Pork Tenderloin Lettuce Cups

Recently, I wanted to try a new pork tenderloin recipe, and one that I didn't have to grill. So, as any technologically savvy individual would do; I went to the world wide web to find a great recipe! The recipe I ended up using was courteous of the Food Network. Ellie Krieger created this Pork Tenderloin Seasoned Rub, and the reviewers gave it 5 stars. The good thing about it is I had all the ingredients in my kitchen already. I like not having to go out to the grocery store to purchase just one or two ingredients for a recipe. Anyway, I have to say the pork tenderloin turned out delicious. Originally, I had the pork tenderloin just by itself with a baked sweet potato accompanying it. But, I decided to use the leftovers in these lettuce cups as pictured. I included my pineapple salsa in the lettuce cups, and it turned out simply divine! Please see the recipe below for the Pork Tenderloin Seasoned Rub recipe. And, click here if you'd like to include the pineapple salsa. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon dried thyme
Salt (I used half a teaspoon)
1 1/4 pounds pork tenderloin
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon minced garlic

First go ahead and pre-heat your oven to 450 degrees. Now, take out a small mixing bowl and combine the garlic powder, dried oregano, cumin, coriander, thyme, and about half a teaspoon salt. Stir with a fork until well combined. Take out your pork tenderloin, and sprinkle the rub all over and pat the seasoning into the tenderloin so it adheres well. 

Next, go ahead and grab a medium to large skillet (depending on the size of your tenderloin) and add the tablespoon of olive oil to the pan. Make sure the temperature is set to medium-high, and then add the minced garlic. Once the garlic becomes fragrant go ahead and add the tenderloin to the pan. Sear the tenderloin for about 10 minutes making sure to flip to the other side, so both sides are nice and seared. Then, transfer the mean to a roasting pan and bake for about 20 minutes or until the tenderloin is about 165 degrees internally. Enjoy!

Garlic Herb Marinated Pork Chops

Don’t you just hate it when a recipe looks really good, it sounds really good, and it looks delicious when it’s marinating, and even after it’s cooked it looks mouthwatering and then, after all that… it kinda sucks? Yeah, I hate that too. Unfortunately that’s the story with these pork chops. I mean, look at these puppies in the marinade.

I mean, that looks fantastic, doesn’t it? I was looking at this all day, just imagining how good it was going to taste. And then we grilled it and it looked unbelievable! I was all ready for some garlicky, herby goodness. But sadly the only flavor I really got was burnt garlic. No herb flavor came through at all. I don’t blame the grill master, because these are thick chops that need a lot of time on the grill, so I’m not sure there is any way around getting a little char from the bits of garlic. I have to assume that the problem is the marinade itself. We let it sit for a good eight hours, so there’s no reason why no flavor should have gotten into the pork. Maybe we left too much marinade on the pork when we grilled it, but I think scraping it away would have just gotten rid of what little taste it did have. Anyway, here’s the recipe if you’d like to try it yourself. I found it on a blog called Everyday Maven. Maybe you’ll have better luck.

2 Thick cut pork chops

¼ cup extra virgin olive oil

10 medium cloves garlic, minced

¼ cup finely chopped flat-leaf parsley

1 Tablespoon finely chopped sage leaves (about 8 leaves)

¾ teaspoon finely chopped thyme

¾ teaspoon finely chopped rosemary

1½ teaspoons kosher salt

¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper

1½ teaspoons whole black peppercorns, crushed

Start by mixing up your marinade in a small bowl. Combine olive oil, garlic, all the herbs, salt and red pepper. I crushed my peppercorns with a meat hammer (which was fun!) but you can also use the bottom of a saucepan. Just be careful not to send peppercorns flying all over your kitchen! Add the crushed peppercorns into the marinade as well and mix. Then spoon your marinade on top of each chop, rubbing it in. Then flip and repeat on the other side.

To grill, start with two minutes with the lid open and eight closed, then flip and do another two minutes open, eight closed. Finish it off with another few minutes open until the meat is cooked through, then remove from the grill and let it rest for around ten minutes before serving.

Mexican Meatballs

Ok, so I already have a fantastic Italian meatball recipe (seriously, they are pretty amazing, and what’s this? Oh, a handy link to the recipe!) But the idea of a Mexican meatball was intriguing to me and anyway, can you really have too many great meatball recipes? I think not. I found this recipe on Cook Smarts, and it looked very tasty, very unique and not too incredibly difficult. It turns out that these meatballs are all of those things. They really pack a big aggressive punch of flavor with nice level of spiciness. I served these with some cilantro-lime rice, and I will say it was a little strange at first to eat meatballs and tomato sauce with rice, but you get over that pretty quickly. It also got a little salty by the end so I’d leave the salt out of the meatballs next time. 

