Month: May 2014

Marriage

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I was fortunate enough to attend the wedding of my lovely niece this weekend.  Witnessing a blessed event like this always causes me to pause and think about weddings, receptions, dresses, cakes, centerpieces, honeymoons, children, and life in general!

Marriage is so much more than flowers and themes.  It truly is a partnership with God to cultivate a little bit of heaven on earth.  Has my home always felt like a heaven every day since my marriage 23 years ago?  I wish I could say so.  I often think how nice it would be to go back to my wedding day and start over knowing everything I know now.  Oh, I would still make mistakes, but my perspective has changed so much that I feel that I could “do it better” if only I could begin again.

But really, these covenants are not static.  One choice on one day does not a marriage make.  Well, legally I guess it does.  But marriage is a series of choices made every day to love and honor, support and sustain, cherish and nurture.  This covenant is renewed in spirit every time we choose to exercise patience when it would be understandable not to or when we sacrifice our wants to fulfill our spouse’s needs or in a hundred other ways when we make deliberate choices to uphold the commitment we made on that one special day.

The choice is ours, in each moment, to continue to say “I Will/Yes/I Do.”

Apricot Glazed Pork Tenderloin

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So, years ago, before Pinterest, I started collecting recipes from my Better Homes and Garden’s magazines and Martha Stewart’s FOOD magazine. I have them in a binder and finally tried this one the other day. It was sweet and tangy and moist. A simple marinade that could work with a
                                                      variety of proteins. 

Apricot Glazed Pork Tenerloin

2 pork tenderloins (about 12 oz each), trimmed of excess fat
1 Tbps. olive oil
coarse salt and ground pepper
1 jar (10-12 oz) apricot jam (about 1 Cup)
1/4 C. spicy brown mustard

1. Heat broiler; set rack 4 inches from heat. Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil. Rub pork with oil; season with salt and pepper Broil 10 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, whisk together jam and mustard. Cook over med. heat til jam melts. Transfer half to a small bowl for brushing. Cover pan to keep remaining sauce warm.
3. Remove pork from broiler; brush with reserved sauce. Continue broiling until pork is blackened in spots and registers 150 degrees F, 5-10 minutes more.
4. Cover pork loosely with foil; let rest for 5 minutes before slicing. Serve drizzled with warm sauce.

*Note: My broiler is currently out of service, so I set my lower oven to 500 degrees F. To get a nice sear on the meat, I rubbed with oil, S&P and then browned it in a hot (oven-safe) skillet. Then I just continued baking it in the same skillet til it reached the desired temp. It does not have the dark char marks that it would have, had I used a broiler. Still really tasty though.