New Year's Day Dinner (posted a week late)

You know how it is.....good intentions, lack of motivation.  Today you will get this and maybe another post later tonight!

So I had my entire family over for New Years Day Dinner.....I wanted to impress them .......and boy did I.

Menu: Stuffed mushrooms, bacon wrapped pork tenderloin (idea from Giada, "baked" apples and cranberries and mac n' cheese.....Mac n' Cheese will not be featured.

Appetizer: Stuffed Mushrooms
8oz softened cream cheese
8oz imitation crab mean
2-3 tbsp of parmesean cheese
3-4 grated garlic croutons
2-3 10 oz containers of whole mushrooms (stems removed and cleaned)

Combine softened cream cheese, crab, and parmesean cheese and mix well.  Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours.

Just before you are ready to cook the mushrooms, clean and remove the stems.  Clean mushrooms using a wet paper towel and wipe them....do not run under water....then they retain so much water.

Take cream cheese mixture and fill the caps with desired amount of filling.  The filling does not run so fill generously.

Grate the croutons on top of the mushrooms. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes.  You could also broil but I had other stuff in the oven.

I had filling left over so I added some mozzarella cheese and microwaved it for a a dip.  My 11 year old nephew who hates mushrooms inhaled like 7 of these puppies.


DINNER MAIN COURSE: YOU NEED 12 HOURS for PREP

Bacon Wrapped Pork Tenderloin

Pork Tenderloin of desired size (mine was 6 lbs!)
Bacon
8 garlic cloves
1tsp of fresh chopped rosemary
1tsp of fresh chopped thyme (I used dry)
2-3 tbsp of olive oil.
Chicken stock


It took FOREVER to defrost this damn tenderloin.

In a blender, food processor or magic bullet (I HATED the bullet for this so I switched) combine your garlic, rosemary, thyme, gradually adding the olive oil to make a sort of herb paste.

Take paste and spread generously over your tenderloin.  Cover and refrigerate for about 10 hours to marinate.

Two hours before you plan on cooking the tenderloin, wrap the tenderloin with bacon.  Make sure the bacon overlaps!

Add about 1 cup of chicken stock to keep the meat moist.  Add more about every 40 minutes of cooking depending on how much evaporates. 

Here's where this gets tricky.  Everywhere I looked said 30 min per pound at 350.  I did this and it was done an hour earlier than planned.  The internal temperature needs to be between 150-165.  Bake UNCOVERED!

This pork flew! I fed 10 adults, 1 11 year old and 2 of 3 children under 3 with this tenderloin.  There were only about 4 slices left.  It stayed super moist and had tons of flavor.


SIDE DISH: "Baked" Apples and Cranberries

3lbs of apples (I used Pink Lady and Granny Smith)
1 package of craisins
1 cup brown sugar
2 tsp of cinnamon
1 cup of water.

Take a baking dish that is microwave safe and add your water, brown sugar and cinnamon.

Peel and chop all your apples.  Place apples in the mixture as you go to prevent them from browning.

Add craisins and mix well.

Microwave on high for 5 minutes.  Remove and stir.....repeat until apples cook for about 20 minutes.

I didn't have time to take a pic because my family inhaled them.  There wasn't a single apple left. 


Dinner was amazing..Someone later told me pork is good luck on New Year's day.  It was delicious and I got to spend quality time with my crazy family and some friends!