Pork Loin & Bacon-Wrapped Jalapeno Poppers

Last night I made pork loin for the first time, and as intimidating as the idea was, it turned out pretty good. I made a spicy honey-mustard sauce to baste it with, infused it with garlic, and cooked it low and slow in the oven. Another plus: I got to use the honey I purchased last week at the market (Zach and I have also been using it instead of jelly in PB&J :)). I served it w/ mashed potatoes and green beans.
We're growing jalapenos on our back deck and have been looking for something fun to do with them. The search is over. As an appetizer we had bacon-wrapped jalapeno poppers, another first time recipe that was equally, if not more, delicious. It's simply fresh jalapenos stemmed, halved, and seeded, then filled with a mixture of cream cheese, cheddar cheese, and green onions. And the best part...drum roll please...wrapped in bacon (1/2 slice each). Bake @ 450 for about 15 min or until bacon is cooked. They aren't too spicy either, so don't let the fact that a recipe uses jalapenos scare you...roasting them in the oven or grilling them will bring out the natural sugars and seeding them gets rid of a lot of the heat already.
For dessert we had Crock Pot Cheesecake...I know it sounds ridiculous, but it works, and is great if you: a) don't want to heat up the kitchen, or b) are already using your oven for maybe a pork loin or something. I originally got the idea from a Food Network show, but I used a slightly different recipe. It takes about 5 hours from start to finish: 2 1/2 hours in the slow cooker, 1/2 hour to cool, and 2 hours in the refrigerator. I made mine with a chocolate cookie crust (I don't really care for graham cracker crust) and topped it with fresh sliced strawberries. Simple and delicious!
We also had the privilege of having our church pastor dine with us last night, and he reminded us of something we have to be thankful for that we often take for granted (the list is endless, isn't it?). We always give thanks for the fact that we have wonderful food to eat in such amazing amounts. But we should also be thankful to God for His gift to us in creating such a vast variety of foods for us to eat, and specific taste buds designed to fully enjoy each one. He very well could have created only one food source, complete with every nutrient our bodies need, bland in flavor, and left it at that. "Every good and perfect gift is from above." James 1:17