recipes

Chocolate Clafoutis with Strawberries: A Pure and Deceptively Simple Dessert

August 11, 2015 · by Tiffany Merritt · Leave a Comment

This post brought to you by DairyPure Milk. The content and opinions expressed below are that of Stuff Parents Need.

Friends, this summer I have been working really hard to give our refrigerator and our pantry a makeover. I’m not talking so much about aesthetics (although did you catch the lighting hack we did with our fridge? It’s worth the read!). I’m talking about overhauling the types of food we are eating and making healthier choices.

For example, I’m becoming very brand loyal with our milk. I always look for the DairyPure label wherever I am because I really trust the exclusive 5 Point Purity Promise:

No artificial growth hormones (no significant difference has been shown between milk derived from cows treated with the artificial growth hormone rbST and non‐rbST‐treated cows).
All milk is tested for antibiotics
Continuously quality tested to ensure purity
Only from cows fed a healthy diet
Cold shipped fresh from your local dairy

We’re also changing out the types of food in our pantry, opting for as many non-GMO options as possible (pantry makeover post forthcoming!). But even with these shifts, I’m still the same type of chef in the kitchen: I want things I make to be as simple as possible.

Today I’m showing you a dessert that sounds unbelievably fancy (as all french words tend to do) but scroll through the tutorial and you’ll see that you can make something absolutely breathtaking and delicious in precious little time and with just a few ingredients. That’s my kind of recipe!

Chocolate Clafoutis with Strawberries

Let’s get started so I can show you how simple this really is!

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cups DairyPure milk (I suggest whole or 2%)
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
2/3 cup sugar (I used a blend of white sugar and coconut sugar)
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup strawberry preserves
for garnish: powdered sugar fresh strawberries

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Begin with 6 individual ramekins, and butter them so that your clafoutis will not be stuck to them after baking. I have a super sophisticated method of buttering my ramekin dishes, as can be seen below.

Now it’s time to add everything except the strawberry preserves and the garnishes into a food processor (you can also do this with a mixer).

Blend until smooth. You might feel a little worried that your mixture looks quite runny. I freaked out a little bit, too, but just trust me. Clafoutis has a final texture that is a somewhat similar to a custard, so you are on the right track.

Pour your batter into your 6 ramekins; they should each be roughly 2/3 full. Now add a spoonful of strawberry preserves (roughly 2 tsp) to the center of each clafoutis.

Bake for 35 minutes, give or take. Try hard not to open the oven door as this is a delicate dessert that falls in on itself quickly after coming out of the oven. You don’t want it to fall before it is done if you can avoid it. You will know it is done when it is nice and puffed up and it also doesn’t jiggle too much.

Remember, you have strawberry preserves in the center of your clafoutis, so dont’ be alarmed when you dig in and it looks a bit mushy, like this. The taste will be divine!

Want more pure and simple recipe inspirations? Follow DairyPure on Facebook or see out DairyPure Recipe inspiration on Pinterest. And if you’d like to Learn more about DairyPure head over to their website.

Easy Taco Soup Recipe to Switch Up Your Taco Tuesdays

July 27, 2015 · by Tiffany Merritt · 7 Comments

This shop for an easy taco soup recipe has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #CampbellSavings #CollectiveBias

Ever since my girls first saw the LEGO movie some time last year, they have asked me to start doing “Taco Tuesday” dinners (if you haven’t seen the movie, it’s actually quite good, and Taco Tuesday is a key component of the plot!). What parent wouldn’t want to jump on board with a weekly ritual that makes meal planning easy?

Only here’s the thing: one of my quirks is that I don’t like to repeat my meals often. And by often I mean that once every 6 months is sort of pushing it. Yes, it’s every bit as annoying as it sounds. And it means that this mama is trying new recipes pretty much all the time.

But I’m totally up for the challenge of incorporating Taco Tuesdays into our weekly routine. With school being back in session in just a few weeks (ACK!) we can use as much streamlining as possible. We can also use meal ideas that are easy on the wallet. Yesterday I printed some great coupons for various Campbell’s products, including Swanson’s Broth and PACE because you need those two ingredients if you want to make this bowl of awesomeness:

That’s right! We’re rockin’ Taco Tuesday with a taco soup this week! It’s beautiful, it’s flavorful, it’s budget-friendly, and most importantly, it’s EASY!

