Grilled Chipotle Pork Tenderloin with Beans and Rice

I'm not sure there is an easier cut of meat to prepare than pork tenderloin.  Pork tenderloins are generally inexpensive (and often on sale) and the perfect size for a family of four.  They absorb the flavors of marinades and rubs as easily as a chicken breast and, aside from gross over-cooking, you're sure to get a flavorful, juicy result whether you cook it in the oven or on the grill.  I personally think the grill is the way to go, however. Another great thing about pork tenderloins is that they don't take as long to cook as a pork roast or whole chicken and they are low in fat!  In fact 5 ounces is only around 175 calories.

This meal was really a mix of necessity and craving. First, I had thrown the tenderloin in the fridge to defrost Tuesday night, therefore, it needed to be eaten. However, I found myself daydreaming at work and surfing through patiodaddiobbq.com (yes, this is the life I live) and I found his Funky Refried Beans. They intruiged me, but I had this darn tenderloin to cook. So I decided to do some kind of tex-mex take on the pork and pair it with refried beans and spanish rice.  If chipotle isn't your thing, garlic butter, cilantro lime, and plain old BBQ sauce are all delicious on grilled pork tenderloins.  Heck any viniagarette dressing would work as well.  I tend to stay away from the pre-seasoned tenderloins because they are insanely high in sodium. The longer you marinade the better, but I tend to do it last minute and things still work out just fine.

Pork Tenderloin with Mexican Chipotle Marinade 
from Food and Wine.com
  photo credit

Ingredients

6 canned chipotle chiles in adobo, plus 2 tablespoons of sauce from the can (find in the ethnic food aisle)
5 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
One 3-inch strip of orange zest
3/4 cup fresh orange juice
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1 1/2 pounds pork tenderloin

Directions
1.  In a small saucepan, combine the chipotles and their sauce with the garlic, orange zest, orange juice, lime juice, red wine vinegar, tomato paste, oregano, cumin and pepper. Simmer over high heat until reduced by one-third, about 3 minutes. Transfer the contents of the pan to a food processor and puree until smooth. Let cool before using.

2.  Coat the pork with 1/2 of the marinade and refrigerate for 2 hours (**I marinated for about 30 minutes).

3. Light the grill. Grill the pork over a hot fire, turning, until cooked through, about 15 minutes. Baste with remaining marinade through cooking process. Let stand for 3 minutes before slicing and serving. (*Mine took a little longer, you're looking for an internal temp of about 165).

*It's also to eat pork a little pink now so don't worry about cooking it to leather!

Funky Refried Beans from Patio Daddio BBQ.com

My husband loves ranch-style beans (which can be tricky to find, depending on the store). When I saw that this recipe incorporated them, I knew I must try it! I made a few minor changes. My version is below.

Ingredients

1 can (15 oz) Original Ranch Style Beans, undrained
1 can (10 oz) Rotel Tomato & Green Chilies, drained
1/2 Medium onion, diced

1-2 garlic cloves, minced

1 Tbsp oil (I used EVOO)

Directions

1. Heat oil in a small saucepan. Add the onion and garlic and saute until softened.

2. Add the beans and rotel and heat through.

3. You could serve the mixture with whole beans. I mashed mine.  I generally use a bean or potato masher and do it by hand, but tonight I had the inversion blender out already so I just ran that through the mixture. If you do this, you'll get a little bit of a runnier mixture than if you mash by hand.

These were good and spicy! Top with cheese and/or sour cream if you're so inclined.

Spanish Rice 

I'm quite proud of my Spanish rice and it has taken me years to craft it to family's liking.  I have a few tricks that I've developed over the years, but (mostly so I can torture my brother-in-law) I have not included all of them here ;)  This recipe will yield a rice that is light in flavor - not one of those heavy-on-the-tomato varieties that you'll find in packets and at bad restaurants.  THIS is a staple in my home:

Ingredients

2 cups chicken broth (or vegetable broth or water)
1/2 teaspoons salt
2 Tbsps cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 cup medium- or long-grain white rice
1 Tbsp tomato sauce

1/2 medium onion, chopped or sliced - optional

1/2 green pepper chopped or sliced - optional

1-2 garlic cloves, minced - optional

1 tomato coarsely chopped - optional

Directions

1.  In deep saucepan, heat olive oil and stir in rice (straight from the package--do not rinse). Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until rice is lightly browned. This may take 10 to 20 minutes. Throw in the garlic, onion, and green pepper about 5 minutes in to the browning process.

