Spanish Pork with Apple-Citrus Salsa

I've been doing a lot of fruit salsas with our dishes lately. Probably because the mantra here at the moment is very similar to Game of Thrones...."Winter is Coming." Apparently, when winter is making it's way to this area, one starts to see a dusting on the mountains. Well. I've seen the dusting. Everyone has seen the dusting. The dusting is all anyone can talk about. Therefore, in an effort to hang onto summer (and avoid the dusting), I've been encouraging a lot of outdoor grilling (and dining!).

I've made this recipe before, but I couldn't remember when. Turns out that I was planning on posting this back when we were in Leavenworth. Never happened. No idea why. In any case, I made it again and it (once again) received raved reviews from the masses. Well just Matt and Nicholas. So I am super excited to share this with you!!

SPANISH PORK WITH APPLE-CITRUS SALSA
Serves 4

Ingredients:

1 1/2 teaspoons chili powder

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1/8 teaspoon pimenton*

3/4 teaspoon kosher salt, divided

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, divided

2 tablespoons olive oil, divided 

1 (1-pound) pork tenderloin, trimmed 

2 cups diced Granny Smith apple

2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

2 tablespoons apple juice 

1/2 teaspoon grated lime rind

1 1/2 teaspoons fresh lime juice

2 green onions, thinly sliced

1/2 jalapeño pepper, thinly sliced

Cooking spray 

*Note: I used Smoked Paprika 

The recipe starts with an easy dry rub; combining the chili powder, dried oregano, cumin, salt, pepper, and (in my case) smoked paprika.  

The next step is to take your olive oil and brush it onto your pork tenderloin. Once you have done this, you take your dry rub and sprinkle it over the pork tenderloin, rubbing it into the pork as you go until it's completely covered. 

 
There's a story behind these two pork tenderloins. So the recipe calls for a pound--which in my experience is hard to find...and especially hard to find up here! For some reason these tenderloins only come in one size. LARGE. The one I found was over two pounds and it was the smallest one (and cheapest). I *thought* that there was just one pork tenderloin encased in it's little wrap...but SURPRISE. There were two. I say all of this because the rub was enough for both!

The next thing is that you let the pork sit. For about 30 minutes at room temperature to marinate in the goodness of the rub that is dry.

Did you like that?

While you wait...make the salsa!! All you have to do is mix together the apples, cilantro, apple juice, lime rind (I used my trusty microplane), lime juice, green onions, and jalapeño pepper. Stir well, put a cover on it, and set it in the refrigerator to get happy. 

Once your pork has rested for 30 minutes, fire up the grill and grill it! Make sure it reads 145 degrees before you pull it off though! 

I know my grilling looks pretty shabby...but I am still getting the hang of it. I promise you it still was DELICIOUS. 

Look how pretty on the inside!!! :) I let it rest on the cutting board for about 10 minutes to let the juices do their thang and then sliced it into little medallions. 

When we were ready to eat, I pulled out the salsa to top off the pork. 

The pork was as tasty as I remembered and even Nicholas liked it! I served it with a salad and wild rice. It was so nice outside that we decided to take advantage of our new patio furniture. Totally worth it. 

This dish comes in at 227 calories per serving and it was even great for leftovers over the weekend! I made it into pork tacos using corn tortillas (warmed on the stove) and of course topped the pork off with the salsa. I love it when recipes can be transformed into something different for another day. More bang for your buck I suppose! 

I know that this recipe has gone into my "make again" folder and I definitely will. I think it's pretty enough for company even! The spices aren't too spicy and you can most certainly adjust it per your liking. 

I hope that if you try this dish you will love it! And if you do, let me know!!! :) 

Here's the link: Spanish Pork with Apple-Citrus Salsa

Cilantro-Lime Grilled Chicken with Strawberry-Jalapeño Salsa

I made this recipe this week and even though it's not a Traveling Tuesday recipe I really had to share it! First of all, it was really easy. Which is nice with a toddler running around. And of course, it smelled and tasted fantastic! It was equally approved by Matt and Nicholas alike. :) And I could see this being cooked ahead and used throughout the week for lunch. Let's get started!!!