You can find your key supplies at your nearest Walmart. I found PACE in the Hispanic foods section and Swanson’s at the start of the soup section. I personally went for the mild PACE so as not to risk it being to spicy for my girls, but you could also grab medium or even hot depending on your family’s preference. I also grabbed the Swanson organic broth as we opt for organic offerings as much as possible.

So let’s get this easy taco soup on the dinner table for your next Taco Tuesday! Here’s what you need:

Ingredients:

1 lb ground turkey
1/2 large onion, diced
(1) 15 oz jar PACE Picante Sauce
1 cup frozen corn
3 cups Swanson Chicken Broth
(1) 15 oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
(1) 15 oz can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp pepper

For garnish:

fresh cilantro
grated cheddar or monterey jack cheese
green onions
sliced avocado
tortilla chips (go for the scoop ones!)

Instructions

1. In a large pot over medium-high heat, cook ground turkey and onion together until browned. Drain out fat if necessary.

2. Add frozen corn and PACE to the meat mixture.

3. Time to add the Swanson broth!

4. Add in the beans and all the spices, give it a good stir, and bring to a boil over high heat. As soon as it starts boiling, move the heat down to low and simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes.

To serve, ladle the soup into individual bowls and top with shredded cheese, a slice of avocado, sprinkle with green onions, and if desired, add fresh cilantro. Serve with tortilla chips.

I love this recipe because you can do your prep work ahead. I gathered all of my spices together earlier in the day, and you could even cook your meat and onions ahead of time and just stick them in the fridge. The main component of this dish is getting everything into a pot and just letting it simmer. You can have this soup going while you help the kids with homework and not feel stressed about how to get both things accomplished. This is even a great recipe to let little chefs help out with, too.

Coupon Offer

Now’s a great time to be thinking about quick and easy weeknight meals, and why not save money on those planned meals? Campell’s has big savings on seven great products that can help you get in and out of the kitchen fast.

Pace® Picante Sauce – Save $1 on any Two (2) jars of Pace® Picante Sauce or Salsa.
Swanson® Chicken Broth – Save $0.50 on any TWO (2) cartons of Swanson® broth (26oz. or larger).
Prego® Italian Sauces – Save $1 on any TWO (2) Prego® Italian sauces.
SpaghettiOs® – Save $0.40 on any THREE (3) Campbell’s® SpaghettiOs® pastas.

Be sure to print your coupons before your next Walmart trip! I’d love to hear if you see any coupons that will help you pull together an easy weeknight meal!

A Delicious Way to Add More Protein to Your Breakfast

March 25, 2015 · by Tiffany Merritt · Leave a Comment

For years (actually, for decades) I ate cereal most every morning for breakfast. It was simply what I craved and what I enjoyed. I never wavered from it, until 2 years ago, when my husband and I did the Paleo thing for a month. Not being able to reach for a box of grains and a glass of milk for a whole month actually broke me of my cereal habit, and I found that I no longer craved it. And I think that’s a good thing.

BUT…

I was still left not knowing what to eat for breakfast! I have mostly swapped one set of carbs for another, as I now eat a bagel most mornings. And then I’m hungry an hour later. That’s because I’m not getting something that I really need to be eating first thing: PROTEIN. I have really struggled with finding protein-rich options for breakfast. That’s why I was SUPER pumped to discover this new patty from Boca Essentials.

This is the breakfast scramble, and it is considered a complete protein because it contain 9 essential amino acids, all in the correct portions. These amino acids are things that every body needs but that we, as humans, simply can’t produce on our own.

So this product is, at least in my experience, very filling and very flavorful. But I wanted to find a way to really kick it up a notch and have a breakfast that was really worth getting out of bed for, know what I mean?

So I present to you, the Caramelized Breakfast Scramble Sandwich!

While the recipe takes a little bit of effort and time, you can actually make enough of the onions and mushrooms at one time to accommodate 4 servings. Even if you are the only person in the house who wants a breakfast sandwich, you can basically cook breakfast once and have the ingredients prepped to eat it 4 times. Score!

Ingredients:

1 package Boca Essentials Breakfast Scramble patties (leave in the freezer until needed)
(1) 16 oz package mushrooms, chopped coarsely
4 small onions, thinly sliced
1 can refrigerated biscuits
olive oil
1 tsp salt
2 tsp sugar
water
Havarti cheese

To begin, preheat your oven to the temperature required for the canned biscuits. Then get a large, nonstick skillet and place it on the stove on medium-high heat. Add 1 tsp olive oil.

Once the pan is heated thoroughly, add your thinly sliced onions and cook, stirring regularly, for 5 minutes.

