Friday Night- Pulled Pork

We had leftover pork from a couple nights ago, but the flavor left a little to be desired and JD and I both loath leftovers, so I figured if I mixed it up a little it wouldn't FEEL like a leftover.  My sister told me to put the already cooked pork in my shiny new Dutch Oven, put a 1/2 cup chicken broth on it and bake it at 325.  I stirred it once an hour and added a little more broth as needed.  After about 4 hours the pork fell apart, and I stirred Cattleman's smokehouse BBQ sauce into it. 

We served JD's new favorite salad (field greens, dried cranberries, fat free feta and raspberry vinagrette) and low fat Pilsbury crescent rolls on the side. 

Thursday- Pizza night

We love the premade dough from Trader Joes and could make pizza with it once a week.  Tonight we used the regular dough (they also have whole wheat dough and garlic and herb dough).  We used TJ's pizza sauce, Cilantro Chicken Sausage and 3 cheese mix.

We were also going to have a salad, but the greens looked a little stale, so we just stuck to the pizza (and lots of wine!)

Wednesday-Chili reboot

I took the sloppy joes from Tuesday, added TJ's Pasta Sauce Starter (it is on the shelves in a red box) and chili powder to make it more like chili. It was really yummy and not terribly fattening. It is just lean ground beef, veggies, tomato sauce (without sugar), some ketchup and spices. I didn't add beans, because JD doesn't like them, but I bet that would taste really good and also add some more fiber.
I really should have served it with a green salad and cornbread, but I didn't know I was going to make it into chili until I was heating it up. We served it with a side of TJ's baked sweet potato fries. Note: add more green to dinner and less orange! (Though we have been eating salads at lunch.)

Tuesday-Crusty Pork Tenderloin

My very good friend, Debra, gave me this recipe.  (Debra, get a blog, so I can link you).  I just happened to have a pork loin in the freezer and this recipe was super easy, but looks oh-so-fancy. We substituted the garic for shallots (JD cannot have garlic).  I used a GIANT sweet potato and two apples, so there wasn't room in the dish for all of it!  

Served with a side of broccoli steamed in chicken broth.

Crusty Pork Tenderloin

1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
1 tsp grated lemon zest
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tsp olive oil
_ tsp salt
_ tsp coarsely ground pepper
1 – 1 lb pork tenderloin, trimmed of all visible fat
1 large (10 oz) sweet potato, peeled and cut into 8 slices
1 tbsp water
1 apple cut into 6 wedges
1 tsp packed dark brown sugar
1/8 tsp cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 450˚. Spray a 9 X 13-inch baking dish with non-stick spray.

Mix the parsley, lemon zest, garlic, oil, _ teaspoon of the salt and the pepper to a paste in a small bowl. Place the pork in the baking dish. Spread the parsley mixture evenly over the top of the pork and let stand 5-10 minutes.

Meanwhile, place the sweet potato slices and water in a small microwavable casserole dish. Cover and microwave on High until partially cooked, 3 minutes. Drain.

Place the sweet potato slices and apple wedges around the pork. Lightly spray the sweet potato and apple with nonstick spray; then sprinkle with the sugar, cinnamon and remaining _ tsp salt. Roast until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center of the pork registers 160˚ for medium and the sweet potato and apple are tender, about 30 minutes. Cover the pork lightly with a foil tent and let stand 5 minutes.

Cut the pork and serve with the sweet potato and apple.

Monday- Sloppy Joes

Salad: Field Greens with dried cranberries, fat-free feta cheese and raspberry vinaigrette. (JD was inspired by our yummy wedding salad)

Dinner:

  Martha Stewart Sloppy Joes on Wheat Buns: we left out the celery and garlic per JD request and cooked the ground beef first and rinsed it to remove the fat.  

Trader Joes Chipotle Fries:  we drizzled the sauce overtop, because I do not like how wet the fries get when they are tossed in the sauce.

Sunday-Maple Glazed Salmon

Cedar Plank Grilled Salmon

Grilled red and orange peppers and grilled red onion with Fritz seasoning (Sea Salt, Spices, Flour, Paprika, Coriander, Garlic, Oregano, Rosemary, Citric Acid)

red roasted potatoes with lipton onion soup

Lunch- Sunday 10/19

Salad- Field Greens, onion, cherry tomatoes, leftover chicken breast, dressing

Leftover risotto