CILANTRO-LIME GRILLED CHICKEN WITH STRAWBERRY-JALAPENO SALSA
Serves 4

Ingredients:

For the Chicken Marinade
 
2 limes, zested and juiced
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon honey
½ cup fresh cilantro leaves, finely chopped
4 thinly sliced boneless skinless chicken breasts (or regular chicken breasts..just pound them thinner)
Kosher Salt
Coarse Black Pepper

For the Strawberry-Jalapeño Salsa

2 cups diced strawberries
1 jalapeño, seeded and finely chopped
¼ cup plus 1 tablespoon minced red onion
1½ tablespoons finely chopped cilantro
½ lime, juiced
Kosher Salt 

The first thing I did was get everything together to marinate the chicken. I received this particular Microplane/zester as a gift for Christmas (I have two in fact!) and I LOVE LOVE LOVE both of them. They make prep time easier for the ingredients that I use most--zest and garlic. I encourage every cook to have one. Or two. Or three. In any case, zest was gathered. Limes were juiced. And the rest of the marinade came together super fast.


I put everything into a 13x9 glass dish because it was easier to just throw some plastic wrap on it and stick it in the refrigerator once I was done. I whisked together the zest, lime juice, cilantro, and olive oil in the dish. Then I got to work on my chicken! I had to pound the chicken out, since I bought just regular chicken breasts and not the thin cut ones. Each chicken breast took turns in the Ziplock bag and I used my heavy wooden rolling pin to pound them out. I didn't take pictures of this. I apologize. It was chicken-y looking!! And I think we all know what that looks like.

I salted my chicken on both sides once I was done.






I did, however, take pictures of the marinating chicken! In fact, I almost forgot to! Hence the plastic wrap seen in the upper right hand side of the picture. These chicken breasts were so large once I was done flattening them that Matt and I split one in half and Nicholas got half of my half. Pretty gigantic! Haha! But great for leftovers!!!

Anyway, I marinated the chicken for about four to five hours. The recipe says about two at the very least! I say the more time spent marinating the better!!








Once I was done with my afternoon run, I threw the strawberry-jalapeño salsa together. (Fun fact: apparently this phrase "strawberry-jalapeño" is spelled incorrectly and one of the choices, for it to be correct, was strawberry-jalopy. I don't know about you, but that kind of a funny picture in my head!!) This salsa is very easy and super pretty!!











All you have to do is combine the strawberries, jalapeño, cilantro, red onion, lime juice and salt. Easy peasy. Once you have everything mixed together, put some plastic wrap on the bowl and put it into the refrigerator for all the ingredients to get yummy together.

Now we were ready for grilling. I am not very good at grilling, but I think they came out pretty awesome for the most part.

I served the chicken with salad and cous-cous. And of course the salsa. It was delicious. Very flavorful. You could definitely taste the lime in the chicken.

This was not a Cooking Light recipe (surprised?), but I found a similar recipe here and the calorie count was 149 per serving. I also found a similar recipe on the Cooking Light website for Chicken Cutlets with a Strawberry-Avocado salsa and it was 211...and that's with Avocado! So I figured that this dish is most certainly under 250 calories per serving. Probably around the 200 mark--which is great! I love that it was so tasty for leftovers as well. It re-heated well and the salsa...well I could eat that just by itself!!




I found the original recipe here, which was of course on Pinterest. I think there are many versions out there though, which is great because you could honestly make it your own! I think this is a great recipe for the end of summer and to take advantage of the (still) warm days before it gets too chilly. Although the cold hasn't stopped us from grilling. But then again, now we live in Alaska. So. We will see. Ha! Anyway, I hope you have enjoyed this post and I hope you try this recipe out! Let me know if you do!!

Talk soon!!

Howdy from Alaska!

That title sounds funny. :) In any case, we made it to Alaska...in case you were wondering! :) We've been here now for a little over a month and boy was it a crazy one. When I last blogged, I was getting nervous about our drive from Colorado Springs to Anchorage and I can now thankfully say that it went really well!! It was really hard leaving Colorado to be honest. I think it's because so many wonderful things have happened since moving there three years ago and it was just a really great place to be at. It still makes me sad when I think about it--so I try not to.

A little bit about our drive! We started out on the 4th of July and drove from Colorado Springs to Ogden, UT. I'm going to be a little honest with you. It was kind of boring. I will say that at first it was really interesting terrain, but after awhile...kind of boring. I apologize!! In Ogden we stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn which was placed in their downtown area that has been revitalized and was actually a really cute area. If we had had time to look around, it would be been fun to do so. Our hotel was about two blocks down from a gigantic Mormon Temple (seen in the picture there). It was pretty impressive. We took Nicholas swimming in the hotel pool and he loved every minute of it. We also had to sneak our animals in, which was super exciting! That's one thing that we learned well on this trip, as MANY of the hotels that we were staying in were not pet friendly. This was because there were many towns/cities that we had to stay in that quite frankly had one hotel. And I wasn't going to spend the night with the animals in the truck.