Now add the mushrooms, 1 tsp olive oil, 1 tsp water, 1 tsp sugar and 1 tsp of salt an cook for an additional 5 minutes, stirring regularly. While the mushrooms and onions are cooking together, put the biscuits in the oven and cook according to package directions.

After the 5 minutes of cooking, taste test the mushrooms and onions. If they don’t quite taste sweet enough, add 1 more tsp of sugar. I also found that I needed to add 1 more Tbsp of water at this point. Cook for 5 more minutes on a lower heat setting. The end result should look something like this.

Now it’s time to heat your Boca breakast scramble patty. I just popped mine in the microwave for 1 1/2 minutes and it was ready to go!

Once your biscuits are out of the oven and cooled down enough that you can touch them, slice one in half, and then add your Boca Essentials patty, followed by a heap of your caramelized onions and mushrooms. Now slice a bit of Harvarti cheese for the top.

Your oven should still be warm, so go ahead and switch it over to high broil an then stick your sandwich in (minus the top “bun”) and watch it carefully. You want your cheese to melt but not to burn!

Then top your creation with the other half of the biscuit and enjoy!

This was my breakfast yesterday morning, as well as this morning (I took my own advice a cooked a large batch of onions and mushrooms) and I have been full and happy all morning long! This is in sharp contrast to t he way I normally feel, which is starving by 9:30 am!

The Boca Essentials line hit the ball out of the part with their Breakfast Scramble patty. I hope you will give it a try sometime soon! Be on the lookout for their other two new flavors: Roasted Vegetables and Red Quinoa and Chile Relleno. Sound like some great options for a hearty lunch or dinner, too! You can find Boca Essentials at select retailers nationwide in the freezer case. The retail price for four patties is $4.29.

Let me know if you try out the recipe!

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.

A Collection of Guilt-Free Chocolate Indulgences

February 4, 2015 · by Tiffany Merritt · Leave a Comment

Thanks to Foodie.com for partnering with me for today’s post about yummy guilt-free chocolate recipes. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

The hardest part about working on weight loss has been, without question, becoming more intentional about what I put in my body. I thought I would hate having to work out 6 days a week the most. Nope! I mean, I don’t like that, but I would honestly do twice as much working out if it meant that I could eat anything and everything that I wanted. I have a terrible sweet tooth, you guys. TERRIBLE.

But it turns out that you can still incorporate sweet treats into your meal plan, as long as you exercise a bit of creativity. I put together this list of guilt-free chocolate desserts for my own sake, and I thought some of you out there might enjoy having access to the list, as well.

Let me know what sounds the best to you from the lot!

Yummy Super Bowl Face-Off: Buffalo Chicken and Bacon Wedge Salad with Naturally Fresh Bleu Cheese Dressing

January 16, 2015 · by Tiffany Merritt · 42 Comments

Special thanks to The Motherhood and Naturally Fresh® for partnering with me today. It’s always a joy to get to spread the word about delicious products my family enjoys. All thoughts and opinions are my own, as always.

You know, I’m not very interested in “the BIG game” that gets played in a few weeks’ time. I am VERY interested, however, in the commercials, the fun half-time show, and most of all, the food. Super Bowl food is all about going big or going home. It’s a fun opportunity to take your dishes to the extreme in the flavor department.

One of the most popular Super Bowl menu items is buffalo chicken wings. I have a confession to make about this particular dish: I only like it a little bit. As in, if someone else made chicken wings I would eat 1 or maybe 2, and the part I would enjoy the very most would be that awesome bleu cheese dressing. Most wings are just too hot for me to handle, and too messy for me, as well.

But when I learned that Naturally Fresh® had a lite bleu cheese dressing available, I honestly couldn’t stop thinking about it. I wanted to try it, and I wanted to create some sort of a recipe where the bleu cheese dressing could justifiably be eaten in large quantities. (What?! Don’t judge me until you’ve tried it!). So I knew that I needed to revisit the buffalo chicken wing issue and bring some heat to the table in a new way.

. So it eats much more like a main dish than a side, if I do say so myself!

Ingredients

1 1/2 lb bone-in chicken thighs
1/3 cup hot sauce of your choice
4 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp vinegar (white or go wild like me and use apple cider)
1 tsp garlic salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 head iceburg lettuce
1 tomato
1 package bacon
1 jar Naturally Fresh Lite Bleu Cheese Dressing

In a slow cooker, add hot sauce, butter, vinegar, garlic salt, pepper, Worcestershire sauce and chicken wings. Place the slow cooker on low for 5 1/2 hours. After 1 hour, briefly open up the slow cooker and give the contents a good stir so that the sauce gets coated on the chicken. Return the lid and resume the slow cooking process.

