Fig and Blue Cheese-Stuffed Pork Tenderloin

Ingredients

1 (1-pound) pork tenderloin, trimmed

1/2 cup dried figs, coarsely chopped

1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Cooking spray

1 tablespoon apple jelly, melted

Preparation

Preheat oven to 450°. Slice the pork in half lengthwise, cutting to, but not through the other side. Open the halves, laying pork flat. Place pork between 2 sheets of heavy-duty plastic wrap; pound to 1/2-inch thickness using a meat mallet or small heavy skillet. Sprinkle figs and blue cheese over pork, leaving a 1/2-inch margin around outside edges. Roll up the pork, jelly-roll fashion, starting with long side. Secure at 2-inch intervals with twine. Sprinkle pork with salt and pepper, and place on a foil-lined jelly-roll pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 450° for 20 minutes. Brush jelly over the pork. Bake an additional 5 minutes or until a thermometer registers 160° (slightly pink). Let stand for 10 minutes. Discard twine; cut pork into 12 (1-inch-thick) slices.

~Source: Cooking Light

Patti’s Notes: Two oven mitts up, this one is a keeper. I only made a couple of minor deviations from the original recipe. I used fresh figs, Gorgonzola instead of Blue Cheese and sugar free apricot jam instead of apple jelly because that’s what I had in the house. The pork was extremely tender. The pungent cheese and the sweetness of the figs complimented each other nicely. If you don’t eat pork, this recipe would also work well with chicken. I think you could also play around with this and use dried cherries if you can’t find figs. Paul doesn’t like Blue Cheese but he’ll eat Gorgonzola, which is similar to blue but not as strong. If you don’t like that either you could probably sub goat cheese, although, for me that would be too bland. If using dried figs I’d probably run them thru the food processor because they tend to be chewy if not reconstituted. Jelly roll pan is not necessary; you can use a regular baking sheet.

Healthy Meter: Here’s the info from Cooking Light: Calories: 274, Fat: 9.2g, Protein: 28.4g, Carbe:19.7g, Fiber: 2.5g.

Easy Meter: This is a little more difficult than marinating a tenderloin and tossing it in the oven. It’s still pretty easy but moves to intermediate because you have to butterfly the pork; roll it up and tie it. Gourmet skills not necessary.

Anne Burrell would be proud of my tying technique! She taught me well.

The meal suggestion from Cooking Light was to serve with rice and green beans. I made roasting fingerlings with garlic and onions and roasted beets.

ETA: I normally would have done a green veggie with the potatoes, not two root vegetables. They had organic beets on sale when I bought the pork. My sister was coming for dinner and we love beets. Since the oven was already going to be on, what the heck!

Swirled Cheesecake Brownies

Ingredients

Cheesecake topping
4 ounces reduced-fat cream cheese, (Neufchatel)
1/4 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon nonfat plain yogurt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Brownie layer
2/3 cup whole-wheat pastry flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 large egg
2 large egg whites, or 4 teaspoons dried egg whites (see Ingredient note), reconstituted according to package directions
1 1/4 cups packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup canola oil
1/4 cup strong (or prepared instant) coffee, or black tea
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions

Preheat oven to 350° F. Coat a 7-by-11-inch brownie pan or baking pan with cooking spray.
To prepare topping: Place cream cheese in a small mixing bowl and beat with an electric mixer until smooth and creamy. Add sugar and beat until smooth. Add egg, flour, yogurt and vanilla; beat until well blended.
To prepare brownie layer: Whisk whole-wheat flour, cocoa and salt in a bowl. Place egg, egg whites and brown sugar in a large bowl and beat with the electric mixer on medium speed until smooth. Add oil, coffee (or tea) and vanilla; beat until well blended. Add the dry ingredients and beat on low speed just until well blended, stopping once to scrape down the sides.
Scrape about half of the brownie batter into the prepared pan. Slowly pour the topping evenly on top. Drop the remaining brownie batter in large dollops over the topping. Draw the tip of a sharp knife or skewer through the two batters to create a swirled effect.
Bake the brownies until the top is just firm to the touch, about 20 minutes. Let cool completely in the pan on a wire rack. Coat a knife with cooking spray and cut into 24 bars.

~Source: Eating Well Magazine

Patti’s Notes: I used a 9x9 square pan, Greek yogurt (Fage 0), coffee (not tea), 1 cup brown sugar (instead of 1¼, real egg whites (not dried) and they took 35 minutes to bake (not 20). I cut them into 20 ‘bars’ aka brownie bites. They say they freeze well so in the freezer about 16 of them will go.

Healthy Meter: They advertise them as Diabetic Friendly, low cal, low carb, low cholesterol, low sat fat, low sodium, heart healthy and healthy weight.

Easy Meter: they rate them as intermediate. I guess it was because you have to separate your egg white from yoke, mix your batters separately and do the swirling thing. I didn’t think they were that difficult to make. After the 20 minute suggested time was up, I reset the timer for 5 minutes and checked again, again, again therefore there was a little babysitting involved.

