Roasted Pork Tenderloin Drizzled in Maple-Orange Sauce

Tweet

Happy New Year slash almost February!

I had a few brunch-related posts all ready to go before Christmas, in case anyone needed some inspiration for Christmas morning or New Year's Day brunch, but then I got lazy (even though it's scientifically impossible for the mother of a 10-month old to be lazy).  And now it's January 30.  So, maybe next year!

We had so much fun with the Little Man's first Christmas!  From the taste of the needles on our fake Christmas tree, to squealing at the snow from our living room window, to the endless amusement derived from an empty cardboard wrapping paper roll, he loved Christmas.  He even tolerated sitting on the lap of the mall Santa with horrible mothball breath.

We spent the evening of Christmas Eve with my side of the family at my parents house, and then Christmas Day we were at the Hubby's aunt's house, then on Boxing Day we were back with my family, and then on the day after Boxing Day we were back with The Hubby's family.  So there was a lot of eating and drinking.  For Christmas Eve dinner I brought a chocolate peppermint cake that no one wanted to eat after the gigantic dinner that my mom prepared (except my brother - yay for bottomless pit brothers!!!).  For Christmas Day dinner I brought a spicy cranberry cream cheese spread appetizer that seemed to disappear quickly.  For Boxing Day my dad basically bought every appetizer in Costco, so I came empty-handed (although I did birth a grandchild for them, just saying).  And then on the day after Boxing Day I brought my yummy Parsnip and Carrot Puree.

And now it's January diet time!  I feel like I write this same post every year.  Fun, fattening recipes in December, and clean, boring recipes in January.  Oh, traditions - ha!

I've been using my Looneyspoons cookbook a lot this month.  Every recipe is a winner, and they are all healthy or low calorie, but secretly delicious.  I've also been trying to use up some of the meat lurking in my freezer, so I thawed out a pork tenderloin and decided to give this roasted pork tenderloin in maple-orange sauce a try.  The Hubby said that this may be the best pork he has ever had.  I asked, "best pork tenderloin?"  He responded, "no, best pork of any pork."  So you know this is a keeper in our house.  I served it with a vegetable fried rice, another recipe from the Looneyspoons cookbook.  We will be making it again!

Happy new year everyone!



For a printer-friendly version of any recipe, simply click 'Print' below the title of any blog post. Voila - a clean recipe without my ramblings or any pictures!

One Year Ago:  Carrot Coconut Soup
Two Years Ago:  Land of Nod Cinnamon Buns
Three Years Ago:  Turkey Meatballs in Coconut Curry Sauce
Four Years Ago:  Meyer Lemon Chicken Piccata
Five Years Ago:  Minestrone Soup

Roasted Pork Tenderloin in Maple-Orange Sauce

Serves: 4

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 pound (680 grams) pork tenderloin, trimmed of all visible fat
• 1/2 cup maple syrup
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons ketchup
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 1 1/2 teaspoons grated orange zest
• 1 1/2 teaspoons curry powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground coriander
• 2 teaspoons minced garlic
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce 

Directions
Place pork into a large Ziplock or heavy-duty resealable plastic bag.  In a medium bowl, whisk together all remaining ingredients and add to bag, turning bag a few times to make sure the the pork is fully covered.  Refrigerate for one hour.

Preheat oven to 350°F.  Transfer pork and marinade to a baking dish.  Bake uncovered for 40 minutes.  Remove from oven and let rest for 5 minutes before slicing pork (it should be slightly pink in the middle).  Drizzle extra sauce over pork and serve.  Enjoy!  

Recipe Source:  The Looneyspoons Collection

Prawn and Andouille Sausage Gumbo

Tweet

Ever since our first visit to New Orleans for our honeymoon in 2010, The Hubby has been asking me to recreate in our kitchen the delicious gumbo that we ate there.  He even begrudingly approved the purchase of a cookbook with a gumbo recipe in it from our favourite restaurant there (NOLA), even though I have 90 million cookbooks already (side note: and want more, more, MORE!)  Then we went back to New Orleans in 2012, and again in 2014, and coming up again this year, and still I hadn't made the gumbo.