An example of Yakima wine country

The next day we drove from Ogden to Yakima, Washington. Again...sorry. Kind of a boring drive. We went through Idaho, Oregon, and into Washington that day. I will say that Oregon had some gorgeous parts and I was super impressed that around the Yakima area there are wineries...everywhere!!!! It looked really crazy because it was desert-y looking and then GREEN vineyards dotted across the landscape. Again, if we had had more time I would have LOVED to have gone on a little wine tasting trip. :)


From Yakima we drove into Seattle which was probably the best drive out of the whole trip because it's only a two and a half hour drive. We stayed at the Homewood Suites there outside of Seattle. We had a lot of fun there. It was a good break from all of the driving. We swam in their pool and explored the city. We went on the Seattle Ducks Tour, which is a tour of the city by land and water! I definitely encourage anyone visiting Seattle to do this. The tour guides are really goofy and they make it really enjoyable. I won't lie, I was pretty nervous when we went into the water haha! But ultimately, we survived (obviously). :) We even were able to see water planes landing and taking off. Nicholas enjoyed seeing the water and I enjoyed holding onto him for dear life to make sure he didn't try to go swimming. We also explored the Market area (very crowded), we did not visit the first Starbucks (the line was really long), but we did go to eat at Kells Irish Restaurant and Pub, which was featured on Ghost Adventures! We did not see a ghost, but we were served by the owner (she was on the episode!) and she gave Nicholas some yummy Irish stew and an Irish Soccer Doll to play with. Our reasoning behind being in Seattle in the first place was that we were dropping my car off to be shipped up to Alaska. So we ended up staying an extra day in Seattle due to the fact that once we were done with our appointment of dropping the car off it was about 11:30/noon-ish and I really didn't feel like driving the next leg of our trip and getting in past midnight. I'm so glad we did this because we were able to just relax.

From Seattle we drove up into Canada which was really pretty! I have only been to Canada when visiting family in New York and we would go to Niagara Falls, so being able to see the other side of Canada (as well as driving all the way up through Canada) was interesting! We started noticing the sunlight disappearing at night when we arrived at Whitehorse in the Yukon Territory and of course dealt with it when we first arrived in Alaska and stayed in Tok (pronounced toke). It's really strange to me that it stays so light for such a long time!! It was baffling that I would look out the window at 9:30 at night and it would look like it was only 3:00 or 4:00 in the afternoon. It definitely took some getting used to especially when the sun would start coming up at 3:00 in the morning. Luckily, now, it's actually getting darker at night and staying darker later. Of course, in a few months it'll be me complaining about how it's so dark all the time...but we will get there when we get there.

We arrived in Anchorage on the 13th of July, as Matt had to report in on the 15th. We went and looked at JBER and creeped by our house to see where we would be living (I say creeped because it was still occupied at that time). On the 14th we went gym hunting. I had already done a lot of research on the gyms up here and one of the major things I wanted was childcare. I really like the idea of being able to drop Nicholas off so he can burn off steam AND he's in the same building as I am. Another thing I wanted was consistency with group fitness classes and I wanted the gym to have something that I was used to (i.e. a class like Body Pump or a class like RPM, which is spinning). The first gym that we went to look at I had seen online and was really excited to see it in person. It's part of a small chain in Anchorage, which I don't mind at all. Unfortunately, it was a little different in person. I didn't get a good feeling and usually my feelings about stuff are pretty spot on. I like to feel like I belong somewhere, as I'm sure everyone does. If I don't get that "at home" feeling, I start to feel uncomfortable. Needless to say, we went back to the hotel and I was super bummed. I knew I could never find a gym like Villa Sport; I had already gotten that thought in my head. I just wanted a gym that I felt comfortable going to. I hopped onto the computer and did some more research. I knew I had seen a gym with Body Pump up here, but it turns out the map was older. However, this led me to discover a gym that I had not initially seen in my searches before. Again, it was a chain up here in Alaska and there ended up being a location down the street from our hotel. We went and checked it out...and signed up that day. :) It's called The Alaska Club and they have several locations around Anchorage. The location that we signed up at was convenient for me because it was literally down the street. They also have a class that is pretty much Body Pump, called Group Power, and a class that is like RPM, which is called R30. I later found out that LesMills (the company that does Body Pump and RPM, along with many other amazing classes) and the company that does Group Power and R30 (and others) were joined at one time. Which makes sense because the choreography is pretty much the same. Or as the one instructor said to me when I told her it was my first time, but I have been doing Body Pump for four years..."It's Coke and Pepsi.." :) While I love my LesMills classes, this is a great alternative when you can't do LesMills. I love group fitness classes. I love the camaraderie that comes with it and I love how they push you to be better. I started going to the location that we signed up on the 15th and had a great time. Unfortunately, I didn't really like the schedule. The summer here means low attendance which means a different schedule. I was finding that the classes were inconsistent (Group Power one day, boot camp another day...). I wanted to have three days of strength training and two days of cardio. So I looked at the other locations and found one closer to post (which made more sense anyways) and the schedule was exactly how I wanted. I started going there about a week and a half after we signed up and have loved it ever since. I know each location is different and each has their quirks, but I will say that I felt more at ease at the new location. The instructors are more friendly, as is the staff, and the best part is that the childcare is great. The location I go to now has a more secure sign in and I feel safer leaving Nicholas there. I still miss my Villa Kids though...I think about that every time I drop him off. *sigh* Oh well. In any case, that was our gym excitement.

