Balsamic Pulled Pork

Ingredients
3-4 lbs pork tenderloin
5 dates (without pits)
1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup coconut aminos (or soy sauce)
3 cloves garlic
1 onion

Directions
-Blend dates, vinegar, coconut aminos, garlic, and half of the onion in a blender or food processor.
-Spray your crockpot with non-stick spray and place pork tenderloin on the bottom.
-Cover with 1/2 of the sauce (save remaining sauce for later).
-Top with remaining onion.
-Season with salt and pepper.
-Cook on low for 6-8 hours (or high for 4-5 hours) until the pork pulls apart easily.
-Shred with two forks.
-Serve with remaining sauce.*

*When I made it, I forget to reserve any of the sauce, and it still tasted great.

Serve over buns, sweet potato buns, or baked potato.  My friend Taryn loves it over a baked sweet potato with a slaw-like salad on top.

Almond Butter Chicken Salad

I saw a version of this on pinterest but tweaked it to suit my purposes. This is SO good - I gave Sam a taste of my leftovers last night and he drove to the store at 9:30 at night to get more almond butter so he could have it for lunch today. I have always been kind of anti chicken salad because I hate mayo, so this was appealing to me. I also have always been afraid of the canned chicken in my cupboard, so feel free to use fresh chicken if you aren't super lazy.

Ingredients:
12 oz can of chicken (I use the ones from Costco) or about 1 1/4 c shredded chicken
1/2 cup chopped apples (or just whatever looks good)
1/2 cup chopped red grapes
7 T almond butter
1 1/2 T honey
Sliced almonds

Serves 4-5 (about 1/2 cup per serving)

Just mix it all up. It is yummy on bread, croissants, pita, or even just in a bowl with a bunch of lettuce. My only negative is that almond butter is expensive. Don't ask me if you can use peanut butter - not wanting to die, I haven't tried it. But you are welcome to. :)

Ginger-Lime Chicken

This is a Weight Watchers recipe.  I tried it the other day and it was a huge hit with the whole fam.  Very flavorful!  We had it with grilled pineapple.  They say it serves 4 and is 5 points per serving, but we used bigger chicken breasts than 4 oz breasts, which is what they always use, so it was a bit more for us.

Ginger-Lime Chicken

Marinade:

**(WE DOUBLED THIS AMOUNT SINCE WE WERE USING 5 BIG CHICKEN BREASTS.)**

1/4 cup soy sauce
2 tsp. finely minced lime zest
3 Tbsp. fresh lime juice
2 Tbsp. finely minced or grated ginger root
2 medium garlic cloves, minced
1 Tbsp. honey
1/2 cup fresh, chopped cilantro
1 Tbsp. chili oil (We didn't have any so we used normal vegetable oil with some hot sauce dashed into the marinade.)

1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts (four 4 oz. pieces)
2 Tbsp. finely minced, uncooked scallions

Mix marinade ingredients in a large bowl.  Remove and reserve 2 Tbsp. of the marinade.  Add raw chicken to the bowl, tossing to make sure each piece is coated.  Refrigerate for 2 - 4 hours.  Grill or broil the chicken, brushing on the extra marinade toward the end of the cooking process.  Spring chicken with scallions and enjoy!

Avocado "Pesto" Sauce

This might be the EASIEST recipe I have ever made in my entire life.  Seriously.  I think it took me less than five minutes to make. I added more garlic or more lemon to temper the taste of the avacado.

Ingredients:

• 1 medium sized ripe Avocado, pitted
• 1/2 lemon, juiced + lemon zest to garnish
• 2-3 garlic cloves, to taste (I used two)
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt, or to taste
• 1/4 cup fresh basil
• 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 2 servings/6 oz of your choice of pasta 
• Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 
  

Directions:

1. Bring several cups of water to a boil in a medium sized pot. Add in your pasta, reduce heat to medium, and cook until Al Dente, about 8-10 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, make the sauce by placing the garlic cloves, lemon juice, and olive oil into a food processor. Process until smooth. Now add in the pitted avocado, basil, and salt. Process until smooth and creamy.  The sauce will be thick, almost like guacamole.

3. When pasta is done cooking, drain and rinse in a strainer and place pasta into a large bowl. Pour on sauce and toss until fully combined. The warmth of the pasta will thin the sauce.  Garnish with lemon zest and black pepper. Serve immediately. (Don't try to save any of the sauce because it will go brown due to the avocado.)  Makes 2-3 servings.

Spiced Pork Tenderloin with Sauteed Apples

This recipe was contributed by Rachel Nielson from Cooking Light magazine.

This was super fast and easy and quite delicious.  I even liked the pork without the sauteed apples!

1.  Trim 1 pound pork tenderloin and cut crosswise into 12 pieces

2.   Combine and sprinkle over pork:

1/2 t. salt
1/4 t. ground coriander
1/4 t. freshly ground black pepper
1/8 t. ground cinammon
1/8 t. ground nutmeg

3.   Heat large skillet and coat with cooking spray.  Add seasoned pork to pan; cook 3 minutes on each side or until desired degree of doneness.  Remove pork from pan; keep warm.