But then!  My mom and I decided to make the gumbo together one night, and I surprised The Hubby with a hot bubbling pot of this Creole concoction the next day.  He was stoked (well, as stoked as one can get over soup).  I was redeemed.

So, I'm either a really good wife, or a really bad wife.  Or both (but probably the second one).  In any event, I'm glad that I put my cookbook (Emeril's Potluck) to good use and finally got around to making this gumbo.  It was delicious, and one of those things that is better the second time that you eat it, and since this is a big recipe, the third and fourth and maybe even sixth time that you eat it too.

The stores didn't have any fresh okra when I was making this dish, so I purchased it from Safeway's frozen vegetable section and it worked just fine.  Having never worked with okra before I was very surprised at the resulting 'goo' or slime that appears when you start cooking it.  The slime just keeps coming and coming, and I just kept commenting and commenting on how, just, WEIRD it was, and my mom just kept tolerating and tolerating my incessant noticing of and commenting on the slime.  But then the slime cooks itself away and eventually it becomes the thickening (and flavouring!) agent in this gumbo.  You can't skip the okra...plus it's a fun science experiment to watch along the way.

We are heading to New Orleans again this year, and I can't wait!  This time my parents are joining us too.  But dare I say...I actually enjoyed this homemade gumbo more than the authentic stuff that we ate in the (ok, yes, very touristy, but still more authentic than say, Canada, for instance) French Quarter.

And if you're in the mood for Cajun / Creole food, here is an awesome Jambalaya Recipe that appeared on this blog back in 2012.



For a printer-friendly version of any recipe, simply click 'Print' below the title of any blog post. Voila - a clean recipe without my ramblings or any pictures!

One Year Ago:  Easy Weeknight No-Brainer BBQ Chicken Salad
Two Years Ago:  Butternut Squash Risotto with Arugula
Three Years Ago:  Crispy Chicken with Green Curry Sauce

Prawn & Andouille Sausage Gumbo

Serves: 10

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 pound Andouille sausage, sliced into 1/4-inch round slices
• 2 pounds okra (frozen or fresh), stems trimmed off, and then cut into 1/4 inch round slices
• 2 cups canned tomatoes, finely chopped
• 1 cup onion, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup green pepper, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup celery, finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon garlic, minced
• 2 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 2 bay leaves
• 3/4 teaspoon dried thyme
• 8 cups chicken broth
• 2 pounds prawns, peeled and deveined
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
• Fresh parsley, finely chopped (for garnish)
• Green onions, thinly sliced (for garnish)
• Cooked white rice, for serving

Directions
In a large pot, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat.  Add the sausage and cook for five minutes, or until fat is rendered.  Add the okra and cook, stirring continuously, for 10 to 12 minutes, or until most of the slime disappears.  Add the tomatoes, onion, green pepper, celery, and garlic, then cook, stirring often, for 10 minutes, or until the okra and the vegetables are soft and the slime from the okra has completely disappeared.  Add the salt, cayenne pepper, bay leaves, thyme, and chicken broth.  Stir well, and bring to a boil.

Meanwhile, put your prawns into a medium sized bowl, then sprinkle with paprika, garlic powder, pepper, oregano, and a dash of salt.  Toss to make sure that the seasoning is distributed over all of the prawns, then set aside.

Once your pot is boiling, reduce the heat to medium, and simmer, uncovered, for 15 minutes.  Add the prawns and cook, stirring occasionally, for 30 minutes.  Remove the bay leaves.

To serve put the heated cooked rice into a bowl, then top with the soup.  Garnish with parsley and green onions.

Enjoy!