2 Gradually stir tomato sauce into rice and cook for a minute or two, then add tomatoes, broth and salt to rice. Stir only once to incorporate then crank the heat and bring it to a boil. Once boiling, put the lid on tightly, reduce heat to the very lowest setting and leave undisturbed for the length of time specified on your rice bag, usually about 20 minutes. Do not remove the lid during the cooking time! Do not stir, do not peak, do not open until Christmas!

3 When the 20 minutes are up, peak to see if the liquid is completely evaporated. If not, simmer a few more minutes, if so, remove from heat, replace the lid, and let the rice stand for about 10 minutes. Then fluff with a fork and enjoy!

Restaurant-Style Ranch Dressing - LOW CAL!

I'm am a complete trend-follower when it comes to ranch dressing. I absolutely love it. I think that just about every food (certainly every bread product) is enhanced by a quick dip in ranch dressing.  On salads, I do love vinaigrettes, but nothing can compare to my love of ranch.  I don't eat it on salads much at home, however, because I don't really like the bottled stuff. It's too thick, usually too salty, sometimes the dill is too strong - it's nothing like the creamy, smooth stuff you get at a restaurant.  I've tried to make it at home and the result always tasted like the bottled stuff.  That is, until I found this recipe on pinterest.

I was hesitant because my experience with plain Greek yogurt is that the end result tastes like, well, plain Greek yogurt.  I didn't think this would possibly work, but it did! This recipe creates a thin, savory ranch dressing that's just like the restaurants serve!  I might use a little less milk in the future (or a little more yogurt) because it is quite runny, but flavor-wise, it's a 10!  I even had one of my ranch-crazy co-workers sample it and she agreed!

Best of all? The entire recipe is 255 calories. That's about 10 calories per tablespoon! Where are you going to find numbers like that on the salad dressing aisle?

Restaurant-Style Ranch Dressing

The recipe comes from The Caffeinated Chronicles of Motherhood (great title!)

Ingredients

1 cup plain, nonfat Greek yogurt

1 packet Hidden Valley Ranch dressing mix

1/2 cup lowfat milk (the calculations are for 1%)

Directions:

Combine, stir, refrigerate!  

I ate mine right away, but the website suggested letting it meld for an hour in the fridge. The comments section of the original blog suggested stirring a little cottage cheese in as well.  I'm a purist, however.  This is so spot-on I will probably make a habit of keeping ranch dressing packets in my cupboard! Or better yet, I'll make my own!

20 Minute Stove Top Mac and Cheese

Once you make this recipe you will seriously never go back to boxed mac and cheese again! Although, I'm not going to lie, I have a soft spot in my heart for Kraft Mac and Cheese.  That was one of the first things I could "cook" on my own (although my specialty was omelets).  I also made countless boxes during my extremely successful babysitting career (the high school years). I don't want to feed it to my son for a few reasons (1) it's high in sodium, (2) as a cheese-lover, cheese in powdered form causes me physical pain, (3) I'd like to develop his palette to appreciate good food, and (4) Kraft uses artificial food dyes and the FDA has said, "artificial food dye is an issue for certain susceptible children with ADHD [attention deficit hyperactivity disorder] and other problem behaviors." That's just a start. In fact in 2007 a study linked the use of these dyes to hyperactivity in children.  It might not hurt my child at all, but why risk it? It is possible to smoke for an entire lifetime and never develop cancer, but why risk it?  Anyway, homemade is always better and certainly more nutritious (in my humble opinion).  The problem is that homemade usually takes longer.  