We got our keys on July 30th and received our household goods a week later. We are finally starting to get settled. It's been difficult with a Nicholas running around. :) We don't have a basement here, so the basement boxes were put out into the garage. Which is all fine and dandy, except with one of us having to watch Nicholas and the other trying to go through boxes it gets a little crazy. This next weekend we are going to be bringing the boxes in finally and storing them in the provided storage closets we have built into the house. We will be storing some things with the Army as well. We can't touch it until we move, so we are making sure it's stuff we 100% don't need. All in all though we have settled in, for the most part, quite well! Matt's job is slower paced which is nice. He is able to come home for lunch and come home at a normal time. We get to do an afternoon run together too! I really enjoy that. :) This weekend we are looking forward to the new Ghost Adventures season (Season 11). I decided I wanted to do something fun for dinner on Saturday for it. I wanted to do this last season premiere, but....Grad School. Yep. Anyway. It's kind of silly, but I have planned a few appetizers based on each guy's first name. So far I'm making (Baked) Zucchini Sticks with Marinara Sauce (for Zak Bagans), (Skinny) Artichoke Dip (for Aaron Goodwin), and (Skinny) Jalapeno Poppers (for Jay Wasley). I know you probably don't know those names, but there you go! :) It should be fun and the recipes are healthy...so we won't feel bad indulging a little bit. I still need to come up with one more for Billy Tolley, but I'm sure I'll figure it out. I hope to blog about it for next week and include pictures as well!

Well I've already typed WAY too much...so I will end here. I have a lot of recipes saved up, even ones that aren't a part of Traveling Tuesdays, as well as an idea for Mondays--so be on the look-out for that! Thanks for reading and we will chat soon!!

A trip to San Antonio, Traveling Tuesday (but it was really Thursday)...and A BIRTHDAY!!

Matt and I got back a week ago (today) from San Antonio. We spent two weeks there seeing family and friends and really just enjoying ourselves. We had so much fun doing different stuff and I think it was made even better having Nicholas with us since he's at an age where everything is exciting to him. He got to go swimming and he played in the sprinklers. We took him to a bounce house place which was amazing! He got to play in a sand box and see animated ice age animals at the Witte Museum. We also took him with us on a ghost tour of Victoria's Black Swan Inn; he was more interested in the two baby goats that were in the yard though. Overall, it was fun for us to see him so enamored by everything. Matt and I also got to go to a movie (Jurassic World) with my mom and aunt! We (Matt and I) hadn't been to a movie since early December 2013 right before Nicholas was born, so it was pretty awesome to be able to go and enjoy ourselves. We even paid a visit to our old apartment complex to see if anything had changed. We saw the same group of ducks, which was awesome. We even saw a mommy duck with three babies. The babies swam over to us (probably because they thought we had food), but their mother was not excited about them being so close to us. They swam back fairly quickly to her, which was probably smart because I'm sure they would have gotten a whoopin' from mommy for disobeying her! :) It was a great trip, but in the end I was sad knowing that we wouldn't be there again until Christmas.

