Maple Glazed Pork Tenderloin

The warmer weather is (supposedly) here but that doesn't mean it's any easier to get dinner on the table! Summer days are jam packed and full of fun!  Having an effortless, homemade meal on the table during the summer months is just as much of a necessity as it is during the school year.

Here is a tasty pork tenderloin recipe I make with some local syrup we pick up at the farmers market!  Enjoy!

Prep Ahead Plan: Prepare the recipe the night before and let it marinate in the ziploc bag!

Slow Cooked Maple Glazed Pork Tenderloin
Ingredients
1 (2-3 pound) pork tenderloin
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup of soy sauce
1/3 cup maple syrup
1 tablespoon cornstarch
2 tablespoons brown sugar

Directions
1.  Place the tenderloin in a ziploc bag and pour in all of the ingredients.  Seal the bag and use your hands to mash up the bag, mixing all of the ingredients together.
2.  Marinate overnight or all day.
3.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Spray a 9 X 13 baking pan with cooking spray.
4.  Place tenderloin in pan and pour marinade over it.  Bake for 40-45 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches 160 degrees.

T-Bone Steak Rub

Grilling season has officially begun and our Weber is well rested and ready to put in some over time!  We actually use our grill year round but nowhere near as often as when the warmer weather hits!  We love mixing up seasonings and experimenting with dry rubs on chicken, beef and even fish.  Dry rubs pack a notable flavor punch in the form of a savory crust on the meat.  The intensity of the flavor will depend on how long the rub sits on the meat.  I like to season the meat the night before which not only saves some time (and mess) during the dinner hour, but also maximizes the flavor of our seasoning mixture!


Here's a great combination of herbs and spices that we use often on our steaks!  Try it!  Please let me know what you think!


Prep Ahead Plan:  Mix up the spice rub and season up the steaks the night before!


Steak Rub
Ingredients

• 2 teaspoons salt, or to taste
• 2 teaspoons paprika
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper (adjust this measurement to your taste!)
• 3/4 teaspoon ground coriander
• 3/4 teaspoon ground turmeric
• 4 (1 pound) t-bone steaks
• Directions
• 1.  Combine all ingredients in a bowl.  Mix together.
• 2.  Rub on both sides of steak.
• 3.  Preheat a grill for high heat and lightly oil the grill.  Cook steaks about 4 minutes per side for medium rare or longer until desired doneness!

If you feel like adding a boost of flavor, melt a small pad of butter on top of each steak right when they come off the grill.  It's worth the calories, I promise!  

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"Newport Connext" Yummy Tummy Recipe

I'm excited to be a contributor for Newport Connext, the new online resource connecting savvy moms to their local community and family living!  Please click HERE to read my first "Yummy Tummy" post:  fruit salsa with whole wheat cinnamon chips!  Stay tuned for my "Quick Cooks" post coming soon!  The recipes are new and have not yet been featured on the site!  Please let me know what you think!!!  Thanks!

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Growing Vegetable Soup....

I am not, nor will I claim to be any kind of expert gardener.  This is our fourth year planting a backyard garden and we are still working our way through the learning curve! I battle with cucumber beetles, attempt to fight off late season blight and lose squash to vine borers (whatever those are).  We learn from our mistakes, right? What I can tell you for certain is this:  Involving the girls in the process of planting and caring for the garden has made them more adventurous eaters.  Riley picked our first snap pea this weekend and told me it tasted like summer.  She planted it, watered it, watched it grow and savored every last bite of crunchy sweetness from her first harvest!  This, coming from what I like to call my "non-eater" was a very special moment.

Before we began planting our first garden several years back, we took some time to read "Growing Vegetable Soup" by Lois Ehlert.  This adorably vibrant (yet exceedingly to the point) picture book describes the process of  planting a vegetable garden from seedlings to harvest.  We fell into the tradition of reading it every year, followed by making a big pot of vegetable soup in anticipation of what our garden will have to offer in the coming months.  This year was especially exciting because my big first grader read it to all of us (sniffle).

