Applesauce Stuffed Pork Tenderloin

I saw a beautiful pork tenderloin on sale at Sprouts today and just had to have it.  I didn't want to do the same old same old, so I thought I'd stuff it.  With applesauce.  And raisins.  It was a little messier than I expected, mostly due to the applesauce oozing out while I was trying to roll up the pork.  But it was yummy.  Next time when I have more time, I'll cook up some sliced apple pieces until tender and roll the pork with those instead of the applesauce.

If you want to be completely SBD-compliant, use your own home-made applesauce (no sugar added) and replace the raisins with diced dried apricots.

Applesauce Stuffed Pork Tenderloin



Ingredients:

• 1.5 pound pork tenderloin, all visible fat removed
• 1/4-ish cup applesauce
• 2 tablespoon-ish raisins
• Tastefully Simple Seasoned Salt
• Tastefully Simple Garlic Garlic
• olive oil

Directions:

• Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees F.  Spray a baking sheet with oil.
• On a cutting board, slice the pork tenderloin length-wise (like you're unrolling a cinnamon bun) a few times until you get an open rectangle of meat that is about 1/2-inch thick.  Pour the sauce and sprinkle the raisins on the pork.  Roll it back up.
• Place pork seam-side down onto the baking sheet.  Sprinkle the top and sides with TSSS and TSOO.  Drizzle with olive oil and rub it into the meat.
• Roast in pre-heated oven for 45 minutes - 1 hour.  Remove from oven and let stand for 5 minutes before slicing.  Spoon any "escaped" sauce from the baking sheet onto the sliced pork.

Chicken and Biscuits with Gravy

For some reason I was craving this yesterday, so I had to try to make it today.  I've never made chicken and biscuits before, so I just winged it, and it turned out pretty yummy.  Is it bad that I slathered so much chicken and gravy on that it completely covered the biscuit in my photo?  Nah.  It was so good.

Chicken and Biscuits with Gravy

Ingredients:

• olive oil
• 1 package (8 oz.) crimini mushrooms, sliced
• Tastefully Simple Seasoned Salt
• 1 pound chicken breasts, thinly sliced into bite-size pieces
• Tastefully Simple Garlic Garlic
• large pinch of thyme
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 1 cup nonfat milk
• a couple heaping tablespoons of whole wheat flour
• 100% whole wheat biscuits

Directions

• Heat a tablespoon of olive oil in a skillet and saute the mushrooms with some TSSS.  When they soften, add the chicken breast pieces, TSGG and thyme.  Saute until the chicken is no longer pink, then add the chicken broth.
• In a small cup or bowl, whisk together the milk and whole wheat flour until smooth.  Add to the chicken skillet and bring to a boil, stirring often.  Reduce heat to low and simmer for about 10 minutes.  The gravy will thicken.  If you want it thicker, whisk a little more flour into a little more milk and add to the skillet.
• Serve hot over some 100% whole wheat biscuits.

Crispy Anise Cookies

I love biscotti, how they're light, crispy and crunchy, how they're not too sweet, and how they're perfectly dunkable in a mug of hot coffee.  But oh how I hate the time and effort (and mess!) it takes to bake them twice (because, you see, biscotti = twice baked).  So I decided to try my basic biscotti recipe as a drop cookie.  Genius, isn't it?  Ok, maybe not genius, but it is delicious and oh-so-dunkable.

My basic recipe uses just anise for flavoring, but you could easily mix it up with all sorts of add-ins.  How about chocolate chip almond cookies (replace anise extract and seeds with almond extract and mix in 1 cup of toasted blanched almond slivers and 1 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips)?  Or cranberry orange cookies (replace anise extract and seeds with vanilla extract and mix in 2 tablespoons orange zest and 1.5 cups of dried cranberries)?  Or peppermint cookies (replace anise extract and seeds with peppermint extract and mix in 1 cup of crushed candy canes)?  I'm drooling already.

Crispy Anise Cookies
Yields approximately 4 dozen.

Ingredients:

• scant 3.5 cups all purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 4 large eggs
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons anise extract
• 2 teaspoons anise seeds

Directions:

• Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F.  Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
• In a mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.
• In another bowl, beat the eggs and sugar on high speed until it becomes light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.  Beat in the anise extract and seeds.
• Add in half of the dry mixture and mix until incorporated, then add in the rest of the dry mixture and continue to mix until incorporated.
• Drop by teaspoonfuls onto the parchment-lined baking sheets.  Bake for 20 - 22 minutes until lightly golden.
• Remove from oven.  Once the cookies are cool enough to touch, transfer them to a wire rack and let cool completely.  Store in an air-tight container.

