Week 3 - Fri-no sat-no Sunday pork

Oops, no picture from Sunday's Balsamic-Glazed Pork With Lentils. I did end up shopping on Friday and picked up all the ingredients, but a friend called and suggested dinner out so we shelved this recipe. Saturday we were feeling blah and in the mood for pizza, so we finally got around to this on Sunday night.

Was the recipe easy to follow?
Super easy and quick. We cook pork tenderloin a fair amount, and have never browned it - just roasted. Not sure it's worth the effort to brown when you can just slide it in the oven, but I think it may have given more flavor.

Adjustments?
This was another low carb recipe, and well, we like carbs. So we used our of our favorite yellow rice mixes. (the Real Simple blogger wanted a carb side, too).

Did it taste good?
Yummy.

Kid friendly?
They liked it. I was skeptical about the lentils, and almost prepared a green vegetable side dish, but they both ate a few bites of lentils.

Would we make it again?
Not super wild about the lentil dish. It makes a ton, which I guess makes sense if there is no other side dish. But they're not that flavorful - I didn't think it was a good flavor match for the pork. But otherwise it was a good variation on a standard meal.

So that catches us up to Week 4. And here's where it all really, really fell apart. We had friends over Sunday afternoon so I did not go to the grocery store. And on Monday, looking at our overstuffed fridge, I just said the hell with it and decided on leftovers. Tuesday was Rich's birthday, and we went out for dinner at a family style Italian restaurant, which left us with 5 pounds of leftover pasta in ragu. So last night we had more leftovers. And there's still more in the fridge, so last night I said to Rich, let's just skip this week, and restart up next week. He was happy to hear it.

I thought, with each recipe making 4 servings, I'd eat one, E&A would split one, Rich would eat one plus the rest of E&A's portion, and Rich would take the 4th serving for lunch the next day, but it's not entirely worked that way. So with a ton of fesitivities planned around Halloween, a fridge that is still full, and general blah, we're taking a week off.

I was simply not made for rigid plans. But check back in next week, as a couple of the recipes look like real winners. And after the orgy of excess this Halloween promises (7 events in 4 days!), a week of simple, healthy, wholesome food will be perfect.