Cooking my way into 2012, Part II

Matt had surgery on Friday, December 30th.  The day before I decided that since we would be limited in what we could do, I would cook all weekend and focus on house organizing.  We have mostly finished a house remodel, and I am anxious to begin organizing everything possible.  I am so tired of clutter and not being able to find things quickly.  Here is the menu for the weekend - rotisserie chicken with pea and truffle oil risotto, black cherry pork loin with braised red cabbage and roasted potatoes, homemade chili, and for New Year's Day the traditional collards and black eyed peas with Kielbasa sausage.

Black Cherry Pork Loin with Braised Red Cabbage
-2 small pork loins
-black cherry preserves
'-red wine
-red wine vinegar
-chicken stock
-one head of red cabbage
-small red potatoes
Place pork loins in a large crock pot and cover about 3/4 with chicken stock.  Finish covering meat with red wine and red wine vinegar (about 1/2 - 3/4 cup of vinegar).  Slice the red cabbage and cover the top of the meat and cover with lid.  Cook about on medium 6 hours.   Dice potatoes with skin on and place on oiled baking sheet.  Dash salt and pepper and cook about 30 minutes at 350 degrees.  Once pork is ready, laddle some juice out in a mixing bowl and toss in some black cherry preserves.  Mix that up for a juice/sauce over your pork on your plate.

Cooking my way into 2012

Last year for a New Year's Resolution I decided to plan my meals on Sunday, grocery shop that day, and then use a service for weekly menu inspirations.  I chose papayahead.com and was immediately very glad that I did.  Over 2011 every week I received lots of recipes that Matt and I tried.  Some were fantastic, some OK, and some terrible - all in all it proved to be so much fun, a money-saver, and helped us to eat healthy.  The other kicker was that I was pregnant.  My exhaustion was extreme, so I had no energy to cook each night.  However, I did not want to compromise on my dedication to eat fresh produce with little to no packaged/processed foods and definitely would not begin eating fast food.  I mostly cooked meals that had only a few ingredients, used the same ingredients for a couple of different dishes during the week, and only took an average of 30 - 45 minutes from prep to table. 

One focus of this blog will be to share some of the recipes that I have found or that I have developed on my own.  As a warning, I am not big on precision in regards to recipes.  I just use my "gut."  If you need more specifics, comment or send me a private message and I will do my best to help.  Bon appetite!