Perfect Poached Eggs

Ingredients
Water
White Vinegar
Eggs

Directions

Put about 1 ½ to 2 inches of water in a skillet and bring to a simmer. You should see bubbles starting to dance around but not a raging boil.
Add about a tablespoon of vinegar into the water.
Crack eggs into individual custard cups or ramekins.
Put the cup all the way to the edge of the water and gently drop the egg into the water. Move on to the next egg. Don’t do more than 4, it will crowd the pan. Cook 4 ½ minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon. I rest mine on a towel for a couple of seconds to make sure all the water is off the spoon before placing it on the toast.

Patti’s Notes: Don’t rush the getting*the*egg*into*the*water part. If you do this fast or don’t put the cup to the edge of the water you will end up with egg drop soup! Don’t worry about some of the egg white moving into the water. Plenty of white will be surrounding the yoke into a perfect packet. I don’t like my eggs runny so I set the timer for 5 minutes. It’s a little firm but still creamy in the center. Most people like when the yoke runs into the toast so adjust your time accordingly.

Healthy Meter: You just prepared a delicious egg without any added fat. 74 calories each and less than 10 minutes of your morning. People seem to like Hollandaise sauce on poached eggs. Seriously, when something is so good on its own, why cover it up?!

Easy Meter: Not that difficult. If you can boil water, not rush the egg dropping process and set a timer - you’ve got it made. If you undercook an egg, put it back in the water. If you overcook an egg, try it again. Eggs are fairly inexpensive.

Moroccan Rub Lamb Chops

Ingredients
6 loin lamb chops
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon ground cumin
2 teaspoons ground turmeric
1 teaspoon sweet paprika
1 teaspoon coriander seeds
1 teaspoon garlic salt
1/2 teaspoon hot red pepper flakes
1 lemon, wedged

Directions
Preheat grill pan to high. Brush chops with a little olive oil. Combine dry spice blend in a small container, cover and shake to combine. Rub spice blend into the chops on both sides. Grill chops 7 to 8 minutes, turning once, for medium rare, 10 to 12 minutes for medium to medium well. Serve with wedges of lemon.

~Source: Rachael Ray

Patti’s Notes: Loin chops are the ones that look like tiny t-bones. If you don’t have a grill or grill pan you can put these under the broiler. That’s how Rachael made them when I saw her demo of this recipe. She also made a sauce: 1 ½ cups chicken stock and 1 cup dates. Reduce down to a sauce. I didn’t try it but it received great reviews.
This is a tasty blend of spices. I smash my coriander seeds a little to release more flavor. Put them in a zip bag and hit them with a hammer! Don’t pulverize them, just a quick tap to snap open the seeds.
PSA for ladies: if you have a French manicure, the rub WILL STAIN YOUR NAILS. I would recommend using a latex glove.
Easy Meter: PDE (Pretty Darn Easy)
Serving suggestions: goes great with couscous but this time I made them with corn and coleslaw.

Asparagus in Ginger Citrus Dressing

Ingredients
½ inch piece of fresh ginger
1 orange
1 tablespoon Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper
¼ teaspoon soy sauce
¾ pound fresh asparagus

Directions
Make dressing ahead of time.
Peel ginger and cut into thin rounds, then slice pieces so you have very narrow strips of ginger. Wash the orange and zest it. Boil ginger and orange zest (in water to cover) for 5 minutes. Remove from water and drain.
Juice the orange. Whisk together orange juice, ginger, zest, EVOO, vinegar, salt, pepper and soy sauce. Refrigerate for about 2 hours.
Snap off the tough ends of the asparagus. Steam until al dente. Stalks should be bright green but not soft.
Put asparagus on a platter and while still hot, pour the dressing over the top.

~Source – Some magazine. Most of my older recipes, I’m sorry to say, don’t indicate the source unless it was a friend or family member. I was really good about cutting recipes out of magazines when I made them and then typing them to put in a notebook if I liked them. Sorry, didn’t mean to be a plagiarist. Technically I’m not really plagiarizing if I’m admitting it’s not my own creation! I just can’t give credit where credit is due.

Patti’s Notes: I peel ginger with a potato peeler. I’ve also seen it done with the edge of a spoon. If you use a paring knife you are likely to cut away more than the peel. If you don’t have a vegetable steamer: put a little water (about an inch) in the bottom of a pot, add veggies and cover with lid. Typically by the time the water starts to boil the veggies will be done. You have to watch it so they don’t overcook. It’s best to use a steamer because it holds the veggies over the water (steaming them rather than boiling them) but it can be done without one.
This dressing has a nice tanginess to it. It’s served hot, but I ate the leftovers cold and it was just as good.
Easy Meter: Not very difficult.

No photo this time ;-(
Next time I make it I’ll add one. OR if you make it feel free to snap a shot and send it me!