 Left: cranberry almond cookies (2 teaspoons vanilla extract, 1 cup toasted slivered almonds, 1 cup dried cranberries)

Right: chocolate chip almond cookies (2 teaspoons almond extract, 1 cup toasted slivered almonds, 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips)

Chicken Stuffed with Black Beans and Cumin

Earlier this week I was making a batch of Brown Rice and Lentil Soup when I realized how much I love cumin, and how I really don't cook with it enough.  Then I remembered seeing a recipe for Cumin Chicken with Black Bean Stuffing.  It looked delicious, but I wanted something a little simpler, easier and quicker for a weeknight meal.  If you've been following this blog for a while, you'll know that I love stuffed chicken breasts; so easy, so versatile, and it makes plain ol' chicken breasts fun.  So I figured, why not stuff chicken breasts with black beans seasoned with cumin?  Sounds weird, right, to stuff chicken breasts with beans?  But it is SO good!  Don't omit the spritz of lime at the end, it's killer!

Chicken Stuffed with Black Beans and Cumin

Ingredients:

• cooking spray
• approximately 1.5 teaspoons ground cumin, divided
• Tastefully Simple Seasoned Salt
• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, butterflied
• 1 can (15 oz.) black beans, drained and rinsed
• Tastefully Simple Onion Onion
• small lime wedges

Directions:

• Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F.  Spray a baking pan lightly with cooking spray.
• In a bowl, combine 1 teaspoon of cumin with about a teaspoon of TSSS.  Rub onto the outside of each chicken breast.
• In a separate bowl, combine the beans, the remaining 1/2 teaspoon of cumin, a few dashes of TSSS and a few dashes of TSOO.  Mash briefly with a fork.  Divide the bean mixture into fourths and stuff into the chicken breasts.
• Place the stuffed chicken breasts in a single layer in the sprayed baking pan and into the pre-heated oven.  Bake for 20 - 25 minutes until cooked through.
• Spritz lightly with lime wedges before serving.

Roasted Root Vegetables with Fennel

You can make this with whatever root veggies you like.  Today I used yams and parsnips (SBD phase 3), but it's also delicious with carrots, turnips (SBD phase 3), red or white potatoes (not SBD-legal), and even beets (SBD phase 3).  I've also added butternut squash in the past; even though that's technically not a root veggie, it's still delicious in a roasted medley.

Roasted Root Vegetables with Fennel

Ingredients:

• 1 large yam
• 1 large parsnip
• 1 medium fennel bulb
• a couple tablespoons olive oil
• Tastefully Simple Seasoned Salt
• freshly-ground black pepper
• a pinch of dried thyme

Directions:

• Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees F.
• Peel and cut the yam and parsnip into 1/2" cubes.  Wash the fennel, cut off the frond section, and slice the bulb into 1/2"-thick wedges.  Place the veggies onto a baking sheet, drizzle with a couple tablespoons of olive oil, sprinkle on TSSS and black pepper to taste, and add a pinch of dried thyme.  Toss until evenly coated.
• Roast in the pre-heated oven for 45 - 60 minutes, until the veggies are soft.

Creamy Chicken and Mushrooms

Today was bright and sunny, beautiful, really.  But for some reason I was in the mood for comfort food.  I had some chicken tenders and mushrooms in the fridge, so here's what I did with it:

Creamy Chicken and Mushrooms

Ingredients:

• 2 pounds of chicken tenders or boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• a couple tablespoons of olive oil
• Tastefully Simple Seasoned Salt
• Tastefully Simple Onion Onion
• Tastefully Simple Garlic Garlic
• 1 pound small whole crimini mushrooms
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 1 can (12 oz.) evaporated skim milk
• 2 heaping tablespoons of whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup frozen peas

Directions:

• Cut the chicken into bite-size pieces.   In a large skillet, brown the chicken in a little bit of olive oil, some TSSS, TSOO and TSGG.  Add in the mushrooms and stir for a minute.  Add in the chicken broth and bring to a boil, scraping up all the brown bits.  Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes (stirring occasionally) until the chicken is cooked through and the mushrooms soften.
• In a separate bowl or cup, whisk the flour into the evaporated skim milk until smooth.  Add to the chicken skillet.  Bring to a boil, then reduce to simmer.  Add in the peas and simmer for 5 minutes.  Check seasoning and add more TSSS if necessary.
• Serve over brown rice.

Roasted Rosemary Chicken with Veggies

I love butternut squash, and it's so plentiful and sweet this time of year.  Here's a great recipe that uses butternut squash, not as the main ingredient, but mixed in a scrumptious medley.  Two thumbs up.

Roasted Rosemary Chicken with Veggies
Adapted from this recipe.



