Cooking Class

Believe it or not, I've done a bit of cooking the last few days (well, okay: yesterday and today) and I wanted to share the recipes since they've all been a hit!  I've never been much of a cook, although I do enjoy making a meal for friends when I have time and energy to do it.  I love baking for special occasions and bringing something homemade to a gathering; I just dread the day-to-day-scrape-something-together-for-dinner weekday routine.  And I'm terrible at it.  I will open the fridge or pantry and declare we have nothing to eat, while Matt is excellent at making something out of nothing.  But, here's what I've successfully made recently!

(Source)

Pioneer Woman Herb-Roasted Pork Tenderloin with Preserves
It's hard to go wrong with a PW recipe in my experience, and this was a super simple and quick pork tenderloin recipe that was delicious!  We both love pork tenderloin and I had some Trader Joe's Fig Butter that I wasn't sure what to do with (other than pair it with cheese--yum!) so this was perfect!  I made it on Saturday night and served mashed potatoes with it rather than the root veggies pictured above, although those are on my list to make this winter!

 

 (Source)

Another PW recipe (told you you can't go wrong--unless you want to still fit into your pants): Pasta with Pesto Cream Sauce.  I had leftover basil that I wanted to use and we have a truckload of pasta in our pantry from our pre-baby BJ's run, so this was perfect to use up some of those ingredients.  It was simple and delicious for a Monday night--and the sauce was remarkably light considering I used--ahem--heavy cream.  Easy and delicious!

 (Source)

Veganomicon Pineapple Cashew Quinoa

This is probably my all-time favorite non-dessert vegan recipe.  I've made it lots of times for special occasions or large groups that need a delicious one-pot (wok) meal and it is always a hit!  All fresh ingredients: pineapple, basil, peas, peppers, ginger, garlic, scallions--plus quinoa and raw cashews.  Yum, yum!  Although Matt rolls his eyes when I say this, I definitely think quinoa is the cutest grain--it's so tiny and unique. :)  Veganomicon is also one of the few cookbooks I actually own.  Every single thing I've made from it has been delicious!

And I've saved the best for last...

 

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins

These are, hands down, the very best muffins I have EVER made.  Oh man, are they good.  Dangerously, dangerously good.  I made 24, proceeded to immediately eat three, and quickly froze a dozen and took the extras to Bible Study before I made quick work of them all.  Let's just pretend I haven't already defrosted at least four for breakfasts this week.  

Just look at that cream cheese center:

Did I mention they're delicious?