That Paula Deen…tempting me with her insanely delectable Southern food combinations!  This time I was able to outsmart her.

Sick baby (well, as tall as me but still my baby), sick mama.  He had fevers all day and asked if he could camp out in the living room where he had been lying for hours and if I could sleep close by to comfort him.  Of course, my poor, sweet baby.  So I’m in the recliner watching The Walking Dead marathon through half the night, which isn’t helping my nausea one bit, but finally have enough and change the channel somewhere near dawn.  I fall asleep and wake up after 9 to find the queen of the Southern kitchen rolling a pork loin in a combination of cracker crumbs (makes sense) and crumbled sugar cookies.  SUGAR COOKIES!  By this time my stomach is growling and I’m hoping that this will not be day three of the quease, and am grateful to Paula for restoring my appetite.  Little Guy’s fever has broken.  I get up and make breakfast, lunch, snacks, cooked vegetables, and heat broth for the day in case the ick creeps back up on me.

How can I have what I want?  Roll the dang pork sirloin I have planned for Sunday dinner in the almond meal I have left from making almond milk, of course.  Everything goes in almond meal these days.  And it wasn’t sugary sweet Southern, but turned out just as beautifully as Mrs. Deen’s.

Little Guy informed me after eating his piece that he doesn’t like almonds at all and requested that I cut the crust from his pork next time.  Well that’s a first and really made me giggle.  I mean I’ve cut the crust off of bread once or twice… His almond repulsion is also new to me.  I’ll try to remember that.  Guess I’ve been overdoing it with the almonds lately.  He did enjoy the Cinnamon Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Drops that I made for a snack for him and his brother. They were almond free.  I’m blogging them tomorrow.  Maybe I should add an “Almond Free” category to the blog for him and a “Kale Free” list for my husband.  Giggle.  They make me laugh.

Here’s the recipe.  It was easy as pie!  No, wait…much easier.

Ingredients:

2 1/2 lb. pork sirloin roast

1/2 tsp. Himalayan salt, coarsely ground

1/2 tsp. black peppercorns, coarsely ground

1/2 tsp. ground coriander

1/4 c. almond meal

Method:

Heat the oven to 350 degrees.

Place a rack inside a baking pan or dish.

Combine the almonds, salt, pepper, and coriander.

Roll the sirloin in the mixture to coat.

Place on the rack.  I followed  Paula Deen’s instructions here and it allowed the roast to crisp all around.

Roast for 1 hour and 15 minutes.  I don’t know how Paula’s pork loin cooked for only 30 minutes, but it looked done to me.  My sirloin was thicker and took much longer to reach the proper internal temp.

I let it rest for 15 minutes before slicing.