Pork Tenderloin and Chocolate Dipped Pretzels

I love that Fall is finally here! This means football parties (yummy dips and chili), and cooler weather (soups and hearty dishes)! I really needed to "rearrange" the freezer to see what all we had in there and came across my pork tenderloin which I had almost forgot about! So, I whipped up an easy pork tenderloin in the crock pot while I cleaned house and made a fun little dessert that I knew Dee Jay could take with him to work and snack on! Both were a hit and very easy! A caution to the "snackers" out there, I almost ate ALL the filling to the pretzel sandwiches which would have a disaster because they were ridiculously fantastic, so hurry and make the pretzel sandwiches so you won't be tempted! :) Now on to the good stuff....let's get cooking!

I found this recipe on allrecipes.com. It is very easy and so delicious so let's get started! You are going to start with 1 pork tenderloin (I had tenderloin "chops" so I used those). Put the pork in the bottom of your crock pot first. Then you are going to add one envelope of dry onion soup mix on top of the pork. Then add one cup of water, 3/4 cup of red wine, 3 TB minced garlic, and 3 TB of soy sauce. Mix this together and turn the pork to make sure both sides have been introduced to the sauce! Sprinkle in a little pepper and cover your crock pot and turn it on low for about four hours! See how easy that was? You can literally make this while running out of the house for errands, or pick up the kids from school, and come home to a delicious pork tenderloin for dinner!
NOTE: I had a few extra potatoes left that I needed to use before they went bad, so I sliced them in thin rounds and threw them in with pork! I would recommend this, you won't be sorry!

Now, on to the dessert! I am not a big fan when it comes to food in the sweet department, but I could have devoured the entire batch of these bad boys! For a little added bonus, these are just as easy (but more time consuming). I found this recipe on Two Tiny Kitchens which is a fun site with lots of great recipes! Now...let's get to making these! You are going to start by combining 1 cup of creamy peanut butter, 2 TB of softened butter, 1/2 cup powdered sugar (you might need a little extra), 3/4 cup of brown sugar (you might need a little extra). Mix all these ingredients in a bowl (this is where I almost lost the whole recipe due to my lack of not being able to stop eating this sugar packed yuminess)! Now grab a bag of mini pretzels and spoon about 1/2-1 tsp of the mix inside the pretzels and squish together to make a sandwich. I rolled the peanut butter mix into a small ball and it made it much easier and the perfect "sandwich" was formed! Now put these on a pan and let them sit in your freezer for about 30 minutes. Next you are going to need some Baker's dipping chocolate!

Pop this in the microwave and follow the directions on the package to melt the chocolate! Now you're going to dip the pretzel sandwich into the chocolate and place them back on the cookie sheet and stick them back in the freezer until you are ready to serve! Something we noticed is that they will melt (not so much the chocolate but just overall) pretty quickly, so try to keep them on a chilled plate when serving or you could have very messy hands and fingers when it's all over!

Both of these recipes turned out wonderful, and the pretzel dessert was a hit with the guys Dee Jay works with! I sent him to work with an extra bag of them just so I wouldn't be tempted to eat the whole tray before he got home!






Hope everyone is having a fabulous start to your Fall season! I can't wait to share Fall recipes and hear what you all are cooking up in your own kitchens! Until then...

~Happy Eating~

Strawberries filled with Oh My Goodness!!

I think always and forever strawberries will be one of my favorite foods! They are just enough sweet, juicy, crunchy, and delicious! There are many ways to fix strawberries. My all time favorite go to is to clean them, and put a dollop of sour cream on a plate and a dollop of brown sugar and use both as a dip! My mouth is watering just thinking about it! I saw this recipe the other day and decided to make a plate and let me tell you folks we devoured these bad boys in about two minutes! Sadly, we didn't even put them in the fridge to chill because we both wanted to "try one" and then just couldn't stop ourselves! So for a fun and easy afternoon snack (or you can make a whole bunch of them for a cookout party or family get together) here is what you're going to do...

First off clean the strawberries in a strainer and pat dry. Next slice the top of each strawberry so that it has a nice flat surface and place them on a hard surface. Now you're going to take your knife and cut an "x" in the top (which is literally the bottom) of the strawberry. Don't cut all the way through just enough so you can open it up to make a "pit" to fill up!

These are cut you just can't see it very well

 Just trying to show you how you open them up once they are cut

In a small bowl you are going to mix 11 ounces of softened cream cheese, 1/2 of a cup of confectioners sugar (powdered sugar), and 1/4 of a teaspoon of almond extract. You are going to beat this mixture until it becomes nice and fluffy! After you have it mixed, spoon it into a small Ziploc bag and cut the corner of the bag off to make a piping tool! (This part is much easier if you have two people working on it). Have one person open up the strawberry like in the photo above. The other person is going to "pipe" the cream cheese mixture into the middle of each strawberry and once you have the amount you want close the strawberry and it will ooze out the sides and the top. 

Once you have all the strawberries filled you are going to take a block of your favorite chocolate (we used semi-sweet although dark chocolate would be divine) and grate the chocolate over the strawberries to give them a nice chocolatey dusting!

Once you have all the strawberries filled and sprinkled you will want to stick them in the fridge to chill BEFORE you try one and eat them all up and then take them out about an hour later or when you're ready to serve them up! Your mouth, friends and family will thank you for these delicious delights! (You can add your own flavor of extract like orange or whatever tickles your fancy).

I got this recipe off of TasteofHome.com and my Pinterest page! Here is the run-down of these delicious summery snacks...
~Happy Eating~

3 dozen large fresh strawberries
2 packages (one 8 ounces, one 3 ounces) cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar 
1/4 teaspoon almond extract 
Grated chocolate

Cut the stems and tops off each strawberry and to make a flat bottomed strawberry and place on plate. Cut a "x" in the tops of each strawberry, being careful not to cut all the way through. 

In a small bowl combine the cream cheese, powdered sugar, and almond extract until fluffy. Pipe the cream cheese mixture into each strawberry then grate the chocolate over the tops for a light dusting!

Chill and enjoy!

Photo courtesy of walldesk.net