Mustard Marinaded Pork Tenderloin

Yum

Last weekend something very disappointing happened. We were supposed to go camping, which is something I have not done in a while. We used to go all the time when I was a kid and I loved it. Being out in the woods, cooking over a fire, I thought it was the best thing in the world. However, as an adult camping is one of those things I have let slip away.

So this brings me back to last weekend. We finally decided it was time to dust off the old tents and sleeping bags and hit the trails. Now my boyfriend, who has requested that he be called Robocop (not sure if I mentioned he is a police officer…sigh), did the whole boy scout thing so he is a camping pro, but hasn’t been in years either. We did some research and found this place that looked amazing. We spent the whole week packing and preparing for the trip. I spent some time thinking through the menu and preparing the ingredients. I marinaded my meat and froze it so that is could thaw in the cooler, I baked homemade granola and banana bread, I even pre-chopped some vegetables from our garden to cook over the fire. After all this work we were ready to go when Sunday morning arrived. We piled ourselves and the dog in the car and drove to the campground. When we pulled up to the gate we were so excited we could hardly contain ourselves…we are going camping!

Then we drove to our campsite. As we drove down the road that led to our site we started to notice that there were an awful lot of RVs in this place. And there was something funny about these RVs…they had porches on them and were beautifully landscaped. When we arrived at our site all the excitement immediately vanished. We were in what was essentially a cul-de-sac, without any trees, surrounded by what I can only describes as permanent RV vacation homes. Now to say were were feeling deflated, and possibly a little duped, is an understatement. We sat in silence in the car for almost 30 minutes before either one of us wanted to admit that we wanted to just go home. Now before you tell me, Jessica why didn’t you look this place up on the internet? I will tell you that I did. I looked at pictures and even read reviews. Nothing I saw or read prepared me for the reality. I was very sad.

We drove home sad and defeated. But after a few hours of moping on the couch we decided to lite the fire pit in the backyard and plan our next camping trip. I am happy to say we are going this weekend to a beautiful state park that we have heard from many friends is beautiful. Look for my clean eating camping post in the coming weeks!

I decided to share the pork recipe I created with you guys. You can’t beat fresh herbs. This marinade is so tasty. When marinating the pork, 1 hour is the  minimum, but if you have time, I suggest at least 8 hours. The extended time really provides the flavors to soak into the meat.

Enjoy! And I can’t wait to share our camping adventure with you when I return!

Local Ingredient: Pasture Raised Pork Tenderloin (purchased from local farmer’s market) Fresh Rosemary and Thyme from my garden.