Pork with orange sauce

I tried this last week, and Michael says it's his new favorite.

2 c cooked long grain rice
2 tsp cornstarch
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp grated orange peel
1 c orange juice
1 tsp soy sauce
2 celery ribs, chopped
2 medium carrots, thinly sliced
1/4 cup lightly salted cashews
1 Tbsp canola oil
2 c cubed cooked pork
1/2 c chow mein noodles
1 green onion, sliced

In a small bowl, combine the cornstarch, sugar, ginger, and orange peel. Stir in orange juice and soy sauce until smooth; set aside.

In a large skillet or wok, stir-fry the celery, carrots, and cashews in oil until vegetables are crisp-tender. Stir cornstarch mixture and add to the pan. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 1 minute or until thickened. Add pork, heat through. Serve with rice, top with noodles and onion.

This comes from Taste of home magazine (April & May 09). I didn't add the chow mein noodles to mine because I've never been a big fan. I guess they crunched some numbers and this meal comes out to about $1.54 per serving (serves 4 by the way).

Cider Roasted Pork Loin

I am menu planning for house guest that I am expecting on Monday. I thought I'd put my recipes up that I know are great and add the photos as I prepare them. This is my all time favorite recipe. I have served it at my gourmet cooking club to rave reviews, at many family gatherings, dinner parties, and I have multiplied the recipe and used it to serve to the whole Relief Society. I also use the brine recipe, multiplied, for my turkey at Thanksgiving. It is a fabulous recipe and very nice because most of the prep work needs to be done the day before. Here are a couple of my suggestions: buy the coriander seeds where you find the spices in bags, usually near the Mexican food in my grocery store. If you buy it in the bottles where the regular spices are you will spend much more. Stick with the kosher salt, it does make a difference. And brine overnight, you roast will be so tender. I usually serve this with rosemary red potatoes, I like to tie in the spices and either green beans or a green salad. Enjoy!




Cider-Roasted Pork Loin

From Cooking Light

Fresh herbs and sweet cider syrup combine in this savory main dish. Overnight brining tenderizes the roast. If the cider reduction becomes too thick to brush on the pork, warm it in a saucepan over low heat.


3 cups water
3 cups apple cider
1/4 cup kosher salt
1 tablespoon black peppercorns
1 tablespoon coriander seeds
1 bay leaf
1 (2-pound) boneless pork loin, trimmed
2 cups apple cider
Cooking spray
1 1/2 teaspoons chopped fresh rosemary
1 1/2 teaspoons chopped fresh sage
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Combine the first 6 ingredients in a saucepan; bring to a boil, stirring until salt dissolves. Remove from heat; cool. Pour brine into a 2-gallon zip-top plastic bag. Add pork; seal. Refrigerate 8 hours or overnight, turning bag occasionally.

Preheat oven to 350°.

Bring 2 cups cider to a boil in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Cook until cider has thickened and reduced to 1/4 cup (about 15 minutes). Set aside.

Remove pork from bag; discard brine. Place pork on rack of a broiler pan coated with cooking spray. Lightly coat pork with cooking spray. Combine rosemary, sage, and black pepper; sprinkle evenly over pork. Bake at 350° for 1 hour or until thermometer registers 155°, basting twice with cider reduction during final 20 minutes of cooking. Remove from oven; baste with remaining cider reduction. Let stand 10 minutes before slicing. Yield: 8 servings (serving size: about 3 ounces pork)

NUTRITION PER SERVING CALORIES 200(30% from fat); FAT 6.6g(sat 2.2g,mono 3g,poly 0.7g); PROTEIN 24.4g; CHOLESTEROL 67mg; CALCIUM 25mg; SODIUM 419mg; FIBER 0.3g; IRON 1.1mg; CARBOHYDRATE 9.2g Kathryn Conrad Cooking Light, OCTOBER 2004

Mom's Chop Suey

1/2 pound lean pork cut into strips
1/2 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper
2 tablespoons vegetable or olive oil
1/4 cup coarsly chopped onion
1 1/2 cup hot water
2 bouillon cubes
1 cup celery, cut lenghtwise into thin stips, then into 1 inch lengths
1 can bean sprouts, drained and rinsed (the sprouts get a tinny, canned taste)
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1 teaspoons sugar
3 tablespoons warm water
1 tablespoons soy sauce
Canned chow-mein noodles
rice

Can do early in day and refrigerate, or right before dinner.

Heat oil in large skillet, cook meat about 10 min. (sprinkle with salt and pepper). Add onion and cook 5 min or until crisp tender. Add hot water and bouillon cubes and simmer, covered 15 to 20 minutes or until meat is fork tender. Refrigerate if doing this step early in the day.

About 20 minutes before dinner:

To meat mixture add celery; bring to boil, covered. Cook 5 min. Add bean sprouts, mix lightly. Combine cornstarch, sugar, warm water, and soy sauce and stir into hot mixture. Cook 1 - 2 min. or until slightly thickened.

Serve on hot rice. Add chow-mein noodles on top.