Pork loin with cranberry relish and mixed grain salad

Hi everyone, I'm the wife and today is a report on a dinner that we put together for my folks.

My parents started by splitting one of the pork loin steaks and each taking one half. By the end of the dinner, they had worked on the other one too so that it was almost finished as well.

If the cranberry relish recipe was doubled, there would be enough to season an entire package of the pork loin steaks.

Out of one package of pork loin chops, four were set aside for dinner and the other six were packaged in twos and put in the freezer for later use. These pork loin steaks were cut at approx. 1".

Pork Loin

Season the loin steaks with salt and pepper and roast at 325 degrees until just past pink. Watch the meat, don't let a timer do the thinking. Do not overcook. While the meat is still a little pink put the cranberry relish on the pork and finish cooking. Let sit a minute and sprinkle on a handful of silvered almonds before serving.

Cranberry Relish

2 cups Kirkland apple, peach, and passion fruit juice blend

1 cup Ocean Spray Craisins

1/4 cup coarsely chopped crystallized ginger

zest of one lemon

Simmer the juice, the Craisins and the ginger on low until most of the juice is reduced. Add the lemon zest at the end.

This cranberry relish would also be good on ham, chicken, or ice cream.

With the pork, a salad was served. This grain blend has not only quinoa, but also amaranth, brown rice and wild rice for a satisfying and nutty flavor.

Heritage Grain Blend Salad

1 Cup Nature's Earthly Choice Heritage Grain Blend

3 cups water

juice of 1 lemon

approx 1/3 cup olive oil

1/2 thinly sliced red onion (pole to pole)

1/2 each thinly sliced red and green bell pepper

Handful of cherry or grape tomatoes

salt and pepper to taste

Cook the grain with the water until the liquid is absorbed and the grain is tender. When the mixture is done cooking and still warm add the lemon juice and olive oil. Combine with the veggies and season to taste.

If it were still summer, a large handful of fresh herbs would have made it into the dish as well.

Guest Post-Cranberry Cobbler Crunch

Hi, I'm Chris Louie, and I blog over at The Simple Skillet When Mike asked me to do a guest post about my Cranberry Cobbler Crunch, well, I was honored! I love his ideas, and I love Costco (other than the crazy parking and long lines) and shop their regularly, although I rarely purchase any of the prepared foods. I buy the produce, fish, meat, and other whole foods, and of course some of their wines.... then come home and cook from my own recipes. However, once in awhile I do like to try some of their specials.

Getting back to the Cranberry Cobbler Crunch, well it really isn’t your typical cobbler, and not your typical cranberry dessert. It is more like a pudding cake, and the crystallized sugar on top adds a nice crunch and takes the tartness away from the dried cranberries. I make this dessert often (well, probably more often than I should). I also make Individual Berry Cobblers that are just as easy, and cook in half the time because they are made in little souffle cups. You could do that with the Cranberry Cobbler Crunch as well, and just bake for 30 minutes in the 3 inch souffle cups.
This is a perfect dessert for a cold winter night, served warm with a dollop of whipped cream or a scoop of vanilla ice cream. It’s also good for breakfast/brunch (I know)…but it is! It’s not too sweet, and goes great with a cup of coffee or tea. It is easy to make, but takes an hour to bake. You can serve it warm out of the oven, but it is just as good the next day, just warm it a little in the microwave oven. The top keeps it’s slight crunch from the Turbinado sugar. When you're done having your second piece, you may want to check out our low calorie meal plans with recipes and shopping lists!

Serves: 8 (but in our house we usually get about 6 slices out of it)
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 1 hour
Difficulty: Easy
Ingredients:
1 1/4 cups cranberries, dried
1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg, large
1 cup milk, I use 2% fat
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup flour, all purpose
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
2 tablespoons turbinado sugar, such as Sugar in the Raw
Preparation: Place cranberries in a small microwave safe bowl. Cover with water and cook in microwave for 1 minute and set aside to soften. Lightly butter and sugar a 9 inch pie or cake pan. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Melt butter in a microwave safe mixing bowl. Add sugar to butter and whisk together. Add milk, egg, and vanilla to the bowl and whisk together. Add flour and baking powder and whisk together. Pour batter into prepared pie pan.
Drain cranberries in a colander, shaking it around to make sure the water is fully drained.


