a saucy little meal

If Air Canada and the weather cooperate, tomorrow I'll be flying from Vancouver to my hometown in Ontario, visiting with my parents for a short and sweet pre-Christmas stay. I'm rushing around today trying my hand at candy making (!!!) and baking some favorites so that I don't arrive empty-handed on my parent's doorstep. Before I leave my poor husband alone with his probable weekend diet of hotdogs and fried eggs, I'm sure that something nice and homey for dinner would be very much appreciated. Last night while I perused my usual web haunts, I stumbled upon Joe's recipe for Mustard & Maple Pork Tenderloin. I made a couple modifications, but it was such an easy recipe to put together and the pork came out so tender, juicy and flavourful, that this dish will definitely be made again and again. The best part of this dish? The leftovers! Today's lunch was some leftover pork sliced extra thin and served between 2 slices of thick sourdough bread topped with homemade pickles. Yum!

mustard & maple pork tenderloin
2 T Dijon mustard, divided
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
16 ounces trimmed pork tenderloin
1 t canola oil
2 T cider vinegar
2 tablespoons pure maple syrup

1. Preheat oven to 425

2. Take 1 T of dijon and spread it over the tenderloin, making sure it's all covered with the mustard. In a large cast iron skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add pork and brown all sides evenly. When evenly browned, move pan into the oven and cook for about 20 minutes. Remove tenderloin from the oven, transfer to a plate, and let it rest before slicing.

3. While pork is resting, add the vinegar, maple syrup and remaining mustard to the skillet. Cook over medium heat while scraping all the brown bits from the bottom into the sauce. Add any juice from the pork into the sauce. Bring to a boil and reduce until thickened.

4. Slice tenderloin and pour over sauce.

breakfast cake!

Who loves cake for breakfast? I do! I do!! I saw One Whole Clove had Maple Syrup Tea Loaves on her site and I decided that I had to try out this loaf recipe. It didn't have any eggs to fuss with and it would be a very simple recipe to make vegan -- just substitute the milk for soy and the butter for vegetable oil or Earth Balance. I didn't have any soy milk and I only had half the amount of milk, so I added some plain yogurt to make up most of the milk portion. The cake turned out lovely and I could definitely eat this cake for breakfast, lunch or supper!

maple breakfast cake
2 1/2 c flour
1/2 t baking soda
2 t baking powder
1 t salt
2 T butter, melted (or vegetable oil or Earth Balance)
3/4 c maple syrup
1 c milk (soy or dairy or part yogurt!)
1/4 t vanilla
1/2 c walnuts

1. Mix together flour, soda, baking powder and salt and set aside.

2. In a smaller bowl combine and blend remaining ingredients, except nuts. Stir in liquid ingredients into dry. Fold in nuts.

3. Spread batter in a loaf pan. Bake at 350 degrees F for 40-45 minutes. (It took longer for my old-time oven -- I had it baking at 400 degrees for about 1 hr.)