It’s Just Not Dinner Without Cat Hair

I wanted to make a “special” dinner to celebrate The Man’s first day back to work. Running around doing things in the house this morning before work, I thought about what I could do that wouldn’t have us eating at midnight.

Pork tenderloin.

Mmmkay. I pulled one out of the freezer for defrosting.

Sweet and crunchy.

Huh. I have plums and cornflakes.

After getting the meal going, I sat in front of the tube and stewed because The Man didn’t come right home after work. Man, I hope he isn’t going to revert back to old habits now that he’s working again.

I cooked up some brown rice and mixed vegetables to serve along with the pork.

Still a little pissy, so I am just going to post the recipe now. LOL

Sweet & Crunchy Pork Tenderloin

2 pounds pork tenderloin

3/4 cup GF cornflake crumbs

2 cloves garlic, put through a press

2 tbsp whole grain mustard

1/4 tsp kosher salt

4 plums

2 tbsp honey

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking pan with foil, spray with cooking spray, and set aside.

Remove the pits from the plums; place the flesh into a food processor or blender. Pulse until the plums have become a puree. Pour the puree into a small saucepan and heat over medium-high heat until reduced to a thick sauce. Remove from the heat.

Stir in the mustard, garlic, and honey. Pour onto a large plate; spread it across the whole plate.

On another plate, combine the cornflake crumbs and salt. Spread the mixture across the whole plate.

Trim any excess fat from the tenderloin, then roll it in the plum mixture, making sure to coat the meat extremely well. Then roll the tenderloin in the cornflake mixture, again coating well.

Place the coated tenderloin in the prepared pan and bake for about an hour. Remove from the oven and allow to stand for a few minutes before cutting.

Through the month of August, Triumph Dining is giving away free American dining cards to help raise money for Celiac Disease.  They’re calling this fundraiser “The $10K Challenge.”  If they get 15,000 people to sign up, they will donate $10,000 to a national Celiac Disease awareness campaign that we get to have input on!

There’s no purchase necessary; all you have to do to get the free card is go to this site.

When Triumph Dining sent out their restaurant guides not too terribly long ago, I requested a set of cards to see what they were all about.  After a quick scan through of the cards, they immediately went into my wallet.  I am waiting to get up the nerve to actually use them, though LOL.

Go and check it out - you aren’t out anything, you get a freebie, and it benefits all of us gluten-free folk in the end.

I intend to talk about food in a moment, really.

I want to say thank you with all my heart to those of you that left comments and sent emails over the past week.

We have an empty space here at Just Not Dinner.  For the most part, The Gidge and Baby have been normal, but that changed over the last two days.  I was awakened by Baby on Thursday morning - he was standing on my pillow, pawing at the pillowcase, and yowling to beat the band (remember that my hair was Sylvester’s sleeping spot his whole life).  He has taken to lounging for long periods in the top of Sylvester’s cat tree in our bedroom; Baby HATES this cat tree because there’s an opening in the top bed and he has never spent any major amount of time in it.  He also makes a point of calling Sylvester (loudly) at feeding time.  Gidget has done something strange as well - we have a green cat tree in our living room that is shaped like a house at the bottom and has a ledge for chillin’ at the top.  Sylvester spent a lot of time in the house part of this tree.  The other night, Gidget worked her way into the house, turned around, and laid there with her chin on her paws.

And me?

I cry a minimum of twice a day.  I can’t do anything “normal” without thinking of my sweet pea, even something as simple as blowdrying my hair, as I had to do this morning.  I am struggling with a tremendous amount of guilt, even though I know I did the right thing at the right time.  I have no appetite and have lost nearly 10 pounds since the Sunday that Sylvester got sick.  I can’t look at the video I made last week Friday without.  As long as I am keeping my brain busy in one way or another, I am fine.  As soon as I have an opportunity to think or have to do something that he would have involved himself in, it’s over.

