Herb Pork Tenderloins

You may remember my post about Kristen and Cody adopting a sweet little girl from China.  Well, we finally had our night with her!  We took their family dinner in exchange for some much needed quality time with this sweet and precious little girl, Mae!  Oh, and we enjoyed catching up with Kristen and Cody too!

I am going to let the pictures do much of the talking here.

Do you think Susan is ready for a grandchild of her own?!

Mae having a blast with her new friend.

Silly Alex!

Kristen put on some music so we could watch Mae dance.

*Starting with the above picture, Cody put a new, fun, external flash on my camera.  My world has been changed, and it will never be the same until I too own this fun flash.*

Kristen is an amazing new mom!

They are now a family of three.  How perfect!

Mae found the top to my dessert, which I will be blogging about soon.

Mae and Dakin had the best time playing with that top.

Making funny faces at each other.

Dakin is awesome with children and will make a great grandfather one day!

I had to give back the flash which left me with a mediocre picture of Mae and Alex on the couch.

As you can see, we had an amazing time with their sweet new blessing!  The pork was an easy meal to throw in the oven while we all talked and caught up on their trip to China.  Susan made a salad and green bean/potato dish for the sides.  I hope you enjoy!

Herb-Marinated Pork Tenderloins
Source:  Adapted from Food Network-Ina Garten

Ingredients

• 1 lemon, zest grated
• 3/4 cup of freshly squeezed lemon juice (I used 5 lemons)
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 2 tbsp. minced garlic (~6 cloves)
• 1 1/2 tbsp. minced fresh rosemary leaves
• 1 tbsp. chopped fresh thyme leaves
• 2 tsp. Dijon mustard
• 2 tsp. salt
• 2 pork tenderloins (they normally come in a package of two)

Directions

Place all ingredients into a gallon zip lock bag.  Turn to coat the pork with the marinade.  Seal bag with minimal air.  Let the pork marinate refrigerator for 3 hours or overnight.  

Heat oven to 400 degrees.  Remove pork tenderloins from the bag and place in a baking dish.  Scoop out chunks of herbs from marinade and place on pork.  Thrown away remaining marinade.  

Bake until internal temperature reaches 145 degrees.  Season with salt and pepper before serving.  Slice into thick pieces for serving.  

Pineapple Pork Tenderloin with Roasted Sweet Potatoes

This dish was photographed and baked by my amazing husband!

This is a sad time of the year around the Tutterrow house.  We have a back yard that birds love.  They are so fun to watch as they eat from the bird feeder and go in and out of the houses around the yard that we have set up.  What makes this time sad is when the baby birds begin to test their new wings.  This typically results in a few ending up on the ground in an attempt to refine their flying skills.  Our sweet Tucker and Jackson think these birds are for them to play with.  These little guys look like a fun toy as they hop and flop around on the ground.  Tucker thinks it is a game and likes to play "catch and release" with these guys.  Sometimes they are fine, sometimes he gets  a little too excited, and well you can imagine what happens.  We have a burial site for all the baby birds that don't make it into summer.  

A few days ago I called the dogs inside and Tucker would not come.  He was standing in the corner of the yard with his "play ears" all perked up.  I found this little guy when I walked over.

Luckily for him, Tucker had not played a game of "catch and release"...yet.  So I do what every wife does and called my husband out to help me figure out a plan.  We couldn't put him back in the nest because it is way up in the trees.  We knew he wouldn't have a fighting chance if he stayed in our backyard, so we moved him to the side of the house in a safe and shaded area.  

I went out to check on him the next day and he was still just hanging out back there, but a little less energetic. I started to worry about him and wondered if we had done the right thing.  After calling a few nature centers they assured me that we did do the right thing, but if he is too far away from the nest then the parents may not hear him in order to feed him.  This made me so sad to think that he was starving to death.  If he was old enough he could have potentially started to fly from this spot, but after some inspection we realized he didn't have his feathers underneath his wings.  I am sad to say this little guy didn't make it, but I hope his passing was  more pleasant back here then it would have been in the mouth of one of my dogs.  

I am such an animal lover and was so sad when I found out he didn't make it.  Hopefully the rest of his siblings will learn to fly straight from the nest.  

Sorry, that was a little sad.  I promise my next post will be happier.

Have you guys ever had your animals do something that made you so sad?

This was my lunch meal of the week.  Alex is not a fan of sweet potatoes.  I loved this meal.  It had a great flavor that was good even reheated.  I loved the roasted sweet potatoes, but prefer them fresh out of the oven than reheated.

Pineapple Grilled Pork Tenderloin

Ingredients:

• 2 1 lb. pork tenderloins
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. freshly ground pepper
• 1 8 oz. can pineapple slices in juice
• 2 limes
• 1/4 cup orange marmalade
• 3 tbsp. hoisin sauce
• 3 tbsp. soy sauce
• 2 garlic cloves, pressed
• 1 tsp. dijon mustard
• 1/2 tsp. ground ginger

Directions

Preheat grill to 350 to 400 (medium high heat).  *We cooked ours in the oven at 350 until meat thermometer read 155.*  Sprinkle pork with salt and pepper.  

