Food Friday - Pork Tenderloin and Baked Potatoes

I must say that we had some awesome meals this week!  Even on Thursday night my husband said to me "No one can cook like you and you have just gotten better and better over the past ten years."  Well, that always makes a person feel good!  I had a hard time choosing what to post today but I decided to go with the Pork Tenderloin and Baked Potatoes that we had early in the week.  Even the kids loved it (even though they thought it was Chicken HA!)

Pork Tenderloin
Adapted from: Confessions of a Homeschooler

I love that this slow cooks in the oven verses the slow cooker.  The kids and I were outside and I could smell it cooking all afternoon (I'm sure the neighbors enjoyed it too!).  It was so moist and tender and the seasonings on top just set it all off!!  A few things - I used a 1/2 of a pork tenderloin which was about 3.5 pounds so I cooked it for about 5 hours.  Also, I did not have Onion Salt so I used onion flakes and it worked fine too!

Ingredients:

• 1 Pork Shoulder (or butt) Roast (Mine was about 7lbs)
• Olive Oil
• Garlic Salt
• Onion Salt
• Crushed Pepper (I didn’t put too much b/c of kiddos)
• Parsley

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 275 degrees
• Place roast in roasting pan, and coat generously with Olive Oil
• Sprinkle a good amount of remaining ingredients over roast and ‘rub’ in so that the roast has a good coating of spices.
• Cook uncovered at 275 for about 6 hours (this may depend on the size of your roast, mine was about 7lbs) It should have a nice salty crust on the outside when it’s finished, and your house will smell wonderful!

Baked Potatoes

I know, who doesn't know how to make baked potatoes?  Well, I had one of THOSE moments.  My oven was busy with the roast set at a low temp so I had to come up with another option for the potatoes when the light bulb went on - the crock pot.  It isn't a new idea - my brother did the potatoes that way at Thanksgiving last year but I never thought about it before!  It is so easy :-)

Ingredients:
6-12 Baking Potatoes

Directions:
Pierce the Potatoes with a fork and then wrap each one in tin foil.  Place potatoes into the crock pot and do NOT add water!!!  Cook on low for 8-10 hours or on high for 2 1/2 - 4 hours. 

How easy is that???