Terrifically Spicy Thursday

 

Hello, everyone! After going back and forth about a blog I finally decided to start one :) I’m not writer and definitely not a photographer so bare with me—I just wanted a nice way to share yummy (and perhaps not so yummy) recipes with my family and friends. I’ve decided to give myself a cooking challenge to get out of the “cooking rut” I’ve been in the past couple of months. I am going to make at least three new recipes every week and post about it on my new blog. I think being able to look back on past experiences will be a nice way to improve my culinary skills!

By the way, I think my name is totally cute—Cooking with Ginger… get it? “Ginger”? Lol.

Okay, so for dinner tonight we had:

Chipotle crusted pork tenderloin

Sweet and spicy sweet potatoes

Asparagus and onion casserole



I had to arrange the slices around my huge
bite mark on one of them LOL

   

Chipotle Crusted Pork Tenderloin

1 tsp. onion powder

1 tsp. garlic powder

1 Tbs. chipotle chile pepper

1 1/2 tsp. salt

4 Tbs. brown sugar

2 (3/4 pound) pork tenderloins

Okay, first off—this dish was HOT! Definitely hotter than I expected. Jonathan, my insane husband who drenches everything in cayenne pepper, even admitted it was “pretty hot”. I will definitely be cutting back on the chili pepper next time! So basically I prepared all of the spices and coated the tenderloin and let it sit in the refrigerator for about 5 hours (which was when I mustered up the energy to cook dinner…lol). A note on the chipotle chili pepper: the original recipe called for 3 tablespoons of chipotle chili powder, which apparently I didn’t grab at the Commissary on Tuesday… I read that chipotle chili pepper is hotter so I can’t believe that after I cut back 2 tablespoons it still had my eyes watering! Okay, so back to the recipe. I seared the pork tenderloin on the stove top so it would have a nice, brown coating after cooking in the oven, which was preheating to 375 degrees. I didn’t feel like deglazing my pan and making a sauce so I just popped it in the oven for about 40 minutes and then let it sit for about 10 minutes to finish cooking through. It was a tasty recipe, just a little too hot for me. Next time I will definitely cook it in the crock pot so I don’t have to worry about it being under-done :)

 

Sweet and Spicy Sweet Potatoes

2 large sweet potatoes

3 Tbs. olive oil

2 Tbs. brown sugar (or more ;))

½ tsp. paprika

½ tsp. pepper

½ tsp. garlic powder

½ tsp. chili powder

½ tsp. cayenne pepper

Lots of cinnamon! 

I think I could each these things ALL day long. I was looking for a way to get my husband to eat the sweet potatoes I had just snuck into the grocery cart when I stumbled upon this recipe. It has been a week and I have already made it three times! The original recipe sounded awful… it called for poultry seasoning and something else that I thought sounded disgusting—so I changed it :) Who puts poultry seasoning on their sweet potatoes?!

So anyways, preheat your oven to 400 degrees, peel and chop those potatoes up into cubes (I like to chop mine small so they cook faster) and place them in a 13x9 baking dish. I like to use my crumb-catching pan in the oven lined with tinfoil so I can make TONS of these at one time! Next, mix all of the seasonings together in a small bowl. Every time I have made these I try to remember how much cinnamon I put in them to make them the perfect sweet potatoes that they are… alas, I can never remember to measure! Of course, coming from someone who would live off of Hot Tamales, Red Hots, and cinnamon candy canes (if it weren’t for the darn dentist), no one would like the amount I put anyways =P  Okay, so coat the potatoes in the olive oil and seasoning mixture and pop them in the oven for about 15-20 minutes. Pull ‘em out, stir them around so all sides can get nice and toasty, and put them back in for another 15-20 minutes. I like mine extra mushy so I leave them in for a little longer :)

Asparagus Onion Casserole

1 lb. fresh asparagus, cut into 1-inch pieces

1 onion, sliced

1 Tbs. olive oil

4 Tbs. butter, divided

2 Tbs. all-purpose flour

1 c. milk

1 (8 oz.) package cream cheese

Cheddar cheese

Salt and pepper

1 c. bread crumbs

To be honest, this recipe was about a 7 on a scale from 1 to 10. I absolutely love asparagus by itself just grilled or sautéed on the stove, but Jonathan hates it. So this recipe was an attempt to get him to eat his veggies (haha). I’m a firm believer of cooking vegetables as is and not adding all of this froo-froo stuff to them. The cream sauce made me feel guilty for eating vegetables! Lol. Oh well, Jonathan ate two heaping spoonfuls so I’m hoping to make him an asparagus lover one day ;)

Okay, so this was a super easy recipe to make. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees (I had to use my little toaster oven since these darn German ovens are so tiny!) Just sauté the asparagus and onions in the olive oil until almost tender (about 8 minutes) and dump them into a baking dish. For the cream sauce (which I because I didn’t have a lot of asparagus), melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a small sauce pan, stir in the flour until smooth, and gradually add the milk.  Boil for 2 minutes until thick (don’t forget to stir the whole time). Next, reduce the heat and slowly add the cream cheese chunks, salt, and pepper. Pour over the asparagus and top with cheese. Meanwhile, melt the remaining butter and add bread crumbs. Sprinkle them over the casserole and pop in the oven for 30 minutes until everything is nice and delicious! :)