Enter 

Stove Top Mac and Cheese courtesy of Cooking Light magazine.

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cups uncooked elbow macaroni (about 6 ounces)

• 1 cup 1% low-fat milk

• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

• 1 1/4 cups shredded reduced-fat sharp cheddar cheese (I used sharp Pinconning because it's local and because it melts very smoothly).

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

• 1 (1 1/2-ounce) slice white bread 

• 1 tablespoon butter, melted

Preparation

Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain.

Combine milk and flour in a medium saucepan, stirring with a whisk. Cook over medium heat 2 minutes or until thick, stirring constantly with a whisk. Add cheese, salt, and pepper, (I also added a little garlic powder) stirring with a whisk until smooth. 

Add pasta; toss to coat. Let stand 4 minutes.

*I omitted the breadcrumb part:

Place bread in a food processor, and pulse 10 times or until the crumbs measure 1 1/4 cups. 

Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add breadcrumbs, and cook 5 minutes or until lightly browned, stirring occasionally. Stir in melted butter; cook 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Sprinkle breadcrumb mixture over pasta mixture.

The Review?

This literally took 20 minutes to make.  It was absolutely no more work than a box of Kraft or Velveeta takes to make and much more delicious. You could stir in broccoli, spinach, ham, bacon, peas, carrots - anything you so desire! I just made a second batch tonight with the intention of freezing it so that I can defrost at a moment's notice. 

A Mother's Day Feast

Because I'm slightly insane, I find the idea of hosting a fabulous meal for seven to be what I want most for Mother's Day.  Less crazy people probably allow someone else to cook for them or even go out to eat.  However, because I was busy entertaining and wrangling one very overly excited toddler, I don't have my own pictures, but I linked you to the sites where I found each delicious recipe!  I followed most recipes pretty closely, with the occasional substitution here and there ;)  Also, there will be no calorie counting on Mother's Day!!

The Menu
Barbecued Meatloaf with Guinness BBQ Sauce
Pesto Mashed Potatoes
Sweet and Sour Bacon and Green Beans
Roasted Mushroom Medley
Logan's-Style Yeast Rolls with Honey Cinnamon Butter

Barbecued Meatloaf from patiodaddio.com
This is meatloaf cooked on the grill!  I made the loaves up the night before, wrapped them in foil, and popped them in the fridge. Then all we had to do was throw them on the grill, baste them every 20 minutes or so and enjoy! This will forever be my go-to meatloaf recipe. On a side note, this Patio Daddio is a wonderful BBQ blog. You could totally make it in the oven too. It turned out SO juicy! Everything on there will make you drool!


Guinness BBQ Sauce from patiodaddio.com
I also made this the night before. I subbed Sirracha for the chili sauce and a Sam Adams Porter in place of the Guinness (simply because these were the things I had on hand) and this sauce was flavorful, but VERY spicy... use with care.


Sweet and Sour Bacon and Green Beans from GirlCooksWorld.com
There were good and a little different than your average green bean recipe. The sugar and vinegar glaze does give a subtle sweet and tangy flavor, but it's not overpowering. The bacon and onions in this dish, mixed with the glaze, are to die for!


Pesto Mashed Potatoes
I just whipped this up and didn't get a picture, but you basically just make mashed potatoes like you normally would (including milk, salt, butter - whatever you add when you mash them). Then you drop in a heaping spoonful or two of pesto. I used my spinach pesto from the previous post.  My 90-year-old grandma liked them, even though I'm not sure she knew what spinach pesto was!

Roasted Mushroom Medley from ItalianFoodForever.com
First of all, forget everything you thought you new about mushrooms. The mushrooms that this recipe yields are like things of another world! They are savory and salty and garlicy and fresh due to the herbs. Oh my goodness... I was standing over the pan eating these while they were still hot. Also, not one 'shroom remained at the end of the meal!