Meatball Ingredients

2 Jalapenos, diced small

½ cup Red Onion, diced small

Handful of Cilantro, chopped

2 Garlic cloves, minced

1 lb Ground Pork

1/3 cup Panko breadcrumbs

2 tsp Cumin

2 tsp Coriander

1 tsp Smoked Paprika

1 tsp Kosher Salt (I would recommend omitting this or cutting in half)

1 tbsp Canola Oil

Crumbled Cotja cheese (I used Queso Fresco)

Tomato Sauce Ingredients

4 cloves Garlic, minced

1 tbsp Canola oil

28 oz can of Fire Roasted Tomatoes, diced

1 cup Coconut Milk

2 tsp Cumin

1 tsp Cinnamon

1 tsp Salt

Start by making your meatballs. Mix all the meatball ingredients except the canola oil and cheese together by hand. If you don’t already have cooking gloves, you can make your life immensely better by getting some. It makes jobs like this so easy, trust me. Roll your meatballs to be about an inch or so in diameter. Or however big you want them. I don’t judge. Just remember that adjusting the size will mean adjusting the cook times.

Preheat your oven to 375. In a saucepan, heat up your canola oil over medium heat and add the garlic. Cook for just about a minute, making sure not to burn the garlic, and then add in the rest of the ingredients. Stir well and bring to a boil, then turn down the heat and simmer for about 10 minutes.

In the meantime, you can cook your meatballs. Heat the canola oil over medium high heat and brown the meatballs for about 2 minutes each. You don’t need to cook them through, just get a nice sear on the outside. Don’t overcrowd the pan; do them in batches if you need to. Then move the meatballs to a baking dish and pour the tomato sauce over the top. Bake at 375 for 15-20 minutes, and then crumble your cheese over the top and serve over rice. I made cilantro-lime rice by just adding some cilantro, lime juice, and salt to the rice to taste. I think these were a great option for a meatball, if you aren’t craving the typical Italian version. Hope you like them! 

Spicy Honey Chipotle BBQ Sauce

Last Memorial Day, our lives changed forever. We had gone back home to Indiana to visit my family, and my chef brother casually mentioned that he’d be smoking some ribs for dinner. Well, if you know anything about smoking, you know that there’s nothing casual about it. It was an involved, 8 hour process, and the results were delicious enough that we decided on the spot that we needed to own a smoker and produce such delectable meats at home. Since then we’ve smoked ribs and chicken wings with mouth-watering success, but we’d never tried a whole pork butt. That’s a 12 hour deal, with injecting and rubbing beforehand, so maybe the whole thing intimidated us. Well, we decided to step up to the plate and smoke some Boston butt. And it was worth it. Our house still smells of smoke and delicious pig. Worth it. And I’ve eaten pork every night for the last few nights (and will in the next few). Worth it.

But enough about butts! My husband handled the butt (teehee) from start to finish, so it’s all his deal, not mine. I handled the sauces. I made four sauces: Spicy Honey Chipotle, Hot Vinegar, Sweet Original and Kahlua Coffee. They were all pretty good, but the Spicy Honey Chipotle was a clear favorite (with vinegar coming in second for the fans of that style). I found it on a site called Little B Cooks, and it’s good enough to make even if you’re just having regular old pulled pork and not fantastically amazing smoked pork. It's definitely very spicy, but I find that the fat of the pork and some nice creamy slaw balances it out nicely. 

Ingredients

Olive Oil

1 cup onion, minced

2 large cloves garlic, minced

3 tbsp brown sugar

1/4 cup honey

3/4 cup ketsup

1 tbsp molasses

1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

2 tbsp apple cider vinegar

1/4 cup water

2 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, minced

1 tsp dry mustard

1tsp chipotle chili pepper powder

1 tsp paprika

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

Salt & Pepper to taste

Heat a little olive oil in a saucepan over medium low heat, and add the onion and garlic, sautéing for about ten minutes until the onions are translucent. Stir to make sure the garlic doesn’t burn. Then add in the rest of the ingredients and stir. I found that it helped to have all the ingredients out and ready to go before hand so I could just toss them in on cue. Simmer on low for 20 minutes, giving it a stir every once in awhile. The instructions said to puree it with an immersion blender, but I found that there wasn’t enough liquid to do so without splattering it all over myself and the kitchen. I would recommend putting it in the blender or food processor to get it smooth. And that’s it! This sauce plus some amazing smoked pork butt and you’ve got something magical, friend.  

Pork Carnitas

I have recently come to a startling realization. I freaking LOVE tacos. Love them. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, considering the volume of taco recipes I’ve already posted. But damn! Aren’t they just the perfect little delivery systems for delicious meat and some kind of slaw or salsa or cheese? I mean, I’m hard pressed (unless we’re talking beans) to find something that wouldn’t be delicious in a taco. And here I go again with yet another taco recipe. The photo on Jo Cooks of this beautiful pork made my mouth water, and made my brain say, “Tacos!” To be honest, the pork itself, while deliciously porky, did not have as deep a flavor as I would have liked. I wish it was a little more spicy, a little more salty, a little more… something. But, it was still damn good, and more than worthy of hopping up in a tasty taco. I served this one with my Southwest Slaw which never fails to put a smile on my taco-loving face.

