Great Dinner

I made this dinner the other night when my mother-in-law was in town. I wanted something a little bit nicer than the normal spaghetti, but something that wouldn't take forever or be super complicated. This meal was just that. I highly recommend it!

Bacon-Wrapped Pork Tenderloin
1 pork tenderloin
steak seasoning (I used McCormick Grill Mates Montreal Steak Seasoning)
bacon slices

1. Preheat oven to 425. Remove silver skin from pork tenderloin, leaving a thin layer of fat. Sprinkle seasoning over the pork. Wrap pork with bacon slices. Secure with toothpicks. Place on a lightly greased wire rack in an aluminum roasting pan. I usually add a little bit of water to the bottom of the pan to give added moisture.

2. Bake at 425 for 25 min. (although it actually took about 10 min. longer than that) or until a meat thermometer registers 155. Increase oven to broil. Broil 3-5 min. until bacon is crispy. Remove and cover with foil; let stand 10 minutes.

Creamy Cheese Grits and Spinach

1 (5 oz.) pkg. fresh baby spinach
1 c. quick-cooking grits
1 1/2 c. vegetable broth
1 c. 2% reduced-fat milk
1/2 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 (8 oz.) pkg. shredded Italian cheese blend

Coarsely chop spinach. Bring grits and next 4 ing. to a boil in a med. saucepan over med.-high heat; reduce heat to low, and simmer, stirring occasionally, 10-12 min. (although you might want to watch it, because I find grits do not really take that long) Stir in spinach and cheese until well blended and cheese is melted.

It was great and a good way to get some spinach into my kids. Although, contrary to their normal mealtime habits, this time it was Ellie who was unsure about the green stuff in her grits, and Luke ate them up. Mom also made a huge strawberry cobbler from all the strawberries we picked the other day. Soooo good!

And because I can't end this post without a few funny Ellie and Luke things (mainly for my family because I know they get a kick out of it) here are two things that made me laugh. So, lately when Ellie complains, or doesn't want to eat, or is whining about something, etc. we are trying to explain to her how blessed she is. I know there is no way for her to really get it, but we're trying. So, we've been telling her that there a little boys and girls in the world who do not have NEARLY as much as she does. And that some don't have beds, or even mama's or daddy's to love them. So now, whenever she sees a child on TV or out-she says "Mama, they don't have a mama?" And then the other day, she even asked about Elmo "Does he have a mama?" Like I said, she doesn't quite get it.

I guess this is really more of a funny Steven story, but it still made me laugh. So if you ask Luke just about any question, he will nod his head up and down. You can have a lot of fun with this. He was in a pretty bad mood yesterday morning and Steven said "Luke, are you grumpy because of inflation and rising gas prices?" And Luke nodded. I guess he should be, if gas keeps going up we might be driving a motorcylce with one of those little pully things in the back for the kids to ride in. :)