Recipe Source:  Emeril's Potluck - Shrimp, Okra, and Tomato Gumbo

Mom's 'Fall Off The Bone' Oven-Baked BBQ Pork Ribs

Tweet

Even writing this blog post has me salivating.

Seriously!

These oven-baked BBQ pork ribs are one of my favourite things to walk into my parents' house for Sunday dinner and smell cooking away in the kitchen.  They are so saucy, tender, fall-off-the-bone delicious that I can't believe it's taken me this long to get this recipe up on the blog!  Whenever I make them it reminds me of my mom, who pretty much has the market cornered on delicious comfort food.

Speaking of which, we were going to make them for supper when my parents came by a couple of weekends ago, but then The Hubby informed me that it's a faux pas to cook something for someone that they make for you when you go to their house (who knew?!), so we had them the next night instead because after getting them into my head I couldn't get them out!  For those of you who don't like loose ends (or if you just like me and don't like not knowing all of the details to every single thing all the time), we ended up having steak for dinner the night my parents came (also good).

These ribs are best served with mashed potatoes to soak up the BBQ sauce, and in my family we always use this delicious baked cheesy mashed potato recipe when eating them (and pretty much every other time that dinner demands mashed potatoes!).

My version of the recipe follows below, but here it is in my mom's own words...the sign of a great recipe is in the food splatter marks all over it!

For a printer-friendly version of any recipe, simply click 'Print' below the title of any blog post. Voila - a clean recipe without my ramblings or any pictures!

One Year Ago:  Healthy Southwest Chicken and Rice Bake
Two Years Ago:  Baked Chicken with Creamed Spinach and Squashed Potatoes
Three Years Ago:  Chicken Cacciatore

Mom's 'Fall Off The Bone' Oven-Baked BBQ Pork Ribs

Serves: 6

Ingredients

For Ribs:

• 6 pounds 'country-style' pork ribs
• 2 lemons, thinly sliced
• 2 onions, thinly sliced

For Sauce:

• 3 cups water
• 2 + 1/4 cups Heinz chili sauce
• 1 cup white vinegar
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 6 tablespoons molasses
• 3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• 3 tablespoons soy sauce
• 6 teaspoons chili powder
• 3 teaspoons celery seed
• 3 teaspoons dry mustard
• 1 + 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Cut excess fat off of ribs.  Arrange in a single layer in a lasagne pan.  Distribute lemon and onion slices over top of ribs.



Cover with foil and bake for 1 + 1/2  to 2 hours.

Meanwhile, to make your sauce combine all of the sauce ingredients in a saucepan.  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer for 1 hour uncovered, stirring occasionally.

When the ribs are cooked, remove from oven (leave oven on) and discard the lemon and onion pieces.  Drain off the liquid from the pan and discard.  Pour the hot BBQ sauce from the saucepan over top of the ribs.  Return the ribs to the oven and baked uncovered for about 1 hour, basting every 10 minutes.  Do not let the ribs dry out or they will be tough to eat.



Serve with a green vegetable, mashed potatoes (such as this delicious recipe), and a green salad, for a comfort dinner like no other.

Recipe Source:  My wonderful mother.

Slow Cooker Philippine Pork Stew

Tweet

Ok, this one comes VERY Hubby approved and recommended.  He seems to throw this comment out kind of often, but apparently this was the, 'best meal this year.'  Then I reminded him he said that about a pasta I made about a month ago, and so he said, "ok, this one is second place then."  Then I reminded him that he said that about a dinner he had at a restaurant we went to on our anniversary and another dinner that we had a week after that at another restaurant.  So, who knows really with him, but he definitely thought this was a keeper!

