BBQ Pork Tenderloin

Wow. This was delicious. And you will want more than you think. The four of us went through 2 whole tenderloins. It was ridiculous.

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup soy sauce
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 Tablespoon brown sugar
• 1 Tablespoon Cumin
• 2 pork tenderloins

Directions:

1. Mix together soy sauce, garlic, and brown sugar
2. Place tenderloins into a ziploc bag along with marinade ingredients for 45 minutes (we let it marinade for 1.5 hours).
3. Get grill to medium high heat
4. Place tenderloins on grill, directly over heat, cover grill
5. Turn meat every 5 minutes or so, until all sides have nice grill marks and the meat starts to firm up. Cut in the middle of the tenderloin to check for doneness. If you think the pork is on the edge of being done/raw, take pork off grill and let it sit uncut for 5-10 minutes. The pork will continue to cook without getting dried out
6. Slice, and mailman to finish

A four-way mailman sesh for the ages. Be jealous. Be very jealous.

 Happy cooking mailmanning!

Roasted Veggie Salad with Dijon Vinagrette and Wild Rice Soup

I know what you're thinking. A salad? That doesn't count. Oh but it counts when it involves an oven. Roasting takes awhile, but it's easy and gives you time to do whatever you want (i.e. watch Game of Thrones).

Yes, that's an old olive jar

Salad:
2 sweet potatoes and/or six small red skin potatoes (Nick doesn't like sweet potatoes)
2 red onions
1 bag baby spinach
6 oz feta
Olive Oil
Salt

Dressing (the best part): 

1/4 cup red wine vinegar 
2 tbsp Dijon mustard
2 tsp honey (I used agave syrup, because I have it)
3/4 cup olive oil 
1 tsp kosher salt 
1/2 tsp cracked black pepper

1. Heat the oven to 400 degrees.
2. Cut the potatoes into cubes (leave skin on red skin potots if you choose to use those) and the onions into wedges.
3. Place onto a rimmed baking sheet and spray/cover with olive oil as well as salt and pepper to taste.
4. Let bake for 30 minutes, check to see the veggies need more oil or anything. Turn them and roast for 30 minutes.
5. Whisk all the dressing ingredients together (the original recipe says use a food processor. I say too much effort).
6. Take the veggies out and put it all together. Do I really need to write these steps?
7. MAILMAN THAT SHIT

One Bite Mailman

Soup? Lame? Unsatisfying? Not when it's a hearty Minnesotan specialty. This is usually made with chicken, but Nick made it with potatoes for me.

Vat o Hearty Soup

Ingredients: 

1/3 cup olive oil

1/4 cup minced onion

1/2 cup diced celery 
2 tablespoons minced garlic
1 cup all-purpose flour
6 cups vegetable broth
4 cups cooked wild rice
1 cup grated carrot
1/4 cup sliced almonds
1 pinch red pepper flakes (optional)
2 cups half-and-half (or less depending on how thick you like it)
salt and pepper to taste 
  
1. Heat oil in a large pot over medium heat. Stir in garlic, onion, and celery, and cook until the onion has softened and turned translucent, about 5 minutes. 
2. Stir in flour, and cook for 3 minutes more. 
3. Pour in the vegetable broth, then bring to a boil.
4. Reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring frequently. 
5. Stir in wild rice, carrot, almonds, and red pepper flakes; return to a simmer, and cook until the carrots are tender, about 5 minutes. 
6. Stir in half and half, and cook until warmed through. 
7. Season to taste with salt and pepper before serving.
8. Mailman ever so carefully. Avoid burning yourself. Please reference photo below.

Scalding Hot: 8.5/10 Mailman

Campfire cook-outs

Hi Drunks!

As many of you know, Joe and I have been camping / traveling / vacationing for the past month or so, hence my absence on the blog (after Joel's experience I wasn't about to duck into a truck stop to try to get some Interwebs).  We did make some awesome campfire meals though, so wanted to post a few very simple but delicious recipes here since I know several of you will soon be camping out west!

Also we didn't really take pictures of the food, and realize this is breaking one of Joel's rule, but I assume that was more of a guideline than a rule.  Happy camping!

KReh (and Joe, who did assist on these)

Campfire Halibut Filet

So at this bumpkin grocery store in Maine they were having INSANE sales on seafood, so we got a 1+ pound halibut filet for 7 bucks.  If you aren't lucky enough to find that, you can sub any mild fish.

Ingredients:

• ~1 lb halibut filet, or any other mild fish (can double, triple, etc. and just put each lb or so in it's own tin foil wrapping)
• Olive oil (optional)
• Spices: Seasoning salt, garlic powder, black pepper, cayenne pepper (adjust based on what you have)
• 1 lemon -- half of it sliced into thin slices
• Aluminum foil

Instructions:

• Lay out a piece of foil large enough to wrap your entire fish
• Drizzle a teaspoon or so of olive oil on each side of the fish to lightly coat
• Sprinkle seasonings on both sides (be pretty liberal -- it's a mild fish after all :)
• Squeeze half the lemon over the fish, then cover the fish with lemon slices
• Wrap the fish up (double-wrap if you're doing over the fire so as not to set your lovely dinner on fire)
• Cook over the campfire for ~8 minutes a side
• MAILMAN!  Then snuggle up in your tent :)

A photo of Asheville hiking in lieu of a mailman :)

 Roasted potatoes and/or veggies

This is super simple, but we did it about every night with different veggies

Ingredients:

• Veggies (e.g. green beans, asparagus, squash) OR potatoes (do them in separate packets due to cooking time variance)
• Olive oil
• Seasonings -- salt and/or seasoning salt, pepper, garlic powder, cayenne, etc.  Anything works, those are what we used :)
• Tin foil

Instructions:

• Trim veggies and/or chop potatoes into small cubes or wedges
• Drizzle liberally with olive oil and mix with your hands so everything is covered
• Season and again mix with your hands so everything is coated
• Double-wrap in tin foil
• Throw on the fire and cook for ~10-15 minutes for veggies, ~20-25 minutes for potatoes, flipping once halfway
• Mailman, hopefully with a delicious micro brew

Acadia National Park, again in lieu of a mailman :)

Asparagus Bruschetta

This is the perfect light dinner/appetizer for a hangover recovery. Natalie and I were both feeling drained yesterday, so we made this quickly to get us over the hump.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb asparagus
• 1.5-2 large tomatoes, sliced
• Olive Oil
• Basalmic Vinegar
• Parmesan Cheese
• Salt
• Pepper
• Basil (julienne or dried both work fine)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400º F
2. Place asparagus on a baking sheet dowse with olive oil, salt, pepper, and Parmesan
3. Place asparagus in oven for 10 minutes
4. Once asparagus is done, mix tomatoes, asparagus, basil, olive oil, balsamic vinegar (OO:BV should be 1:1)
5. Season with salt and freshly cracked black pepper
6. Serve over toasted bread and fresh mozzerella, triscuits, or by itself as a salad

If salad tasted more like this, I'd eat it every day

Happy cooking mailmanning!

Holy Moly Guacamole

Hey guys! This recipe is very simple so if anyone has some suggestions or ideas of what to add post them! I like to change it up every time I make guacamole (which is becoming weekly because Mr. California inhales it).

Ingredients:

Avocados: 2 (good for serving 2-4 people)
Tomato: 1
Lime/ Lime juice
Cumin
Paprika


Instructions:

Peel and pit the avocados. Slice them up a bit to help with the mixing after other ingredients are in. 
Squeeze lime juice on the sliced avocados immediately. This helps prevent the brownish color they turn after being out for a bit. 
Cut up the tomato, throw it in the bowl, and using a fork smash and mix up the guac. I use a fork because I like the guacamole to have avocado chunks in it instead of being blended smooth, but either way is delicious. 
Then go ahead and add some spices. You can do anything from Taco seasoning to just some cumin and paprika, but it is totally up to you. Give me some suggestions of what you have used in the past! 

A dramatic mailman for a dramatically delicious dip. 

Pear-Raspberry Glazed BBQ Pork Chops

No description required. This shit was delicious.

Ingredients (2 servings):

• 1'' pork chops (1 per person)
• 1-2 tablespoons jam (I used a homemade Pear Raspberry Jam) It was truly the jam.
• Note: Honey is a great substitute here. Use in a 1:1 ratio with the soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon Soy Sauce
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• Salt & Pepper

Instructions:

1. Mix soy sauce, jam, garlic, and some salt and pepper together
2. Place chop on grill, add glaze to one side, cook for 5-7 minutes
3. Flip, add glaze to second side, cook for 5-7 minutes or until chop is firm in all spots
• Note: Thinner chops will cook extremely quickly. Keep an eye on the grill, lest you burn these sumptuous treats
4. Serve, mailman, gorge, repeat as necessary!

Yum!

She is dreaming about eating these chops every day

Cyana loves chops because she gets to mailman too!

Happy cooking mailmanning!

Chicken Tikka Masala

Did everyone decide to stop cooking or something? Let's keep it rolling.

Ok so for today, I made a delicious concoction using one of those pre-made sauce packages. You can buy these in any grocery store in the ethnic food aisle (or if you're a baller, you can make your own). However, these sauces can be improved tremendously with a few little additions to make them really delicious. As such, they are highly customizable. I'll list the ingredients that I used, but using your favorite ingredients is what will really make this dish come together. Also this can be easily made vegetarian and still is delicious.

Ingredients:

• 1 Tikka Masala sauce package
• 1-1.5 lbs chicken
• 1/2 onion, sliced
• 1/2 jalapeño, diced
• 1 tomato, chopped
• 1 cup baby spinach leaves
• 1 can (14.5 oz) garbanzo beans/chick peas
• 1 bay leaf
• Curry powder (cumin with a little paprika is a good substitute for curry powder, or garam masala if you have it), salt, pepper, hot sauce to taste

Directions

1. In a cast iron skillet (aka best invention ever), sauté onions until tender in a liberal amount of olive oil
2. Once onions are tender, sear chicken on both sides for ~3-5 minutes per side, depending on the temperature of your skillet
3. While chicken is cooking, add diced jalapeños to the skillet
4. After both sides have been seared, add sauce, 1/2 cup water, tomatoes, chick peas, spinach, bay leaf, simmer for 20 minutes
5. While simmering, use tongs (or utensil of choice) to shred chicken
6. Add curry powder, salt, pepper to taste
7. Serve over Basmati rice
8. Enjoy, gorge, repeat as necessary

The key to this dish is having lots of different textures. The spinach, chick peas, and chicken totally make this an adventure in your mouth.

Even with a cold, the Chicken Tikka Masala was flavorful enough to taste, and cleared up my sinuses nicely. A really great meal.

Happy cooking mailmanning!