Library Love

Our friend Deb asked yesterday about my new love that I brought home from the library sale. The dates aren't blank to write in, they are filled with snipits of information about things that happened on that date or useful information for the season. The illustrations are so beautiful and vibrant. I thought I'd share a few for Rednesday. Every page is just this pretty. The book was printed in the seventies, but would be well worth tracking down a copy of your own. If you want to do that, take a look at yesterday's post picture. It should have the authors' names on it.

In case you've ever wondered what my mom looks like, this lady in the blue dress looks EXACTLY like my mom when she was young.


I realized I never gave you menus for the week, partly because I never made them up. I've just been winging it this week. Monday I did try a new recipe for pork roast and it was yummy. The potatoes turned out a bit spicy. The kids kept accusing me of adding hot peppers (I love spicy food). This time it wasn't me. It may have been the cumin, but I think the red bell pepper I used must have been rubbing up against some cayennes before they made it to the pan. I didn't have time to do the apple step. You'll have to let us know if you try it and like it.

Roast Pork with Potatoes & Apples

This is a recipe I'd clipped and stuck in my 'To Try' notebook. I'm thinking it came from Family Circle, but can't say for sure.

Rub:
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp minced garlic
2 tsp ground cumin
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper

2 1/2 lb boneless pork loin roast, well trimmed

Vegetables:
1 lb small red-skinned potatoes, cut in chunks
1 medium red onion, cut in chunks
1 large yellow bell pepper, cut in eighths
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp salt
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper

2 Granny Smith or Gala apples, each cut in 12 wedges
tossed with 1 Tbsp lemon juice

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Coat a 15 1/2 x 10 1/2 in. baking pan with nonstick spray. Mix rub ingredients in a bowl until well blended. Rub on roast and place in pan. Toss vegetables and ingredients. Scatter around meat. Roast for 1 hour (I had to bake mine 15 extra minutes to get the potatoes and meat done) or until meat thermometer in the center of meat registers 160 degrees. Place meat on cutting board and cover with foil. Put vegetables in a bowl and cover to keep warm. Increase oven heat to 475 degrees. Spread apples evenly in same pan. Roast 10 - 12 minutes or until tender and slightly caramelized on bottom.

That meat will give a lot of juice when resting. Put it in a bowl while working with the apples and then you can take the juice and the pan drippings to make a nice, flavorful gravy.


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