Logan's-Style Yeast Rolls from TastyKitchen.com
I also tackled these the night before (around midnight) and, while they didn't look as nice as these in the picture, they were delicious! There were also no leftovers of these either!  I did everything the recipe suggested, including brushing the tops before and after baking.  In the world of breadmaking, these were too tough either.


Logan's-Style Honey Cinnamon Butter
Thankfully, there is plenty of this leftover and I anticipate using it on toast ALL week! My grandmother-in-law thought it would be good on sweet potatoes and she is right!

1 cup butter, softened (at room temp)
1/2 cup honey
1 tsp. cinnamon

Whip the butter and honey until fluffy then stir in the cinnamon.  That's it, but so, so magnificent!

Spinach Pesto Pasta

The farmers market officially opened last Saturday.  I went to walk around and get into the spirit of summer and was lucky enough to find a vendor who was selling spinach and baby red swiss chard. I was originally attracted to this farmer's stand because the table held boxes heaped with greens. They were literally spilling over on to the ground.  He handed me a medium-sized brown paper bag and said "Fill it up for $4."  So I did!  I stuffed the bag full of greens. When I got home it was enough to fill two large ziploc bags, and the greens were packed tight. Needless to say, I had a lot of spinach and chard on my hands!  We made salads one day. I generally just feel so-so about spinach. I'm very picky about my spinach. If it isn't fresh and in season it just tastes thick and paper-like to me.  These leaves, however, were dark green, crisp and sweet.

Tonight my husband is working late. While I do miss his company at the dinner table, it's a perfect opportunity to make a meal that wouldn't be his favorite anyway.  He doesn't care for basil pesto and I assured him he'd like spinach pesto, but since he wasn't here, I could make and enjoy it myself!

A few things about pesto. First of all, if you have only had store-bought pesto, then you haven't had pesto. The store-bought stuff is just not good. I've used it in recipes or if I was in a bind, but the basil flavor is strong and less citrusy as the real stuff.  Second, if you don't like basil pesto (the traditional kind) you can make it with just about any green: spinach, chard, collards, mustard.  Spinach and chard yield much mellower flavors.  And third, making pesto is a fluid activity. You can change up the greens and the nuts you use as well as the quantity of garlic. For this recipe I did measure the oil, but usually I just let the pesto speak to me!

Before we start talking about dinner, you must prepare the pesto.  This recipe will yield WAY more than you need for an evening of pasta.  Lucky for you, pesto freezes well.  You can freeze it in ice cube trays until solid, then pop them out into a ziploc bag. Then you can just defrost as needed. Or just throw it all in a ziploc or tupperware and freeze. Or plan a week of pesto recipes! Use it on pizza, in omelets, on sandwiches, on brushchetta, or as a dip!

Spinach Pesto
(1 Tbsp = 85 calories)


Ingredients
8-10 cups greens (I figured a cup was about equal to one handful)
3 garlic cloves (more or less, depending on your preference)
1/4 pine nuts (or walnuts, or pecans if you're desperate!)
1/2 - 1 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup fresh grated Parmesan cheese
1 Tbsp grated lemon zest (this ingredient does amazing things)
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
1. Add garlic cloves and pine nuts to food processor and give it a good chop.

2. Next add spinach and Parmesan. Start the processor and add oil as spinach is processing. This will be to your taste. Less oil will obviously yield a "drier" pesto, more will yield a smoother pesto. This is no wrong way! Add the oil in 1/4 cup increments, just to be sure.

3. Finally, stir in the lemon zest and salt and pepper to taste.


Spinach Pesto Pasta with Shrimp

I used shrimp because it's what I had on hand. You could fill yours with veggies (I really wished I had mushrooms) or through some chicken in.  

Ingredients
1/3 cup, plus 1 tbsp pesto
8 oz penne pasta (half of a box), cooked
Extra virgin olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced
1 Tbsp minced shallot (or red onion, or regular yellow onion if it's all you have)
1/4 cup red bell pepper, diced
3/4 cup raw shrimp, peeled and deveined
shredded Parmesan cheese, optional

Directions:
1. Add a tablespoon of olive oil to a pan along with the garlic, onion, and bell pepper. Saute until softened.

