Dinner Tonight

Sorry for the awful picture.  Quick cell phone pictures with shaky hands are no good.

I made pork terderloin for the first time tonight.   I learned quite a bit about beef, chicken, and steak growing up but I can't remember ever having pork at home.  I personally really like pork and when I ran into the chili lime pork loin recipe over at Budget Bytes I had to give it a try.

I followed the recipe pretty much exactly as written (marinated the meat for roughly 5 hours).  I didn't turn up my oven to 400 degrees though because I was following the instructions on the package but I wish I had because my pork loin took a lot longer to cook than hers.  I am not even sure mine ever reached the internal temperature of 160 degrees but it was close enough.  The less thick parts of the meat were not perfectly tender so I kind of wish I had taken it out a few minutes earlier but it was beyond good enough for my first try.

Verdict:  Great recipe if you don't mind spicy, which I do not.  It was pretty darn delicious and I plan on using this recipe often.

Side Dishes:  Crash hot potatoes from Ree at The Pioneer Woman - Mine didn't look as nice as hers (they fell apart when I mashed them)  but they were still delicious, especially with some sour cream.  I used green onion on top of mine in place of the herbs. Green beans with caramelized onions - A recipe I found on BigOven (a great app).  I didn't follow the recipe perfectly (not on purpose) but they were still really good.  Just don't ask the hubby about them, he isn't a fan of fresh green beans.

Overall, a great dinner to accompany the Presidential debate.