We leave this weekend actually to begin our next journey which includes a seven day drive from Colorado Springs to Anchorage, Alaska. It's going to be pretty intense, but I also think it's going to be fun seeing parts of the US that I've never seen and also seeing Canada! I am nervous about having two cats, a dog, and a one and a half year old in a car for that long...with numerous hotel stops...but I think we will be okay. Ha! I plan on taking pictures along the way and I'll definitely post them once we are semi settled up in Alaska. We have a house already and will be living on post. I'm excited to be on post again. Where we live right now, it takes Matt about 40 minutes to get to Fort Carson. We are both looking forward to not putting so many miles on our cars and I'm looking forward to Matt being able to sleep in a bit before having to get up to go to PT/work or even possibly being able to come home for lunch! :) I've already looked into a gym, however I'm sad that they do not have Les Mills programs up there, well except for Body Pump at one of the gyms I looked into, but the times were really weird (I prefer to get my work outs done in the morning) and they didn't have childcare available--which is what I was looking for. So the one I found has the childcare and has a class called "Power Pump" which sounds a lot like Body Pump *wink wink*. I would work out on post at the gym there, but I really prefer to have childcare at the facility as it's easier and faster for dropping off Nicholas and picking him up. We will see!! :) In any case, I'm having a hard time thinking about leaving VillaSport. I've loved being a member there and I've loved being able to take Nicholas somewhere that he enjoys being. Perhaps we will be stationed here again one day--you never know! :)

This week is a little odd as we are being packed out (as I type actually) and I'm going to try my hardest to make a "Traveling Tuesday" dish, since we are staying at a Homewood Suites and they have everything there to make you feel at home! :) If it doesn't happen though, I apologize!!! For my  "Traveling Tuesday" dish from last week, I asked Matt on the looooong drive back from San Antonio to pick a letter. He picked "K" initially, but I couldn't find anything that was simple. So I decided to do the 'ol "close my eyes and point" trick and came up with North Africa! The recipe I'm going to be sharing is called Spicy North African Tenderloin and boy was it tasty! While it may not be a definite authentic African dish, it has all the taste of the Middle East/North Africa and it's super simple to make. In fact, Matt said it tasted very similar to dishes he had in Kuwait!!

SPICY NORTH AFRICAN PORK TENDERLOIN
Serves 4

Ingredients:

1/4 cup bottled roasted red bell pepper

3 tablespoons olive oil, divided 

3 tablespoons lemon juice, divided

1 tablespoon sambal oelek (ground fresh chile paste)

3/4 teaspoon kosher salt, divided

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin, divided

1/4 teaspoon ground coriander

2 garlic cloves

1 cup plain 2% reduced-fat Greek yogurt 

1/4 cup chopped fresh mint

1 (1-pound) pork tenderloin, trimmed 

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees! 

The first thing I did (after preheating of course) was mix together the ingredients needed for the sauce/marinade--which are: the bottled roasted red bell pepper, olive oil (two tablespoons), lemon juice (two tablespoons), sambal oelek, salt (1/4 teaspoon), cumin (1/2 teaspoon), ground coriander, and garlic. All of this needs to go into a food processor which makes things super easy! 












Then you just pour the mixture into a bowl! Which I was using my AWESOME (!!!!!) new glass mixing bowls. My mom and aunt bought me them because my other mixing bowls were plastic and well loved...and I needed new ones! :) I love them!! 














Next thing I did was salt and pepper the pork tenderloin, added olive oil to a pan, and got it browning! Meanwhile, I mixed together in a small bowl the yogurt, mint, one tablespoon of lemon juice, and the cumin (one teaspoon). Then I put it in the fridge to keep it cold.














After the pork was done browning, I put it into the bowl that had the red bell pepper mixture and coated it. Then it went back into the pan and into the oven for about 15-20 minutes or so...at least until the thermometer reached 145 degrees. I did use some of the red bell pepper mixture for brushing halfway through, just so it was coated well throughout the cooking process--but remember to throw away the rest and don't use it unless it's getting cooked because raw pork touched it...ew.














I let the pork sit for a few minutes and then sliced it up for us. I served the pork with the yogurt sauce, cous cous, and salad. I really enjoyed the pork by itself, but honestly wasn't too excited about the yogurt sauce. Only because I'm not a big cumin person. I felt like I could have served it with some reserved (non-porky...this is a technical term) marinade and it would have been great. I also feel that you could leave out the sambal oelek if you aren't into hot food. I don't think it would change the flavor too much. I will definitely make this again and at 283 calories per serving (which includes three pork slices and a tablespoon of yogurt sauce), I think it's a great recipe for company or just everyday! 

