pork tenderloin - Stuff Parents Need

Wow Your Family with Ease: Smithfield Pork Tenderloin with Cranberry Sauce

November 3, 2014 · by Tiffany Merritt · Leave a Comment

This post is part of a social shopper marketing insight campaign with Pollinate Media Group® and Smithfield®, but all my opinions are my own. #pmedia #PutPorkontheMenu http://my-disclosur.es/OBsstV.

This is the time of year when my Pinterest sessions get out of control. I can spend hours drooling over showpiece dish ideas for Thanksgiving, Christmas and holiday parties. Many of the recipe authors will state that these delectible dishes are even great for a weeknight meal for the family.

But who honestly has time like that to spend creating a really beautiful dish on a week night? Not this lady!

Still, I really liked the idea of finding a way to make something festive and appetizing to all the senses without having to move into my kitchen for several hours. My family really enjoys pork tenderloin (who doesn’t? That cut of meat is SO good!), so I thought I’d try my hand at a pork tenderloin recipe, made much easier thanks to using Smithfield Marinated Pork, which can be found at select Walmart stores.

I’ve purchased Smithfield Marinated Pork several times in the past, and love it because it is such a time-saver. The pork is already deliciously marinaded, which means you just need to take it out of the package, and follow the instructions on the back to get it perfectly cooked. I love that I don’t even have to stop and look up how to cook a pork tenderloin; Smithfield tells me how to get it right!

Ok, let’s get started!

Ingredients:

1 Smithfield Marinated Pork Tenderloin in your choice of flavor (I chose garlic & herb)
1 (12 oz) bag of fresh cranberries (substitute with frozen if fresh isn’t in season)
1 cup sugar
fresh, minced ginger (scant 1/4 cup)
3/4 cup orange juice
3/4 cup water

The fact that the Smithfield Marinated Pork is already seasoned so beautifully makes this recipe light on ingredients. The chef can focus her energies on making a yummy glaze for the pork and not even worry about how the tenderloin is going to turn out; it’s going to be great!

Directions

Preheat your oven according to your package directions. Prepare a baking dish for your pork with aluminum foil (this will reduce clean up time immensely, I promise).

While waiting for the oven to preheat, peel and mince the ginger. I’m usually the type of gal to skip over the fresh stuff and head for my powdered ginger, but don’t do it here, friends! Take the time to use the fresh stuff because the flavor is really worth it! I can even show you how to peel your ginger rather quickly: use the back of a spoon!

Pretty cool, huh? Once the ginger is peeled you’ll just want to chop it up into bite-size pieces. If you are new to using fresh ginger, like I am, you might be surprised to see that the ginger is rather fibrous. Don’t worry…it will taste great! 🙂

By this point, your oven should be preheated so put the pork in for the amount of time designated on the package (for me it was an hour). Now it’s time to get your cranberry sauce going!

Heat a medium-sized pot over medium-high heat on the stove and add fresh cranberries, sugar, water, orange juice and ginger.

Give it all a good stir, and let it do it’s thing! You’ll want to swing by and stir it every few minutes, but there’s no need to hover over the pot. You’ll know that your sauce is almost ready when the cranberries start to burst. They make cute little popping sounds, sort of like a muted and much slower version of popcorn popping. I found that my sauce was finished in about 10 minutes.

All you need to do now is remove your sauce from the heat and go do anything else you’d like while you wait for the Smithfield Marinated Pork to come out of the oven.

One important note about this cut of meat: resting is VERY important. Please allow 10 minutes or so for your pork tenderloin to rest after coming out of the oven. The juices in the cut of meat will redistribute throughout during this time, and that means that every slice of meat will be moist and delicious.

Now it’s time to plate the pork on a serving tray and dress it up with that gorgeous cranberry glaze!

I really enjoyed getting to make something that is beautiful enough for a holiday meal, and delicious enough for one, too, but that was also remarkably easy to put together. The folks at Smithfield did all the hard work for making the meat taste perfect…I just popped it in the oven, and was able to devote about 15 minutes to making a delicious sauce for it. SO easy, friends! 🙂

Coupon!

If you’d like to try out a Smithfield Marinated Pork product, why not try it at a discount? Here’s a coupon for 75 cents off your purchase (while supplies last)! You can try the Garlic & Herb flavor like I did, or you can find these other awesome flavors:

Smithfield® Garlic & Herb Pork Loin Filet
Smithfield® Mesquite Pork Loin Filet
Smithfield® Golden Rotisserie Flavor Pork Tenderloin
Smithfield® Portobello Mushroom Flavor Pork Loin Filet
Smithfield® Peppercorn & Garlic Pork Tenderloin
Smithfield® Peppercorn & Garlic Pork Sirloin

You can also get additional recipe ideas on the Smithfield website, as well as on the Smithfield Facebook page.

