. Hot Water
2 Tbsp. Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 Tbsp. Brown Sugar
1 C. Corn Meal
1 1/2 C. Whole Wheat White Flour
1 Tsp. Salt
1/4 Tsp. Baking Soda
1/4 Tsp. Paprika
1/8 Tsp. Cayenne
1/8 Tsp. Chili Powder
2 1/4 Tsp. Active Dry Yeast

Dogs:
10 Turkey Hot Dogs
2 Egg Whites, Lightly Beaten
1 Tbsp. Poppy Seeds

Directions:
Combine the hot milk and hot water with the yeast in a small bowl and set aside for about 5 minutes until the yeast as activated.

Once ready, mix in the oil, brown sugar, and corn meal. Then add in the flour, baking soda, and spices. Stir until the dough becomes sticky. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for about 5 minutes, adding more flour if you need to. Shape the dough into a ball and place in a lightly oil bowl. Cover to allow to rise in a warm place for about an hour or until it has doubled in size.

Alternatively you could toss all of the dough ingredients into a bread machine (in the order listed) and run the dough cycle.

While you’re waiting for the dough to rise, prepare your hot dogs!

I skewered mine onto some thick wooden kabob sticks.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Note: I cooked mine at 450 degrees F. as the original recipe called for and I found that it was too hot. I ended up turning the oven down to 400 degrees F. after the first five minutes of baking, so I’ve made adjustments for how I would do it next time.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and roll out thin pretty thing.

I left mine about 1/4″ thick.

Note: I only made a half batch of dough on this particular day, so you will have a great deal more if you use the full recipe as listed.

Cut the dough length wise into 10 equal (long and skinny) segments.

I trimmed the edges off for aesthetics annnnd because… I made a half batch of dough and only had 4 hot dogs on hand.

Roll the hot dogs up. One dog per segment of dough. You will want to roll at somewhat of an angle to spiral the dough downward from one end to the other.

Be sure to give enough room at each end of the hot dog to pinch the dough in to cover entirely.

Rinse and repeat for the remaining hot dogs.

Lightly brush each dog with the egg whites and top with an even sprinkling of poppy seeds on all sides.

Place each corn dog onto the prepared baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes.

Remove from the oven, flip each corn dog and bake for another 5-10 minutes until the dough is starting to brown and crisp slightly.

Serve warm with your choice of sides and enjoy!