Best Chocolate Chip Cookies You'll Ever Have!

Recipe to come...

Pork Tenderloin...Healthy & Easy!

The picture doesn't do this meal justice. I made a green salad too and we had strawberries on the side. The pork is very easy to bake, and healthy. You can buy a pack of two tenderloins at most any grocery store. I cook one and freeze the other.

Bake at 425
30-35 min

Put tenderloin in rectangle cake pan
Brush with olive oil
Season with Montreal Steak Seasoning
Do not cover
Cook ~30 min
Cut into middle of pork; meat should be white when done (internal temp 160-165 degrees)
Let meat sit on counter 5 min before slicing

Cut into thin slices
I serve the pork with horseradish or hot mustard & sesame seeds
Juan likes to dip his in ketchup, but I think that's boring!

To drink, we each had an ice cold Blue Moon with a slice of orange.

And dinner is done...

Homemade Fried Rice, Juan Style

This is Juan's favorite dish. I generally make fried rice with a packet of Sun Bird seasoning mix, but decided to give Juan's parents recipe a try...or something fairly similar. All the ingredients are approximations. You can use more or less of anything, or even add different vegetables or meat.

*Total time: ~30 min

3 cups white rice (cooked)

4 strips of bacon

1/2 cup green onions (chopped); you can also use yellow onions

1/2 cup frozen peas

1/4 cup soy sauce

1/2 teas black pepper

3 teasp minced garlic

4 scrambled eggs

Cook 3 cups white rice & set aside

Scrabble eggs & set aside

Cut bacon into small squares and fry alone in large frying pan (medium heat)

Drain grease if needed

Add green onion

Cook 4 min (turn heat down to medium)

Add in peas, carrots, celery, etc. (I used frozen peas)

Cook until veggies are warm (~2 min)

Mix soy sauce, pepper, and minced garlic with rice in bowl

Dump rice mixture into frying pan

Add already scrambled eggs to frying pan

Fry on med high heat until all is mixed and hot.

Add more soy sauce, pepper, or garlic to taste.

*I served the rice with pork tenderloin that I baked in the oven while making the rice. The pork tenderloin bakes for about 30 min. Recipe to follow...

Easy Mix Chocolate Cake

Here's my amazing chocolate cake recipe. This cake is very dense. I promise you won't be disappointed!

Preheat oven to 360 degrees (Yes, you read that right). I think the weird temperature has something to do with how old this recipe is. More on the story behind this cake later in the post.

Heat Oven to 360
You will need: 1 square 8"x8" pan

Beat all ingredients until blended:
1 1/2 cup flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup cocoa
3/4 teas salt
1/2 cup oil
1 teas baking soda
1/2 cup sour milk (1 Tblsp vinegar or lemon juice in 1/2 cup & fill rest with milk)
1 egg
1 teas vanilla

Add 1/2 cup boiling water & mix

Pour into ungreased pan
Bake approximately 30 min
Done if knife in middle comes out clean

*If you double the ingredients, it makes a huge rectangle cake & some cupcakes, or a 2-layer cake and some cupcakes.

Enjoy!

The story behind the cake:
In my last post, I showed a picture of this cake all frosted and decorated. I also mentioned that the cake was very old. My maternal great grandparents had a friend, Blanche Jordan. Blanche lived in the Okanogan Valley near Brewster, WA. She was a huge woman and obviously loved to bake. LOL! We think she grew up in Coolee Dam,WA. She must have baked this cake for her family in the 1920-30's.

The Okanogan Valley is a place my family loved to take vacations growing up. My mom's parents had a cabin on Alta Lake, about 60 min North of Wenatachee. The cabin was built in the early 1970's and my g'parents owned the property years before that. Instead of taking long expensive family vacations, our family would hop in the car and head up to Alta Lake during the summer. What an amazing place! We would fish, swim, sunbathe, and play outside for hours. Being at "the cabin" is definitely one of my favorite childhood memories.

The cabin is still there to this day and just last year, Juan and I made it up there the end of September. It was quite a bit cooler than mid summer, but we still had a great time. We hope to get there more in the coming years.

Pretty in Pink Birthday Cake

This year, Juan and I hosted a Superbowl party. We invited friends and co-workers, one of who just happened to be turning 60! I wanted to surprise her with a homemade chocolate cake. The cake actually has a 1/2 cup boiling water in the batter, and is VERY dense. I topped the cake with white butter frosting. There's nothing better than cake and frosting made from scratch. The cake recipe is ancient; from my Great Grandparents' friend, Blanche Jordan. Blanche lived near Brewster, possibly growing up in Coulee Dam, WA. I am going to ask my grandma more details on when and where this recipe originated.

I have a lot of recipes that have been handed down in the family, which makes the food I create special. I love how there's a story behind many of the dishes. I will blog as much as I know about each of the recipes. My mom's mom, Lois Grable, is a wonderful cook and much of what I make comes from this side of my family.

I will post the recipe in my next blog...

All About Food!

I love food! Over the last 4 years, cooking and baking has become a huge hobby for me. The idea to start my own food/life blog came to me when I started posting pictures of the food I made on Facebook. People starting asking me for recipes, and I was quickly inspired to do a blog. I'm still learning how to use Blogger and I know my blog will get better and change over time, but for now I am just going to get started

My plan is to take pictures of some of my favorite dishes and write all about them. I will also post recipes. I have a feeling some of my blogs will be about my life too. A lot of my recipes are old and have been handed down in the family. Juan's family is Chamorro (from Guam), so I will also be blogging about the dishes that will take me years to learn.

The food I make now is simple, tasty, easy, and homemade. 99% of the time, I follow a recipe. I'm not very creative with trying new and unusual dishes. I love dessert so watch out. Let me know what you think! Welcome to "Life is Good, Food is Better."