Tangy pork, Almond milk and my version of a pancake

Well I did manage to make at least dishes from scratch last week so I am pretty pleased with myself.

Over the weekend we just hung out and ate out. I did cook last night (Sunday) we had breakfast for dinner, nothing from scratch though.

Tangy Pork

Pork tenderloin (I think around 1 ½ - 2 lbs)

1 large onion sliced

1 cup of hot water

¼ cup of sugar

2 tablespoons of white wine vinegar

1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar

1 tablespoon of ketchup/Tomato sauce

2 tablespoons of soya sauce

½ teaspoon of ground pepper

A pinch of salt

Slice onions and place on the bottom of the Crockpot/slow cooker

Place tenderloin on top of the onions.

Mix all the other ingredients in a bowl and mix well.

Pour mix over the tenderloin and cook on low for around 5-6 hours

Almond milk

2/3 of a cup of raw almonds

2 /3 of a cup of water

4 cups of water

In a bowl add the almonds and the 2/3 of a cup of water and leave for a couple of hours.

The Almonds will swell (when swollen they make about a cup of almonds)

Drain away excess water.

Place almonds in a blender and add 4 cups of water and blitz until as smooth as you can get the mixture.

Sieve the mixture into a glass container. (I use a cheese cloth as well as the sieve)

Refrigerate

I use the almond milk on my breakfast oatmeal. I heat it up as I would normal milk.

It does not last very long may be 3-4 days max!

Wendy’s sort of pancakes

1 cup of all purpose/plain flour

2 eggs

½ cup of milk

½ cup of water

Pinch of salt

2 tablespoons of melted butter

Mix all the ingredients together until smooth.

Pour small amounts into a very hot griddle/frying pan.

Cook each side for a couple of minutes

These don’t come out like a big fluffy pancake nor are they crepes.

They can be quiet dense but my family love them with chocolate chips added

Bourbon Chicken and Cinnamon Rolls

Today I managed to make 3 recipes even though the 3rd one does not really count as the Sausage roll ingredients were pre-brought and I just throw them together, even though hardly any effort they were made with lots of love...and the knowledge they would be wolfed down as soon as my guys got home.

Bourbon Chicken

3-4 boneless chicken breasts

1-2 tablespoons of oil

1 garlic clove (crushed/minced)

¼ teaspoon of fresh ginger (grated)

1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

1 /4 brown sugar

1 cup of apple juice                                                        

2 tablespoons Ketchup (tomato sauce)

1 tablespoon of cider vinegar

½ cup water                                                               

1/4 cup of soy sauce

Heat oil in a skillet

Add all the ingredients expect chicken.

In a separate pan cook the chicken until cooked through and browned brown

Add chicken to the sauce and bring to a boil

Reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes

Bourbon Chicken

 

Cinnamon rolls (I use my bread machine for the dough)

1 /2 cup of water                                                       

1 /2 cup of milk

2 table spoons of butter

3/4 teaspoon salt                                                             

3 cups of all purpose flour

¼ cup of white sugar

1 egg

3 table spoons of butter (melted)

3 – 4 table spoons of cinnamon

Shake of ground nutmeg

1 cup of confectioners’ sugar (powdered)

1 ½ tablespoons of melted butter

1 /4 vanilla extract

1 ½ tablespoons of milk

In a sauce pan add the milk, water and butter and until very warm but NOT boiling.

Pour mixture into bread maker and then add the flour, sugar, salt, yeast and the egg.

(I but the sugar in one corner, salt in the other and yeast in the middle and then I add the egg at the VERY last minute!)

Turn machine onto the dough cycle.

When the cycle is finished flour a surface lightly. Roll the dough out into a rectangle.

With the melted butter, add the cinnamon (add as much cinnamon as YOU like)

Brush the butter mix onto the dough. Sprinkle some ground nutmeg onto the dough also.

Roll the dough length ways. Trim the ends of the dough, and then cut the dough into equal size pieces

(The recipe says 12 I make 14-16)

Put in a baking tray cover with a tea-towel and leave for 30-45 minutes to rise (hopefully they double in size)

Place in a preheated oven and cook at 350 ℉ / 190 °C for about 20- 30 minutes or until golden brown.

Melt butter, add to powdered sugar milk and vanilla and mix well. Pour over the rolls when rolls have cooled slightly.

*** My oven temps have changed greatly it seems with each oven in each country.

Currently the oven I have, when cooking the rolls it about 22 minutes



Cinnamon Rolls



I also made sausage rolls today but have no REAL recipe for these.

Also it feels a bit of a cheat – I buy the pastry which is a flakey butter pastry.

Then to the sausage meat I add so extra seasoning i.e. ground pepper, and onion powder.



Sausage Rolls



Mix all together and then place into the pastry and roll. Trim ends place in an oven tray and use a egg wash (whisked egg) wash each sausage roll piece. Cook until golden brown….Around 25 minutes at 350 ℉/ 180 °C 

Tomato Soup, Parsley Salad, Dr.Pepper Pork and Whole sliced potatoes

Tomato Soup

3 cups chopped tomatoes

½ finely diced onion

1 tablespoon of dried basil

1 clove minced garlic

1 tablespoon of sugar

Drizzle of olive oil

Drizzle of balsamic vinegar

4 cups of water

1 chicken stock cube

Place all ingredients into an oven proof dish except the water and stock cube and mix well.

Cook in oven for around 1-1/2 hour at around 250℉/130 °C

Dissolve stock cube into water

Blend tomato mixture with 1 cup of the water. Blend until very smooth.

Sieve the mixture so smooth into a saucepan and add the dissolved chicken cube and water to the tomato mix and stir until all mixed well

When I made this today I had ½ a red pepper left in the fridge so I also added that and a carrot to the dish when roasting the tomato mixture

Parsley salad

1 bunch of curly parsley wash well and chopped finely

½ red onion finely diced

1 carrot peeled and finely diced

2 largish tomatoes deseeded and finely chopped

½ cucumber deseeded and finely chopped

1 tablespoon of olive oil

1 tablespoon of lemon juice

½ tablespoon white wine vinegar

Good pinch of black pepper

Mix well all the ingredients together, refrigerate and serve with chip or as a side dish

Dr. Pepper Pork (all ingredient measurements are for my family size )

3 loin pork chops

½ can of Dr. Pepper

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

Pinch of black pepper

Marinate pork in Dr. Pepper for 2 hours

Take 1/8^th cup of the Dr. Pepper and add the oil and pepper and bake until golden brown

You will need to turn the pork half way through the cooking time

Whole Slice potatoes

4 potatoes, peeled

1 teaspoon of melted butter

1/8 teaspoon of minced garlic

After peeling potatoes, slice a small piece off the bottom so the potatoes sits flat

Cut through the bottom from the top to almost the bottom from left to right. Be very careful not to cut right the way through. Brush the melted garlic better over the potatoes and between the slices

Place on parchment paper in an oven tray and back until golden brown.

Note: my potatoes took around 30 minutes to cook right the way through