Are you looking for some shortcuts in the kitchen as we head into the holiday season? I hope you’ll give this recipe a try for your family!

Healthy Comfort Food Options from #Publix4Pork (Awesome GIVEAWAY!!!)

February 18, 2012 · by Tiffany Merritt · 118 Comments

This week you can find pork sirloin cutlets on sale at Publix (more information on the sale can be found here). Once again, this was a particular cut of meat that I have never, to my knowledge, purchased. By this point in the Good and Good For You Challenge, I have come to realize that my avoidance of the pork section of the meat department has been a huge mistake! So many cuts are very lean (not bacon, sorry to say) and cook up super fast, with a super juicy taste!

Porkbeinspired.com has become one of my very favorite online resources for recipes, too. I am blown away by the volume of tasty recipes you can find there, and I especially love that you can search by cut of meat. I think one of the reasons that I have avoided buying pork in the past is simply because I didn’t have any recipes on hand to use. And I didn’t have any recipes because I didn’t ever buy pork. See the viscous cycle? Also, meat is one of the pricier items on our grocery list, so I NEVER want to purchase a cut of meat that doesn’t have a clear intended purpose. There are so many different cuts that I’m unfamiliar with, so I just stick with what I know (ground turkey and chicken breasts…I swear that’s the only meat besides seafood that I bought before this challenge started).

My search for sirloin cutlet recipes turned up dozens and dozens of pages of options on Porkbeinspired.com alone! Trying other cuts of pork will yield similar results on the site, in terms of quantity. Now I have absolutely ZERO fear about buying a different cut of meat (pork in particular) when it is on sale. It will be no problem to find a delicious dish to make with it!

So this week we were to look into healthy comfort food options. I found a healthy version of Pork Piccata (served as a sandwich) and my family thoroughly enjoyed it. The recipe can be found below, but we made ours even healthier by avoiding the butter altogether and simply cooking the meat on the George Foreman Grill.

PORK PICCATA SANDWICHES

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes

Ingredients:

4 pork cutlets, 4 ounces, 1/4-inch thick
1 teaspoon lemon pepper, reduced sodium
2 teaspoons butter, unsalted
4 large sandwich buns, split
Lemon wedges

Directions:

Coat cutlets well with lemon pepper to taste. In a large nonstick skillet, heat butter to sizzling over medium-high heat. Cook cutlets quickly to brown both sides, turning once, about 4 minutes total. Place on buns; serve with lemon wedges.

That’s it! It pretty much couldn’t be any easier, and these tasted totally scrumptious. We made enough to have leftovers the next day, which meant that mom and dad got a free pass the next night at dinner, and all for 10 minutes worth of work the night before. Hooray!

So, again, my big takeaway from the Good and Good For You Challenge is not to shy away from pork any more. There are several cuts of meat that are just as lean as the chicken and turkey we currently eat, and the flavors can be quite exceptional. I feel as though we’ve just opened up a whole new world of culinary possibilities, and I’m so excited. Watch out, Pinterest. I’m coming for you, and I’m looking for pork dishes!

Don’t forget to check out the Love Me Tenderloin sweepstakes on the Pork Be Inspired Facebook page. They are giving away lots of great prizes!

Speaking of prizes, here’s your chance to win a great prize pack!

Win it!: One super lucky Stuff Parents Need reader is going to win all this fabulous stuff:

(8) $5 off pork coupons (SWEET!!!!)
water bottle
reusable grocery bag
meat thermometer
pedometer
recipe book

[Read more…]

This Week’s Pork Challenge: Pork Loin Roast! Hearty and Healthy Valentine’s Idea!

February 11, 2012 · by Tiffany Merritt · 1 Comment

This is week 3 of the #Publix4Pork Good and Good for You challenge, and my mission was to try out a pork loin roast. To my knowledge, I have never before purchased this cut of meat. EVER! To give you an idea of just how unfamiliar I am with it, on sale this week at Publix is the bone-in pork loin roast. Well, I was having some sort of mommy brain when I went grocery shopping and didn’t pick up the bone-in cut that was actually on sale! You can buy a pork loin roast bone-in or boneless, and I just grabbed the first pork loin roast I noticed. Which happened to be boneless. Oops! Fortunately, I found the dish I made to be so tasty that I don’t really care that I missed the sale. Now that I know my family likes this cut of pork, it’ll be on my list to pick up again the next time it is on sale, bone-in or not!

