Sunday Dinner

I love to cook and, since my husband still eats what I make and I haven't killed him yet, I will assume I'm not bad at it. I have gotten very lazy with my cooking since Grant came along but I'm making an honest attempt at getting back into it. When I have a day off I like to cook a meal that I don't have time to cook during the week. Yesterday I made a pork tenderloin in a homemade BBQ sauce (vinegar based). The recipe is courtesy of my friend Henri who made it for a gathering at work. I don't think mine ever turns out as good as hers was but Husband ate the mess out of it and I think it was pretty good. So I thought I'd share the recipe:

Pork Tenderloin

Pork Tenderloin (4-5 lbs.)

For the sauce:

1 1/2 cups cider vinegar

10 tablespoons ketchup

1 1/2 teaspoons cayenne pepper

Pinch of red pepper flakes

1 tablespoon sugar

1/2 cup water

Salt & pepper to taste

Directions:

Mix all the ingredients for the sauce and simmer for about 15 minutes. Put the pork tenderloin in a crock pot and pour some of the sauce over it so that it almost covers it. Cook on high 5-6 hours. The meat should shred easily when done. *She noted that she cooks her on high for 3 hours, then low for 4 hours.

Making the sauce! (Hey Shauna, "I'm the souce makaaaaaa!")

Putting everything together (the tenderloins I buy always come packaged in pairs)



Ooooooh....almost dinner time. (P.S. this crock pot was my Christmas present last year from Husband - yes, I asked for it - and its a pretty kick ass crock pot!)




Ready!




I threw together a loaded baked potato casserole to go with it. That's what I'm calling it because I really didn't want just plain mashed potatoes. Basically, this is fancy mashed potatoes.



Notes/Suggestions:

• I make an extra batch of sauce for serving. That way people put on as much as they want or they can eat it as is.
• When the meat is finished, but before shredding, I pour off most of the sauce it cooked in. Then I use two forks to shred the meat.
• I played with the cooking time a little bit this time and I cooked it on low for about 6 hours (may have been a little longer) and then I kept it on "warm" while I finished up the potatoes. It shredded perfectly and was pretty tender!

It is not my intention to turn this into a food blog. Cooking (and baking) is one of my favorite things to do and if I have or find a good recipe I love to share. If any of you end up making this, let me know how it turns out and what you think!