Chili-Rubbed Pork with Apricot Glaze

We loved this tonight. Has a little zing with the chili powder. Super fun to make. Love the variations of ingredients. A definite keeper!

The recipe comes from HERE melskitchencafe.com

Chili-Rubbed Pork with Apricot Glaze
*Note: This recipe requires marinating time (between 2 and 24 hours) so plan ahead!

2 (1-pound each) pork tenderloins, fat trimmed

Spice Rub:
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1/2 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

Glaze:
1 1/2 cups apricot jam/jelly
1/2 cup barbecue sauce
1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger (see tutorial here)
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon hot sauce
2 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro
2 small limes, juiced

Combine chili powder, garlic powder, sugar, salt and pepper in a small bowl. Rub the spice mixture on the pork tenderloins. Cover the tenderloins and refrigerate for 2 to 24 hours.

Prior to grilling or roasting, melt the apricot jam in a saucepan over medium heat. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the remaining glaze ingredients. Place half of the glaze in a serving bowl and set aside to serve with the pork tenderloins later.

Grilling Instructions: Preheat a grill to medium-high heat. Grill the pork tenderloins for 15-20 minutes, or until the internal temperature of the pork reaches 160 degrees F. When approximately 4 minutes of cook time remains, brush the pork tenderloins with the apricot glaze remaining in the pan. Cook for 2 minutes, turn the pork tenderloins and brush glaze on other side. Cook for an additional 2 minutes. Remove pork from the grill, tent with foil and let it rest for about 5 minutes before slicing.

Roasting Instructions: Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Place the pork tenderloins in a lightly greased, foil-lined 9X13-inch pan. Bake for 15 minutes. Brush with the apricot glaze remaining in the pan. Bake for 15 more minutes. Again, brush with glaze. Bake an additional 10 minutes or until the pork reaches 160 degrees internally. Remove the pork from the oven, tent with foil and let it rest for 5 minutes before slicing.

Serve the sliced pork over couscous, rice or potatoes with the reserved glaze alongside.

sweet italian sausage jambalaya

This isn't the actual picture from the recipe but it's close enough.

When I finished making this recipe we threw it together with left over brown rice and it reminded me of jambalaya- which is a really fun word to say. The original recipe is called Italian sausage with peppers and onions. BORING. Anyway, this was so good. I don't think I have eaten anything with Sweet Italian sausage that didn't taste good.

mostly from allrecipes.com

Ingredients
6 (4 ounce) links sweet Italian sausage
2 tablespoons butter
1 yellow onion, sliced
1/2 red onion, sliced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 large red bell pepper, sliced
1 green bell pepper, sliced
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 cup white wine (I used chicken broth)

Directions
1.Place the sausage in a large skillet over medium heat, and brown on all sides. Remove from skillet, and slice.
2.Melt butter in the skillet. Stir in the yellow onion, red onion, and garlic, and cook 2 to 3 minutes. Mix in red bell pepper and green bell pepper. Season with basil, and oregano. Stir in white wine. Continue to cook and stir until peppers and onions are tender.
3.Return sausage slices to skillet with the vegetables. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer 15 minutes, or until sausage is heated through.

Serve over or mix it up with brown rice

Power Enchiladas

These enchiladas were amazingly good! I loved them. I knew my kids would be wary with all the green so I halved the recipe. I also used white tortillas to appeal to them. They didn't care for it, but I think these are my new favorite enchilada recipe! Chad even liked them a lot and he doesn't care for zucchini. We rated this recipe 4 out of 5 stars.

Recipe from The Sisters Cafe.

HEALTH ALERT: THESE ENCHILADAS ARE PRETTY DANG GOOD FOR YOU.

With all the irresistible Christmas sweets headed your way, I thought I might throw at least one healthy dish your way. My sis, Melis, got this recipe years ago from a personal trainer/friend. This isn't your typical enchilada dish. It's PACKED with nutrients and I think it still tastes wonderful! In fact, I'm sure you could sneak in a lot more veggies than the recipe even calls for and no one would know the difference. The original recipe called for red enchilada sauce. I make it with green enchilada sauce since I prefer it, and I love it!

Power Enchiladas

Submitted by Amy ~ The Sisters Cafe

Printable Recipe here

4 oz. fat free chicken broth

1 T. canola oil

1 cup chopped onion

1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper

1 cup grated zucchini

2 cups boneless, skinless chicken breast, cooked and shredded

2 T. chopped cilantro

1 1/2 or a little more:) cups grated low fat, part-skim mozzarella cheese

1 (4 oz) can diced green chilies (or use fresh)

4 cloves garlic

1 (19 oz) can green enchilada sauce

8-10 whole wheat tortillas

Sliced black olives (3-5 per enchilada)

Light or fat free sour cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare all ingredients for assembly. In a large frying pan, bring chicken broth and canola oil to just boiling. Add onion and green pepper to broth and saute until onions are tender. Add grated zucchini and saute until just cooked. Drain off liquid and remove pan from heat. Add cooked chicken to vegetable mixture and stir. Add cilantro, 1 1/4 cups of grated cheese (reserving 1/4 cup for later), green chilies, and garlic. Stir to combine.