He put a cookbook into my stocking last year called The Best of Bridge - Slow Cooker Cookbook, and I have made only one or two things in it so far, but something triggered him to remind me of it this week.  I told him to go get it off the shelf, choose anything in the book, and I would make it.  The majority of the summer hasn't exactly been 'slow cooker bubbling away on the counter season,' on account of the heat wave, but a couple of weeks ago we were experiencing a bit of an Augtober that kind of put a 'damper' on things, and a CrockPot dinner seemed like just what the weatherman ordered.  The 'Pork Adobo' recipe caught his eye, and thus a Wednesday night dinner was born.  To be honest, it's probably something I would have turned the page on and never made if not for him choosing it this week.  Ingredients like, 'cinnamon stick,' and 'whole clove,' aren't usually up my alley, but a deal was a deal and I made the dish anyways.  Are we ever glad we did!  The Hubby gave rave reviews, and I always especially know it's a good meal when he excitedly packs his leftovers for lunch the next day.  He admitted afterwards that he chose the recipe because the cinnamon and clove seemed weird.  Haha.  Side note - a stick of cinnamon from the bulk section of our grocery store costs $0.03.  A whole clove is too light to even register on the store's scale, so the cashier shrugged and put it into the bag for free.  The bay leaves were the same way.  I basically robbed the grocery store!!

Creamy Bacon and Leek Pasta

Tweet

My family likes to cook.  So recently when we went away for a nice relaxing three-day weekend in Birch Bay just over the US border from our place, we decided to have a pasta throwdown.  Because why wouldn't you have an intense pasta competition on your relaxing family vacation.

The competition gets underway.

My family is obviously also competitive.  So when I called my dad a few days before our trip to let him know what kind of pasta I would be making and what my ingredients were, I shouldn't have been surprised when he remarked that he couldn't believe I had willingly given up my recipe so close to the competition and that he could really use this to his advantage.

Butternut Squash, Italian Sausage, and Spinach Pasta

Tweet

Secret:  The butternut squash is the sauce.  No, like it actually is the sauce.  Like, there's no tomato sauce, and instead it's butternut squash.  Does that mean it's healthier?  I have no clue.  But tasty?  Oh my gourd, yes!

But, first things first (and I know I'm a little late)...WAY TO GO TEAM CANADA!

This is what Canadians live for!

We had 26 people crammed into our tiny living room to watch Canada win gold over Sweden in Men's Hockey in the Sochi Olympics.  And with a 4am game start time, why wake up early when you can stay up partying all night long?  We didn't crawl into bed until close to 8am, but it was worth it.  Well, except for The Hubby who was sawing logs by the end of the second period after doing a well-executed 'classic slip-out*' exit from the party.  He was discovered minutes later, in our bed, with drool already on the pillow...it was too late to drag him back to the party.

*During a classic slip-out, you must tell no one that you are leaving, and 'slip out' of the room without saying goodbye, for fear of being told by anyone in the room that you are actually, in fact, not allowed to leave because leaving would be super lame.

So, Pinterest is awesome and something I could become easily obsessed with.  Just kidding, I already am obsessed with it.  You can follow me here if you like.  Actually, I have pinned something like 1500+ recipes (with probably a lot of duplicates, because with 1500 recipes who could remember which ones you've laid eyes on before), and have only made a few things.  A couple of weeks ago I challenged myself to make something, anything, from one of my Pinterest boards, and that's when I stumbled upon the Pasta with Butternut Sauce, Spicy Sausage, and Baby Spinach from the Skinny Taste website.  It looked like exactly what I was going to need in my life that night, so I went to my favourite store (COSTCO!!), and picked up some butternut squash, 18 other things that I didn't plan on buying (48 granola bars!  16 cans of soup!  6 boxes of crackers!), and Italian sausage.  I changed up the recipe a little bit, with one of the main differences being that I roasted the squash instead of boiling it in water, which I felt would help to retain more flavour.

Kendra's Pickled Asparagus, Prosciutto, and Cream Cheese Appetizer

Tweet

What could be easier, but look so gourmet?

 

You may have thought that with her Italian Sausage Jalapeno Poppers she was a one-trick pony, but this is another great appetizer from my friend Kendra.