Arrange softened cranberries over top of batter. Sprinkle with Turbinado sugar. Place baking dish in oven. Bake for approximately 1 hour until a toothpick placed in the center comes out clean.


I sprinkle a little more sugar on top (optional, but really good) when I remove it from the oven.


Best served warm, and you can reheat individual pieces in the microwave later.
Nutrition: Per Serving About: 350 calories, 13 g fat, 8 g saturated fat, 0 g trans fat, 4 g protein, 58 g carbohydrates, 2 g dietary fiber, 140 mg sodium

To print recipe click here

For More Desserts:

We post free weekly meal plans, recipes and shopping lists for family meals, low calorie meals, low carb meals, vegetarian meals and kid friendly meals. Stop on by and check it out!

Guest Post Nutella Chocolate Mousse Tart

When Mike emailed me to do a guest post I was immediately excited by his invitation. Then to find out it's about my favorite single addiction, Nutella !!  I was in a hurry to get started on posting my latest creation! Nutella is nature's perfect food it's great on everything.

Nutella  was invented by Pietro Ferrero in Italy in the 1940s, and was originally called pasta gianduja. Hope your a big fan like me! Here is my latest entry and thanks Mike for your invitation... Nutella Chocolate Mousse Tart

Nutella Chocolate Mousse
3/4 cup Nutella
1/3 cup unsalted butter
4 eggs, separated
1 tablespoon sugar

In a double boiler or oven proof bowl, over simmering water, melt the Nutella and butter, stir to combine. Beat in the egg yolks, one at a time, stirring after each addition. Remove from the heat and set aside.

In large bowl, beat the egg whites until soft peaks form, then add the sugar and continue beating until smooth and glossy.
 Gently fold in 1/4 of the egg whites to the Nutella mixture using a spatula, then add the remaining whites and combine completely. Spoon into cooled pie crust and cool in the refrigerator 4 hours.

 
Chocolate Butter Crust :

Makes  1 large tart shell in pan with removable bottom
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) chilled unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
2 large egg yolks
2 tablespoons heavy cream, chilled
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Dough:

Place flour, cocoa, sugar, and salt in the bowl mix together with electric heavy duty mixer. Add butter, mixture will resembles coarse meal, about 10 seconds. Add yolks, cream, and vanilla; process until mixture comes together, keep adding cream if too dry, a little at a time.

Turn out dough onto a piece of plastic wrap, and flatten into a disk with the palm of your hand. Wrap well, refrigerate at least 30 minutes or until ready to use, up to 2 days.

Line the bottom of a removable tart pan with pistachio nuts. Unwrap dough, roll the dough out about 1/2 thick on the clear wrap, lift still on the wrap and place on over the nuts, to line the tart pan. With plastic wrap push still over the top, press sides in to make sure all dough is in the fluted edges to the top. Remove plastic wrap. Prick the dough with a fork on the bottom and bake on 350 until tart is done around 25 minutes. I make sure the toothpick is clean in the center before removing from the oven. Cool around 5 minutes, loosen edges if they look stuck with a knife and gently move from the fluted edges then flip onto on board to cool.
Then line a cookie sheet with wax paper and flip it right side up.  Fill  when cooled with mousse, add a  toasted meringue- or whipped cream topping and chopped hazelnuts.

Meringue:

3 egg whites from large or jumbo eggs, at room temperature
1/4 cup superfine sugar
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
In a chilled clean bowl, beat the egg whites at high speed with an electric mixer until soft peaks form. With mixer running, add the cream of tartar, then gradually add the sugar, a tablespoon at a time, and beat until stiff peaks form. But don't walk away and overbeat as I did! It will not be smooth and get dry as you see in the picture...don't even answer the phone! That's what happened to me and this is the result too stiff of peaks formed!
Pile on to the top of your pie and seal edges to crust. (Sprinkles with nuts after its sealed and starts to brown or they will sink in.) Bake at 400°F  until lightly browned. Watch this closely as it will brown quickly in different ovens.

