Dinner with Xiaopeng & Lei

Our friends, Xiaopeng and Lei, are moving to Boston, Massachusetts.  I met Lei in 2008 when we were both attending a Bible study, BSF (Bible Study Fellowship), in Ames.  She had arrived in the United States from China in September. Now, Xiaopeng has a position as a Post Doctoral Research Associate at M.I.T.  We are very happy and excited for them as they begin a new chapter in their lives.  We will miss them, too.  We invited them over for dinner to help them celebrate.

Lei and Xiaopeng

Moving-to-Boston Farewell Dinner

Menu:

Barbeque Pork Tenderloin Sliders
Roasted Green Beans & Red Potatoes
Sweet & Sour Prawns
Egg Rolls
Watermelon Salsa & Tortilla Chips
Sliced Cucumbers
Fresh Garden Tomatoes
Banana Bread
Single Serving Apple Pie in a Jar
Hot or Iced Tea

I am going to share some of the recipes so Lei can cook them for her husband after they move to Boston.

Barbeque Pork Tenderloin

Roasted Green Beans and Red Potatoes

Sweet and Sour Prawns

Yatzi's Cabbage & Carrot Egg Rolls

Watermelon Salsa

Cucumbers

Gail's Fresh Garden Tomatoes

Banana Bread

Single Serving Apple Pie in a Jar

Hot Tea



Crock Pot Barbeque Pork Tenderloin

Ingredients:

• 1 Onion
• Boneless Pork Tenderloin
• Salt, Pepper, Seasonings
• Root Beer
• 1 Bottle Barbeque Sauce

Yes, slow cookers are great in the summer.  They make cooking easy, and care-free, and they don't overheat the kitchen.  This is a great recipe if you are entertaining and want a lot of flavor without a lot of fuss.    

 Slice onion into large chunks.

 Place onion in bottom of slow cooker.

Gather seasonings.  We used salt, pepper, Cookies All Purpose 

Seasoning, Grill Mates, and Jamaican Jerk Seasoning

Rub seasonings onto both sides of meat.

Place meat in slow cooker with fat side up, 

so fat can cook through meat and tenderize it.

Measure Root Beer, it takes 6 ounces of root beer per lb. of meat.

Pour root beer around meat close to edge of pan

so seasonings stay on meat.

Ready to start cooking.

 Cover with lid and cook on low for 6 hours, until tender.

Remove meat from crock pot
 and pull meat apart with two forks to shred.
Discard cooking liquid and return pork to crock pot. 

Add 1 bottle of your favorite barbeque sauce. 

Keep on low until time to serve.

Serve on a small dinner roll to make sliders. 

Spoon meat onto roll and top meat with coleslaw.

Delicious!

Roasted Green Beans & Red Potatoes

Ingredients:

• 10-12 Red Potatoes
• 1-2 lbs. Fresh Green Beans
• 1 Red Onion
• 8 ounces Button Mushrooms, sliced
• 4-5 Slices Cooked Bacon
• Seasonings

Drizzle olive oil onto baking sheet pan.

Cut ends off green beans.

Slice into large chunks 1 red onion.

Place green beans onto baking pan.

 Layer red onion on top of beans.

Add sliced mushrooms.

Quarter red potatoes.

Layer potatoes onto other ingredients.

Spread vegetables out evenly onto pan.

Season with salt, pepper, and we used Mrs. Dash Garlic & Herb Seasoning.

Drizzle a small amount of oil over the top.

Bake 400 degrees, 45 minutes to 1 hour, until vegetables are tender.

 Add crumbled cooked bacon slices after vegetables are cooked.

Delicious!

Single Serving Apple Pie in a Jar

Ingredients:

• 6-8 tart apples, peeled, cored, and sliced (I used Braeburn)
• 3/4 - 1 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
• 1/2 - 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• dash ground nutmeg
• 2 tablespoons butter
• lemon juice
• pie crust pastry

The apple pie recipe comes from Better Homes & Gardens New Cookbook. 

 It is "The Perfect Apple Pie."

 Gather the ingredients.

 Peel, core, and slice apples.  I used an apple peeler.

 Peel 4 apples. That will fill 12- 4 oz. jelly jars.

 I peeled more, and I used the remainder apple mixture to make a pie.

I used 9 apples, and that is what the "Perfect Apple Pie" recipe called for.

If you use 4 apples, cut the recipe in half.

 Peeled, cored, and sliced apples into quarters.

Add to mixing bowl. 

 Squeeze lemon juice over apples to prevent browning,

and to make apples a little more tart.

 In a separate bowl, add 3/4 to 1 cup sugar, depending on tartness of apples.

Add 2 tablespoons of all purpose flour. 

 Add 1/2 to 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon.

 Add a dash of ground nutmeg.

 Add a pinch of salt.

Stir all the ingredients together. 

 Pour sugar mixture over apples.

 Stir to coat apples.

Prepare the pie crust for the jelly jars.

Cut the pastry for the pie tops with the jar lid 

bands from the canning jars.  Use it like a cookie cutter.

You can use small leaf cookie cutters to cut out leaf shapes

in the middle of the dough.  This will be the vent so steam can escape.  

Keep the cut out leaves to add on top after the apple filling is

 scooped into the jars.  For 12 jars, I used 3 single crusts.

 Next, cut the bottom pie crust that will go into the bottom

of the jar.  I used a 4" tart pan for a cutter.

 Fold the dough so it will fit into the jar.

 Place the dough into the jar.  

There is no need to grease the jar.

 Press to sides and bottom of jar.

 I filled 12 small 4 oz. jars with pastry crust.

 Spoon prepared apple pie filling into each jar.

 Fill to the top of the jar.

 Place the top crusts onto each jar.

Use a fork to press the 2 pieces of dough together to seal. 

 Put the cut out leaf on the top crust.

 Brush top of crust with melted butter.

 Sprinkle tops with granulated sugar.

 Place on a baking sheet.  These jars will not break

because they are made for canning.

Bake in a 375 degree oven for 45 minutes. 

 Remove from oven and let cool.

Eat right out of the jar!

After Dinner conversation!

Thank you for a great evening.