The recipe is simple too, with just three ingredients and no chopping, mixing, heating, baking, or cooking, making it the perfect last minute appetizer when you need to throw together something in a hurry.  Or, even when you have time to fuss, because basically for me, anything with cheese in it is always good.  I've used the Sunshine Farms brand of store-bought pickled asparagus for this recipe, which can be found near the pickles and olives in your supermarket.  I can't wait to try making this appy again once I have canned some homemade pickled asparagus this spring, hopefully without risk of botulism this time.  

Traditional Italian Sausage Lasagna

Tweet

While I'm on the Italian Sausage bandwagon...

This blog's tagline is The Kitchen Confessional of Megan McLeod...well, here's one for you.  All of the mozzarella cheese that went into this lasagna fell off the counter and onto the floor before I assembled the lasagna.  All of this precariously placed cheese, onto the non-swept floor...

Five second rule!

...and then into a lasagna.  Don't tell The Hubby!!

Second kitchen confessional is that I wear these onion goggles every single time that I cut onions.  They totally prevent my eyes from stinging and crying.  Plus they are obviously super stylish!

Hi 

So, our garage was broken into a couple of weeks ago.

Kendra's Italian Sausage and Cheese Stuffed Jalapeno Poppers

Tweet

It's amazing how many times you can forget not to touch your eyes after handling jalapeños.  For me, like 12 times probably.

 

Which is enough to make me wonder for a moment whether I have short term memory loss or whether maybe I am just a really slow learner.  Kendra's public service announcement is that you may want to use disposable gloves for this recipe (especially if you wear contact lenses) to protect your eyes and skin from the spicy jalapeños.  Or like me, you can just...not...

Who is Kendra, creator of Jalapeno Poppers, you ask?  Well, Kendra and I have been friends for ten years now, she was one of my bridesmaids, and she's one of my besties.

Kenji and me.

We met while working together at Milestone's Restaurant back in the early 2000's, most likely while commiserating over waiting for 'campers' (restaurant guests who linger even after the restaurant is closed, for no apparent reason, and don't take a hint to leave even after the ugly lights have come on and two waitresses are staring them down awkwardly from the other side of the restaurant) to finally go home so that we could do the same (or - let's be honest since we were 20 years old and worked in a restaurant - go to the bar).

Souper Sunday #15: Corn and Wild Rice Soup with Smoked Sausage

Tweet

Lazy Sundays...they're the best.

 

Today has been a soup-making, novel-reading kind of a day, with a quick pop-in from my mom (including a glass of wine - now you see that I come by it honestly!) in the middle to add to it.  My mom brought over containers of two home-made soups that she had made this weekend (again, you can see that I come by it honestly!), and they were both amazing.  The two kinds were Curried Cauliflower and Split Pea and Ham, and you will be seeing those recipes on here as soon as enough Souper Sundays go by that I can make them.  The laundry awaits me shortly, but for now I am content sitting here typing this while sipping on a cup of David's Tea 'Alpine Blend' while The Hubby has a cat nap.

Souper Sunday #12: Spicy Chorizo Sausage and Sweet Potato Soup

Tweet

This one came highly recommended by my sister-in-law.

 

And I can see why!  The smoky, garlicky taste of the chorizo sausage, the plethora of healthy vegetables, the delicious curry aroma.

Souper Sunday #6: Italian Sausage Soup

Tweet

I'm still not getting tired of soup (eating or making).

What I love in particular about soup today is that I basically was able to just take everything that was already in my fridge, chop it up, and throw it into a pot.  The Italian sausage and spinach were leftovers from a delicious Italian Sausage and Tomato Risotto that I made last night for dinner.  It's one of The Hubby's favourite things to eat, and we were having his parents over for dinner and cards, so I let his dreams become a reality.  I'm a risotto dream-maker.  It's just what I do.