4 lb pork shoulder or pork butt, trim fat if too much fat

1 1/2 tsp salt

3/4 tsp pepper

1 tsp ground cumin

2 bay leaves

1 tsp chili pepper flakes

1 tsp dried oregano

1 onion, peeled and halved

Juice of one lime

1 medium orange, juiced and keep the spent halves

2 cups water

Start by butchering your meat, trimming off excess fat and cutting it up into 2 inch chunks. Put the meat into a dutch oven or cast iron pot along with all the spices, onion halves, lime juice, orange juice, and spent orange halves. Then pour the water over everything and bring to a boil. Once it boils, move the pot to your oven at 300 degrees for about 2 hours. It should be extremely fork tender.

After the two hours, remove the meat from the pot and set it aside. Also remove the onion, orange halves and bay leaves from the pot and discard them. Cook the liquid in the pot over medium high heat until it reduces to about a cup of liquid. I don’t think we reduced ours long enough which may have affected the flavor.

While that reduces, shred your meat, and then place it on a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil. Don’t do this step in reverse or you’ll end up shredding your foil. Once the liquid has reduced, pour it all over your meat. Then broil the meat for about 5 to 10 minutes, until it gets nice and browned and maybe even a little crispy. Use a spatula to flip it over and broil the other side for another 5 minutes. Once it’s looking nice and tasty, pop it out of the oven and pop it right into a taco! You could always use the meat for a sandwich or burrito if you want, but in my book, the taco is your best bet. 

Iron Chef Ginger - Sweet & Sour Pork Sliders

I had a tough time trying to decide what recipe to use for Iron Chef Ginger. I tried a different pork slider recipe that just wasn't good. I tried latkes, sauteed shrimp, and shrimp cakes with a ginger butter. I normally always go with a recipe that I've tried. Well, I decided to wing it this time, and went with Giada de Laurentiis' Sweet and Sour Pork Sliders . It had 5 stars on Food Network, so I figured it had to be tasty. My question was whether it would have enough ginger in it to tell it was there. Well, the slaw didn't call for ginger, so I added it in to the mixture. The marinade was very tasty. The ginger didn't hit you over the head, but I thought it was nicely subtle. This pork slider was very tasty, and I really recommend it. Thanks for voting this one the winner! Sometimes winging it pays off!

Ingredients:

Slaw:
1 1/2 cups very thinly sliced green cabbage (about 1/4 cabbage)
1 1/2 cups very thinly sliced red cabbage (about 1/4 cabbage)
2 tablespoons seasoned rice vinegar
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
4 thinly sliced green onions (about 1/2 cup)

1 tbsp minced ginger (optional)

Pork:

1/2 cup fresh orange juice
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/4 packed cup golden brown sugar
2 1/2 tablespoons seasoned rice vinegar
2 tablespoons sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 cloves garlic, minced
One 1-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and minced
Zest of 1 large orange
One 1 to 1 1/4-pound pork tenderloin, trimmed
2 teaspoons arrowroot
10 to 12 mini Hawaiian-style sweet rolls, halved horizontally

To make the slaw, combine all the ingredients above. Stir well, and place covered in the fridge while you prepare the pork. By the way, for the cabbage I just used pre-packaged cabbage that you can find in the veggie aisle.

For the pork; combine the orange juice thru the zest of an orange in a medium-sized bowl. Mix well. Pour the mixture into a ziplock bag, and add in the pork. Place in the fridge for an hour at the least or overnight at the most. I let it marinade for about 3 hours. Be sure to turn the pork over a couple times while it's marinating. Set your oven to preheat at 425. Take out the pork, and pour the marinade into a small saucepan. Place the pork on a baking sheet, and cook in the oven for 30 to 40 minutes or until the temperature reads 140 to 160 degrees. Next, cook the marinade over medium heat and add in the arrowroot to help thicken the sauce. If you don't have arrowroot, then use about a 1/4 cup of water and 2 to 3 tablespoons of corn starch. Mix and then pour into the marinade. Once the pork is ready, remove from the oven and let rest for a couple minutes. Cut into thin slices. Take your roll and cut in half. Add the pork to the bottom half of the roll, add some of the sauce, add the slaw, and top with top half of the roll. Serve warm or at room temperature. Enjoy!

(Semi) Cuban Quesadillas

I’m calling these “semi” Cuban because I know my Blogmate, (is that a word? It is now.) Emily, is a big fan of Cuban sandwiches, and these are definitely not authentically Cuban. I don’t want Emily coming after me Cuban-style. That wouldn’t end well. So anyway, these are in the style of Cuban sandwiches, just in a quesadilla form and I found the recipe on a blog called Culinary Colleen. The ingredients are simple, a tasty marinated pork, whole grain mustard, pickled jalapenos, Gruyere cheese and prosciutto. My husband, who is also a Cuban sandwich fan, liked these a lot, particularly the pork, which was flavorful and citrusy. For me… I’m not sure it’s a flavor combination that is totally in my wheelhouse, but that’s certainly not to say it wouldn’t be in yours.

