dinner tonight: honey butter pork tenderloin.

travis and i usually don't go out to eat a lot during the week unless we're meeting up with friends.  we haven't been to the grocery store lately (we did so much entertaining for all the holidays, i just haven't felt like going back).  we did have a pork loin in the freezer, though, that had come with the one i cooked at christmas.  i'm not a big pork person, and while i could appreciate that someone would have liked the rub i used on the pork at christmas, i just wasn't a fan.  i decided to try something a little different for tonight. 

i had pinned a honey butter pork tenderloin recipe on pinterest and decided to give that a whirl.  i didn't follow the recipe exactly, however.

i started out with the 4 tablespoons of butter and two tablespoons of honey that the recipe calls for.  i pulled out our dutch oven {one of our wedding gifts that i hadn't gotten to use yet} and began melting the butter and honey together on the stovetop. 

then i put the tenderloin in the pot.  i was supposed to season it before putting it in the pot, but i didn't feel like dirtying another dish or cutting board, so seasoned it after it was in the pot.  i used onion powder, garlic powder, paprika, garlic & herb seasoning {because you can really never have too much garlic}, italian seasoning, salt, and pepper.  i seasoned the first side pretty quickly {making sure to get the ends as well} and then quickly flipped to the other side to season it before it had cooked for very long. 

then i cooked the pork tenderloin on the stove for five minutes on each side {isn't that beautiful?}.  after that, i stuck it in the oven for 20 minutes at 375. 

the house.smelled.amazing!!

when i pulled the tenderloin out of the oven, i covered it with tin foil as momma hen's kitchen's recipe suggested.  i was supposed to be able to make an au jus-esque sauce, but i discovered my drippings had gotten a burned taste to them. 

i decided not to pour the juice over the tenderloin, but it was still so flavorful and moist without it.  i was just working with groceries that we had in the house, so i pulled out some rice to serve with the pork loin.  i put them on the same plate, which allowed the rice to soak up some of the juices.  i hadn't seasoned the rice because i was afraid the seasoning on the meat was going to be really powerful {and i also thought it would have the au jus poured over it}.  if i serve rice with this in the future, i'll make sure to season it a little bit.

travis and i both liked it {even though pork still isn't my favorite}.  we both decided it's something we would eat again in the future ... and it was super easy to do.