December Craft and Cooking Class

I am pleased to announce that I will be teaching a Christmas crafts and cooking class in the month of December at the home of Tammy Walker. We will set up several stations where we will be doing fun gift wrapping, cooking, baking, and crafts. There will be good food to eat as well as door prizes. My goal is to inspire your creativity as well as enable you to leave with some new ideas that will make your Christmas preparations a little more adventurous.
We are going to have so much fun! I hope you can come!

Christmas Class

Date: Saturday, December 13
Time: 11:00 am - 2:00 pm
Place: 8511 Cedar Mountain Road
Cost: $20
Moms and daughters are two for the price of one.

If you would like to come, please email me at vwfranks@gmail.com. I can then give you additional details as well as directions.

Oven Roasted Pork Tenderloin with Pomegranate Glaze

I created this recipe to enter into two different recipe contests. One is sponsored by POM Wonderful, and the other by the Foodie Blogroll Forum. The recipe calls for the use of pomegranates as well as POM Wonderful Pomegranate Juice.

I only recently found out the correct way to extract and eat seeds from a pomegranate and I did a post with step-by-step instructions. The pomegranate is highly nutritious, and I enjoy snacking on it as well as using it in recipes.

Pomegranate juice is amazing when combined with balsamic vinegar, so I decided to try it on pork. The pork turned out to be very tender and tasty. I also added a generous amount of pomegranate seeds which gave it a tart-sweet crunch. Pomegranate juice is a beautiful red color, also which adds to the presentation.

Oven Roasted Pork Tenderloin with Pomegranate Glaze
1 pork tenderloin
2 tsp sesame oil
3 tbsp canola oil
salt, pepper, coriander
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup POM Wonderful Pomegranate Juice
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 tsp sage
1/4 tsp coriander
1 tbsp cornstarch
2 apples, peeled and sliced
1 cup pomegranate seeds

Heat oils in a large skillet. Sprinkle pork with salt, pepper, and coriander. Brown on both sides. Place pork in a greased baking dish. Place sliced apples around the pork.

Heat together pomegranate juice and vinegar. Add sugar, sage, and coriander. Cook over medium heat until sugar is dissolved.

In a separate bowl, combine cornstarch with a small amount of cold pomegranate juice. Mix thoroughly. Add to hot liquid. Heat to boiling, stirring until thickened.

Pour over the pork tenderloin and apples. Sprinkle with pomegranate seeds.

Cover with foil and bake at 400 for 30 minutes. Uncover and bake for about 10 more minutes.


Brown pork in sesame and canola oils:

Heat pomegranate juice with balsamic vinegar and spices:

Combine cornstarch with a small amount of pomegranate juice:

Add to glaze mixture and heat to boiling, stirring until thickened:

Pour over pork and apples, and then sprinkle with pomegranate seeds.

Cover and bake.

Easy Breadstick Twists

I found this idea in a Pillsbury book. The recipe called for biscuit dough, which I tried first. They were good, but I prefer yeast bread. So, the second time I tried it, I used frozen roll dough. You could also make the dough in a bread machine.

I am including pictures from both because they make very different-looking bread sticks.
When you use the biscuit dough, roll a biscuit into a long rope. Then wrap it around a greased metal skewer. Place on a greased cookie sheet:

I made smaller ones with the frozen roll dough. Brush with a beaten egg:

Sprinkle with poppy seeds or sesame seeds. (If you are using the roll dough, allow to rise for a few minutes before baking).
Bake at 375 for 9-11 minutes, or until light golden brown.
Once they are baked, the skewers come out easily and they will retain their twisty shape.

The bread sticks made from biscuit dough look like this:

The ones made from the frozen roll dough look like this:

Either way, they are fun and easy to do, and they can make an ordinary meal just a little bit more interesting.

Chocolate Pastry Purses

This easy recipe, which uses puff pastry and chocolate morsels, can be created in a matter of minutes. I found it in a magazine ad for Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry Sheets. I adapted it somewhat to suit my taste. It calls for semisweet morsels and pecans, but I combined semisweet morsels, milk chocolate morsels, pecans, and Heath Toffee Bits. Just use whatever sounds good to you. It is very versatile. This is a great dessert to serve to dinner guests! You can assemble them ahead of time and then bake them while your coffee is brewing.

Chocolate Pastry Purses

1 sheet Pepperidge Farm Frozen Puff Pastry
chocolate morsels (milk chocolate, semisweet, or both)
Heath Toffee Bits, if desired
chopped pecans
confectioners sugar

-Thaw pastry for 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 425.
-On a lightly floured surface, roll pastry to a 12" inch square. Cut into four 6-inch squares.
-In the center of each square, place about 1/4 cup morsels and about 1 tbsp pecans.
-Bring the pastry corners together just above the chocolate. Then twist and turn. Fan out the corners.
-Place on a greased baking sheet and bake for 10-15 minutes, or until golden brown. Let stand for about 10 minutes.
-Sprinkle with confectioners sugar and serve warm.

Roll pastry out on a floured surface:

Cut into squares:

Place filling ingredients on top of each square:

Bring pastry corners together and twist and turn:

Place on a greased baking sheet and bake at 425 for 10-15 minutes or until golden brown:

Sprinkle with confectioners sugar and serve warm:

This would also be fabulous with a fruit filling.