it’s easy to cook dinner. what’s difficult is to cook dinner EVERY DAY.

Posted on by Julie Stiles Mills

I’ve been cooking dinner. Every day. And I’m not talking frozen, microwavable meals.

this is a big deal people.

Yesterday, I made Pork Tenderloin Diane for the first time since I originally posted the recipe back in January.

It’s a fast, easy, cheap recipe with a light sauce made from deglazing a pan with lemon juice, Worcester sauce and Dijon mustard. Except I didn’t have any lemon juice. FirstHusband (a sauce man) said he would substitute Sprite, but that just seemed too sweet. I googled “substitute lemon juice” and found a suggestion to use vinegar – but half the needed amount. I was doubling the sauce for this recipe and it called for a total of four tablespoons of lemon juice so I used two tablespoons of vinegar.

PERFECT. The sauce tasted exactly as I remembered it and everyone liked it – even PinkGirl!

I’m definitely going to remember this because I probably won’t remember to buy lemon juice in the near future. I know me. But vinegar is a great substitute for lemon juice when used in small amounts.

And I wouldn’t substitute vinegar if I was making lemonade from scratch.

Me. make lemonade from scratch. yeah. that’ll happen.

Find more helpful kitchen tips at Kitchen Tip Tuesdays hosted by Tammy’s Recipes! Check out MY past Kitchen Tip Tuesday posts HERE

4 thoughts on “it’s easy to cook dinner. what’s difficult is to cook dinner EVERY DAY.”

  1. TrueLemon (http://www.truelemon.com/). Packets of crystalized lemon. Never go bad, don’t take up valuable fridge space, portable, easy! I carry them in my purse to use in restaurant water so I don’t have to use the icky lemon.

    The recipe sounds yummy–I’ll have to make it sometime for Jim and me!

    Reply

    1. Tina – I had never heard of this product! But can I add water to make lemon juice to de-glaze a pan or is it just something I sprinkle in and on stuff? I can’t tell from the website. (by JSM)

      Reply

  3. Actually, scratch lemonade is pretty good, and easy–I made it for Memorial Day and my son has been bugging me ever since to do it again. I told him, ‘when you buy and squeeze 8 lemons for me.’ Maybe I’ll get ambitious again before the summer is over.
    BTW, I think the reason the vinegar works is that you want something acidic to make up for the lemon juice. The acid tenderizes the meat, which (of course) isn’t really necessary with Pork Tenderloin!

    Reply

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