Ingredients

4 cloves garlic minced

Juice of 2 limes

Juice of 1 large orange

2 tsp. cumin

1 tsp. coarse salt

1 tsp. fresh black pepper

1.5 pounds pork tenderloin

2 Tbsp. olive oil

4 flour tortillas

4 slices prosciutto

4 oz. grated gruyere cheese

Pickled jalapenos

Mustard

Start with your marinade. Mix your garlic, lime juice, orange juice, cumin, salt and pepper in a gallon freezer bag (or your favorite marinating dish). Add in your pork and marinate for up to 4 hours. We actually couldn’t find a pork tenderloin that would be reasonable for two people, so we just got thinly sliced pork chops on the bone and marinated those. If you go with a thinner sliced pork, you don’t need to marinate it for quite as long.

Heat your oil in a skillet over medium high heat and then brown the pork on all sides, which should only take a few minutes. Then cook in on a broiler pan at 350 degrees. A tenderloin should take about 20 minutes or so. Ours was done in ten. Slice the pork into quesadilla size slices.

Now, to assemble your quesadilla. Do NOT do what I did and think you can save time by making a two tortilla quesadilla. It just doesn’t hold together at all. The easiest way is to use one tortilla and fold it over. For some reason, this method held it all together much better. So fill half the tortilla with pork, cover it with a slice of prosciutto, a good number of pickled jalapenos (spread them out) and a sprinkling of Gruyere. For some reason, the only Gruyere I can find is smoked, which I do not like. So I used Gruyere for my husband but sharp white cheddar for myself. Anyway, spread the other half of the quesadilla with some nice mustard, and then fold over.

Heat your skillet (which you’ve wiped out since browning the pork), and put in the quesadilla with the cheese side down. I find that this melts the cheese faster and helps the whole thing hold together better. Cook until the cheese is melted and both sides are nice and browned (usually about 3-4 minutes a side). Then slice your quesadilla in half and serve! It may be only semi Cuban, but it’s wholly delish! 

Tacos al Pastor

There’s a great little Mexican place in Richmond called Tio Pablo. It’s relatively new and since it’s tucked away down in Shockoe Bottom, it’s somewhat unknown. I ate there with a friend for lunch recently and judging by the really delicious flavors, it won’t be unknown for long. One of the tacos I had was the al Pastor, which is basically spicy pork with pineapples. Pairing the spiciness of the pork marinade with the sweetness of the pineapple was a truly wonderful combination, so I decided to try it at home.

I found the recipe on this beautiful site called I Am A FoodBlog. It’s a very simple recipe but one of the ingredients, the achiote paste, was difficult to find. I expect you could get it at a Hispanic focused grocery. We found a (completely inauthentic) substitute recipe made from things you probably already have at home, and it turned out fantastic. It had tons of flavor, it’s bright and colorful, and pretty easy to make, considering. The only thing that we felt was missing was a little bit of Mexican Crema to cool it down a little. If you don’t like very spicy food, I would cut down on the chipotle chiles.  

3 1/2 ounce package achiote paste (or the substitute below)

3 canned chipotle chiles en adobo, plus 4 tablespoons canning sauce

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1.5 pounds thinly sliced pork shoulder

1 cup pineapple chunks, drained

diced onion

chopped cilantro

taco tortillas

Combine your achiote paste, chipotles, adobo sauce, and vegetable oil in a food processor or blender. As I’m re-reading the recipe I realize that they also added ¾ cup of water, but I missed that. It turned out great without the water, so I personally would just leave it out. Maybe if you want to dilute the spiciness a little it would help, though. Blend this all up and pour over your sliced pork in a bowl or a baggie to marinate for at least an hour. We let it marinate for about 3 hours.

If you can’t find the achiote paste this is the substitute we used. Like I said above, I’m positive that this is not authentic because it doesn’t use annatto seeds. However, if you can’t find the paste, I think finding annatto seeds will also be a challenge. This substitute uses ingredients you already have around the house. Just blend these ingredients together first, then follow the directions above.

Achiote Substitute

3 cloves garlic

1 Tbsp. vegetable oil

2 Tbsps. white vinegar

3 Tbsps. paprika

1 ½ Tsps. dried oregano

½ Tsp. ground cumin

To cook the pork, heat up a little oil in a cast iron skillet over medium high heat. You want it to be hot, but not so hot that it smokes up your entire kitchen. Believe me, we did that and this spicy marinade is not so pleasant to breath into your lungs so be careful. Grill the meat in small batches until they are cooked and have a nice char on them. If you’ve sliced them thinly enough it shouldn’t take much more than a minute per side. Set them aside while you grill the pineapple in the same pan. They’ll get some of the marinade flavor on them from the pan. Just brown them up; it should only take a few minutes. Spoon pork and pineapple into your warm tortillas and top with the chopped red onions and cilantro. I also added about a tablespoon of the pineapple juice into the onion and cilantro to make more of a fresh salsa. I think some sour cream or Mexican crema would be a great added flavor as well. Try these, and then hit up Tio Pablo and try some of their other wonderful tacos as well! 

