Weekend Cookbook challenge: 5 ingredients or less

Don't you love it when a blog event and a menu plan come together? I know I do!

I don't often get to make it to this event, the Weekend Cookbook Challenge hosted by Sara of I like to cook, but every once in awhile I manage to catch it. This months theme of 5 ingredients or less, chosen by non-blogger Lynn, was perfectly matched with a few items on my meal plan for the week.

This meal was fairly successful though, so it is the one I'm picking!

I used to really enjoy watching Fixing Dinner on FoodTV. Sandi has such good ideas for meals, that look nice when presented on the tv screen, but that don't always translate well to my kitchen. I've had some successes and some flops, but mostly alot of, "eh, whatever" from her recipes. So much so that I hadn't tried anything from her for awhile (and honestly have spent YEARS browsing her cookbooks and trying to decide if I want them,) but decided to give this one a shot when I ran across a printout of it in one of my binders.

So I didn't go into this recipe with very high expectations, I thought it would be decent and would be a nice change. Plus I was going to make a small change or two to it.

First off, I used pork tenderloin instead of chicken thighs. Easy decision - I had pork in the freezer, I had no chicken thighs. Second, I omitted the Mrs. Dash, partially because I have none, and also because I've never really found it added anything to the flavor. Oh and I replaced the dried onions with half a fresh onion, which to me takes no time at all to chop.

Don't crinkle your nose when you read the ingredients. This turned out nicely - every single person ate it, my youngest went back for more sauce, my husband went back for seconds, and took the remainder in his lunch today.

And it uses 5 ingredients or less, so it is my choice for the Weekend Cookbook Challenge!

Hot and Sour Pork
based on this recipe from Sandi Richard of Fixing Dinner

2 pork tenderloins, cut into chunks
1 cup Catalina salad dressing
3/4 can whole berry cranberry sauce
1/2 onion, diced
1 teaspoon fresh ground pepper

Preheat the oven to 350F.

Place chunks of pork in the bottom of a small dutch oven. Sour the rest of the ingredients over top of the pork, then mix well to ensure all the sauce ingredients are well blended and all the pork has been covered with the sauce.

Bake, covered, for 40-45 minutes. The sauce will bubble over slightly, so keep an eye out in the last 10 minutes.

Allow to sit for 5-10 minutes, then serve pork and sauce over rice.


Btw, don't forget about my housewarming party. The deadline for entries is coming soon, on January 30th. Send your entries to allthingsedible (at) hotmail (dot) com, and don't forget to send me your link and your picture.

It is going to be such a fun party!