Pork loin is such a great meat option for your family, and I’m so glad to have discovered it. Did you know that ounce for ounce, pork tenderloin is as lean as skinless chicken breast?! It’s true! It also is packed with nutrients. A 3 ounce slice of pork tenderloin is considered to be an excellent source of protein, vitamin B6, thiamin, phosphorous and niacin. It is also a good source of potassium, riboflavin and zinc. You get all this goodness, AND that same serving amount would only contribute to 6 percent of the calories in a 2,000 calorie diet. Wowzers this is a great lean meat to eat!

When I got home with my not-quite correct cut of meat (just missing the bone, really not a big deal), I reviewed the scrumptious recipe I had decided to use from Porkbeinspired.com. I chose the orange-glazed pork roast. Here’s the recipe:

Ingredients

6 pound bone-in pork loin roast
1 tablespoon dry mustard
salt
Freshly ground pepper
3 ounces frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed
1/2 cup honey
2 tablespoons steak sauce
1 orange (optional), sliced

Cooking Directions

Rub dry mustard into roast and sprinkle with salt and freshly ground pepper.

Make a drip pan of aluminum foil about 1 1/2 inches deep and extending about 3 inches on each side of roast; place under roast. Place on grill about 6 inches above low coals. Close hood of grill. Cook for 1 1/4 hours.
Combine orange juice concentrate, honey and steak sauce in a small saucepan. Heat until bubbly, and brush on roast. Grill an additional 20 minutes basting often with sauce. (About 15 minutes per pound total time grilling) When internal temperature on a thermometer reads 145 degrees F. remove roast from heat; let rest 10 minutes.
Garnish with orange slices, if desired.

Doesn’t that just sound mouth-watering?! I thought so, too. And so, I set out to prepare this meal for my family, testing it out to see if it might even be a Valentine’s Day worthy meal (because let’s be real, we have a toddler…we aren’t dining out for Valentine’s Day). As I got prepared to make what was sure to be a stunning recipe, I realized that I forgot to buy the concentrated orange juice. And then I let out the world’s longest sigh. It seriously lasted 45 seconds. Was the world just set against me getting this right? It was one of those days…

But here’s the silver lining that I found. This cut of meat is extremely versatile…SO much can be done with it. For example, Porkbeinspired.com has 21 pages of pork loin roast recipes. TWENTY ONE!!!! I also found some terrific options all over the internet filled with other ideas. Since I needed to work with whatever I happened to have in my pantry and fridge, I did have to limit my options a bit, but oh my gosh I found some great recipes that I bookmarked to try later while I was hunting. This mistake was turning out to be a positive thing, after all!

I finally landed on a recipe I found at Allrecipes.com. It is a spin on the old “pork chops and applesauce” combo, and it is called Applesauce Pork Loin. Here’s the recipe:

Ingredients

1 (3 pound) boneless pork loin roast
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 cup applesauce
3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon honey
3 sprigs fresh rosemary

Directions

Sprinkle roast with salt and pepper. In a large skillet, brown roast on all sides in oil. Place on a rack in a shallow roasting pan. Combine the applesauce, mustard and honey; spread over roast. Top with rosemary. Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees F for 1-3/4 to 2-1/2 hours or until a meat thermometer reads 160 degrees F. Let stand for 10 minutes before slicing.

Now, at this point, I thought it just didn’t make sense to follow a recipes to the letter. I’m on such a roll with doing things my own way already, so why mess with it?! I decided to make this SUPER easy by cooking it on low for 4 hours in the crock pot. That was a fantastic idea, if I do say so myself. The roast came out SO tender and delicious. Typically, when I think of a roast, I do think of a dry cut of meat (sorry mom, but I think that’s how you cooked them!). But this was SO juicy! I paired it with a curried potato salad (and I cut back on the mayo, switching half of it out with yogurt to make it more heart-healthy!).

I can’t say that this is the most visually pleasing meal to ever have graced my table, so I probably wouldn’t choose it for a special occasion. But I would say it is most excellent for an easy weeknight meal if you are at home to monitor the crock pot, or if not, throw it in on a Saturday after lunch and get ready for an awesome weekend dinner with precious little work!

Porkbeinspired.com has become one of my very favorite websites to peruse, so if you haven’t checked it out yet, please do. You will come away with so many great ideas for serving lean cuts of meat to your family without sacrificing flavor! And don’t forget to swing by Publix this week and pick up a great deal on the bone-in pork loin roast!

Also be sure to join the Pork Be Inspired Facebook page for more great recipes and ideas!

