Pork Tenderloin to die for!

Bring on the food!  I made dinner for a few friends the other night and it was amazing!  (If I do say so myself!)  You ever have a meal that you look back at and just think, "Man, that was good!"  The funny part of it, was that it looked like a real fancy, hard meal, but really was quite easy to make and prep for.  I made Marinaded Pork Tenderloin, Twice Baked Potatoes and Fresh Green Beans with Deep Dish Chocolate Chip Cookies and Coconut Cream Pie for dessert.  YUM!  I was feeding a few crew chiefs so I knew that whatever I made had to feed a lot of guys that can pound down the food.  Here was my dinner...

This Pork Tenderloin recipe is my favorite.  It is a super yummy marinade and then you can either grill or roast your pork.  This time I roasted ours, but usually we grill them.  Kinda nice to be able to be versatile with a recipe sometimes.  The flavor from this marinade is so good and then the pan sauce you make to pour over it...  there are not words.  You have to try it!

Pork Tenderloin
(From Chef Mommy)

I made a double recipe.  After I let my meat rest, I sliced it
into about 1 inch pieces and put on platter to serve.

Ingredients:
1⁄2 cups olive oil
1⁄3 cup soy sauce
1⁄4 cup red wine vinegar
Juice of 1 lemon
1-2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1-2 tbsp fresh parsley, finely chopped
2 tsp dry mustard
Freshly cracked black pepper, to taste
4 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
1 1-lb. pork tenderloin (silver skin removed)

Directions:
Combine all marinade ingredients and reserve 2-3 Tbsp. Place the pork tenderloin and marinade in a Ziplock bag and let marinate for at least 3-4 hours.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a hot skillet over medium-high heat, sear each side of tenderloin for 2-3 minutes. Place in the oven and cook for 30-40 minutes or until the meat has reached 160 degrees. Let rest for at least 5 minutes before slicing.  (For grilling, grill your tenderloins over medium heat for about 20-30 minutes or until the meat has reached 160 degrees)

Pan Sauce:
Pan scrapings from pork tenderloin
1/2 cup of chicken broth
2-3 tbsp of pork marinade (thoroughly mixed)
1-2 tsp butter

Meanwhile, place the skillet back on the stove over medium heat. Add the chicken broth and scrape up all the browned pieces from the bottom of the pan. Add the marinade and let it boil down for 2-3 minutes. Add the butter and remove from heat stirring until butter has melted. Pour over the pork tenderloin.

My Fresh Green Beans were a new recipe I tried.  As you know I'm a huge fan of the Pioneer Woman.  She made these on a recent episode of her show and I thought they sounded amazing.  They were super simple with just a little bit of a different flavor.  Nice to have this recipe, especially since fresh beans are soon in season in abundance! 

These, too, I doubled.  They were delicious!

Fresh Green Beans
(From Pioneer Woman)
Ingredients:
1 lb green beans
1 cup chopped onion
2 cloves garlic
1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper
2 tablespoons bacon grease (can substitute 1 T butter and 1 T olive oil)
1 cup chicken broth
1/2 to 1 teaspoon kosher salt (can substitute regular table salt; use 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon)
Ground black pepper
Directions:
Snap the stem ends of green beans, or cut them off in a big bunch with a knife if you’d like. Just don’t tell Granny. Melt bacon grease in a skillet over medium low heat. Add garlic and onions and cook for a minute. Then add green beans and cook for a minute until beans turn bright green. Add the chicken broth, chopped red pepper, salt, and black pepper. Turn heat to low and cover with a lid, leaving lid cracked to allow steam to escape. Cook for 20 to 30 minutes or until liquid evaporates and beans are fairly soft, yet still a bit crisp. You can add more chicken broth during the cooking process, but don’t be afraid to let it all cook away so the onions and peppers can caramelize.

For Twice Baked Potatoes I don't have an actual recipe I use.  I basically just bake the potatoes, let them cool enough to handle, cut them in half and scoop out the inside of the potato into a mixing bowl.  Then with the potato fillings I added 1 stick of melted butter, 4 oz cream cheese, 1/4-1/2 cup sour cream, salt and pepper to taste and added a mixture of milk and 1/2 &1/2 until I reached a good consistency.  Then I added about 1/2-3/4 cup of shredded cheddar into the potato mixture.  Spooned the mashed filling into the potato shells, placed on a cookie sheet, topped with more shredded cheddar, covered with foil and put into the fridge until I was ready to bake them.  Baked them at 350 for about 45 minutes (30 minutes if you don't refrigerate) or until they are heated through.  So good!  You can add bacon or chives or green onion on top or anything else you want for that matter.  Great to freeze too!

Here is what they look like after they're baked.  Smell so good.

Deep Dish Chocolate Chip Cookies, I got the idea from White on Rice Couple from Pinterest.  They give you a link for a chocolate chip cookie recipe, but I just use my own.  I usually make a batch of cookie dough, separate into oven proof cups/ramekins or whatever you are going to use and either refrigerate until you are going to bake them or bake right away.  I bake them at 375 for about 20 minutes or until the center is just set.  You want them to be soft and gooey, but also want the dough to have cooked too.  I freeze them alot and then my hubby and I will treat ourselves to them after the kids are in bed  on occasion.  But a real simple and classic dessert, with a different twist on it.

So proud of my pie!  :)

Last, but certainly not least, my Coconut Cream Pie.  Since I've been watching my gluten I couldn't eat the cookies and still wanted to have a dessert.  I made this pie (I still used a regular crust, I just didn't eat it.  I only ate the filling.) completely from scratch!  Surprisingly, it was so much faster and easier then I thought it would be.  I used my trusty Ultimate Southern Living Cookbook.  This is my go-to cookbook that have.  It has everything in it from super basic how to make an egg to super fancy stuff.  I followed the recipe exactly and it came out beautifully and delicious!  Although, this was probably the hardest dish I made for this dinner, it still wasn't that difficult.