Here's the link: Spicy North African Pork Tenderloin



Lastly here on the blog, we are celebrating a very special birthday! Matthew is 39 today! Unfortunately, at the moment, we are celebrating by having our house packed out, but later, for dinner, we are going to his favorite place to eat, Texas Roadhouse. I think he's pretty excited! :) It's a little crazy around here, but we are trying to make the best of it for him. Here's a picture of the birthday boy!! Looks a lot like Nicholas to me!!! Which is very cool to see. :) 

Anyway, HAPPY BIRTHDAY MATT!!! We love you very much and hope that you have a great day!!!

Adobo-Marinated Pork Tenderloin with Grilled-Pineapple Salsa ....and a YuMmY dip!

When I first looked at a map to start Traveling Tuesdays again, I closed my eyes and ended up putting my finger on India (did y'all know that the process was so involved in choosing a country??). I did make the recipe that I chose for India, but I'm saving it because I'd like to modify it and try it again before posting about it. To be honest, it was a disappointment because I marinated the chicken overnight and once grilled, it ended up tasting just like plain grilled chicken and not Tandoori Chicken. So I have vowed to make it again! Soon :) 

I've made this particular recipe (below) before, but I never actually wrote a post about it. It's a Spanish-y (not a word...I know) dish; so not necessarily authentic authentic, but it has wonderful flavors and I just love making it, so I had to share! 

ADOBO-MARINATED PORK TENDERLOIN WITH GRILLED-PINEAPPLE SALSA

Serves 8

Ingredients:

1 cup fresh lime juice (about 8 limes)

2 teaspoons black pepper

2 teaspoons dried oregano

2 teaspoons ground cumin

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

6 garlic cloves, crushed

2 pounds pork tenderloin 

1 1/2 teaspoons olive oil 

Cooking spray 

1/4 cup coarsely chopped fresh cilantro

2 tablespoons finely chopped green onions

GRILLED-PINEAPPLE SALSA

Ingredients:

5 (1-inch) slices fresh pineapple (about 4 1/2 pounds)

1 red bell pepper 

1 yellow bell pepper 

Cooking spray 

1/2 cup finely chopped red onion

1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

3 tablespoons fresh lime juice

1 tablespoon brown sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons minced crystallized ginger

2 jalapeño peppers, seeded and minced

1 drained canned chipotle chile in adobo sauce, minced

*Note: Since it's just Matt and I (and Nicholas doesn't eat a whole tenderloin ...yet...ha!), I picked up a tenderloin that was about one and a half pounds. I also used bottled lime juice because I had it on hand and we are playing the "let's try to slowly get rid of things so we aren't throwing massive amounts of food away when we move" game. :) I also used jarred garlic. My auntie bought some for her famous Greek Chicken while she and my mom were visiting for my graduation and it's easy and quick to use! For the salsa, I actually used canned pineapple slices (I would have done fresh--and I recommend doing fresh, but I was in a hurry). I again used the bottled lime juice and lastly, I used just plain fresh ginger. I bought crystallized ginger back in Leavenworth I believe, and it haunted me for a while. :) Plus, I couldn't find it in the store! But mainly the memory of the crystallized ginger haunt was enough to steer me away from it...for a while at least!

 The first thing I did, was mix the first six ingredients together (lime juice, black pepper, oregano, cumin, salt, and garlic). I mixed it all in a Ziplock bag. I then put the pork tenderloin into the bag and schmooshed (technical term) all the ingredients around to coat the pork. Then I popped it into the refrigerator for a few hours/most of the day. The recipe says one hour, but I wanted it marinating for a longer amount of time. Every once in a while I would schmoosh it around, then place it back in the frig. :) 

Next I started the salsa by grilling the pineapple slices and my bell pepper (both red and yellow). I would have done this out on the grill, instead of inside on my grill pan, but it was raining at the time...and I love y'all, but I really didn't want to stand outside grilling. Once you are done grilling the pineapple and bell pepper, all that's left to do is chop up all the ingredients, mix it together, cover the bowl, and place it in the refrigerator.

This salsa is super colorful and easy!!

The end product!

When we were ready to eat, I had Matt light the grill (he's a great cooking assistant!). It wasn't raining anymore thank goodness! I made sure it was on medium to high and put the pork on the grill. It was grilled until the internal temperature reached 145 degrees. The recipe suggested 160; however, there are new cooking guidelines for pork, in case you didn't know! :) I know, I was a little iffy about this as well, but 145 degrees is perfect. Trust me!