Next week I’ll be giving away an awesome prize pack from the National Pork Board, so stay tuned!

Disclosure: I am participating in this campaign in conjunction with The Motherhood, and am being compensated for my time. All thoughts and opinions expressed here are strictly my own.

This Week’s Pork Challenge: Boneless Pork Loin Chops #Publix4Pork

February 4, 2012 · by Tiffany Merritt · 1 Comment

Last week I told you about the “Good and Good for You” Challenge that I’m participating in, where I’m trying out different cuts of pork each week in different tasty and healthy dishes that are easy to prepare. Last week we tried pork tenderloin and made pork sliders. They were a HUGE hit; we were all disappointed when all the leftovers were gone!

This week we were challenged to try a recipe that might be good for “game day” (I hear that there’s a football game on this weekend that is sort of a big deal…). Thanks to Porkbeinspired.com (an AWESOME resource for great pork recipes) I found the perfect dish! P.F. Chang’s look out, because we made our own pork lettuce wraps this week!

Here’s the recipe!

Thai Lettuce Wraps with Satay Pork Strips

Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Marinating Time: 1 hour

4 boneless top loin pork chops, about 1-inch thick
Vegetable oil cooking sprayMarinade: 1/2 cup hoisin sauce
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons sesame oil
1 tablespoon fresh ginger root, minced
1 tablespoon garlic , minced
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepperWraps:

3 large heads butter lettuce, leaves separated
2 medium carrots, peeled and cut into 2-inch matchsticks
1 English cucumber, cut into 2-inch matchsticks
2 ounces bean thread (Asian cellophane noodles), soaked for 15 minutes in hot water, and then drained
16 sprigs fresh cilantro

Sauces:

1/4 cup corn syrup
3 tablespoons fresh cilantro, minced
1 tablespoon lime juice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup prepared Thai sweet chili sauce
1/4 cup prepared Thai peanut sauce

Place chops in large self-sealing plastic bag; combine marinade ingredients in small bowl and pour over chops. Seal bag and refrigerate 1 to 4 hours. Remove from refrigerator 30 minutes prior to grilling. Prepare medium-hot fire in charcoal grill or preheat gas grill to medium high. Arrange coals or burners so there is medium-low zone for finishing chops.

When ready to grill, remove chops from marinade (discarding marinade). Spray grill grate with vegetable oil spray. Grill pork directly over medium-high fire until seared, 3-4 minutes per side. Slide chops to cooler part of grill, cover, and continue to grill until pork registers 145 degrees F. when checked with an instant-read thermometer, about 5 minutes longer. Transfer to cutting board and let rest for 5 minutes before slicing.

While pork is marinating, arrange stack of large lettuce leaves attractively on large serving platter. Place carrots, cucumber, bean thread, and cilantro leaves in small dishes and arrange on serving platter.

In small serving bowl or ramekin, mix together corn syrup, minced cilantro, lime juice, and salt. Place sweet chili sauce and peanut sauce in small serving bowls or ramekins.

Cut pork into thin slices. Lay 3 medium-sized leaves of lettuce on serving platter and arrange pork on lettuce.

To assemble, let each guest place a lettuce leaf on an appetizer plate. Arrange 2 slices of pork on top of the lettuce. Mound a bit of carrot, cucumber, and bean thread over top. Add a couple cilantro leaves and drizzle one of the sauces over top. Fold over the lettuce to form a roll and enjoy!

Serves 8 as an appetizer.

While there are several elements to the dish, they do come together very easily. We further simplified things by using our George Foreman grill to cook the chops. Easy!

So what makes this a great game day alternative to hot dogs, nachos, or even ribs (which, incidentally, are on sale this week at Publix through the 8th if you want to go that route!)? This is a much leaner cut of meat, which cuts back on your calorie intake. The other ingredients in the dish are also, corn syrup aside, healthy, too. But the fun factor if 100% there. These are so much fun to make and so satisfying to eat. They will fill you just like something heavier would, but without the stomachache that would follow a big plate of chili cheese fries! They are also 100% full of flavor, which will definitely make them a crowd favorite.

I will tell you that I honestly never realized you could to anything with pork chops besides just make pork chops. So I never bought them. I was so wrong, though! There are TONS of creative recipes out there (Pinterest, anyone?!) and now that we’ve tried this cut of meat, it is on my radar to pick up in the future. It is a healthy choice for my family with endless possibilities for preparation.

If you’d like to learn more about making healthy eating choices by using pork, be sure to follow Pork Be Inspired on Facebook as well as Twitter for great tips, as well as contest info!