Spicy Rice Noodles with Crispy Pork

I’ve been out of town for quite some time (hence the lack of posts recently) and so my home cooking opportunities have been few and far between. But I have been able to come home every other weekend and usually try to make something that will yield some leftovers for my poor husband to eat while I’m gone. I thought this spicy Thai dish would be a good one. And it turned out to not only be good the day we made it, but the reports from my husband were that it was also good a few days later. The original recipe, which I found on The Kitchn, called for glass noodles but we were unable to find them and substituted rice noodles, which turned out quite tasty!

1 pound ground pork
1 package rice noodles
3 green onions, sliced into thin rounds
Handful roughly chopped cilantro
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes (or to taste)
3 tablespoon soy sauce
3 tablespoons fish sauce
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons lime juice (from 1 lime)

Optional (we omitted since Steve doesn’t like peanuts)
2 tablespoons peanuts, roughly chopped
Extra chopped peanuts for garnishing

Heat a teaspoon of canola or vegetable oil in a skillet over medium high heat, and then add the pork. Cook for 5 minutes and try to break up the pork as much as you can to get tiny crumbles. Ours was still probably a bit too big. Then cook for another 3-5 minutes while stirring infrequently to get a nice golden crispy crust on the pork. Set aside on a paper towel.

While you’re cooking the pork, put the rice noodles in a bowl of hot water to soften up. Read the instructions on the box and follow them but this should take just 5-10 minutes. Then you’ll want to use kitchen shears to cut them into smaller more manageable noodles. Bring water to boil and finish cooking (according to package instructions) before draining and pouring them into a large bowl.

Stir together the pork and noodles plus green onions, cilantro, red pepper flakes and the optional peanuts. In a smaller dish combine the soy sauce, fish sauce, sugar and lime juice. The original recipe called for more lime juice, but I ran out and was actually ok with the final mix. But taste it and adjust if you want. Pour the sauce into the bowl with everything else and gently toss to combine. The noodles are subject to pack mentality and want to stay together and reject everything else, but try your best to combine them. Refrigerate for 15 minutes or so and then retoss and serve! It is a nice summery dish, light and cool but with a good Thai heat.

Grilled Asian Pork Tenderloin with Peanut Sauce

I'm pretty bummed that I couldn't find a favorite recipe of mine. I went to a cookout many years ago, and a friend made these asian pork tenderloins. The marinade was super delicious. Unfortunately, I can't remember who the friend was nor can I find the recipe. Friend, if you are out there and have an inkling of what I'm referring to please hit me up. I tried googling asian pork tenderloin marinade but didn't have a whole lot of luck. But, I did come across this peanut marinade from Fine Cooking. This recipe is a keeper, y'all. It kept the pork super moist and the peanut sauce packed a ton of flavor. I did add some red pepper flakes at the advice of some of the commenters and I added a tablespoon of sesame oil. I still hope to find my original asian marinade recipe, but I will be making this one many more times. Enjoy!

Ingredients:
1 cup light coconut milk
1/2 cup smooth peanut butter, preferably a natural variety
1/4 cup soy sauce
3 Tbs. fresh lime juice
3 Tbs. dark brown sugar
2 large cloves garlic, minced (2-1/2 tsp.)
2 tsp. ground coriander
1 tsp. red pepper flakes (optional)
1 Tbs. dark sesame oil (optional)
2 small pork tenderloins (about 2 lb. total)
Vegetable oil for the grill

Take your medium sized bowl and add in the coconut milk thru the sesame oil. Stir well. Pour into a large zip-lock bag and place the pork tenderloin in the bag. Coat the pork tenderloin with the marinade. Marinate for an hour or more for better flavor. Once your ready to grill pour the marinade into a small saucepan and set to medium heat. Place the pork tenderloin on a well-oiled grill. Grill for about 10 minutes on both sides. Remove pork from grill. Set on a plate and let rest for 5 minutes.  I had to put my pork back on the grill because it was a bit too pink for me. I served my pork with white rice. Pour some of the peanut sauce on the pork tenderloin and even your rice. Enjoy!!

Thai Style Pork Lettuce Wraps

I bought a pound of pork that I ended up not needing. Normally what would have happened is I would have left said pork in the fridge, totally forgetting about it, until one day I open the fridge and something grabs me by the face and pulls me to a horrifically green, meaty demise.

Not wanting to meet (no pun intended) this grisly fate, I went in search of something to make with a pound of ground pork. I found a recipe for Thai Pork Stir Fry on The Whole Kitchen and thought it sounded tasty. But since I am trying to eat a little healthier these days (a LITTLE) I decided to adapt it to make lettuce wraps instead of stir fry, so I chopped all the vegetables a lot smaller. This turned out really great! It had lots of flavor, a good amount of spice and a really satisfying crunch. My only complaint would be that it was a touch oily, but I think that could easily be helped by draining off the meat.

