So, whats for dinner tonight?

I never got to make the tamales though! Maybe next week.

I find if I rinse the kraut and cook it in the brown stuff from the meat and the onoins and add the apples and dark beer it come out mellow and dark brown. Not twangy like when you eat it at a hot dog stand. It a Dutch thing.

I will try that...my people will not eat saurkraut but if it is not sour tasting they might. Tamamles are out of my league

Hey frog..I remember you asked me for a tamale recipe...I can send you one for the filling, but its kind of one of those "smell,taste and see" instincts.

Forget the recipe, just send the tamales. PLEASE

During the holidays we spend all day making tamales!! Perhaps the tamale fairy will pay a visit!

I like to use the apple pie filling when I make baked beans too. I never thought about pork tenderloin and apple pie filling though- will have to try that. Do you just dump it in the crock pot and let it cook? Karen

Yes, I use about 1/2 can because it is so sweet (and freeze the leftover pie filling), slice some real apples and throw them in with a little water and cook it all day while I am gone. Works well with porkchops and the small boneless hams. I usually make stuffing to go with it and my boys really like it.

Thanks Mom! Don't worry! I have spent my life over a stove and have developed all kind of instincts. My wife doesn't understand how I can make up recipes in my head and then never remember how to do it a second time. One time a woman I was in CAD school with gave me a recipe for Cuban black beans from her Cuban Grandmother. She had to translate it from Spanish. It is labor intensive but comes out perfect every single time. It is written by hand and I treasure it!

So Roxy- it doesn't make the pork too sweet? I love pork tenderloin, and usually put it in the crok pot with bbq sauce until it falls apart. I need to fix a bunch of new stuff quickly, before my new tryglycerdie diet comes in the mail from the Doctor

Ever hear of Shnitz and Knepp? It is smoked pork cooked with dried apples. Its an Amish thing!

New one on me Frog. Bossy, the water helps and it is sweet but we like it. My uncle is a Chef who went to Johsnon and Wales and he made it for us when we were visiting... I should add the healthier version is to use applesauce. You may want to try that if you think the pie filling will be too sweet for you. Or use less pie filling and applesauce to make up the difference.

I love love love real cuban black beans and rice.

Thanks Roxy- am going to try that!! Once a year, several of our friends go to another town nearby and eat at the Amish house. You go down in their basment and they have their kitcken ther and cook all sorts of wonderful stuff, plus have a little shelf by the register where you can but their seasoning and noodles- yum-I can hear the tryglycerides screaming now.. Karen

LEt me know if you liked it. There was an awsome Amish restaurant when we would go to our timeshare in Sarasota, FL. They would sell their desserts and to this day I can taste their peanutbutter pie and key lime pie if I just think about it.

You guys are killing me as i sit here with a bowl of soup