2. Turn heat to high and add cooked pasta to the pan.  Saute pasta for 2-3 minutes in a hot skillet (until slightly browned). Remove and set aside.

3. Add another drizzle of oil to the pan if needed, a tablespoon of pesto, and the shrimp. Saute until just pink then add the pasta and pesto.  Stir to mix and heat through.  You might want more pesto depending on your preference.

4. Garnish with freshly shredded Parmesan cheese.

Jorge's Bean Soup

My husband's father grew up in Texas and my husband spent much of his childhood there.  As a result, my cooking repertoire has grown to include several Tex-Mex-inspired meals over the years.  What follows is my father-in-law's bean soup recipe. I've had it several times, but there's not exactly a written recipe anywhere. I watched him make it once, but two years ago he moved back to Texas, thus leaving me on my own to re-create his classics for my husband.  The in-laws serve this as a side dish at most BBQ's (which is what we did on Sunday), but it is a good hearty soup that could be a meal on it's own, or paired with some cornbread. It also surprised me, after adding all the ingredients (which include beans, bacon, AND smoked sausage) into Myfitnesspal.com, to discover that a cup of this soup is only 150 calories!

Jorge's Bean Soup

Ingredients

4 slices bacon (+drippings)

1 medium onion, chopped

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 medium green bell pepper, chopped

2 - cans pinto beans

1 - can diced tomatoes

1 cup chicken or vegetable broth

6 oz Eckrich Smoked Sausage (one link out of the package of two large links or "rope"), chopped

1 Tbsp chili powder

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp paprika

2 cups water

salt and pepper, to taste

cilantro, chopped (optional)

Directions

1. Cook bacon slices, remove after slices are cooked through, but still soft, set aside.

2. Add onion, garlic, and green pepper to bacon drippings, saute on medium heat until onions are translucent and softened, about 5 minutes.

3. Deglaze the pan with the broth then dump in both cans of beans and the tomatoes. Resist the urge to strain and rinse. Jorge never does such a thing.

4.  Chop the bacon and sausage into bite-sized pieces... this is a soup after all. Add the meat to the pot along with the 2 cups of water, and spices and give the whole thing a stir.

5.  I like to bring the soup to a gentle boil, then turn it down to simmer.  Put a lid on it and let it simmer while you prepare the rest of the meal.  I've left this to simmer for hours and I've also enjoyed it in 20 minutes.  

6. Garnish each bowl with a sprinkle of chopped, fresh cilantro. Enjoy!

Nutrition Facts

Serving size: 1 cup (makes 11 cups of soup): 148 calories / 16 cabs / 7 g fat / 7 g protein

Jalapeno Popper Chicken

One thing I'm not willing to sacrifice while on my weight loss journey is good-tasting food. I'm not interested in having pureed cauliflower and telling myself it's mashed potatoes.  I'd rather have a smaller portion, but eat real potatoes.  Anyway, this recipe is one of those that you won't believe is low-cal.  It felt completely indulgent and delicious and for only 371 calories!  It's from skinnytaste.com so you can be pretty sure it will be delicious and this recipe did not disappoint.  The only change I made was to omit the breadcrumbs and grill rather than bake. I only did this because it was 85 degrees today with humitidy of 150% and I didn't want to heat the oven up to 450.  I'm sure the original method is good too, but man were they awesome on the grill! The original recipe uses 8 chicken cutlets, but I cut one thick chicken breast in half (width-wise) and pounded it thin to make two servings. My version is below, the original (breaded and baked) is HERE.

Cheesy Jalapeno Popper Baked Stuffed Chicken

Ingredients

- 2 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled

- 1 jalapeno, chopped (seeds removed)

- 3 oz 1/3 less fat cream cheese, softened

- 4 oz reduced fat shredded cheddar cheese, shredded

- 2 Tbsp chopped scallions

- 1 chicken breast, cut in half width-wise and pounded thin (or two chicken cutlets)

- 2 limes, juiced

- 1 Tbsp olive oil

- salt and pepper

Directions

*Check out the link above for how-to photos of the prep process if you're a visual learner!

