Pantry Purge: Jalapeno Honey

As I mentioned yesterday, a whole bunch of pantry purging's been going on.

Do you know that over the weekend The Boy told me we are $200 below our January grocery budget? All I can say is: Thank you, dear overstocked pantry.

Here's another recipe I threw together with bits and pieces...we'd had a half-empty jar of Desert Creek Jalapeno Creamed Honey that needed to be used.

Side note: Desert Creek Honey = BEST EVER. Try their products...any of them. All of them. You won't regret it.

So what's a girl to do with a half-empty jar of Jalapeno Creamed Honey? I glazed a pork tenderloin. In my crock pot.

Great idea, I know.

First, melt a little (just a little) bacon fat in a large skillet. (Yes, I save bacon fat. Or more specifically I saved bacon fat last weekend when my family was here, which was the first time I'd made pork bacon in probably three years.)

If you make pork bacon and you don't save the fat, you should. Put it in the fridge, use it sparingly for flavor when cooking. Life is better that way.

Brown (don't cook all the way - just brown) the pork tenderloin in the bacon fat.

Put the now-browned pork in the crock pot. Add a cup, or so, of water to the skillet.

Bring the water to a boil and scrape-scrape-scrape the pan. Get all of those bits up into a delicious brothy-mess. Then pour it into the crock pot with your pork tenderloin.

Whip a tablespoon of olive oil into the creamed honey and brush over the tenderloin.

If you want to live on the wild side, or you're married to a spice-loving boy, top that tenderloin with sliced fresh jalapenos.

If you plan to eat the tenderloin, and you don't love spice quite to the extent as your spouse, remember to remove the seeds before you put the jalapenos on top of the tenderloin.

Let everything cook on low for six hours.

Let the tenderloin rest on a cutting board for 15 minutes before chopping and serving. And if you want something else amazing...pour the jalapeno honey water from the crock pot into a saucepan and make yourself some gravy.

Just add a little cornstarch, a dash of salt and about two tablespoons of reduced raspberry balsamic vinegar (yep...that reduced vinegar) to deepen the flavor. Let everything boil for a while until it's the thickness you like.

Seriously good.

I mean - seriously.