Ingredients

1 lb lean ground pork

1/2 red onion, diced

1 large carrot, diced

1 bell pepper, diced

2 tsp olive oil, divided

1 shallot, diced

1 jalepeno, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 Tbsp fish sauce, divided

1 Tbsp fresh ginger, grated, divided

2 Tbsp cooking sherry

1 Tbsp honey

1 Tbsp hoisin sauce

2 Tbsp chili garlic sauce

1/2 cup cilantro, chopped

Lettuce for wraps

As always, make your life easier by prepping the ingredients. This is where prep bowls really come in handy. Start by chopping the red onion, carrot and pepper and putting them in a bowl. Chop the jalapeno (seed it if you are not a spice fan) and shallot and put them in a bowl. In a bigger bowl put in the ground pork and add one tablespoon of fish sauce and half of the ginger. Mix it around using your hands (this is much more pleasant if the pork is not straight from the fridge). Set this aside, and in your last prep bowl mix up the sauce. The remaining fish sauce, ginger, sherry, honey, hoisin and chili garlic sauce goes here. This may seem like a lot of chili garlic sauce, but it really melded nicely with the other flavors and although the end result was spicy, it certainly wasn’t overly so. Mix them well and set aside. Now, you are ready to cook.

With a teaspoon of oil, sauté the carrot, pepper and onion over medium high heat for about 4 minutes and then put it back in the bowl. Next sauté the jalapeno and shallot with another teaspoon of oil over medium low heat for about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and stir for about 30 seconds before adding the meat mixture. Bring the heat back to medium and brown the meat. Make sure it’s fully cooked and then carefully pour off some of the oil. Add the vegetables back in, followed by the sauce. We decided to keep the mixture on the heat for a little bit longer, another 3-5 minutes to let the sauce thicken further. Finally, add in the cilantro and take the mixture off the heat. Serve spooned into lettuce cups. My husband liked it so much he wants me to make even if I don’t accidentally find myself with an extra pound of ground pork. 

Garlic Lime Marinated Pork Chops

Growing up there was one dish I really dreaded having to eat. That dish was my mom's pork chops. Seriously, I couldn't stand eating that pork. Sorry, Mom. First chance I got I'd put a piece of pork in my mouth and pretend I had to use the bathroom. And, I'm sure you can guess what I did next. Yes, I spit the pork out of my mouth into the toilet, and then I repeated. Yes, I was an awful kid, but I really just didn't like it. Sorry, mom (again) but I just didn't think it had much flavor. I really think that's why I didn't like it. My mom doesn't agree, though. Lol. She thinks I was just a picky kid. And, she was right. But, now that I'm an adult, and cook my own food, I've given pork chops another chance. And, this recipe from Gina's Skinny Recipe has a lot of flavor. Plus it's very good for you. If you look thru a lot of my marinade recipes a lot of them contain lime. I just think it is a solid ingredient for marinating and it doesn't have any fat. If you like a little spice in your life give this marinade a try. You really won't be disappointed. Enjoy!

Ingredients:
4 (6 oz) lean boneless pork chops
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp paprika
1/2 lime, juice of
lime zest
salt and fresh pepper

Really this is a very simple recipe. All you do is take the ingredients from the garlic and below and combine into a bowl. Mix together. I did add some cayenne to this just to kick it up another notch. I then took my pork chop and the marinade and put in a ziplock bag. Make sure all of the marinade has covered the pork chop. I sealed the bag and placed in the fridge for about an hour.

Next, I preheated my oven on the Broil setting. Once the oven was ready I placed the pork chop on the oven rack with a cookie sheet underneath to help catch the juices. Cook the pork for 6 minutes on one side and 6 minutes on the other. Until the pork chop is nicely browned. Remove and enjoy.

This recipe is 6 weight watchers points.

(Click here for printable recipe)

Hungarian Red Stroganoff

I’ve got to start this recipe off with a confession. Steve and I totally made up this name. The original name of the recipe was “Pork with mushrooms, paprika and sour cream” from Kayln’s Kitchen. And I know you’ll agree with me that our new name is much better. More exciting. It kind of sounds like some sort of Viking meal. And I think the name is actually pretty accurate. We used Hungarian paprika (which is apparently sweeter than normal paprika). It was definitely red (more so before we added the sour cream). And if you look up the definition of stroganoff, you’ll find that this recipe fits. So, Hungarian Red Stroganoff it is!

Ingredients

1 lb. pork tenderloin

2 tablespoons Hungarian paprika (divided)

2-3 T olive oil (depending on your pan)

8-12 oz. crimini or white mushrooms

1 onion

3 cloves garlic

1/2 tsp. dried thyme

1 can petite diced tomatoes

1/2 cup chicken stock

2/3 cup sour cream

Salt & Pepper

Start with all your prep work to make the cooking process simpler. So trim up your pork and cut it into cubes. Toss it in a bowl with one tablespoon paprika, salt & pepper. Wash and slice your mushrooms and dice your onion. Now you’re ready to start cooking. Heat some olive oil in a deep skillet or saucepan and brown the pork over medium-high heat for about 5-6 minutes. Be careful not to overcook the meat or it will get dry.