1. Combine cream cheese, cheddar, scallions, jalapeño and bacon crumbles in a medium bowl.

2. Lay chicken cutlets on a working surface and spread 2 tbsp of cream cheese mixture on each cutlet. Loosely roll each one, secure the ends with toothpicks to prevent the cheese from oozing out. *I used 5-6 toothpicks in each one because I didn't want the filling to ooze out. It definitely worked so don't be afraid to cinch up those ends with extra picks!

3. Dip chicken in lime-oil mixture, sprinkle with salt and pepper,  then grill on medium heat for about 10 minutes per side.

When I cut mine in half, it literally looked like the photo above.  All of the filling stayed in place!  These were absolutely heavenly! The center was creamy and spicy and the outside of the chicken had just a hint of the lime juice.  If you don't want the spice you could swap out the jalapeno with green bell pepper and it would be just as good.

I did have extra filling because I made that part as directed, but only made 2 roll-ups.  I used the extra filling to fill a couple extra jalapenos that I had.  I wrapped them in foil and threw them on the grill too for a late-night snack.  My husband actually ate them all before I had a chance, but I can imagine they would be good too! 

I will absolutely keep this as a go-to recipe. Next time I'll try them in the oven with breadcrumbs and you could definitely play around with the filling.  I also made twice baked sweet potatoes and a salad for sides.  The whole meal was under 600 calories!

Sunday Dinner

We recently took our first batch of chickens to butcher. I had the larger ones cut, but we kept a few of the smaller ones as whole roasters.  Free-range chicken meat can be slightly tougher, since the birds actually use their muscles while alive and also because the meat isn't injected with a sodium solution after butcher.  The trade off, however, is that it is WAY more flavorful. So for Sunday dinner I decided to cook one in the crock pot. I figured, if a crock pot can't produce moist, tender meat, then nothing can!  The results were delicious.  My husband commented several times during dinner that he couldn't believe how tender the chicken was. The next day I made the leftovers into chicken salad sandwiches and even while eating these he was like, "man this chicken is so good!"  He might have just been boosting my ego... I'll take it!

The best part? I plunked it all in the crock pot and went about my day! 7 hours later? Dinner was ready!

First I created a bed of deliciousness for the chicken to rest upon as it cooked.  I covered the bottom of the crock pot with sliced onions and 3 crushed garlic cloves.  Then I sliced lemon, added a few sprigs of rosemary and two bay leaves.  I made a gravy out of the drippings and, because of the rosemary and lemon, it had a citrusy flavor. If you don't want this, then omit the lemon at the least, possibly both.

If you were a chicken, wouldn't you want to bed with these delicious, aromatic ingredients?

I added about half a cup of water. It's not necessary, but I like to get the steaming process started ASAP.













Then I put the chicken in.  In my younger days, I would have slathered the butter with an herb butter, but now that I'm trying to be less of a fatty, I just slathered the bird with Italian seasoning. I can assure you, that if you massage that bird with butter, especially under the skin, it will be mouth-wateringly delicious... but higher in calories.

Then I let this puppy simmer on low for about 7 hours.  I did break the cardinal rule of crock potting and I opened the lid at 6 hours to stick a meat thermometer in.  You can also tell it's done because the meat will literally fall right off the bone. Wiggle one of those drumsticks and the bone will practically pull right out. In fact, this can make removal from the crock pot a bit tricky!










I ended up with a fair amount of meat (enough for chicken dinner one night, a plethora of chicken salad, and some for a lettuce salad for lunch). In addition I ended up with almost 2 cups of drippings that I used to make a quick gravy.

I also made a potato and zucchini hash and asparagus.  For the hash, I basically just sauteed some garlic, then through in some onions, zucchini, and potatoes and fried 'em up!  I tossed the mixture with chopped fresh basil.

Quick, easy, and most importantly, delicious!!