Cooking for 3

Since Phil has this awesome new schedule where he comes home from work at 3 PM everyday, I've decided to devote more time to cooking a great dinner. Last semester I hardly cooked at all because Phil was never home and let's be honest, no one cooks gourmet for a 2 year old. So, I decided to go through all my "Taste of Home" and "Cooking for 2" magazines to cut out some new recipes that I wanted to try. I was so sick of cooking the same thing over and over again, I needed a fresh start. Besides that, it's hard to find recipes because Kaylin can't have milk products, so it makes anything with cheese out. Bye Bye Fettuccine Alfredo! (That's actually something good to say good bye to since it's loaded with fat and calories.)

Anyways, enough rambling. Here are some of the recipes that I tried this week and they were fabulous. I've decided that marinating meat and spicing up a salad really go a long way.

Ginger-Orange Pork Tenderloin
1/3 c. Orange Juice
1/3 c. soy sauce (I used a little less than this)
4 tsp. brown sugar
3/4 tsp ground ginger
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 pork tenderloin (3/4 lb.)- I used 2-3 pork loin

Mix all the marinade and put 1/2 marinade and pork in Ziploc bag and store overnight or 8 hours. Cover the rest and put in fridge. Either pan fry or grill the pork and spread the remaining marinade over it. Tasty! YIELDS 2-3 servings

Autumn Tossed Salad
1/2 c. lemon juice
1/2 c. sugar
2 tsp. finely chopped onion (I actually put in onion, shocker since it was only the second onion I had ever bought in my life. In case anyone didn't know, I don't like onions, but in this it was delicious)
1 tsp. Dijon mustard (I used brown spicy mustard...I had it in the fridge)
1/2 tsp salt
2/3 c. vegetable oil (I used canola)
1 tsp. poppy seeds
1-2 bunch of Romain, torn and chopped.
1 c. shredded Swiss cheese (I used small cubes of cheddar cheese)
1 c. unsalted cashews
1 medium apple, chopped
1 medium pear, chopped
1/4 c. dried cranberries
In blender, combine lemon juice, sugar, onion, mustard and salt. While processing, gradually add oil in a steady stream. Stir in poppy seeds. Transfer to small pitcher and refrigerate for an hour or until chilled.
In a large bowl, combine the rest of the ingredients and then toss with dressing. YIELD 10 servings

Happy cooking! Let me know if you try any of these recipes and what you thought of them. I also love this site for getting good meal ideas.