Pasta With Arrabiata Sauce

Tweet

This was my my favourite pasta sauce to eat when I was in Italy last year.  When I wasn't gluten-free yet, aka the good old days.

 

And now, here it is, in my kitchen in Canada, on gluten-free pasta.  But I have to say, the quinoa/corn blend pasta that I use tastes fairly identical to wheat pasta, and this sauce recipe tastes fairly identical to what I became slightly obsessed with in Italy.  I hear that Costco, my favourite store in the world, is now selling a gigantic bag of quinoa/corn blend pasta...looking forward to my visit there this weekend!  Woo.

'Arrabiata.'  It means 'angry' in Italian, and the reason for the sauce being labelled with this name is because of the spice of the red pepper flakes.  At the restaurants that I ate at in Italy, Arrabiata meant a spicy red sauce with chunks of pancetta in it.  Back home, it seems to just mean a spicy red sauce, and an Amatricana sauce is the one that has the pancetta chunks.  I was happy when I stumbled across this Giada de Laurentiis recipe for Arrabiata sauce from my copy of her Everyday Pasta cookbook, because it combined both the spice of the red pepper flakes and the pancetta like I remembered.

Butternut Squash and Italian Sausage Lasagna with Sage

Tweet

When company's coming and you want to fuss a little bit...

 

Make this!

I fricking love Emeril.  Seriously, he has never let me down.  And you know who loves him more than me?  The Hubby.  He gets very excited when Emeril is on Top Chef, and very excited when we have gone to his restaurant NOLA (where we purchased a cookbook), and also very excited to eat anything that comes from an Emeril cookbook...including this lasagna, which quite frankly I was worried about serving to him.

Maybe it was the cooked apple (The Hubby hates 'warm fruit,' including in pies).  Or maybe it was the butternut squash (he doesn't really enjoy butternut squash when it's 'cube-shaped'...seriously, you can't make this stuff up).  Or maybe it was the cinnamon and hazelnuts (these would definitely be weird ingredients in a lasagna in The Hubby's eyes, and fair enough).  As I was preparing to dice the apple to cook it with the fennel, sausage, and onion, I was a little nervous that he would walk into the kitchen and see what was happening.  I even directed him to a different part of the house, which worked for a little while, but of course he eventually did walk in...but somehow didn't notice!  Phewf.

Thanksgiving 2012

Tweet

Guys, I hosted my first holiday dinner this year.  Thanksgiving.  Me.  Guests.  Dinner.  Turkey.  Gravy.  Other Things.  Scary.

What's that you say?  Thanksgiving was October 8, and today is November 21?  Well, the answer to why I am posting all about Thanksgiving 2012 more than a month after Thanksgiving 2012 is because I am really, really bad at not being lazy and really, really good at procrastinating posting this in honour of our neighbours to the south in celebration of their American Thanksgiving!

Cornbread and Sausage Stuffing (Gluten-Free or Regular...Your Choice!)

Tweet

Thanksgiving is the first holiday dinner that I have been gluten-free for, and my immediate thoughts were the stuffing and gravy. 

 

It turns out, both of these dishes are easily converted to gluten-free.  For this stuffing, I made half with Bob's Red Mill gluten-free cornbread mix and the other half with Bob's Red Mill regular cornbread mix (just in case the gluten-free stuffing...sucked).  Those who taste-tested both at Thanksgiving dinner said that they tasted exactly the same!  The Hubby's grandmother is also gluten-free, so we both got to enjoy stuffing with our turkey.  This is a keeper recipe that I would definitely make in the future.  I added the pecans for a little crunch, and I think it went nicely with it.

Bacon Night!

Tweet

Friday night was intense.  Saturday I had a major bacon hangover.  Sunday I ate more bacon.