Once the pork was done, I let it rest for about 10 minutes or so. I cut it into medallions and made it purdy with a sprinkle of cilantro and green onions! :)

Matt was impressed with the presentation :)

The end product was delicious! I served it with cous-cous and (all together now) a salad! :) Y'all know me too well.









I love this marinade because you can really taste the lime and garlic in the pork. The pork itself is not spicy at all--only the salsa (hello chipotle chiles and jalapenos!). In fact, Nicholas ate the pork. He has a very fancy palette already. So, if you wanted to make a non-spicy salsa, I would maybe suggest leaving out the chipotle chiles (even though it wouldn't technically be "adobo" anymore). I would also make sure to seed and remove all ribs from the jalapenos OR leave them out all together. I think the pineapple and other ingredients could shine on their own just fine!

Ready for the calorie count?? 194 per serving! And that's for 3 oz pork and 1/3 cup of salsa! Oh, and guess what??? Matt and I LOVE using the salsa for just a chips and salsa snack as well. I make extra salsa for this reason! :) Just a suggestion!!!

The dip I am showing you next has received rave reviews every time I make it. It's delicious and yes, it takes a little bit of time with the onions (you'll see)...but it's so incredibly worth it and honestly really fast--once you cook the onions!! Ha! ....plus it has bacon. So...yea, it's awesome.

CARAMELIZED ONIONS, GRUYERE, AND BACON SPREAD (OR DIP)
Serves 8
(I'm assuming this is if you are solely eating the dip with friends...[or by yourself...no judgment here]...which I have no doubt would be a great choice because it's that yummy!)

Ingredients:

Cooking spray 

3 1/2 cups chopped onion 

2 ounces Gruyère cheese, shredded and divided

2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives, divided

1/3 cup canola mayonnaise 

1/3 cup fat-free sour cream 

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

3 bacon slices, cooked and crumbled 

*Note: I used green onions instead of chives. I also used Swiss cheese since Gruyere was $8 at the store I was at. And it was a less amount of cheese than the Swiss. C'mon people. I also may or may not have used more than 3 slices of bacon. I won't tell if you don't....Oh....and I also used pre-cooked bacon because it's faster. All you have to do is heat it up!

First, I shredded the cheese. Easy enough....good start, yes?? Make sure to reserve a little on the side for the top of your spread/dip. The picture is not the reserved cheese by the way haha! Or is it???? No ...it's really not. But again...no judgment if you choose this path.

Next, I chopped up about 4 cups of onion. I know the recipe says 3 1/2, but I had this little sliver of onion left and didn't really feel like storing it...so I cut it up!

Coat a pan with cooking spray, heat it to medium-high, and add your onion. Here's where patience is important. Saute your onions for about 5 minutes, then reduce the heat to low and cook them for about 20 minutes or until a golden brown. Stir occasionally!

Next, cook (or heat up) the bacon and chop up your green onions (or chives). Then in a bowl, mix together the majority of the cheese, green onions (or chives), mayo, sour cream, salt, pepper, and bacon. Now, I will say I have made this about three times. I used regular mayo for the first two and decided to follow the recipe for this third time and use the canola mayo. For some reason, it didn't seem to be as firm as the other two times. I suppose it's a preference, but I liked the consistency of the regular mayo. Anyway!!!


Once the onions are cooked (look how pretty they are!), allow them to cool for a bit and then add them into the bowl with all the other ingredients.

Mix it all together and then pour it into a baking dish (I used a small Pyrex). Top with your reserved cheese. I also added some more green onion (and a few pieces of bacon) on top for color and to show what else was in it.

When you are ready to eat, bake it at 425 degrees for about 20-25 minutes allowing for it to get nice and bubbly.





I served it with Triscuits. It's 101 calories per serving, which in my opinion is great for such a cheesy dish ....with bacon. :) And may be slightly higher with the extra bacon...but c'mon...bacon. Like I said, I've gotten rave reviews and it's usually one of my go-to dishes for an appetizer. 

Well that's that for these two dishes. I put the links below for your viewing pleasure! :)

Please Enjoy!!!

Adobo-Marinated Pork Tenderloin with Grilled-Pineapple Salsa

Grilled-Pineapple Salsa

Caramelized Onion, Gruyere, and Bacon Spread 

 

After almost *TWO* years of not blogging....I'M BACK! :)

Oh goodness....where to begin honestly. 

I suppose an apology is in order. 

I'm sorry that I basically gave up on my blog (for two years)...I'm groveling at  your feet in fact...

