Breaded Pork Tenderloin

Breaded pork tenderloin makes for a tasty Sunday night dinner when paired with potato pancakes or creamy garlic noodles or both. The creamy garlic noodles are a mix from the pasta aisle. Potato pancakes are a favorite in my house--MDS even ate them as leftovers!

Breaded pork is so easy that it could easily be a weekday meal, but I remember Mom usually making this dish on Sunday. Mom always pounded the pork a bit to make it fairly thin. Depending on how much you want to make, you can buy already sliced pork, or buy a large tenderloin and slice it yourself. Thinly slicing the pork helps it cook quickly, but still have so much flavor.

If you happen to have leftovers, I recommend making up a sandwich. I always like just the pork between two slices of bread, with nothing else added. Of course, you could add any sandwich ingredients, such as mustard or mayo, or veggies. But to me, just the pork on bread makes for a tasty lunch.

Mom uses Italian seasoned bread crumbs. Because I did not have any on hand, I just improvised by adding oregano, garlic, and onion to the regular bread crumbs.

Breaded Pork Tenderloin

• 1 cup seasoned bread crumbs
• salt and pepper
• 1 egg, beaten
• 4 thinly sliced boneless pork tenderloin

Prepare the pork by pounding each piece so they are about equally thin. Beat the egg in a bowl and add a dash of salt and pepper. In another bowl, place the seasoned bread crumbs. Dredge each piece of pork through the egg and then the bread crumbs, covering each completely.

Spray a skillet with non-stick cooking spray and heat the skillet over medium heat. Melt a tablespoon of butter or margarine in the skillet. Cook each piece of pork for a few minutes on each side, until completely cooked. Enjoy!

Mom's French Bread

Mom is famous for her bread. She usually makes this easy french bread. And eating the bread fresh out of the oven is hard to resist (this bread quickly disappears shortly after it comes out of the oven). Like the rest of the Buckley family, I probably could eat just this bread for most of my meals and not miss anything. Mom often made this bread on Sundays, especially in the winter. She now often makes it to bring to family parties. It is always a favorite.

When we lived on Lincoln, Mom used to put the bowl with the rising dough on the black easy chair in the living room. It would not take long for the whole house to smell of bread.

When Mom makes bread, she never uses a thermometer to determine the temperature of the water.  She just runs the top on hot for a bit and always seems to know the right temperature. As for me, I need to use a thermometer. If the water is too hot or too cold, the bread will not rise and it will not taste right. I do not know Mom's secret for always getting it right, but when I figure it out, I will let you know. Mom never used a mixer to make bread; instead, she just mix and kneaded by hand. While you could use a mixer with a dough hook to handle the kneading, it is just as easy to use your hands.

Mom's Bread

• about 5 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 Tbsp. sugar
• 1 Tsp. salt
• 1 package yeast
• 1 Tbsp. butter or margarine
• 1 3/4 cup hot water

In large bowl, mix 1 1/2 cups flour, sugar, salt and yeast.  Heat water to 120 degrees and add the butter to the water.  Add the water and butter to the flour mixture. Mix well with a fork.  At this point the dough should be fairly liquid.  Once the mixture is smooth, add in more flour (usually 2 to 3 more cups) until a soft dough is formed. Then, turn the dough onto a floured surface. Knead, incorporating the remaining flour in as you go, for about 8 minutes. The dough should become somewhat elastic. Form the dough into a ball and place in a greased bowl. Cover the bowl with a towel (use a damp towel if the weather is dry) and let the dough rise until it doubles, about 1 to 2 hours.

Punch down the dough and turn out onto a floured surface. Let rest about 10 minutes. Divide the dough into two halves. For each half, roll out the dough so it is about 12 inches long. Then, roll the dough to form a loaf. Place on a greased baking sheet. Form the second half into a loaf. Cover the dough with a towel and let rise again, for about 45 minutes.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes. The bread is done when you knock on the loaf and it sounds or feels hallow. Allow to cool. Enjoy!

Spaghetti Pie

What to do with leftover Spaghetti & Gravy? Make Spaghetti Pie, of course.

Now in my house, there is someone who usually does not like leftovers, but loves leftover Spaghetti & Gravy. So making Spaghetti Pie involves a certain amount of negotiation or subterfuge to prevent the leftover Spaghetti & Gravy from being eaten before Spaghetti Pie can be made. But, as it turns out, MDS liked Spaghetti Pie, so maybe we will have it more often (I doubt it).

Mom made Spaghetti Pie only on the rare occurrence of too much leftover Saturday night spaghetti. Spaghetti Pie is a nice and tasty way to heat up leftovers. Another way that Mom heated up leftover spaghetti involved a pan on the stovetop with added Parmesan cheese. But Spaghetti Pie was just a little more special, but still very easy to make. While normally we did not eat much cottage cheese in our house, the addition of cottage cheese to Spaghetti Pie gives it a nice tang. So go ahead and make extra spaghetti & gravy, because you can always make a pie with the leftovers.

Spaghetti Pie

• Leftover Spaghetti & Gravy
• 8 oz. cottage cheese
• 2 eggs, beaten
• Parmesan cheese for topping

Mix leftover spaghetti and gravy with the cottage cheese and the beaten egg.  Place in greased dish (pie dish if you have a smaller amount, or 9X13 pan if you have more). Cover with cheese. Bake covered for about 25 to 30 minutes at 350.