Lola planted pole beans, randomly, all over the garden.  They keep popping up everywhere!  **Note to self...less picture taking and more supervising, Jaime!!!!

I have a great slow cooker vegetable soup recipe that the kids can fully participate in making!  We buy many of the vegetables that were just planted in the garden (and some additional veggies that work well in the soup) and the girls have at it.  We use kid-safe pumpkin carvers to cut the vegetables.  They're great "knives" for them to saw at the veggies, but not cut their little fingers!  Butter knives are great for cutting mushrooms and green beans are easily snapped by hand and thrown in the pot!  I love a recipe that encourages full participation.  I admit, it is necessary for me to put my obsession with even, matchy matchy sized vegetable pieces aside for the day.  This batch of soup ended up with an entire unsliced stalk of celery in it.  It's all good.

I realize not everyone has the time (or desire) to take on the endeavor of planting a backyard garden.  There are many vegetables that grow just as well in a container on your front stoop (tomatoes, peppers, bush pickling cucumbers are a few)!   I hope sharing our experiences have inspired someone to "grow vegetable soup" and get a little dirt underneath their toddlers fingernails (and in their hair, up their nose, down their diaper, etc...)  


Here is the recipe!  Finally!  Enjoy!

Vegetable Barley Soup (a slow cooker recipe)
Ingredients:
6-8 ounces of "mini bella" mushrooms, sliced
2 carrots, peeled and sliced
1 zucchini, chopped (or hacked and sawed at in our case)
1 yellow squash, chopped
1/2 fennel bulb, chopped (this needs to be an adult's job!)
1 onion, chopped
2 hand fuls of green beans, chopped
4 cloves of garlic, crushed or minced
6 cups of vegetable stock
1 (14.5 ounce can) Italian seasoned diced tomatoes
1 cup frozen lima beans or peas
3/4 cup barley
salt and pepper to taste
fresh parsley and basil for serving!!!

Directions:

1. Combine all ingredients (except for fresh herbs) in the slow cooker.

2.  Cook on low 4-5 hours or high 8-10 hours.  Serve with fresh herbs!

Freeze it!  

Cool the soup completely and store in air tight containers for up to 6 months!!!!

The BEST Turkey Burgers Ever...

The warm weather and sunshine is (hopefully) here to stay in New England and we're getting our freezer ready for grilling season.  I have this weird aversion to pre-made store bought burger patties that I believe started when I was a child.  My mother always bought ground beef and stocked our freezer with home made burgers and believe me, you can taste the difference.  

Burgers made from lean ground beef are a great source of protein and iron but if you're trying to cut back on fat, burgers made from skinless ground turkey breast offers a great low-fat option.  

Turkey tends to be a little bland when left alone.  That's why we like to jam pack our turkey burgers with lots of fresh flavors like red onion and parsley from the garden!  Mix up a big batch and grill some up this week!  You won't be disappointed!

Prep Ahead Plan:  I usually mix up 2 pounds of ground turkey and make 12 burgers.  If you want a bigger quarter pound burger than use 2 pounds to make 8!  Wrap them individually in plastic wrap and store them in a ziploc bag in the freezer! We put ours on the grill straight out of the freezer.

Turkey Burgers

Ingredients

2 pounds skinless, ground turkey breast

2 tablespoons seasoned bread crumbs

2 tablespoons finely diced red onion

1 egg, beaten

2 tablespoons chopped, fresh parsley

2 small cloves or 1 large clove garlic, crushed or minced

2 teaspoons of worcestershire sauce

salt* and pepper to taste

*We like to use a sprinkling of Lawry's seasoning salt in place of regular salt for a little extra flavor!

Directions:

1.  In a bowl, mix all ingredients together with a fork. Make sure they are thoroughly combined!

2.  Divide mix into the desired amount of patties.  I make 12 out of 2 pounds but if you prefer larger burgers, you could make 8 patties.  Shape into rounded balls and press into patties, wrap in saran wrap and freeze or grill them up!

