It's annoying to cook for my family, and the other night's dinner illustrates why.
My husband is happy with any dinner that involves meat -- as long as the meat does not have a glaze or sauce that's the slightest bit sweet. He eats a handful of different vegetables, but prefers that they are not mixed in with the meat.
My older son doesn't like pieces of meat, but meat is ok if it's mixed in with other things. He likes ethnic food, particularly Asian and Mexican, as well as salads and every kind of olive.
My younger son will not eat a single veggie (but he eats a lot of fruits). He will eat chicken prepared in any manner, as long as he can douse it in hot sauce. But no meats, unless it's unhealthy processed stuff. He loves potatoes in any form. And most cheeses, especially feta.
I will not cook more than one meal, and I will not turn dinner into a battle. So I have a few options. I do a lot of "make your own" meals -- wraps, sandwiches, tacos, and pizzas. Option two is to make a meat main dish with a crazy bunch of side dishes. That's what I did the other night -- my mom's recipe for pork tenderloin, which is one of my husband's favorites. Baked potatoes for my husband and one son. Applesauce for my husband and the other son. Steamed veggies, which only I ate (older son had eaten the same veggies in a stir-fry the night before, but balked at eating them plain). And a salad for me and one son. ARRGGGHHH.
So now you know why the dinner-type recipes I post on this site don't tend to be all that exciting. Anyway, here's that pork tenderloin recipe. It's good, but not for someone on a low-salt diet.
Peggy's Pork Tenderloin
1/2 cup soy sauce
1 cup teriyaki sauce
1 Tablespoon dry mustard
6 Tablespoons brown sugar
2 Tablespoons dry sherry
6 cloves chopped garlic (or 1 tablespoon jarred minced garlic)
2-3 pork tenderloins, trimmed of visible fat and silver skin
Mix together all of the ingredients except for the pork. Put the marinade in a glass baking dish, add the pork tenderloins, and marinate overnight. Take pork out of marinade. Cook at 350 degrees approximately 1 hour. Boil the marinade in a pan for a few minutes.
To serve, slice the pork on the diagonal. Drizzle a little sauce over the sliced pork. Serve with the sauce. The sauce also is good on steamed veggies.