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.

Pinapple Soy Pork Chops

 We bought a grill this week, and I am one happy woman. It is amazing how easy it is to whip up an impressive tasting meal on a grill. On Sunday, I made one of our mom's old classics and was reminded how yummy it is. Enjoy!

Pineapple Soy Pork Chops

About 4 pork chops (I use boneless because I am anti-bone, but either would work)

Soy Sauce (about 1/2 cup)

Pineapple juice (about 1 cup)

Fresh pineapple for grilling

Mix 1 part soy sauce to 2 parts pineapple juice and pour over the pork chops in a dish, baggie, tupperware, whatever. NOTE: My mom did equal parts soy sauce and juice, but I like a stronger, sweeter pineapple flavor and less salt. Play around with it until you find your favorite ratio. Marinate the pork chops for at least four hours, but the longer the better. Grill until the internal temperature is 155 degrees or white with no pink but still juicy. I like to cut fresh pineapple spears and throw those on the grill to eat with it. 

Yum!

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.

Sweet Pulled Pork

This recipe was contributed by Rachel Nielson.

This is one of our "staple" company meals.  It is a yummy and EASY pork recipe.

Trim the fat off of a pork tenderloin or pork roast.  Put it in a crockpot.  For every two pounds of meat, add 1 cup of salsa and 1 cup of brown sugar.  Let it cook for 4-5 hours on high.  You can cook it longer on low.  When about 1 hour remains, shred the pork with a fork--during the final hour, it will soak up all the juices.  YUM.

The original recipes says that you can serve it on buns or in tortillas.  We love it in tortillas topped with lettuce, tomato, sour cream, etc--the usual fixin's.  It would also be yummy on a salad.

This Tomatillo Cilantro Ranch dressing is also amazing on it.  We spoon it on to our tacos/burritos:

Combine in a blender:

1 c. buttermilk
1 c. mayo
1 pkg DRY ranch dressing mix
1-2 cloves garlic
juice from 1 lime
jalapeno
2 tomatillos
cilantro to taste

This makes a TON of dressing, so I usually half it.

Enjoy!