Once the meat is browned, transfer it to a bowl. Add more oil to the skillet if you need to and brown the mushrooms until all the liquid has evaporated, about 5 minutes. Then move the mushrooms to the bowl with your pork. Next, add the onions to the pan and—you guessed it—brown them! It shouldn’t take too long. When they are slightly brown, add in the garlic, paprika and thyme. The original recipe called for caraway seeds to be added here but we omitted them and didn’t miss anything.

Cook for about a minute then add the chicken broth and the can of tomatoes (including the juice). Deglaze the pan, getting up all the tasty browned bits, and simmer for about ten minutes. Add the pork and mushrooms back in and simmer, covered, for another ten minutes. Then take it off the heat and stir in the sour cream. We needed to add a little more salt at this point, so taste it and adjust as necessary. We served it over rice, but it could easily be eaten with noodles. And there you have it: Hungarian Red Stroganoff! Sounds good, doesn’t it?

(Click here for printable recipe)

Apricot Pork Chops

Cooking tonight’s dinner, I was a technological marvel. It’s true. I was channeling Judy Jetson. Sadly, the phenomenon was not the cooking technique or culinary gadgetry. Today, I got a new cell phone – the Droid Eris – and along with it a Bluetooth. I cooked dinner tonight, while on the phone, with both of my hands free for stirring, chopping onions, and turning pork chops with the greatest of ease.

Not impressed? You should be. This was my first Bluetooth experience. I got to chat with my brother while whipping up tonight’s new recipe. My new phone, its accessories, and tonight’s dinner turned out wonderfully.

You may notice I have an apricot marmalade trend forming. That’s just because it’s hard to find a small jar of it, so I want to use it all before it goes bad!

This picture is from my new phone, but I haven't yet figured out proper settings for it. I may have accidentally taken this as an action shot.

Ingredients:

4 (4-ounce) boneless loin pork chops
1/4 cup prechopped onion
1/4 cup apricot preserves
1 tablespoon low-sodium soy sauce
2 teaspoons bottled minced garlic
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup sliced green onion

Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add pork to pan; cook 6 minutes on each side or until done. Remove from pan; keep warm.

Add prechopped onion to pan; sauté 4 minutes or until lightly browned. Stir in preserves, soy sauce, garlic, and salt; cook 3 minutes or until thickened. Add pork to pan, turning to coat. Sprinkle with green onions.

Recipe from MyRecipes. 

Peach preserves or marmalade could be used instead of apricot marmalade if you wanted to mix up this recipe. Also, I did not use a single measuring spoon while I was cooking. All of my measurements were guesstimates, but the result turned out tasty.

Finally, as a note, I promise my next post won’t involve apricots!

Happy cooking!

-KSP


(Click here for printable recipe)

Iron Chef Wine: Ham with Champagne and Vanilla Glaze

Usually, I leave the big ticket dinner items for my mom to make. Ham, turkey, Pot Roast, etc. But, for this particular Iron Chef, I wanted to show my grit and make a big ticket item. Perhaps this would get me the big win for once. So, I ventured into unknown territory and made a Ham for the first time. It didn't get me the win. But, never fear it is still a good dish. I'm even eating the left over ham for my lunch this week.

I did have problems figuring out what type of ham to buy (even though the recipe distinctly states a bone-in smoked ham). But, hey that's what Mom's are for. She suggested I try Walmart or Food Lion. And, I found my Ham at Walmart for a very reasonable price. Don't go to Kroger for your ham, though. They are very pricey. And, I had planned on starting the ham about 3 hours before the party began. My mom suggested I start right away. So, I started cooking the ham about 4 hours before the party, which proved to be the perfect time. I was able to get the ham ready and myself ready with plenty of time to spare. I followed this recipe to the "T." Enjoy!

Ingredients
1 (11-pound) 33%-less-sodium smoked, fully cooked bone-in ham
24 whole cloves
Cooking spray
1 1/2 cups Champagne or sparkling wine, divided
1 (2-inch) piece vanilla bean, split lengthwise
1 cup apple jelly


Preparation
Preheat oven to 350°.

First you trim whatever fat is on the ham. Next, I took each clove and individually placed it into the ham in a diamond shape. Place ham, bone end up, in a roasting pan coated with cooking spray. Next, I pour 1 cup Champagne over ham and baked for about 45 minutes at 350°.

I've always wanted to scrape seeds from a vanilla bean and that's exactly what I got to do next. Scrape the seeds into a small saucepan, and then you add 1/2 cup champagne to the pan and toss the vanilla bean into the pan as well and bring to a boil. Cook for about 2 minutes. Next, I stirred in the apple jelly and cooked for an additional 3 minutes or until the jelly dissolves, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Be sure to take out the vanilla bean.