Drain pineapple, reserving 1/3 cup juice.  Grate zest from limes to equal 1 tbsp.; squeeze juice from limes to equal 1/3 cup.  

Bring reserved pineapple juice, lime juice, zest, marmalade, and next 5 ingredients to a boil in a saucepan over medium-high heat.  Boil 3 to 4 minutes or until slightly thickened.  Reserve half of mixture in a bowl.  

Grill or bake pork (if baking add pineapple to dish) until meat thermometer inserted into thickest portion registers 155, basting with remaining half of pineapple mixture.  Remove from grill.

Meanwhile, grill pineapple slices 1 to 2 minutes on each side (skip if baking because you can bake the pineapple with the pork).  Serve grilled pineapple and reserved pineapple-marmalade mixture with grilled pork.  

Roasted Sweet Potatoes

Ingredients:

• 2 large sweet potatoes
• 2 tbsp. olive oil
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. pepper

Cube sweet potatoes and toss with olive oil.  Bake at 425 for 25 minutes (keep an eye on them to make sure they do not burn).  Remove from oven and toss with salt and pepper.  

Pork Fried Rice and Edamame

Last weekend I took off to Nashville, TN to spend some time with my Physical Therapy friends.  We were celebrating Beth's Bachelorette Weekend!

Beth is the one with the crown, in case you couldn't guess that:)

We had so much fun catching up on our 4.5 hour drive there and back.  We enjoyed some great food both in Nashville and another quiant town just south of the big city.  

Lauren and I out in Nashville 

Night two:  we all wore black and the bride wore white.  *Note* I am never the tall one.  In all my other groups of friends I am typically the average or short one.  With this group I tend to tower over all my friends! 

Alex and I had an early morning yesterday.  We got up at 5AM picked up my father-in-law and headed down to the Atlanta Airport.  Our friend's, Kristen and Cody, were flying back from China with their new precious little girl, Mae.

 Here they come!

Finally!  This precious girl is home with her new parents!  God truly blessed this family!

We only got to spend a few short minutes with them because they were anxious to get some food and head home after a long time away.  We can't wait to spend some more time getting to know her and watching as she adapts to her new life.

Since we got such an early start, we decided to hang out at home last night.  We enjoyed this yummy and easy dinner then headed outside to enjoy this awesome spring weather.

I love everything in bloom

We enjoyed a glass of wine while playing corn hole.

 After corn hole, we relaxed on the patio with some great music and then headed in for the night.

Alex won, as always:)

Our four legged children enjoyed their time outside too.

Tini doesn't really like to run around.  She prefers her position as lap dog.

They explored all the new smells that come with spring.

Tucker is looking for the dog next door.  I think it looks like he is in time out.

They enjoyed a run up and down the fence line with "Bubba" the dog next door.

Jackson laying in the monkey grass after sprinting the fence line.

He is ready to play ball

My Mom was so kind and planted us a garden while we were in Mexico.  This tomato plant is on fire.  Look at all those blooms just ready to give me some awesome tomatoes. 

Oh look, we already have two and the plants are only about a foot tall!

Now on to dinner.  It was super easy to make.  We served it with a side of edamame.  I bought a bag of frozen edamame at Trader Joe's.  Just defrost it in the refrigerator.  You can serve it cold or heated up in the microwave.  I heated ours up for ~ 2 minutes in a bowl and served with a little kosher salt sprinkled on top.  Yum!  I might go eat some now because I am hungry!

This was my first time buying ground pork.  I actually couldn't find any when I went to Publix, but the nice meat man went in the bag and ground up a 1/2 a lb. for me.  It was only .98 cents.  Awesome!

These two guys are a must as condiments.  If you aren't a condiment person the fried rice is great by itself.

Pork Fried Rice

Source:  Martha Stewart's Magazine:  Everyday Food

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp. vegetable oil
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 2 tbsp plus 1/2 tsp. soy sauce (I used reduced sodium)
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 tbsp. minced peeled fresh ginger (I just grated it on the microplane) 
• 1 bunch scallions, white and green parts separated and thinly sliced
• 1/2 pound of ground pork (you could use turkey too)
• 2 carrots, shredded
• 1/2 cup frozen peas
• 2 cups of cooked white rice (3/4 cup of uncooked rice)
• 2 tbsp. rice vinegar

Directions:

In a woke or large nonstick skillet, heat 1 tbsp. vegetable oil over high.  Meanwhile, in a small bowl, lightly beat eggs with 1/4 tsp. soy sauce.  Add eggs to wok and swirl to coat bottom of pan.  Cook, without stirring, until almost set, ~1 minute, then fold in thirds with a spatula.  Transfer cooked eggs to a work surface and cut into 1/2 inch pieces.

Add 1 tbsp. oil to wok and swirl to coat.  Add garlic, ginger, and scallion whites and cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, ~30 seconds.  Add pork and cook, breaking up meat, until just cooked through, about 3 minutes.  Add carrots, peas, and rice and stir to combine.  Add cooked egg, 2 tbsp. soy sauce, and 2 tbsp. rice vinegar and cook, stirring constantly, until rice is coated, about 1 minute.  Let cook, undisturbed, until warm, about 1 minute.  Top with scallion greens and additional condiments.  Serve with edamame side.