Tips:
The bowl must be cold I put my bowl and beater in the refrigerator first! The bowl must be immaculately clean!

Sugar fills an important role in meringue. It stabilizes the beaten egg white foam which enables it to sit longer and hold its shape. Sugar pulls the water from the eggs and allows it to set better. When using sugar, your meringue can run the risk of getting a gritty texture so I only use superfine sugar when making meringue because it dissolves faster than table sugar. Use meringue within 5 minutes after beating as they will deflate quickly.

The challenge in making perfect meringue is neither to under or over beat the eggs. Under beating introduces too little air, and the whites will rise inadequately. If over beaten the mixture will separate. Seal your pie to the edges before baking. Its also better to make just before you serve as refrigerating will cause it to seperate from the edges and get runny.

Try some of my other Nutella Favorites:

Nutella Ganache Milano Cookies
Nutella Rocher Hot Chocolate
Thanks For Reading ! Claudia From What's Cookin Italian Cuisine

New Feature-Guests Posts On Costco Cuisine

I am trying out something new: I am going to have guest posters that have recipes that I think fit well with the philosophy of this blog.

Let me know what your think after they start posting.


Thanks and I hope you enjoy this new feature.

Quick and Easy Spinach Quiche-Ideal For Holiday Brunch Or Breakfast

For Sunday brunch with the family, my mother in law generally makes scrambled eggs. However, sometimes she likes to kick it up a notch by making a quiche.  This one used eggs, mozzarella and bacon bits, all from Costco. She adds a little milk and some frozen spinach (thawed and drained) plus some seasoning and she is good to go.

Easy, quick, tasty and affordable.  That is a wonderful set of qualifications for any dish.  And buying a number of the ingredients from Costco really makes it simple to grab stuff from your pantry and fridge and have it put together in minutes.

I highly recommend something like this for a holiday brunch or breakfast.  It really satisfies people but it keeps your time in the kitchen to a minimum so you can enjoy family time together.

Amylu Chicken Sausage With Apple, Cranberry and Quinoa Salad

We are fond of those Amylu Apple and Smoked Gouda Chicken sausages.  We had one last pack of them in the freezer and so I pulled them out and cooked them on the Griddler and we had our meat course. For a side dish I made the following: Apple, Cranberry and Quinoa Salad. Here is the recipe:

• 1/2 cup quinoa, cooked and cooled, (we buy our quinoa from Costco)
• 1 large Granny Smith Apple, cored and diced
• 1/2 cup Craisins (dried cranberries) from Costco
• 1/2 cup vanilla yogurt dip

My idea was to use tart fruits like the Craisins and the apple to make the salad more suitable as a side dish than as a desert. My wife and I both agreed that it worked okay, not brilliantly, but okay as a side dish and that I should make it again.

We also both agreed that adding walnuts would be a good idea. To sum up, it was a good side dish that took very little work and time, it was very healthy and it well with something less "heavy" like the chicken sausage.

Recipe:

Les Plats du Chef All Natural Spanakopita-Great Tasting, Fun And On Sale

We love the assortment of both basic items like rice and more distinctive foods like the spanakopita that Costco carries. While I was doing other chores, my wife threw half a package in the oven for refreshments for my Toastmasters meeting.

The spanakopita went over great, it was all gone by the time the meeting was over.  It is tasty, easy to eat and fun.

The holidays and their associated parties are coming up, so we will definitely buy some more of this.  The coupon has no limit, so we will get some and store it in the freezer. At $3.50 off per package and no limit, this is truly a great opportunity.

"Must Go" Cheese and Pasta

In my wife's family, they have a term for things that are in the fridge and have to be used up before they go bad. They call them "Must Goes". Here is my wife's take on a pasta dish using some "must goes" from our fridge

A while back we had one last piece of that wonderful fresh mozzarella  from Costco.  We also had some ricotta and some Parm Reg cheese. The mozzarella was still good but near the end of its life, so my lovely wife threw all those cheeses together with some fresh and canned tomato and just a little bit of spice to liven it up. While not the best thing we have ever eaten, it was pretty darn good for something she just threw together in minutes.