Meanwhile, cook the package of bacon in whatever way you prefer to cook it. My style is to line 2 baking pans with foil, add the bacon, and cook them for 15-20 minutes (start watching at minute 15) at 400 degrees. After it cools down a bit it should be easy to crumble (you can always cut them up with kitchen shears!).

When the chicken is nearly done cooking, prepare your salad wedges. Simply cut your head of lettuce in half, and then cut each half again.

Now take your cooked chicken out of the slow cooker. Careful, as it is going to just fall off the bone. You want to remove any obvious bits of fat that remain, and of course remove all the bones. Shred the meat by using two forks. It will be easy-peasy. I recommend leaving the shredded chicken out of the slow cooker, but adding back to it approximately 1/4 cup of the sauce it cooked it to help ramp up the flavor a bit. You want moist, but not sopping wet shredded chicken.

Now it’s time to put it all together!

Simply place a wedge on your plate, and then generously drizzle it with that yummy Naturally Fresh Lite Bleu Cheese dressing. Look at those delicious chunks!

Add your tomatoes and your bacon, and then put the buffalo chicken around the edge. This makes it easy to grab a hunk of buffalo chicken each time you cut into your salad and take a bite.

While it takes a while to make the chicken, it is pretty much effortless and the end result is well worth it. I thought the chicken had some heat, but it wasn’t as intense as more traditional buffalo chicken wings. But the marriage between the flavor it had and the Naturally Fresh Lite Bleu Cheese dressing was perfect in every way! I ate this exact meal 3 times in a row after making it because I loved it so much! I probably would have kept going, but I ran out of wedges! 🙁

If you haven’t tried Naturally Fresh products yet, you are really in for a treat. These products are free of artificial flavors, colors or preservatives. They also leave out MSG and artificial thickeners. Truly they have captured the flavor of great, homemade dressings! And if you are wondering if the lite version of the bleu cheese is lacking (as lite dressings sometimes are) I can tell you that it doesn’t taste lite at all. The company uses a nonfat buttermilk to achieve that rich flavor without as many calories.

In addition to Bleu Cheese and Lite Bleu Chesse, the company also offers a Ranch and brad new to the scene this month, Lite Ranch (half the calories of the original!). You can find these products in the refrigerated section of the store at Kroger and Publix.

Win it!: FIVE lucky Stuff Parents Need readers will win one coupon each for a free 12 oz. bottle of Naturally Fresh dressing!

Be sure to enter my other current giveaways, found on the right sidebar.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Smoothies of the Rainbow to End Your Breakfast Slump

January 15, 2015 · by Tiffany Merritt · 3 Comments

Thanks to Foodie.com for partnering with me to develop this colorful collection of smoothies. As always, all thoughts and opinions are my own!

Breakfast is the hardest meal of the day for me. I grew up eating cereal all the time, always. After trying out Paleo for a few months last year, one of the long term effects of that shift was that I stopped craving cereal. Like, at all. I probably eat a bowl of cereal no more than twice a month, now. I used to eat cereal every single day, and sometimes twice a day, so this shift is major.

The trouble is that I don’t really know what to do for breakfast now. I actually pretty much hated Paleo breakfasts, so I’m not interested in that. And all I can think to do is get loaded up on carbs, which isn’t what I want to do, either.

Smoothies are a great solution, but only if you find some cool recipes so that you don’t have the same exact stuff every morning. I think smoothies are intense, and so I’m not inclined to drink the same recipe too often. I need to switch it up!

So to get some inspiration, I looked to the rainbow and put together the collection of colorful, and (mostly) really good-for-you recipes. I hope you give some of them a try!

Marie Callender’s Pot Pies for Dinner, and Pie for Dessert, Too!

December 29, 2014 · by Tiffany Merritt · 2 Comments

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #Phase 1: #PotPiePlease Phase 2: #EasyAsPotPie Phase 3: #WarmthInACrust #CollectiveBias

Do your kids ever ask you if they can eat something that might be considered to be a special treat as the entire meal? My oldest has a detailed plan for what a 3 course meal made of chocolate might look like (there’s a chocolate fountain involved…it’s quite detailed!). Well today I thought I’d give my family a little surprise by making an entire meal out of pies. With a little help from Marie Callender’s you’ll find it is quite easy to do, and you don’t even have to give up the idea of a more balanced meal to make it happen.

