Roasted Pork Tenderloin with Creamy Mushroom Sauce

I love home cooked "Sunday" meals. Especially when they don't just have to be made on Sundays. There are a lot of ways to speed up and simplify recipes to make them accessible during the week without resorting to buying frozen lasagnas (shudder) from the grocery store.

This recipe is one of my faves. My husband's too... he's a cream sauce fiend! However, heavy cream is no longer his friend. So I make my cream sauce with acan of good ol' reduced fat cream of mushroom soup. Yes, I said soup! From a can! Get over it! It's yummy. Simply by adding a few ingredients and spices to that can you can make a yummy sauce that would be great on beef, chicken or pork. Easy right? I'm all about easy. (That didn't come out the way it sounded in my head...)

Pair this pork tenderloing and sauce with your favourite rice *cough*Uncle Ben's*cough* and you can have Sunday Taste on Tuesday Time.

Rub the tenderloin with seasoned salt and garlic powder. Give it a good massage. Then heat 2 tsp oil in a frying pan and add the meat. Brown on all sides.

Place on a baking sheet. I like to use a digital thermometer when cooking this cause nothing ruins a tenderloin faster than 5 minutes of over-cooking. You want to pull it out of the over when it reaches 165˚F. I know it says done is 170˚F but trust me, 165 is what you're looking for.

In the frying pan you seared the tenderloin in, add a wee bit more oil and brown some diced onion and mushrooms. If you prefer sliced mushrooms go for it, I like the look of the diced.

Add 2 minced garlic cloves. Mmmm garlic. Throw in a bit more garlic powder and seasoned salt too, just a smidge.

Next add your can of soup. Add 1/2 can of water as well. You want to think it out a bit but not too much, you want it thick & creamy. Turn it down to low and let it simmer while the tenderloin is doing it's thing.

When the temperature reads 165˚F take the tenderloin out of the oven and loosely wrap it in tin foil. This is where the trust comes in. It will continue to cook those last 5˚s, and by allowing the meat to rest for 10-15 minutes it will re-distribute all the juices back into the tenderloin so you have a super tender, juicy roast without losing all the juices all over the cutting board when you slice this bad boy.

Slice the tenderloin and plate topped with the mushroom sauce and your favourite rice, or potatoes, or whatever else strikes your fancy!

Print this Recipe

Roasted Pork Tenderloin with Creamy Mushroom Sauce

1 pork tenderloin (there is enough sauce for 2 tenderloins , I only do 1 cause hubs is a sauce hog)

2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp seasoned salt
2 tsp vegetable oil
1/2 onion, diced
1 1/2 c mushrooms, diced or sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 can cream of mushroom soup, I use reduced fat
1/2 can of water

Instructions:

1. Rub the tenderloin with the seasoned salt and garlic powder.
2. Heat 2 tsp oil in a frying pan and add the meat. Brown on all sides.
3. Place on a baking sheet. Roast at 350˚F until internal temperature reaches 165˚F.
4. In the frying pan you seared the tenderloin in, add a wee bit more oil and brown the onion and mushrooms.
5. Add the minced garlic and a bit more garlic powder and seasoned salt to taste.
6. Add the can of soup and 1/2 can of water. Stir to combine. Turn the sauce down to low and let it simmer.
7. When the internal temperature of the tenderloin reads 165˚F take it out of the oven and loosely wrap it in tin foil allowing the meat to rest for 10-15 minutes.
8. Slice the tenderloin and plate topped with the mushroom sauce and your favourite rice, or potatoes.

Print this Recipe

enjoy!

Veggie Packed Pizza Sauce

Cooking for kids is never easy... or appreciated! I have a 13 month old and a 3 1/2 year old, so almost everything I make either ends up on the floor or is pushed away with declarations of "I don't like dat mommy!" Some days I want to cry, others I just shrug and say "well I guess you're gonna be hungry today then".

I'm sure every mom can agree that veggies, at one time or another, are the real battle. Whether it's the texture, the taste or merely the colour, kids seem to avoid veggies like I avoid 3-sided mirrors.

There are a few cookbooks out on the market about hiding fruits and veggies in sneaky ways to trick kids into eating them. I'm not cruel enough to hide spinach in a brownie (I love spinach but that particular combination gives me the dry heaves) but I am willing to sneak extra veggies into recipes where it seems fitting, like my homemade pizza sauce.