Ingredients:

• 1 butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cubed
• 3 carrots, cubed
• 4 zucchini, cubed
• 3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
• 3 tablespoons Dijon mustard, divided
• 3 teaspoons rosemary, divided
• Tastefully Simple Seasoned Salt
• freshly-ground black pepper
• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts or 8 chicken tenders

Directions:

• Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees, F.
• In a large mixing bowl, toss the butternut squash and carrots with 1 tablespoons olive oil, 1 tablespoons mustard, 1 teaspoon rosemary and TSSS and black pepper to taste.  Pour into a large baking dish and bake in pre-heated oven for 20 minutes.  
• Meanwhile, add the zucchini to the mixing bowl along with 1 more tablespoon each of olive oil and mustard, 1 teaspoon rosemary, and some more TSSS and black pepper and toss.  Set aside.
• In a separate mixing bowl, combine chicken with the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil, 1 tablespoon mustard, 1 teaspoon rosemary, and TSSS and black pepper to taste.  Set aside.
• Once the butternut squash and carrots have roasted for about 20 minutes, they should be semi-soft.  Remove baking dish from the oven, add the zucchini and toss.  Lay the chicken pieces on top of the veggies.
• Return the baking dish to the oven and continue roasting for another 25 (tenders) - 35 (breasts) minutes until the chicken is cooked through.  Remove from oven and let sit for a few minutes before serving.

Spinach Stuffed Salmon

Another quick fish idea.  Easy enough for a Thursday night, fancy enough for a dinner party.  Eat more fish!

Spinach Stuffed Salmon

Ingredients:

• 4 6-ounce wild salmon center-cut filets (about 1.5 pounds total)
• 2 cups frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dry (it squeezes down to about 1 cup)
• 1/2 cup shredded parmesan
• 1/4 cup pine nuts or chopped walnuts
• Tastefully Simple Seasoned Salt
• olive oil in a mister
• lemon wedges

Directions:

• Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees F.
• Cut a hole, width-wise, into each salmon filet, leaving a 1/3-inch boarder around 3 sides, forming a pocket.  Set aside.
• In a bowl, mix together the thawed spinach with the parmesan, pine nuts and a couple shakes of TSSS.
• Divide the spinach mixture into 4 equal parts and stuff into each of the prepared salmon filets.
• Spray a baking sheet with olive oil.  Place the stuffed salmon filets on the sheet, then spray the tops of each filet with more olive oil.  Sprinkle with TSSS.
• Bake for 12 - 15 minutes until cooked through.  Squirt with lemon wedges before serving.

Honey Dijon Salmon

Salmon is so quick and versatile.  I was late starting dinner today, so I threw this together in under 30 minutes.

Honey Dijon Salmon


Ingredients:

• 1.5 pound salmon filet, skin on
• Tastefully Simple Seasoned Salt
• equal parts whole grain Dijon mustard and honey

Directions:

• Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees F.
• Place the salmon filet, skin side down, onto a baking sheet.  Sprinkle with TSSS.
• In a small bowl, mix together about 2 tablespoons each of mustard and honey.  Spread it on top of the salmon.
• Bake for 20 minutes until cooked through.

Baked Spaghetti Squash

This is very similar to a baked pasta, except with spaghetti squash in place of the pasta.  Not only is this loaded with veggies, it's scrumptious as well.

You can add whatever you want to it, including, but not limited to, mushrooms, spinach, zucchinis, and bell peppers.  You can also replace the ground turkey with sausage for a flavorful kick.

Baked Spaghetti Squash


Ingredients:

• 1 medium spaghetti squash
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 pound ground turkey
• salt and pepper
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 jar marinara sauce
• 1 16-ounce tub (2 cups) of reduced-fat ricotta cheese
• 1 cup of shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese, divided
• 1/4 cup of shredded Parmesan cheese
• small handful of fresh basil leaves

Directions:

• Using a sharp chef's knife, carefully cut several small slits around the outside of the spaghetti squash.  Place the whole squash into a large microwave-proof bowl with a couple tablespoons of water.  Microwave on high for 5 minutes.  Remove and carefully flip the squash over.  If your microwave does not have a turntable, you'll want to rotate it 180 degrees as well.  Microwave on high for another 3 - 5 minutes until the squash is soft but not mushy.  The skin should give a little when you push lightly but firmly on it.  Set the squash aside for 30 minutes to let it cool.
• Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F.
• In a large saute pan over medium-high heat, brown the ground turkey in a tablespoon of olive oil.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.  Add the garlic and stir for a minute.  Drain the fat and set the meat aside.
• Once the spaghetti squash is cool enough to handle, cut it in half length-wise with a sharp knife.  Scoop the seeds out with a spoon and discard.  Then, using a fork, scoop out the squash strands directly into the saute pan with the browned meat.  Discard the squash shell.
• Add an entire jar of prepared marinara sauce to the meat and squash mixture.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Stir to combine.
• Spoon half of the squash mixture into the bottom of a baking dish.  Layer all the ricotta cheese over it.  Then sprinkle on 3/4 of the shredded mozzarella cheese.  Pour the remainder of the squash mixture into the dish.
• Bake in the pre-heated oven for 30 minutes until bubbly.  In the last minute, sprinkle the remaining mozzarella and the Parmesan on top and return to the oven so the cheese can melt.
• Remove from oven and let sit for 5 minutes before serving.  Top with a chiffonade of basil leaves.