I headed to Walmart yesterday to pick up the ingredients I needed for the meal. The pot pies were ready to go in the frozen meals section of the store.

Oh what a saving grace prepared foods can be for busy families! I have had my share of pot pies over my 34 years on this planet, and in my opinion, the very best out there are from Marie Callender’s. Specifically, my family LOVES the creamy parmesan chicken pot pie. Have you tried it? I’ve actually made pot pies from scratch before, and I am of the opinion that the made-from-scratch pot pies from Marie Callender’s taste better!

Marie Callender’s pot pies can be microwaved in just a few minutes, but I personally like them best when cooked in the oven. Here’s a tip for you if you want to prepare them in the oven, too: place thin strips of aluminum foil around the crust of the pies. This step, which only takes a minute, keeps the edges from burning. The end result is a perfectly golden flakey crust!

Since the main course only required that I preheat the oven and put aluminum foil around the pie edges, my time was freed up to create another pie for our dessert. I decided to keep the Italian theme going and to try my hand at making a pie version of my very favorite Italian dessert: cannolis.

Cannoli Pie

Ingredients:

16 oz ricotta cheese
1 (14 oz) can of sweetened condensed milk
1/3 cup powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups miniature chocolate chips
1 (9 inch) pie crust, thawed

marie callender's cannoli pie 2

Mercy this pie is an easy one, and I can’t say that I mind! The entire meal feels nearly effortless, even with a dish that is homemade! I opted for a pre-made pie crust to make things as easy as possible, so if you are doing the same, be sure to give it some time to thaw (trust me…I tried to force the first pie crust to unroll while it was still frozen and the result was a big mess I had to throw out). Go ahead and preheat your oven to 375 degrees, as well.

In a large bowl combine ricotta, powdered sugar, condensed milk and vanilla extract. Give it a good stir until it is well-combined and smooth.

Now it’s time to add in the chocolate chips! Don’t forget that it’s important to get the miniature chips…that’s more consistent with the cannoli look and feel.

Once you’ve got the chocolate chips mixed in well, simply pour it into your prepared pie shell and pop it into the oven for 30 minutes.

At the 30 minute mark, I actually took the pie out and used the same aluminum foil trick mentioned earlier around the edges so that they wouldn’t burn. I then returned the pie to the oven to continue cooking for another 25 minutes. You’ll want to watch for the middle to be set. You can cook the pot pies on the lower rack in your oven at the same time as your cannoli pie, FYI. That what I did!

The cannoli pie needs to cool entirely before you cut into it. I know, I know…it is painful to have to wait! But good news, friends! You can dig right into your Marie Callender’s pot pies in the mean time!

Want more ideas for great recipes to pair with a Marie Callender’s pot pie? Check out Pot Pie Please for lots of ideas! Another great way to keep up with the latest products and promotions is through the Marie Callender’s Facebook page. And of course, don’t forget to check out the Comforts From Home program to see how Marie Callender’s is supporting our troops. Just one more reason to love this brand!

Awesome Alternative Holiday Pies: Drool Worthy, and Pecan, Pumpkin and Apple-Free!

November 18, 2014 · by Tiffany Merritt · 1 Comment

Thanks to Foodie.com for partnering with me today to form this curated collection of AWESOME alternative holiday pies! All thoughts and opinions are my own, as always.

When your morning starts by hunting down the most awesome holiday pies you can find, then you know you have a cool job. That’s exactly how my day started, friends, and now I have 13 pies that I need to figure out a way to make between now and New Year’s Day so that I can fit them all into the holidays. I think I can do it!

I love pecan, pumpkin and apple pies as much as the next person, but I thought it would be fun to shake up tradition a bit and find some totally new recipes to try that will still be delightful in every way. I think I found just that! Take a look at my curated collection and see if there’s something that needs to find its way to your dinner table in the near future!

Wow Your Family with Ease: Smithfield Pork Tenderloin with Cranberry Sauce

November 3, 2014 · by Tiffany Merritt · Leave a Comment

This post is part of a social shopper marketing insight campaign with Pollinate Media Group® and Smithfield®, but all my opinions are my own. #pmedia #PutPorkontheMenu http://my-disclosur.es/OBsstV.