Here's the line-up from our bacon-themed Supper Club night.  And yes, even the dessert had to contain bacon:

• Bacon-infused vodka Caesars with bacon stir sticks and all of the other necessary Caesar accoutrement
• 
• Bacon and caramelized onion dip with veggies and tortilla chips
• 
• Spinach salad with bacon
• 
• Boursin and bacon stuffed chicken wrapped in prosciutto
• 
• Bacon hasselback potatoes
• 
• Brussels sprouts with bacon, garlic, and shallots
• 
• Gluten-free bacon brownies topped with chocolate sauce, walnuts, and vanilla ice cream.
• not pictured here because by this point it was wayyyy too late to care about taking pictures.    You can actually see the deterioration of the pictures as the night goes on in the series above.

Holy crap it was good.  I love Supper Club.

Boursin and Bacon-Stuffed Chicken Wrapped in Prosciutto

Tweet

Definitely make this.  DEF-IN-ITE-LY make this.

 

Boursin is one of my favourite things on this planet.  I just.  Want it.  My taste buds love it.  I could legitimately sit down with a box of Boursin, open up the foil, plop it onto a plate, lick the foil clean (oops, no, I haven't done that every time I've eaten it), and then eat the entire package of it in one sitting.  I've never allowed myself to do that before, but every time that we have company and Boursin is one of the appies that I am putting out, I secretly want to do it.  I want to eat it all before anyone else arrives.  To have it all be mine would be, just, no words.  To me, that's how good Boursin is.

So then, as I was using my expert Google sleuthing skills to hunt down a meat-dish entree for my recent bacon-themed supper club night, I stumbled across this recipe for Boursin and bacon stuffed chicken on the So Delushious blog (which I am now probably going to become addicted to).  How could I not make this?  (Rhetorical question...I couldn't not)

Classic Chicken Jambalaya

Tweet

In case you don't want to read this entire blog post, I will summarize.  The lessons to be learned here are that everyone needs a Jeff, and everyone needs this jambalaya.  I will explain...

Lesson 1:  Everyone needs a Jeff
There's something to be said about having a really great platonic friend of the opposite sex.  Some might scoff and say that it's impossible...that it's simplistic or unrealistic to think that two people of different genders can have a healthy, normal, nonphysical friendship.

Don't get me wrong, because for the most part I think that the scoffers are correct.  It is supremely difficult to find a person of the opposite gender who A) wants me to be good friends with someone of the opposite gender, B) wants to be just good friends with someone of the opposite gender, and C) after you get married, still fits into your life really well and even becomes (possibly probably better) friends with your spouse.

Well, I'm here to tell you that my (straight) friend Jeff and I have this type of friendship, and have since that first day in grade 8 when we watched the 1996 MTV Movie Award-winning slasher-film 'Scream,' and did not feel attracted to each other.  Jeff and I have never kissed,  hugging is even awkward, and he's one of my best friends.  It's the perfect male/female friendship.  I actually just got off the phone with him where a good part of the conversation was me tormenting him about how he is going to be the star of this blog post, so I'm tempted to tell a juicy story about him but will save it for another day.  Mwah ha ha, the power I hold!

Beef Stroganoff Casserole

Tweet

I'm not a huge craver of red meat, but occasionally the mood strikes.  It struck recently, so I made this Beef Stroganoff, and then The Hubby and I devoured it.

Oh, which reminds me that I should mention, but that way, that you need to make this Beef Stroganoff.

I recommend this as a Sunday night dinner, served with some crusty bread and a green salad.  Or, perhaps an extra-extra-large portion reheated on a Monday night with no side dish at all, while you watch The Bachelorette.  Or, even a few bites for breakfast, cold, out of the dish, standing in front of the glaring judgmental light of the refrigerator.  Any of those methods are all good ways to eat this dish, strictly speaking from experience.

This is the best Beef Strogranoff I have EVER eaten, hands down, and is much better than the Hamburger Helper one that I used to eat in my early 20's (slash ate recently when The Hubby made it for me).  There are quite a few steps involved in the dish, but they are all worth it and each one adds great flavour.