Saturday, July 2, 2011

West Haven Days, June 24, 2011

Mark had to take care of a funeral for our Ward.  So, I asked Jesse to come with at the last minute.  And he was able to.  So glad to have been able to spend the day with him.  And we won 1st place!  That was pretty cool.
Mark took a picture of us before we left.  Got to love the shirts.  The best part about the shirts, they change color in the sun.  Jesse really liked that idea.  (He could hardly wait to wear the apron.  LOL)
We made Garlic Herb roll, Cheese stuffed pork loin, and Marble cheesecake.
I forgot to take a picture of the rolls before they got judged.  They turned out really good.  And the smell is just heavenly!  The recipe for these are already on this blog.
The Cheesecake looked so nice.  It was not cooled off as much as I would have liked.  Next time we need to use dry ice.  Recipe for this is already on the blog.
Here is the roast.  I think it looks amazing.  It tastes pretty good too!  The recipe for this is already on the blog also.  I know we need to come up with some new ones to try.  But, I wanted to get a 1st place before we started trying some new stuff.  We want to cook in the World Cook-off again next year.  That is so much fun!  Enjoyed cooking with Jesse.  Hopefully he will come and do that with me again sometime.

We packed up and headed for home.  Megan had a Gymnastic performance that afternoon.  We made it just in time for that.  She was very excited that we made it also.
It was had to get a good picture.  They are always moving...imagine that.
They did a great job.  Megan is on the bottom left.  That is a lot of girls to have on you.

Eagle Mountain Cook-off June 3, 2011

Another cook-off.  This was out to Eagle Mountain, Pony Express days.  The judging was a little weird I thought.  They judged you by the points, and then threw them out, and the judges just picked which ones they liked the best.  Weird judging.  We came in 2nd place.  But, I would have really liked to see the points for the judging. 
Anyway we fixed, Cheese stuffed pork Loin, Orange rolls, Chocolate swirl cheesecake.
Name of Recipe:  Cheese Stuffed Pork Tenderloin
Category:  Main Dish
Dutch Oven Size:  12”  Cooking Temp:  350 ̊
Number of Charcoal:  Top:  15      Bottom:  12 - 15   
Number of Servings:  6 – 8 
2-4 pound Pork Tenderloin
Filling:
2 cloves garlic, chopped fine
10 oz. fresh spinach
4 oz. sun-dried tomatoes
4 oz. Feta cheese
4 oz. Cream cheese
½ cup Sour cream
A couple dashes of Olive oil
Saute the garlic and spinach in the olive until the spinach is wilted.  The chop up the spinach so it is in smaller pieces. 
Mix together with the other filling ingredients.
Prepare the pork by making a cut lengthwise down the center of the meat and about 2/3 of the way through it.  Push meat flat and, starting from the deepest part of the center cut, make a 1 inch horizontal cut toward each side running the length of the meat.  Push meat flat again.  Cover with wax paper, and pound it flat a little bit (to make the thickness a little more even.)
Spread the stuffing on the meat, and roll it up.  Secure it with butchers string.  Make in the Dutch oven for about 1 hour, or until it reaches 160̊- 165̊.  Let rest for about 10 minutes before cutting.
I am preparing to make the Sweet rolls.
Name of Recipe:  Orange/Raspberry Blossoms
Category:  Breads
Dutch Oven Size:  14”  Cooking Temp:  350 ̊
Number of Charcoal:  Top:  17    Bottom:  12
Ingredients:
4 – 6 cups flour
4 ½ teaspoons SAF yeast or 2 yeast cakes
1 teaspoon salt
½ cup sugar
1 cup milk
3 tablespoons butter
½ cup lukewarm water
3 eggs, whipped with a fork
Heat Milk until butter melts, cook milk to lukewarm.  Mix up dry ingredients, add the wet ingredients.  Mix well, add more flour while kneading the bread.  Knead for about 5 – 8 minutes.  Cover with plastic for about 30 minutes.  
Roll out on the floured surface to about ½ inch thick (to make a jelly roll). 
Orange mixture:
1 ½ cups sugar
¼ cup melted butter
3 tablespoons orange juice
Zest of 1 large orange
Your favorite Raspberry jam
Mix together, and spread on the rolled out dough, roll up into a jelly roll.  You can either cut it up into sections like you would for a cinnamon roll or put the roll into a round Dutch Oven and cut into the roll and twist the cut pieces to create a the ‘blossoms’.
Glaze:
1 cup powder sugar
¼ cup melted butter
2 tablespoons orange juice
Mix together well, put into a plastic bag, cut a small hole in the corner of the bag and squeeze it onto the orange blossoms.  (Let the rolls cool before adding the glaze.)

We must have forgotten to get a picture of the Cheese cake.    We had lots of fun, seeing friends again.  And of course cooking together and spending time together.  That is the best part.