The Man and I intend to create a memorial garden of sorts, not just for Vester, but also for The Man’s parents.  I have ordered a necklace from Whispers in the Heart so I can put some of his fur in it and while I am carrying his collar on my purse strap right now, when his ashes arrive, the collar will go around the urn.

I am sure I will babble on about my sweet boy quite a bit over the next while, so please be patient with me.

Now.

Yesterday, I finally managed to eat twice in one day.  Today, three meals.  Can you believe it?  I’m not sure I do.

Since I started this blog two years ago in October, I have gotten samples from various companies, receiving books, rice, bread, and most recently gluten-free teriyaki sauce fron Seal Sama.  I stashed one bottle on my pantry shelves in the basement and the other went into my kitchen cabinet.  Numerous things happened to distract me from trying it.  I was half-heartedly debating the possibility of making myself something for dinner tonight and was pushing through my cabinets looking for something - anything - that looked appealing.  I found some jade pearl rice from Lotus Foods, received as a sample and completely forgotten about, and the teriyaki.  Some green beans from my garden steamed with tomatoes, shallots, garlic, and fresh basil, and I had dinner.  I actually felt hungry as I was cooking.

I grabbed a piece of salmon from the freezer, quickly defrosted it most of the way, and then placed it into a plastic bag with a good half cup of the teriyaki sauce.  Into the fridge it went to marinate while I prepared the rice.  After a half hour, I heated the oven to 400 degrees, popped the salmon in, and got to work on the beans.  Very shortly I had a pretty good meal.

Verdict?  I like my teriyaki sauce a little sweeter, but this really is quite good.  And the rice was slightly sweet, which went well with the salmon.  And my greenie beanies were terrific, too.

Would I buy Seal Sama’s gluten-free teriyaki sauce?  Absolutely.  How about Lotus Food’s jade pearl rice?  Damn straight.

Now.  What exactly has been going on around here?  A plethora of bad things.  First bad thing: The Man did something….well, the only word I can come up with is “stupid”…which I believe led to losing his job at the end of May.  Second bad thing: I found out about some money things that I didn’t know about before.  Third bad thing: Vester.  Fourth bad thing: Sewer back-up.

Other than Vester, all of these issues (and I am sure there are more, but all are overshadowed in my mind by my loss of my best buddy) are no more.  The Man starts his new job on Monday - and while he won’t be making the money he made before, he will be HAPPY - no more 24/7/365 on-call status.  I truly believe that the industry he was in before led to other…issues…for him that have essentially been non-existent since he lost his job.  So everyone applaud for The Man, who will hopefully now have a less stressful work environment.

And applaud for my 88-year-old maternal grandfather, who underwent hip replacement surgery on Thursday and has been yelled at by his doctors and nurses for getting up and walking on his own.

So while we continue to reel from the emotional battering we have received these past months, good things are still popping up.

Recipes coming soon, I promise.

No more pain, Sweet Pea.   Momma loves you forever & knows that Nana J is taking good care of you.

But oh, the pain for me.

Thanks to Dr. Buchanan, Dr. Mullan, and the staff at Mallard Point Veterinary Clinic in Minooka and the Animal Care Center in Plainfield for making Sylvester’s last days as comfortable as possible.

Sylvester took a turn for the worse last night.  I was up all night again, making sure he was going to make it until I could get him to the vet this morning.  The vet is going to run more blood work, do an x-ray, and give him iv fluids for the day, but he believes that whatever Vester has going on is neurological and wants to refer us to a neurologist.

And we’re currently a one-income home, barely scraping by.

I have a decision to make, and I know it.  And it’s killing me.  I am holding on to the hope that it’s not neurological and that magic pills are going to make it all better.  But I am walking around the house is a daze, crying my eyes out, because he’s sick and I may not be able to make it all better.

He trusts me more than he trusts anyone and has slept by my side (or in my hair) for 9 years.  That’s only 52 in human years, I guess.  He’s still got a lot of life left to live, if only.

If only.

• Vester is up and moving, even running a bit today (to get away from The Gidge). To think that 48 hrs ago, he couldn’t move… #