Roasted Bacon-Wrapped Pork Loin with Potatoes

Let's hear it for pork on pork action, first of all. If you're a meat-lover, this is a spectacular and pretty easy recipe to have in your arsenal. For starters, I love when roasted meat recipes don't require any stove top pan-searing prior to roasting. This is one such recipe that simply gets prepped in mere minutes, then tossed straight into the oven - without searing.  You'll be floored at how little work and effort can yield such amazing results.

The dish requires minimal ingredients, gets cooked all in one skillet and is pretty fail-proof so long as you keep an eye on the internal temp of the meat.

Serve this up alongside a salad or vegetable for an easy-peasy meal. It's simple enough for weeknights, yet special enough for Sunday dinner.

Yields 6 servings

Rhubarb Upside-Down Cake

Rhubarb is a favorite of mine and I especially look forward to making some sort of crisp with it each spring. This year, I wanted to try something different. This cake - based upon a Martha Stewart recipe - was that something different. And, I'm so glad that I branched out into a new recipe. The cake is both delicious and a real stunner visually.

I chose to slice the rhubarb into long spears, but you could pretty much cut it in any way that you'd like. And, I shingled the spears into the bottom of the pan, but the pieces could just be tossed in willy-nilly, if desired, so long as they are kept in a pretty even layer. I tried to do something cool for the sake of presentation.

SIDE NOTE:  My preteen daughter thought it looked like raw bacon on the cake. Thanks. {Ummm ... actually maybe she's right. Thoughts?}

Take heed, friends, that the batter of this cake is slightly different than a traditional vanilla-esque cake batter. First, I love the addition of sour cream ... the tang really helps makes this cake. The zest and juice from an orange are a total flavor bomb in this recipe, too. Know, however, that this cake is a little more dense than you're probably used to. And, actually once chilled, I found the center of the cake to almost {just a tiny bit} resemble the consistency of a baked cheesecake.

The cake can be served warm, room temp or completely chilled. Honestly, I loved it all three ways. So, it's really probably a preference thing.

NOTE REGARDING COLORING OF RHUBARB:  After testing this recipe twice, I did come across some reader comments on Martha's post for this cake regarding the coloring of the rhubarb after baking. Know that unless your rhubarb is incredibly deep, vixen red when you buy it, you will, obviously, never get a dark red hue after baking without some help. Rumor has it that a sprinkling of red gelatin or some drops of red food coloring into the sliced rhubarb - as it sits sprinkled with sugar - helps with the coloring. {Honestly, I am okay with the "naturalness" of the subtle pink hue achieved with no coloring added.}

Serves 6 - 8