Years ago when we were traveling, we collapsed on our hotel bed and turned on the Food Network, as one does. This was before the current era, when there’s a 100 percent chance of Guy Fieri yelling at you any time you flip to the channel. On this particular evening, we were not taken aback by Guy’s elaborated-spiked coiffure but rather by country music legend Garth Brooks surreptitiously chowing down on a platter of peanut butter balls. His wife — country singer, cookbook author and, we were surprised to learn, television personality — Trisha Yearwood had whipped up a batch for him for Father’s Day and was sharing how they were made with the late-night TV viewers of America.
I believe that was the last time I thought about Trisha Yearwood until yesterday, when I was trying to decide what to have for Sunday Night Dinner with the family and I stumbled upon one of her recipes. It sounded good and, most important, simple, and so I entrusted our Sunday Night Dinner’s main event to country music singer, cookbook author and television personality Trisha Yearwood.
The recipe in question is Yearwood’s Slow Cooker Pork Loin. (If you, like me, are not certain what the difference is between a pork loin and a pork tenderloin, TheKitchn.com has a very helpful guide on that very subject.) Anyway, I doubled the amount of seasoning, and I wish I’d used twice as much again because it could’ve used a little more oomph. It was tender, tasty and plentiful, though, so it’s staying in the Sunday Night Dinner file.
We also had Roasted Sweet Potato, Wild Rice and Arugula Salad, because a farmer gave me a bag of arugula in the parking lot where I was waiting to pick Pete up from school. This kind of thing happens in our town, and I think the world would be a better place if it happened everywhere. I had sweet potatoes on hand and I love wild rice, so I was pretty optimistic when the Googles-That-Be led me to this Pinch of Yum recipe. The salad is tossed with a lemony-garlicky dressing that was bright and lovely. I’ll make this one again.
No one handed me portobello mushroom caps, sadly, but I also made some of those as a main dish for my vegetarian sister-in-law and an extra side for the fungi-lovers among us. I marinated the mushroom caps in soy sauce, vinegar, garlic and olive oil for about 15 minutes and then roasted them. They were, I am told, perfectly acceptable.
This was a very nice Sunday Night Dinner. It was simple and filling, and we have plenty left over for lunches for part of the week. Thanks for not leading us astray, Trisha Yearwood.
