Sweet Garlic and Herb Pork Tenderloin

Pork tenderloin is one of my favorite cuts of meat.  When cooked properly, it's tender and juicy and melts in your mouth which is not a characteristic you normally find in such a lean cut of meat.  It's also one of those things that I don't think to make. 

That's why I was excited to find this recipe from Lick the Bowl Good.  This Sweet Garlic Herb Pork Tenderloin recipe takes your basic tenderloin and kicks it up a notch to a company worthy dish. Monica has awesome step by step instructions on her blog and an amazing selection of dessert recipes so go check her out.

Normally, I like to mix things up a bit, but the only thing I did differently was to marinate the pork in the fridge for a bit to enhance the flavor.   I used herbs de Provence because I had some on hand that I have been anxious to try out.  You could also use rosemary or thyme.    

This recipe serves 6-8 depending on your family.  We have 2 adults and 2 small children so we had enough for dinner and shredded the rest to make pork bbq sandwiches later. 

The entire family enjoyed this recipe and went back for seconds so I'll be adding this to the regular rotation. 

Sweet Garlic & Herb Pork Tenderloin
Ingredients:
2 pork tenderloins, about 2 lbs. total
3-4 garlic cloves, sliced into thin pieces
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 Tbsp. Dijon mustard
4 Tbsp. honey
2 T. fresh orange juice (or grapefruit juice)
1 1/2 tsp dried herbs de Provence (thyme or rosemary)
1/2 tsp black pepper
3 T. olive oil

Directions:

1. In a gallon zipper bag combine, soy sauce, mustard, honey OJ, herbs, pepper and olive oil.  Seal bag and shake to combine.
2. Remove tenderloins from package, rinse and pat dry.  Cut 1 inch slits into front and back of tenderloins.  Place garlic pieces in the slits.  Add tenderloins to bag.  Remove air from bag and seal.  Marinate 2-4 hours.
3. Empty tenderloins AND marinade into greased 9x13 pan.   Bake for 40-45 minutes at 350° or until a meat thermometer inserted in thickest part reads 160-165°.  Baste at least once while cooking.  If juices start to dry up, add some hot chicken broth, a little at a time.  Remove from oven, cover with foil and allow to tenderloins to rest 10 minutes before slicing.
4. When serving, slice into 3/4 - 1 inch slices and spoon juice over the top.  

This would be delicious on a bed of rice!
WW- 8 servings @ 5 Points + each (I entered all ingredients into WW recipe builder.)

Printable Recipe

Cider Braised Pork Chops with Apples

It finally feels like fall and nothing says fall to me like apples... unless it's apples and cinnamon.  When you combine that perfect pairing with pork and onions, you get a bite of heaven.

I love the merging of the sweetness from the apples and brown sugar and the savoriness of the pork and onions.  You could even mix in dried cranberries and pecans to make it extra special for company.

The preparation is pretty simple.  I got all of my ingredients ready beforehand so cooking this was a breeze.  If I prep as I go, I usually end up slightly frazzled with a big mess.

Flouring and browning your chops is important because the flour thickens the sauce and browning gives them more color.  Soggy, gray pork chops aren't all that appealing.  Also, make sure you add enough salt to balance the sweet and give you those layers of flavor.   

We had these with mashed potatoes and roasted carrots, but sweet potatoes and green beans would be wonderful too.

Recipe
Source:  Southernfood.about.com
4 to 6 boneless pork chops, about 3/4 inch thick with fat removed
1/4 tsp salt + more to taste
1/8 tsp pepper
1/4 c flour
2 Tbsp light salted butter
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 medium onion, halved and sliced
2 c coarsely chopped apple (I used fuji apples)
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1/2 c apple cider or apple juice
3 Tbsp brown sugar or 1 1/2 Tbsp Splenda brown sugar blend
1/4 tsp cinnamon
dash of ground allspice

1. Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat and cook onions 5 minutes or until fairly translucent.  (I lightly salt the onions.)  Place onions on another plate.  Add oil to pan.
2. Mix flour, salt and pepper in a large zip top bag.  Add pork chops and toss to coat. Brown chops in oil for about 2 minutes per side.  Add a little more oil if needed.
3. In the meantime, combine apples, lemon juice, cider, brown sugar and spices.  
4. Pour apple mixture and onions over chops.  Bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat and simmer over medium-low for about 25 minutes or until chops are done.