Disclosure: I am participation in this campaign in conjunction with The Motherhood, and am being compensated for my time. All thoughts and opinions expressed here are strictly my own.

Challenging My Family to Try Pork! This Week: Pork Tenderloin

January 28, 2012 · by Tiffany Merritt · 5 Comments

I’m participating in a really interesting challenge that has been launched by the National Pork Board. It’s called the “Good and Good for You Challenge.” The goal is to inspire us all to make healthy lifestyle choices in 2012. Pork is an excellent lean meat option that our family rarely chooses, which is why I wanted to take part in this challenge. I thought it would be fun to expand my culinary horizons. We’ve already drastically reduced our intake of less lean meats over the past few years, but honestly, all that’s really meant is that we mostly eat ground turkey! It’s time to think outside of the gobble and see what pork has to offer!

Publix is the retail partner for the Good and Good for You Challenge, and as such, they are offering a special sale on a different cut of pork each week from now through February 22nd. This week you can score pork tenderloin for just $4.99/pound, which is a most excellent buy! Here’s the cut I purchased, which actually includes 2 one pound tenderloins in the package. I used for one dinner and stuck one in the freezer to use later in the week.

The only thing I’ve ever made with pork tenderloin is carnitas in the slow cooker, so I needed some new ideas. Fortunately, there’s a website just for such a purpose! It’s called porkbeinspired.com and it is full of great recipes that your family and your waistline will love! Since I’ve been craving guacamole like nobody’s business lately, this recipe for pork tenderloin sliders with three sauces really caught my attention. I also liked just how fast it came together. Did you know that thinly sliced pork tenderloin can cook up in as little as 3 minutes? SWEET!!!! The recipe is found below. You can make all three sauces to give your family plenty of options, or you can just opt for one, like we did (guacamole, of course!).

Pork Tenderloin Sliders with Three Sauces

(note: I’m only including the sauce we used, but you can see all 3 options on the original recipe)

Recipe courtesy of the National Pork Board

Prep time: 20 minutes

Cook time: 3 minutes

Makes 12 servings

Ingredients:

1 pork tenderloin (1 pound), trimmed

1 teaspoon salt-free seasoning

2 teaspoons olive oil

12 mini (1 1/2-x-2-inches) rolls, split and toasted

6 romaine lettuce leaves, torn

2 plum tomatoes, each cut into 6 slices*

Directions:

Cut pork about 1/2-inch thick. Sprinkle pork on all sides with the seasoning. Heat the oil in a large heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Add the pork and cook, turning once, until the pork is browned, about 1 1/2 minutes on each side.

Place the tenderloin in the rolls, top with lettuce, tomatoes, and sauce of your choice.

*Tomatoes can be served raw or broiled for more intense flavor

SAUCE

Spicy Avocado Sauce:

1 small ripe avocado, halved, pitted, and peeled

1 tablespoon minced jalapeno, including seeds

1 tablespoon lime juice

2 teaspoons minced fresh cilantro

Place the avocado in a small bowl and mash with a fork or potato masher; add remaining ingredients and stir until well mixed.

Serving Suggestion:

You can substitute the romaine lettuce with arugula, baby greens, baby spinach, or cabbage instead. Make all three sauces so everyone has a choice, or choose your favorite bottled sauce, such as barbecue or honey mustard sauce. Serve the sliders with baked sweet potato fries.

Here’s a pic of how our version turned out. It isn’t as pretty as the picture above, but I still thought it was a rather attractive sandwich!

Wanna hear my verdict? This was absolutely DELICIOUS! AND…I love how quickly it came together. It is perfect for a weeknight. Also, this is very kid-friendly. The size is not overwhelming for little hands. There’s no doubt that this is going into my recipe rotation, pork tenderloin and all!

If you live in an area with a Publix, get yourself to the store and pick up some pork tenderloin! The price is right, and the recipe possibilities are enormous! I feel so inspired to try out this particular cut with several different recipes I found on porkbeinspired.com. The next recipe I’m going to try in a few days with my remaining tenderloin is the pork tenderloin cancun with chorizo potatoes. Doesn’t that look incredible??? I’m also going to spend some time on this website learning about the different cuts of pork and different cooking methods. Since I’m new to using pork, I’ve got a lot to learn, and its great to have all the resources I need in just one spot.

If you’d like to learn more about making healthy eating choices by using pork, be sure to follow Pork Be Inspired on Facebook as well as Twitter for great tips, as well as contest info!

Disclosure: I am participation in this campaign in conjunction with The Motherhood, and am being compensated for my time. All thoughts and opinions expressed here are strictly my own.