A variety of roasted veggies paired with garlic and tomato paste and then puréed until smooth makes a healthy, vitamin and nutrient rich sauce that your family will love, even if your pizza is a meat lovers!

Veggie Packed Pizza Sauce

1 carrot, peeled and diced
1 onion, chopped
1/2 green pepper, seeded and chopped
1/2 red pepper, seeded and chopped
1/2 yellow pepper, seeded and chopped
1 stalk celery, diced
1 c. mushrooms, cleaned and chopped
1 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp dried oregano
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp. sea salt (optional, but I find it helps to balance the sweetness of the tomato paste)
1 can tomato paste
1 c. crushed tomatoes

Instructions:

1. Roughly chop your veggies (no need to be fussy as it will all be puréed) and place in a large bowl.
2. Add garlic, oregano, salt and olive oil and mix to coat.
3. Spread veggies out on a cookie sheet and roast in a 450˚F oven for 15-20 minutes.
4. Remove veggies from the oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes.
5. Add veggies to a food processor or blender and purée until smooth.
6. Add tomato paste and crushed tomatoes to veggie purée and blend until smooth.
7. Store in the fridge for up to 3 weeks.

Tip: I spread a generous amount of sauce onto a greek pita, top with a little bit of part skim mozzarella and pop it into a 350˚F oven for 10 minutes and my kids have a super fast and easy lunch that they gobble up with no food throwing or complaints!

enjoy!
Amanda

Homemade Caesar Dressing and the Giveaway Winner

First things first, the giveaway winner:

drumroll please.........


The winner of the silicone bakeware prize is:

Comment 1

Ohhhh I want to win!

The first thing I remember baking was a cookie when I was 4 at christmas. My gave me the leftover dough to make into cookies and I made it into one GIANT mess of a cookie. I covered it in obscene amounts of sprinkles etc. I actually still have a photo of this ridiculous cookie.
-Shawna
August 4, 2009 12:50 PM


Congratulations Shawna, I'll be contacting you via email.

And now the recipe.


I haven't bought Salad Dressing in a store in years... mostly cause it was a big ol' waste of money. I'd buy it with the best of intentions of having salads more often and I'd have 1 or 2 and then the bottle would languish in the fridge until the salad bug hit me again and I'd go to grab the bottle and it was waaaaaaaay past expiration, and then the cycle would start all over again. After about 10 bottle of basically full dressing went down the kitchen sink I gave up.

And then one weekend our friends Phil and PJ were visiting and my hubby asked Phil to make his famous Caesar dressing (famous to everyone but me I guess cause I had no idea Phil was a master dressing maker). So I watched intently (PJ actually made the dressing as she had been entrusted with the recipe) as I've never seen Caesar dressing made from scratch before, I thought it was just an urban legend! When we sat down for dinner I found salad nirvana. I had no idea dressing could be that fresh, that tasty, or that simple! I recently had a Caesar salad in a restaurant where they obviously used a bottled dressing and I could tell the difference with my eyes closed and my taste buds burnt off. There really is no comparison between bottled and homemade when it comes to dressing.

So thank you Phil. Thank you for sharing your fabulous recipe with me! Goodbye wasted bottles of chemically engineered dressing, and hello simple, natural ingredients.

Phil's Famous Caesar Dressing

1 egg
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1-2 cloves of garlic, minced I use 2 cause I loves the garlic
1/2 c. oil, vegetable or canola olive oil really changes the taste
1 tbsp. red wine vinegar
1/4 c. freshly grated parmesan please please please do NOT use that pre-grated stuff in the container, it's mostly flour and will not do this dressing justice
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Instructions:

1. In a food processor or blender pulse egg and lemon juice until combined.
2. Lightly mince your garlic and add to the egg and lemon.
3. With blade spinning, slowly stream in the oil and allow to continue blending for 1-2 minutes.
4. While the mixture is blending add the vinegar and cheese and salt and pepper.
5. Transfer to a bowl or pitcher and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes (1-2 hours is better) so the dressing has a chance to set and thicken.
6. Serve over crisp romaine lettuce, real bacon bits (trust me people), and croutons.