A Menu to Keep Away the Vampires

It's been a gloomy weekend so going outside held little appeal. Spending time in the kitchen was at the top my list of activity. Garlic is the highlight of the recipes and has long been thought to keep away vampires, providing you believe in vampires. The menu for this week is guaranteed to do just that. I have spent some time in the Caribbean on a couple of cruise ships. The foods of the islands feature lots of fresh fruits and vegetables.

Caribbean-Style Pork Tenderloin with Fresh Pineapple
Oven Roasted Asparagus and Red Pepper

Vegetable-Barley Soup


Pork tenderloin is a very lean meat choice. I prefer to marinate it. This marinade is a mixture of the zest of one orange and lime. The juice of each is also added along with olive oil, lots of minced garlic, cumin, S&P and a pinch of cayenne. I marinated it overnight in a plastic bag. The meat is roasted with the marinade used as a basting liquid. It is cut into quarter inch slices and served with pineapple slices dusted with cinnamon and topped with chopped cilantro. The meat becomes very flavorful and the pineapple is a great accent. 3 slices is 4 points.

This isn't exactly asparagus season, but I did find a nice bunch so I was able to go ahead with this dish. I like to roast vegetables. The process is simple and brings out the flavors. Along with the asparagus a red pepper is sliced up and both are tossed with EVOO, lemon juice, red pepper flakes, salt and the zest of the lemon. The vegetables are roasted on a baking sheet which has been non-stick sprayed. They are turned a couple of times during the 15 minute roasting time. The vegetables bring a lot of color to the plate and are excellent. 2/3 cup of the vegetables is 1 point.

I love this soup recipe. The hardest part is the cutting up of all the vegetables. Mushrooms, carrots, zucchini, yellow squash, celery, onion, garlic, edemame, and barley are put in a large pot with vegetable broth, basil and S&P. Then it's BTBRTS (bring to boil reduce to simmer) How easy is that. A really nice chunky soup and the barley brings a different texture to the soup. 1 1/2 cups is 4 points

I tried a couple of techniques during the weekend. I seem to throw away a lot of cilantro or parsley so I took a large part of the cilantro and dried it in the microwave. The leaves are chopped and placed between two pieces of white paper towel and nuked for 15 - 30 seconds until they are dry and can be easily removed from the stems. I now have a jar of dried cilantro leaves to flavor other dishes.

I also am attempting to dry lemon slices to take to work and use in tea. The directions I was given were to slice the lemon thinly and placed on parchment covered cookie sheet. The tray is put in the oven (I have a gas stove so the inside of the oven is warm all the time) I am on day 2 of the process and they are finally beginning to dry out. I'm not sure I will do this again, but it has been an experience.

That's all for this week. I am looking forward to warmer weather, but I expect that for the next few weeks my menus will continue to be comfort food. Have a good week and stay warm.