Melt in Your Mouth Slow Cooker Pork Chops

Sooo... I've taken a little blogging break the last 2 weeks.  We were gone the first week and I honestly have been too exhausted this last week to put in the effort.  Hopefully, September will give me a fresh start and maybe some energy!  If you have a list of energy boosting foods/vitamins, I'd love to hear them!  =)

Anywhooo,  you're reading this because you want to find out more about these tender, succulent pork chops that cook in their own lovely gravy, so on to the good stuff. ;)

I was pleasantly surprised by the fact that the chops were sooo moist and the gravy was so full of creamy deliciousness.  This recipe is similar to one we used when I was growing up, but we used cubed steaks instead of pork chops.  We always baked them in the oven, but I'm definitely going to try them in the crock pot now!

Adjust your seasonings to taste.  I like black pepper for zing, garlic for flavor and paprika for color.  Browning these before you put them in the crock pot makes them a lot prettier than just chucking them in there.

You could brown your chops and throw this together at night and then let it cook all day while you're at work.  Serve it with creamed potatoes, egg noodles or rice because you will have oodles of yummy gravy that you won't want to go to waste. (Because it makes so much gravy, you could easily make a few more chops without increasing the gravy.)

Enjoy!

Recipe
2 Tbsp vegetable oil or shortening
4-6 pork chops
1/2 c or so flour
1 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 envelope Lipton Onion Soup Mix
2 cans cream of mushroom soup
2 c milk
1 can sliced mushrooms

1. Mix together flour, paprika, pepper and garlic in a medium bowl, adjusting seasonings to taste.  I like to use a tupperware container because it's flat on the bottom.  Heat oil or shortening in a large frying pan over medium/high heat.  Dredge each chop in flour mixture and drop into hot oil.  Brown on both sides, adding more oil if needed.  Place in crock pot.
2. In a medium bowl, combine soups, soup mix, milk and mushrooms.  Pour over chops.  Cook 4 hours on high or 8-9 hours on low.  Serve with rice, noodles or creamed potatoes.

Source: Adapted from AllRecipes
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Slow Cooker Pork Carnitas

The other day I was looking for some slow cooker recipes and came across Gina's Skinny Taste.  I've been on  her blog before, but it's been a while.  She has tons of light and healthy recipes as well as conversions for Weight Watchers!  All of her recipes look absolutely divine, but I was most intrigued by her lightened up Chipotle style meat.  I LOVE Chipotle and Moe's so this was super exciting!

After looking over several options like the Chicken Ropa Veija  and the Barbacoa Beef  I settled on the Mexican Slow Cooker Pork Carnitas.  I'll definitely be back to try the others though. ;)

I used a 1.5 pound pork loin to make these since it's such a lean cut of meat and our grocery store didn't have the pork shoulder that was listed in the original recipe.  It was the perfect size for us.  My only suggestion is to use reduced sodium broth and then adjust the salt content to taste after you shred the meat.  When I liberally seasoned the meat, I didn't take into to account that the adobo seasoning listed salt as its first ingredient. 

Also, 2 chile peppers made this just spicy enough to give it a kick without making us break out in to a sweat. I loved the flavor that the peppers gave to these.

We served our Pork Carnitas up in a tortilla with a mixture of lettuce, cilantro, lime juice, avacado and white onion.  Tomatoes would have been a great addition too.  Next time, I'm thinking about a nice crunchy taco shell with these or a burrito!  Yummm!

Recipe:
1.5 lb pork loin
3-4 cloves of garlic cut into slivers (I used bottled minced garlic.)
cumin
dry adobo seasoning (like Goyas)
garlic powder
1 c low sodium/low fat chicken or beef broth
2-3 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
2 dried bay leaves

1. Salt and pepper pork.  Brown all sides in a hot, lightly oiled skillet.  Remove from heat and allow to cool.  Make small slits in pork and fill with garlic.  Sprinkle with lots of cumin, adobo seasoning and garlic powder.  
2. Chop peppers and place in crock pot with broth and bay leaves.  Place meat on top.  Cover and cook on low for 8-9 hours.  
3. Remove meat and shred with 2 forks.  Discard bay leaves.  Return meat to the crock pot and toss with liquid.  Add more liquid if needed.  (Mine was a little salty, so I added water instead of more broth. )  Add more cumin or salt if needed.  Cook an additional 15 minutes.

Source: Gina's Skinny Taste
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