4.  Melt 2 T. butter in pan.  Swirl to coat.  Add the following and saute 4 minutes or until apples start to brown:

2 cups thinly sliced unpeeled Braeburn or Gala apple
1/3 c. thinkly sliced shallots (I left this out because we didn't have any)
1/8 t. salt

5.  Add 1/4 cup apple cider to pan, and cook for 2 minutes or until apples are crisp-tender.  Stir in1 t. fresh thyme leaves (I used 1/2 t. dried thyme).

Serve apple mixture with the pork.

Chipotle Bean Burritos

This recipe was contributed by Rachel Nielson and was originally found in Cooking Light magazine.

This is a quick, easy, healthy, vegetarian dinner.  We usually have all of the ingredients in the cupboard, so it can be a last-minute meal.  We recently made this recipe with black beans and pinto beans (because that's what we had on-hand), and it seemed to taste just as good.  I think it's a versatile recipe.

 I think these would be delicious with guacamole and chips as a side dish.

For bean mixture:

1 T canola oil
1 garlic glove, minced
1/2 t chipotle chile powder (we just use regular chili powder because that's what we have on-hand)
1/2 t salt
1/3 cup water
1 (15 oz) can black beans, drained (the recipe calls for organic beans)
1 (15 oz) can kidney beans, drained (the recipe calls for organic beans)
3 T. refrigerated fresh salsa (we just use jarred salsa)

Toppings:

flour tortillas (obviously)
chopped tomato
chopped onion (optional)
sour cream (absolutely delicious on top!)
cheese
shredded romaine lettuce

Directions:

1. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat.  Add garlic to pan; cook 1 minute, stirring frequently.  Stir in chile powder and salt; cook 30 seconds, stirring constantly.  Stir in 1/3 cup water and beans; bring to a boil.  Reduce heat, and simmer for 10 minutes.  Remove from heat; stir in salsa.  Partially mash bean mixture with a fork.

2.  Warm tortillas according to package directions.  Spoon about 1/3 cup bean mixture into center of each tortilla.  Top each with cheese, chopped tomato, shredded romaine lettuce, chopped onions, and sour cream; roll up and chow down.

**For leftovers, we use corn tortilla and warm them on a skillet with a sprinkle of cheese until crispy like a tostada--then we add the warm beans, sour cream, lettuce, tomato, etc.  YUM!

Variations on a Theme: Chicken Tacos with Fruit Salsa

These recipes were contributed by Rachel Nielson.

I love to make fruit salsas in the summer, and I've found that they are delicious with simple, chicken tacos served on corn or flour tortillas.

Here is the recipe I use for the chicken.  Soooo easy:

• 4 chicken breasts
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1/2 tsp onion powder
• 1/4 tsp ground red pepper
• 1/4 tsp salt

Combine and rub over chicken.  Add oil to a pan, add chicken, cook 4 minutes on each side or until done.  Cut into chunks for strips.

Here are some options for fruit salsas:

Pineapple Salsa  (from For the Love of Cooking blog)

• 1 small pineapple, cored and diced
• 1/2 cup cilantro, chopped finely
• 1 tbsp red onion, diced finely
• 1 small jalapeño, seeded and diced finely (This can be left out if you don't like spice)
• 1 green onion, chopped finely (I leave this out if I don't have it)
• Zest and juice of 1/2 lime
• Dash of sugar
• Sea salt and freshly cracked pepper, to taste  (I've never added this, but maybe should)

Strawberry Avocado Salsa (from Cooking Light magazine)

• 1 cup finely chopped strawberries
• 1/4 cup finely chopped avocado
• 2 T. finely chopped red onion
• 2 T. chopped fresh cilantro
• 1/2 t. grated lime rind
• 2 T. fresh lime juice
• 2 t. finely chopped jalapeno pepper (if you like it hot)
• 1/2 t. sugar

Mango Avocado Salsa  (from Natalie Dayton, a friend)

• One diced avocado
• 1-2 diced Roma tomatoes
• One diced mango
• 1/3 cup chopped cilantro
• 1/4 c. onion, diced
• Juice of one lime (or lemon juice if that's what you have)
• Several dashes Frank's Red Hot sauce (if you like it hot)
• Salt and garlic salt to taste  (I've never added this, but maybe should)

Peach Salsa (from Cooking Light website)

• 2  cups  finely chopped peeled peach (about 2 medium)
• 1/2  cup  finely chopped red onion
• 2  tablespoons  chopped cilantro
• 1  tablespoon  fresh lime juice
• 1/2  teaspoon  kosher salt
• 1/8  teaspoon  ground red pepper
• 1  jalapeño pepper, seeded and finely chopped
• 1  garlic clove, minced