Smoky Turkey Chili ~ a slow cooker Weight Watcher recipe

Finally!  My computer has made it's way back home with 340 brand new gigabytes of storage and a salvaged Iphoto library.  Phew.  I have quite the back log of recipes to share but thought I would start with this chili recipe since it seems to be highly coveted amongst several readers!

We are continuing to lighten things up around the Sheridan household in preparation for bathing suit season.  Although I have never officially done any kind of prescribed diet program( i.e Weight Watchers, South Beach, Eat Clean, Atkins etc), I seem to own every diet cookbook on the market.  Whether you diet or not, having a plethora of nutritious recipes on hand is essential for a well-balanced, healthy lifestyle!

This smoky turkey chili is adapted from a Weight Watcher cookbook I have.  My adaptations include omissions of a few ingredients that would only add to the points value and in my opinion leaves the chili with an unnecessary sweetness.  I will post the points value as stated but know that it will be a point or so off (in your favor!).

Prep Ahead Plan:  I think this is the first chili recipe for the slow cooker that does not require browning the meat first! Using 99% fat free turkey breast leaves little to no fat to drain enabling you to toss all of the ingredients in the night before and when you wake up, set it and forget it.  

Smoky Turkey Chili

Ingredients

1 pound ground, skinless turkey breast (be sure it is 99% fat free ground white meat!)

1 red onion, chopped

1 red pepper, chopped

4 cloves of garlic, chopped or crushed

3 (15.5 ounce) cans of pinto beans

1 (14.5 ounce) dices tomatoes

1 cup ketchup

1 (4.5 ounce) can diced green chiles

3 tablespoons chili powder

1 tablespoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1/4 teaspoon liquid smoke

chopped fresh parsley and/or cilantro

Directions:

1.  Combine all ingredients in your slow cooker.  Stir to combine, breaking up the ground turkey with the spoon.

2.  Cook on low 8-10 hours.

1 1/4 cups = 5 PointsPlus

Note:  Add 2 tablespoons of fat free sour cream and 2 tablespoons of fat free cheddar cheese will increase PointsPlus value by 1

Healthy Slow Cooker Carnitas and Spanish Rice

Every year, the warmer weather inspires me to lighten up our menu selections!  Slow cooker carnitas made with lean pork, can quickly be thrown together and left to cook all day.  A quick, HEALTHY, prep ahead dinner!  Serve alongside homemade spanish rice made with white or brown rice.

Prep Ahead Plan:  Combine ingredients in the slow cooker the night before and turn it on before you head out the door the following morning!  Making your own Spanish rice is much healthier than buying the pre-made rice mixes in the store!  This allows you to omit any kind of partially hydrogenated blegh and keep the sodium milligrams WAY down!

Slow Cooker Carnitas

Ingredients

1 teaspoon salt

4 cloves of garlic, crushed or minced

1 Tablespoon cumin

1 1/2 teaspoon oregano

1 teaspoon coriander

2 bay leaves

2 cups chicken broth 

3 pound lean center cut pork roast

For Serving:

whole wheat tortillas

cilantro

avocado

black beans

salsa 

reduced fat cheddar cheese

Directions:

1.  Season the pork roast with spices and place in the slow cooker.

2.  Add broth and bay leaves.  Cook on high 8-10 hours.  Shred with 2 forks before serving on tortillas with toppings.

Spanish Rice

Ingredients

2 Tablespoons olive oil

1 cup white or brown rice

1 onion, chopped

1/2 green pepper, chopped

2 cups chicken broth

10 ounce can of diced tomatoes with green chiles (Rotel)

2 teaspoons chili powder

(Salt*  and pepper to taste)

*Many brands of chili powder have salt in them so you might not need to add any

Directions:

1.  Heat the olive oil in a medium sized pan.  Add rice, onion and green pepper.  Cook until the rice browns a bit and the veggies are tender.

2.  Stir in broth, tomatoes with green chiles, pepper and chili powder.  Cover and simmer 30 minutes or until rice is tender.