Fresh Belgioioso Mozzarella from Costco is a great cheese at an awesome price and we will continue to enjoy it on a regular basis.

New Coupons Started 11/11

Here is a link to the coupons courtesy of our friends at Addicted To Costco.

We will be buying spanakopita and the pita chips. And we will definitely max out the coupons for Nutella and the Potstickers.

Some great deals this month, so check them out.

Costco Take And Bake Pizza Review-Great Pizza, Great Price

Sorry I am behind on blog entries, I thought I was back in the groove but then my mom spent a day and a half in the hospital. She is fine, but it messed up my schedule for a while.

Until the November 7, Costco has their Take & Bake pepperoni pizza on sale for $3 off, which brings the price to 6.99 in my local store. It is a huge pizza, practically the size of a hubcap on a Hummer.  And it comes almost totally covered with pepperoni.

Sure, it is big, but it is also a good pizza, comparable to the major chains like Papa Johns.  As you can see, it has lots of pepperoni. But it doesn't end there, it also has a flavorful sauce with a well made crust. Even at regular price, it is a good value. On sale, it is just simply a bargain.  The first one we had we served with the same type of salad we made with the Craisins that are on sale.


For the second one we bought, we topped it with fresh tomato from the farmer's market and Kirkland Signature Artichoke Hearts from Costco. That was fun pizza. It had a variety of textures from the different toppings and the tomato and artichoke hearts added nicely to the flavor profile.

You still have a couple of days to buy them on sale, and even at full price, they are a good deal.

Twist On A BLT: Bacon & Tomato Ravioli With A Salad Of Romaine, Almonds & Dried Cranberries

As we move thoroughly into fall, I decided to buy one last batch of fresh tomatoes from the farmer's market.  Given that we still have a good quantity of that wonderful Pasta Prima ravioli from Costco, I thought I would do something with that. Since we had lettuce and tomato already included in the menu, adding bacon jumped into my mind.

I cooked up some onion, garlic and crushed red pepper in EVOO.  I then added the chopped fresh tomatoes and let soften and blend in. Finally, I  added in those bacon pieces you get in the bag (real bacon, please, no substitutes) and warmed it through.  We garnished it with grated cheese and ground black pepper.

While not brilliant, we both agreed this was a very good dish and it took about as much time to make as it does for me to  do a posting on it.  The crushed red pepper gave some background heat and using the last of the farmer's market tomatoes gave it a fresh flavor.  We will definitely make this again: quick, easy, tasty and affordable is a hard combination to beat.

To go along with the theme of BLT, we had a romaine lettuce salad. The dried cranberries (craisins) are on sale this month at Costco with a coupon so three pounds of them cost 3.99, a real bargain.  We finished the salad with those crunch sliced almonds you get at Costco and it made for a wonderful salad that was pretty also.

I am sure we will find lots of good uses for those craisins. Aside from being affordable, they are colorful, tasty and good for you.  I highly recommend buying a bag before the sale is over.

For wine, we had the Ecco Domani Pinot Grigio 2008 that was given a solid rating Costco Wine Blog.  While not the best Pinot Grigio ever, at less than $8 a bottle it is a very good value. This someone sweet wine went well with the freshness of the tomato and my wife and I both agreed with the review that it was easy to drink and enjoy with this dinner.

To sum this up, the concept of Bacon, Lettuce and Tomato being used together has been around for a long time, but this shows there are still ways to innovate and put new spins on the idea.

Sorry About The Lack Of Posting-Regular Posting Will Resume 10/31

I have gone to a new work schedule and I have had some personal things that have been needing my attention.

My "regular" rate of posting at least a couple times a week will resume on 10/31.

Happy Halloween.

Mike

A Tribute To My Father And Pizza With Artichoke Hearts And Salami On Roasted Garlic Crust

Back when we were kids, my mom used to make pizza on Saturday night using french bread for a crust. It was something we looked forward to every week and it is one of those memories of childhood that you treasure and keep in a special place in your heart.

Recently, the tenth anniversary of my father's passing away came around and it made me think of that painful time and how we dealt with our loss. On the Saturday after my dad passed, my brother and I made french bread pizza at my mom's house both as a way to make a good supper quickly and as a way to connect to our father.

