1. Chocolate Cake: Use the recipe on the back of the Hershey's Cocoa box, and you'll be sure to keep half of it for yourself.
2. Baked Beans: Use the can(s) in your pantry split between two bakers; mix in some chopped onion, ketchup, mustard, brown sugar, and lots of Cavendar's seasoning, and bake in a slow oven.
3. Potato Salad: Use your favorite recipe or non-recipe. Mine is red potatoes cooked with their jackets on, then roughly quartered while still warm and topped with olive oil, Cavendar's, and whatever kind of vinegar I have/choose; once cooled a bit, I add in 3 or so chopped hard-boiled eggs, red onion, some Dijon mustard, a bit of mayo, some dried rosemary; stir up good and top with parsley or sprinkle with paprika.
4. Tabouli: Pour a cup of boiling water over some bulgar wheat and a bit of salt, cover for 30 minutes. Then add in a splah of olive oil, juice of one lemon, and some garlic powder and chill. Later, add in tons of chopped parsley, 3 or so chopped tomatoes, and 4 or so chopped green onions. A staple at our house, so I can make it in my sleep (you can, too, cause it's so stinkin' easy).
5. Pork Tenderloin: Use whatever seasoning/sauce you have around. Yesterday I used a bottle of Pampered Chef's Honey/Maple/Mustard Sauce. I seared 3 pork tenderloins in a touch of olive oil after I seasoned them really well with (you guessed it!) Cavendar's. Turn them until all sides are seared, maybe 5 minutes or a bit more. Then lower the heat, cover the skillet, and cook just until 137-140 degrees. And if you don't have a little instant-read thermometer, shame on you! It's the only way to be sure you don't cook your meat to death, on the one hand, or kill your family from trichonosis, on the other hand. I took the two smaller loins out of the pan first as they reached their cooking temp before the bigger one. Then put them all back in the pan, pour on some of the sauce, cook for just a few minutes and ladle the sauce all over. I poured a little more sauce over the two that I took to my friend, once I put them on the serving dish.
The next day, remember that you have leftover pork tenderloin for a sandwich, and throw these things in the food processor for the best-ever cranberry relish and sandwich topper: a bag of fresh cranberries, 1 orange with peel on cut into eighths, 1 apple the same way, some of Leslie's pecans from your freezer (oh, sorry if you don't have Leslie supplying your pecans---you know what I mean), and 1/2 to 3/4 cup of sugar.
Serve the rest of this as relish for Thanksgiving dinner, and they'll love you.
