Looneyspoons

The Looneyspoons Collection is the name of a cookbook given to me by my sister-in-law.

The authors are TV personalities, Janet and Greta Podleski. Some of their other cookbooks are ‘Crazy Plates’ and ‘Eat, Shrink and be Merry’.

This is not your normal cookbook. It is bright and colorful, loaded with photos and cartoons. One aspect I like are the Recipe Tips, the Nutrition Nuggets and the Trivial Tidbits. There is so much information on each page, over and above the recipe.

But, as cute as that is, there’s a limit to cuteness, at least for me. The recipe names are supposed to be fun, but I found it boring after a while, and if you were looking up a recipe, what would you look for? At least the index at the beginning of every section gives the basic name and the one in the back lists recipe names along with main ingredients.

Here are some sample pasta recipe names…The Yellow Bows of Texas, Worth Every Penne, Touched by an Angel Hair Pasta. See what I mean?

I ignore the titles and look at the photos.

Here’s one recipe that caught my eye….Marla’s Maple Pork

1 ½ lbs pork tenderloin

½ cup pure maple syrup

2 TB each reduced sodium soy sauce and ketchup

1 TB Dijon Mustard

2 tsp grated orange zest

1 ½ tsp each curry powder and ground coriander

2 tsp minced garlic

1 tsp Worcestershire sauce

Trim pork of all visible fat. Place pork in a large heavy duty, resealable plastic bag. Whisk together all remaining ingredients in a medium bowl. Pour marinade over pork and seal bag. Turn bag several times to coat pork evenly. Marinate in refrigerator for 1 hour.

Transfer pork and marinade to a small roasting pan or baking dish. Roast, uncovered, at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. Pork should be slightly pink in the middle.

Let pork stand for 5 minutes before slicing. Slice thinly. Drizzle extra sauce over pork and serve immediately.