I am a person that would rather remember a someone's life rather than their death but realizing it has been ten years makes me think and reflect. Food is a pillar in reconstructing memories so for dinner on Saturday night, we made pizza using some bread with roasted garlic from Costco.

For the pizza sauce, I took some tomato sauce, spread it on and seasoned it with dried parsley, dried basil and a little ground black pepper.  Then I topped it with artichoke hearts and salami from Costco.  It was finished off with mozzarella and put under the broiler.

I thought it turned out great.  Those artichoke hearts from Costco are true bargain at just over four pounds worth for 8.49.  And we love that salami from Costco, it is so tasty and versatile.  Finally, the fresh baked bread seasoned with roasted garlic was a flavorful and substantial crust. And of course, using the bread for the crust was extremely quick.  In fact, I am sure I am spending more time writing this blog entry than making the pizza.

As I write this, I am just a little misty eyed.  I think back to the days of childhood and those Saturday night memories.  And I think about my father.  I am positive he would have been thrilled that I was writing a food blog. My dad loved a lot of things in life and let me assure you,  food was at the top of the list!

I am sure we will make pizza like this again and I am also sure it will always remind me of my childhood and of my dad.

Follow Up On The Availability of Products Mentioned Here At Costco Cuisine.

I have had several comments about the availability or lack thereof of various products mentioned here.

In my posting about Palermo's Margherita Pizza, it was commented by one reader that this item was no longer available. As items vary from region to region, I can't vouch for her store, but at least in the ones in Grand Rapids, Michigan still have them.

In the posting about Aarti's pizza,  someone commented that Costco sells paneer cheese. Unfortunately for me, I could not find it in either store near me, but who knows, maybe sometime soon I will be able to buy it.

In my review of Sabatasso's Pizza Variety Pack's,  it was asked where you can buy them.  I looked around and the stores in Grand Rapids, Michigan did indeed have them. 

Finally, I just went shopping for provolone cheese last night and I noticed a change in the one store I stopped at. Instead of Stella Provolone in a 2 1/2 pound package for $6.79, they had a 2 pound package of BelGioioso for 6.99. While still a good deal, this is a bit of a price increase. We have been big users of the BelGioioso fresh mozzarella, so I wonder if they are just consolidating cheese suppliers?

In any case, do keep in mind products of disappear and reappear in Costco.  Please also keep in mind that Costco is a big company that tailors itself to the needs of individual markets, so inventory does vary from store to store.   But on the upside, out of the dozens of postings I have done, only a few have "availability" issues.

October 14, New Coupons Become Active

Sorry about not posting for a while, some late days at work and I have been sick.


In any case, here is a reminder about the new coupons going live today, October 14.  My wonderful friends at "Addicted To Costco" have plenty of information about the new coupon book here. 

Clarification To Post On Chicken Panini With Naan Bread

It appears I was a bit vague in my post and I appreciate the input to help me clarify it.

It was asked if I sliced the naan bread in half.  The answer is no, I used two pieces of naan bread.

Each slice, on one side, was sprayed with EVOO and then sprinkled the chopped, fresh rosemary.

The sides with the rosemary on it faced toward the inside of the sandwich where the meat, cheese and tomato was.

I hope this clarifies things.

Thanks.

Chicken, Fresh Mozzarella And Fresh Rosemary Panini On Naan Bread-First Panini We Have Had That Was Better The Second Day

After making Aarti's wonderful pizza, we had a couple of pieces of naan bread left over.  Obviously, such good and useful food shouldn't go to waste, so I put on my thinking cap and started working on how to make a panini with it.

We had some fresh tomatoes around and we also had some of that wonderful Belgioioso mozzarella and I thought I would use those.  That left selecting a meat and I choose some deli sliced chicken.  These are all fine ingredients, but I thought I could put this over the top by seasoning this with some fresh rosemary because I do feel rosemary and chicken is a righteous combination.