This is the time of year when my Pinterest sessions get out of control. I can spend hours drooling over showpiece dish ideas for Thanksgiving, Christmas and holiday parties. Many of the recipe authors will state that these delectible dishes are even great for a weeknight meal for the family.

But who honestly has time like that to spend creating a really beautiful dish on a week night? Not this lady!

Still, I really liked the idea of finding a way to make something festive and appetizing to all the senses without having to move into my kitchen for several hours. My family really enjoys pork tenderloin (who doesn’t? That cut of meat is SO good!), so I thought I’d try my hand at a pork tenderloin recipe, made much easier thanks to using Smithfield Marinated Pork, which can be found at select Walmart stores.

I’ve purchased Smithfield Marinated Pork several times in the past, and love it because it is such a time-saver. The pork is already deliciously marinaded, which means you just need to take it out of the package, and follow the instructions on the back to get it perfectly cooked. I love that I don’t even have to stop and look up how to cook a pork tenderloin; Smithfield tells me how to get it right!

Ok, let’s get started!

Ingredients:

1 Smithfield Marinated Pork Tenderloin in your choice of flavor (I chose garlic & herb)
1 (12 oz) bag of fresh cranberries (substitute with frozen if fresh isn’t in season)
1 cup sugar
fresh, minced ginger (scant 1/4 cup)
3/4 cup orange juice
3/4 cup water

The fact that the Smithfield Marinated Pork is already seasoned so beautifully makes this recipe light on ingredients. The chef can focus her energies on making a yummy glaze for the pork and not even worry about how the tenderloin is going to turn out; it’s going to be great!

Directions

Preheat your oven according to your package directions. Prepare a baking dish for your pork with aluminum foil (this will reduce clean up time immensely, I promise).

While waiting for the oven to preheat, peel and mince the ginger. I’m usually the type of gal to skip over the fresh stuff and head for my powdered ginger, but don’t do it here, friends! Take the time to use the fresh stuff because the flavor is really worth it! I can even show you how to peel your ginger rather quickly: use the back of a spoon!

Pretty cool, huh? Once the ginger is peeled you’ll just want to chop it up into bite-size pieces. If you are new to using fresh ginger, like I am, you might be surprised to see that the ginger is rather fibrous. Don’t worry…it will taste great! 🙂

By this point, your oven should be preheated so put the pork in for the amount of time designated on the package (for me it was an hour). Now it’s time to get your cranberry sauce going!

Heat a medium-sized pot over medium-high heat on the stove and add fresh cranberries, sugar, water, orange juice and ginger.

Give it all a good stir, and let it do it’s thing! You’ll want to swing by and stir it every few minutes, but there’s no need to hover over the pot. You’ll know that your sauce is almost ready when the cranberries start to burst. They make cute little popping sounds, sort of like a muted and much slower version of popcorn popping. I found that my sauce was finished in about 10 minutes.

All you need to do now is remove your sauce from the heat and go do anything else you’d like while you wait for the Smithfield Marinated Pork to come out of the oven.

One important note about this cut of meat: resting is VERY important. Please allow 10 minutes or so for your pork tenderloin to rest after coming out of the oven. The juices in the cut of meat will redistribute throughout during this time, and that means that every slice of meat will be moist and delicious.

Now it’s time to plate the pork on a serving tray and dress it up with that gorgeous cranberry glaze!

I really enjoyed getting to make something that is beautiful enough for a holiday meal, and delicious enough for one, too, but that was also remarkably easy to put together. The folks at Smithfield did all the hard work for making the meat taste perfect…I just popped it in the oven, and was able to devote about 15 minutes to making a delicious sauce for it. SO easy, friends! 🙂

Coupon!

If you’d like to try out a Smithfield Marinated Pork product, why not try it at a discount? Here’s a coupon for 75 cents off your purchase (while supplies last)! You can try the Garlic & Herb flavor like I did, or you can find these other awesome flavors:

Smithfield® Garlic & Herb Pork Loin Filet
Smithfield® Mesquite Pork Loin Filet
Smithfield® Golden Rotisserie Flavor Pork Tenderloin
Smithfield® Portobello Mushroom Flavor Pork Loin Filet
Smithfield® Peppercorn & Garlic Pork Tenderloin
Smithfield® Peppercorn & Garlic Pork Sirloin

You can also get additional recipe ideas on the Smithfield website, as well as on the Smithfield Facebook page.

Are you looking for some shortcuts in the kitchen as we head into the holiday season? I hope you’ll give this recipe a try for your family!