The night before vacation ... and the in-laws are in town

So with Michelle and I preparing to head off for a well deserved two weeks of vacation after the hectic year end close, we hosted Michelle's parents here for a night.  To help pay them back for agreeing to watch the dog for two weeks, I rolled out a few old favorites.

Brined pork tenderloin, bbq greens, pimento twice baked potato.

The pork was brined similarly to the method shown previously (pickle brine in Clausen's pickle juice) however I then baked it for 25 minutes at 425F before slathering it with BBQ sauce (Stubb's spicy) and throwing it on the ol' grill pan to caramelize a little bit.  The greens were also of a similar type to those featured previously ... so what then you ask, is the point of this post besides showing off your dinner?  Who doesn't like an awesome twice baked potato?

Pimento, bacon twiced baked potatoes:

2 russet baking potatoes

1 tbsp Olive Oil

1/2 cup Pimento cheese

2 tbsp 1% milk

2 slices bacon (I use Whole Foods habanero, green chile bacon)

1/4 cup shredded cheese (I used Giant 6 cheese Italian blend)

Salt & Pepper

Pre-heat oven to 425F, coat the potatoes with olive oil, salt & pepper, put in oven uncovered on baking tray.  Cook potatoes until soft (about 1 1/4 hours for medium sized).  Pre-cook the bacon, rough chop it and put it in large mixing bowl with the pimento cheese.  Once potatoes are cooked, scoop out the inside and add to the bowl, leaving the shells intact.  Add milk and stir potato mixture until well blended.  Divide mixture evenly among the potato skins, topping with shredded cheese.  Cook potatoes in 425F oven for 10 minutes, or until cheese is melted.  Potatoes can be made well ahead, adjust cooking time to ensure middle is heated through.

Hopefully you enjoy these as much as we do ... we're off to vacation tomorrow, maybe we'll share some pictures if the food warrants it ... but if not, we'll be back in two weeks.  Before we go though, a picture of a guilty pleasure of ours ...

Salted pretzel rolls (Whole Foods)