BUT it was for good reason--I SWEAR! :)

My last post was our announcement that we were having a baby boy. 

Well since then...SURPRISE(!!!!) we had the baby boy--and his name is Nicholas :) He was born on December 28, 2013 at 2:21pm after 27 hours of labor (thank you very much). He's currently about to be 17 months and is a very sweet, very active (ugh), very intelligent little boy with a larger-than-life personality. He's a wonderful mix between Matthew and I. 

I think we did pretty awesome--not trying to brag or anything. Or maybe I am...

He was fascinated by the camera...maybe because I always have my phone for pictures

The reasoning behind my blog abandonment was due in part to that little boy being born and not having time to really post anything...let alone cook...or take a shower for that matter. The main reasoning, however, was because I was in Graduate School and when you are already having to write papers and read hundreds millions of books...well, there isn't much time for doing a blog. That first semester was brutal! I was reading 4 books a week and writing 2 papers a week (combined page range was about 8 to 10 pages per week....). It was crazy! Then there was the following semesters where we had to write an original research paper...times 3! Yes, 3....which ranged from 25 to 35 pages each (my first paper though was 45....oops)...

Needless to say, my fingers are spent :) and so is my mind...for now. It was all worth it though because on May 15, 2015 I walked that stage and officially became 

Jennifer Lawrence Broderick, M.A.

*cue trumpets and confetti blasting through the air*

It was an accomplishment that I thought would never happen, yet it happened too fast. Two years of constant stress, countless hours of reading and researching and editing and writing and writing and writing (....did I say writing??). Not to mention taking care of Nicholas and trying to write in between his naps and trying to give him 110% of my attention, yet feeling as though I was neglecting him because I had to read for class. And let's not forget being active in the spouse's club on post (I was 1st Vice President and then Secretary...I successful ran a Holiday Bazaar too!), being active within Matt's Brigade and then Battalion...too many hours driving back and forth from Fort Carson...there was a deployment, many hours out in the field, a training trip to Germany (all of this was Matt by the way...ha!)--and all the while I was still reading...and writing...and taking care of Nicholas. Not to pat myself on the back, but how the heck did I come out alive on the other end with all of that going on??? I feel that my degree was well earned and I was very proud to don the cap and gown and hood and walk the stage with family looking on: my mom, aunt, Matthew, and of course the little boy who was with me from day one...my Nicholas. I doubt very seriously he will remember the time his mommy was in Graduate School or being at her graduation--but I think when I tell him everything I did during those two years so that I could better myself and better his life through obtaining a higher degree, I think he will be very proud of me as well. 

Now that everything has died down and I find myself idle, I decided that I would jump back onto the blog and start right where I left off! I'm going back to my "Traveling Tuesdays" and sharing recipes from around the world...and I'll of course be blogging about life in general in the Broderick household! 

One of the bigger things that's going on is that we are moving! Yep...our time in Colorado Springs is up after almost 3 years of loving, learning, and exploring the city and surrounding areas. I must say, I'm digging my heels in. I don't want to leave. I love adventure...I love traveling...but I really don't want to leave. Too many things have happened here. There are too many amazing memories, too many amazing people, and too many amazing places. Alas, we must though and it'll be okay amazing...I know it will. But I still don't want to do it.

This summer should be a whirlwind and I think it's going to be fantastic. I am actually getting to focus on myself now that school is done and I get to take Nicholas swimming or to the park! Whenever I want! We are going home to visit family and friends soon as well. I always love going home; sometimes it feels like I never left! When we get back, we will have a few weeks before the packers come...and then the movers...and then we will be gone. In those few weeks, we are planning on spending time with friends and checking things off our "To-do before leaving Colorado" list. 

It's quite a list!! 

1. Do the incline (together) 

2. Hike up Pike's Peak 

3. Do the Cog Railway one last time

4. #2 and 3 will only happen if it stops snowing up there!!! 

5. Visit Cripple Creek one last time

6. Maybe visit Estes Park one last time

7. Play pool at Phantom Canyon 

8. Probably go to my favorite winery together one last time (D'Vine Wine!)

9. Drive up Pike's Peak

10. Rock Ledge Ranch Historical Site

11. The Mays Natural History Museum 

12. Attend The Renaissance Festival one last time

I hope you enjoy my posts from now on and I'm glad to be back to share all the happenings in my world and all the yummy recipes we're trying and hopefully loving! Ha!

Welcome back and enjoy!!!!