Layer 1/2 cup enchilada sauce into the bottom of a 9 x 13 dish sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. Fill tortillas with meat and vegetable mixture. Spoon about 1 T. enchilada sauce over meat mixture. Roll tortillas up and turn enchilada seam down. Ladle remaining sauce over enchiladas, making sure tortillas are completely covered in sauce (so they don't dry out). Cover with tin foil and bake 12-15 minutes. Remove foil and sprinkle enchiladas with remaining 1/4 cup (or a little more:) grated cheese. Bake 10 minutes more until cheese is melted. Then turn on broiler and place enchiladas nearer the top of oven. Let it broil until cheese is slightly brown and crispy. Garnish with olives and sour cream.

coconut crusted chicken with mango salsa

Another tasty tasty super yummy delicious dinner. Oh my gosh this was so fun to eat! The salsa is PERFECT with the chicken- I think some kind of white fish would be a good substitute also.

This is a quicky too. If you make your rice in a rice cooker, than this meal will only take 20 minutes or so to make.

grabbed the recipe from whatsonmymenu.blogpsot.com

coconut crusted chicken with mango salsa
Salsa ingredients:
I doubled the salsa- so yummy

1/2 pound frozen mango, thawed and chopped (about 1 1/2 cups)
1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper
1/3 cup chopped red onion (be careful...not too much or too little)
2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
Salt and pepper

Chicken ingredients:

1 egg
1/2 cup shredded unsweetened coconut (you can buy this in the Winco bulk section)
Four 6-ounce skinless, boneless chicken breasts or tenders
3 tablespoons vegetable oil

Directions:

Mix salsa ingredients together- put in fridge
In a shallow bowl, beat the egg with 1 teaspoon water and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Place the coconut in another shallow bowl. Dip the chicken in the egg, then in the coconut. Press to coat.
In large, ovenproof skillet, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the chicken and cook, turning once, until golden, about 3 minutes. Transfer the skillet to the oven and bake until cooked through, about 12 minutes. Serve the chicken with the mango salsa.

Serve with brown rice

Chili Verde (Mexican Stewed Pork)

Ok this was EXCELLENT! And a lot healthier than the Cafe Rio sweet pork recipe. This was so amazingly good inside grilled tortillas with all the fixings. Chay's words after the first bite: "I would pay money to eat this"

The recipe I made had a whole lot more sauce than the shown picture because I didn't cook up 5 lbs of pork like the recipe called for- but we still had leftovers to freeze.

I found the recipe at www.melskitchencafe.com

Chili Verde (Mexican Stewed Pork)

*Note: don’t even think about skipping the step of reducing the sauce. It is absolutely essential to the flavor of the sauce! Just make sure to plan ahead – the roast takes 8-9 hours on low in the crockpot (or 3-4 hours in the oven) and an additional 30 minutes to reduce the sauce.

*Second Note: I forgot to mention that the leftovers freeze excellently. After the pork has cooled, I put it in a ziploc bag, freeze it, then take it out and let it thaw in the refrigerator overnight. Then reheat on low on the stovetop or in the oven.

*Serves 8-10

2 tablespoons canola oil
5 pounds boneless pork roast, trimmed of as much fat as possible
Salt and pepper for seasoning roast
2 yellow onions, chopped
5 cloves garlic, finely minced or crushed
1 (15 oz.) can green enchilada sauce
2 (4 oz.) cans diced green chiles
2 (14 oz.) cans diced tomatoes with green chiles
1 beef bouillon cube (or 1 teaspoon beef bouillon granules)
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon dried oregano
½ teaspoon black pepper

Cut the roast into 3-4 large chunks. Season the pork generously with salt and pepper on all sides. In a large heavy pot, the oil over medium heat until the oil is shimmering and hot. Add the pork, being careful not to crowd the pot (brown the pork in shifts, if needed). Brown the pork on all sides until golden and well-browned, about 30 seconds to a minute on each side. Leave the roast in the pot and add the onion and garlic. Cook for 1-2 minutes, stirring often. Place the pork and garlic and onions in the slow cooker (read below for oven-roasting method). Stir in the rest of the ingredients to the slow cooker. Cover and cook on low for 8-9 hours.

After the roast has cooked for the allotted time, remove the roast. Shred it into bite-size pieces and set aside, covered with foil to keep warm. Pour the remaining liquid and ingredients from the slow cooker into a large saucepan. Bring the mixture to a boil on the stove, and simmer vigoriously over medium-low or medium heat for 20-30 minutes, stirring often to prevent sticking or burning, until the mixture considerably reduced and thickened. Add the pork roast and sauce back to the slow cooker. Stir to coat the pork with the sauce. Turn the crockpot to low or high and allow the pork to heat through again. Serve with warm tortillas and desired toppings, such as sour cream, cheese, avocados, lettuce, tomatoes.

Oven-roasting Instructions: When beginning the recipe, make sure to use an oven-safe pot for the browning (such as a large enameled cast-iron pot). Follow the recipe up until the point of adding the pork to the slow cooker. Instead, keep the pork in the oven-safe pot. Add in all the other recipe ingredients plus 1/2 cup water. Stir to combine. Cover the pot and cook in the oven at 300 degrees for 3-4 hours. When finished cooking, remove the roast as directed in the above instructions. Follow the recipe to reduce the sauce.

Recipe Source: adapted from Erin at The Sister’s Cafe