Take out the ham after about 45 minutes and pour half of Champagne mixture over ham. Bake for an additional 30 minutes; pour remaining Champagne mixture over ham. Bake an additional 30 minutes or until ham is thoroughly heated. Then place ham on a platter; cover loosely with foil. Let stand 15 minutes.

I don't really recommend the next step. I thought it ended up making the ham too salty, but feel free to try it. I took out a zip-lock bag and placed in a 2 cup glass measure cup or bowl and pour drippings from the roasting pan into the bag. Let stand for 10 minutes. The fat from the roasting pan will rise to the top. Snip off one corner of the bag and drain the drippings into a bowl; stopping before the fat layer seeks out. Throw out the bag. Serve sauce with ham.

I found this recipe here.

(Click here for printable recipe)

Grilled Pork Tenderloin with Green Mango

Okay, I have a confession to make. I didn't make this recipe. Instead, I ate it. I went over to my parent's house to have some pork tenderloin with mango. I didn't know I was having a pork tenderloin lettuce wraps of sorts. But, it was so good and so pretty that I had just had to post this recipe that my Mom made. She told me that she followed the recipe exactly, but used the Dry Sherry instead of Sake. As she had sherry on hand. She was pretty sure she grilled the pork longer than the 22 minutes, but used a thermometer to get the exact temperature. My Dad cheated and added Baslamic Dressing to his wrap. Shh. Don't tell Mom. Enjoy!

Pork

1/4 c. pineapple juice

2 tbsp. finely chopped, peeled fresh ginger

1 tbsp. low-sodium soy sauce

1 tbsp. sake (rice wine) or dry sherry

4 large garlic cloves, minced

1 lb. pork tenderloin, trimmed

1/4 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

Cooking Spray

Salad

1/2 c. shredded carrot

1/3 c. chopped fresh mint

1/3 c. chopped fresh basil

1/4 c. chopped fresh cilantro

1/2 tsp. kosher salt

1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper

1 large Green Mango (unripe) peeled and shredded

1 large Jalapeno, seed and finely chopped

8 Boston Lettuce Leaves

1 c. Mung Bean Sprouts

1. Prepare grill to medium-high heat

2. To prepare pork, combine first 6 ingredients in a large zip-top plastic bag; seal. Marinate 1 hour, turning occasionally. Remove pork from bag; discarde marinade. Sprinkle pork evenly with salt and pepper.

3. Place pork on grill rack coated with cooking spray. Grill 22 minutes or until thermometer registers 155 Degrees, turning occasionally. Remove from heat, let stand 10 minutes. Cut into 1/2 inch thick slices. Cut each slice into thin strips, and keep warm.

4. To prepare salad; combine carrot and next 7 ingredients (through jalapeno) in a medium bowl, toss well.

5. Place about 1 1/2 oz. pork on each of 8 lettuce leaves, top each serving evenly with 1/4 cup mango mixture and two tbsp bean sprouts.

(Click here for printable recipe)

Pork Cutlets with Brussels Sprouts

No, this isn’t your mother telling you to eat the hated Brussels sprouts. You’re going to have to trust me…they’re a wonderful, bitter, scrumptious veggie. But if you’re still totally against it, you can go to your room without your dinner, missy!! Sorry, what I meant to say is that you can substitute any veggie you want…this recipe is really about the sauce. As a matter of fact, when I made this, I used chicken instead of pork and I cheated by using frozen Brussels sprouts, so the meal I ended up with barely resembles the recipe.

Ingredients:
4 ½ -inch-thick boneless pork chops
¼ cup all-purpose flour
2 tsp. paprika or smoked paprika
1 lb. Brussels sprouts, trimmed and halved
2 Tbsp. butter
1 8 oz. carton light sour cream
2 Tbsp. milk or half-and-half
1 tsp. packed brown sugar

First, I tossed my frozen sprouts into boiling water, following the package directions. Next, I heated a skillet with vegetable oil instead of butter. Make sure the pan is very hot – it helps to brown your meat. I coated the chicken in the flour mixture and cooked it for about 10 minutes – just make sure whatever meat you choose is thoroughly done. While that was cooking, I made up the sauce by combining the sour cream, milk and brown sugar.

Once the chicken is done, turn down the heat to low…if you don’t, you’ll end up with scorched sauce. I poured off any excess oil and scraped the bigger chunks of “stuff” that were left in the pan – but I didn’t clean the pan. I like the added flavor that you get from the chicken drippings (yeah, yeah, I can hear the collective ewwww). When the pan cools a little, add the sauce and whisk briskly so it doesn’t burn. Make sure you heat it long enough to get the sauce hot.

I really liked the flavor of this sauce, but I thought it was pretty runny. I think that might have been caused by using light sour cream instead of the regular kind. I was going for low-cal and low-fat, so that often makes recipes just a little “off.” The original recipe (not my altered one) claims to only have 395 calories and 22 grams of fat. So be a good girl now and eat all your Brussels sprouts!


(Click here for printable recipe)