Thus the design of the sandwich was this:

I sprayed some EVOO on the inside of the naan bread and then sprinkled chopped, fresh rosemary on that.  Then I covered each slice with the deli chicken meat.  Finally, I laid down the cheese and fresh tomato and flipped over the top slice of naan/chicken and I had a sandwich with bread and chicken on both sided with cheese and tomato in the middle. 

I then put the sandwich in a zip lock bag and put it in the fridge for a while to let the rosemary flavor meld into the EVOO.

After that, all it needed was a few minutes on the Griddler and dinner was done. (We also served it with some of the tomato basil soup we got from Costco a while back). Here is the finished panini:

As for how it turned out: the fresh tomato and mozzarella made it a bit moist and sloppy to eat. Not impossible, just a bit sloppy. But if the sandwich was a bit juicy, the flavor was spot on. As I said, rosemary and chicken go great together and that was the first thing my wife commented on when she tasted it.  The chicken,  tomato and fresh mozzarella also was a good combination of meat, vegetable and cheese.

As for the naan bread, it is a fabulous bread for panini and we will definitely be using it again and experimenting with it.

We had a fine meal of this with that organic tomato basil soup from Costco and that left a quarter of a sandwich for our lunch the next day.  And that is where things get really interesting: this is the first panini we have made that was better the next day!

After sitting overnight in the fridge, the sandwich solidified and was definitely less messy to eat. Also, the rosemary flavor blended in better after sitting overnight.  We both felt that this sandwich improved overnight.  And it works both hot and cold, because I warmed mine up and my lovely wife had her's cold.

This experiment was a great success both with this specific combination and our discovery that naan bread works great for making panini.  And it was a good use of Costco ingredients with the bread, EVOO and cheese, plus the soup on the side.

"Eat This, Not That" Recommends Palermo's Primo Thin Margherita That You Can Buy From Costco

Recently I was visiting my mother and she has to watch what she eats. She recently bought on of those "Eat This, Not That" books to help her in that quest.

I was thrilled to see them give a very positive rating to the Palermo's Primo Thin Margherita that Costco carries and that we have enjoyed so much and posted about before.

This is a hard combination to beat for a pizza:

• Great taste
• Great price
• Healthy

No doubt about it, these will definitely continue to be a standard item for our freezer.

Mango Chutney, Prosciutto and Naan Bread "Pizza"-From Aarti Sequeria, Winner of The Next Food Network Star

When I saw her do this recipe for her pilot, I was intrigued and I knew I we would try this someday.  After my wife discovered that Costco sells naan bread, we decided to do it. My wife followed the recipe as closely as she could, with the exception of using all fresh mozzarella instead of paneer for the cheese. (We don't know where to get paneer locally).

The pizza was pretty easy to make and here is a photo of it before it was baked.

After a few minutes in the oven, my wife topped it with the prosciutto and it was done.

The first word I will use to describe this is delicious!  This is absolutely a great recipe. There are a wide variety of flavors in this dish, but they work together wonderfully.  The sweet, spicy chutney compliments the pungent nature of the green onions.  The cilantro adds a fresh zesty taste and makes the flavors even brighter. The prosciutto adds meat and a slight saltiness while the cheese adds a dairy flavor and texture.

As I said, there are a lot of things going on here, but they really come together in a tasty and fun way.  This is definitely a dish we are going to make again. And it was a particularly Costco oriented recipe with the prosciutto,  cheese and bread all coming from Costco.


Note:


Here is the link to Aarti's recipe.

Save 38,750 Calories And $135 A Year On Your Work Day Chocolate Fix With Hunt's Pudding Cups From Costco

I brown bag my lunch and with very rare exceptions, I pack a Hunt's Pudding Cup that I buy from Costco.

The 36 pack of these goes for 7.49, which is a bit over 20¢ each. That compares to 75¢ each for a Snickers bar out of the vending machine.  Figuring in 250 work days per year and that is about $135 a year.

But there are more than just the monetary savings.  A Snickers bar has 280 calories while the chocolate pudding has 130 calories and the chocolate-vanilla has 120 calories. Figuring out an average of 125 calories, that is a whopping 38, 750 calories per year you will save.

As I said in my post about the baked Lays snacks,  this alone won't make you rich and thin, but it will help.