Chipotle Pork Tacos with Guacamole

Looking for heat that gives a one-two punch? Try a spicy marinaded pork that's then pair with sauteed Hatch chili peppers. There was a whole lotta flavor wrapped up in those little corn tortillas - it had us both going back for more!

Chipotle Pork Tacos with Guacamole

1 pound pork tenderloin
3 chipotle chilies in adobo sauce
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon lime
1 tablespoon honey
3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
Salt and pepper to taste
1/2 red onion, sliced
1 hatch chili, seeded and sliced
Canola oil (enough to go up 1/4 inch in a skillet)
8 corn tortillas
Guacamole
Sour cream
Cotija cheese

Place the pork in a large ziplock bag. Chop the chilies and place in bag with 1 tablespoon adobo sauce, garlic, lime, honey and 2 tablespoons olive oil. Rub marinade into pork with salt and pepper. Marinade 1-2 hours in refrigerator.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Remove pork from ziplock bag and place in an oven safe dish. Bake about 30 minutes, until pork is 150 degrees. Let pork rest about 5 minutes, then cut into thin slices or shred.

In the meantime, heat the remaining tablespoon olive oil in a cast iron skillet. Saute onions and hatch chilies on medium low heat for about 10 minutes, until soft and lightly charred. Set aside.

In a small skillet, warm canola oil until about 350 degrees, or when the bottom of a wooden spoon forms bubbles around it when placed inside. Cook tortillas in the oil one at a time for about 10-15 seconds per side. Drain on a paper towel.

Assemble tacos by spreading sour cream and guacamole on tortillas, then topping with shredded pork, peppers and onions and topping with cotija cheese. Enjoy!

Apple and Blue Cheese Stuffed Pork Tenderloin

With pork tenderloin and asparagus on sale, this meal was a no-brainer. Simple for weeknights with go-to ingredients apples, blue cheese and mustard. Enjoy!

Apple and Blue Cheese Stuffed Pork Tenderloin

1 1/2 pound pork tenderloin
2 tablespoons dijon mustard
1/2 apple, cut into thin slices
3 ounces crumbled blue cheese
Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Butterfly your pork tenderloin with a sharp knife. Spread mustard on inside of the pork and then layer with apple slices and blue cheese. Fasten the pork tenderloin closed with kitchen twine or toothpicks and season with salt and pepper. Bake until the pork is 150 degrees, about 30 to 35 minutes. I served with roasted asparagus, which was seasoned with salt and pepper and tossed with olive oil and lemon juice.

Fig and Goat Cheese Stuffed Pork Tenderloin

Despite appearances, this recipe was fairly simple and easy to make, not to mention everything just kind of flowed. My mom gave me an oven-safe digital meat thermometer for Christmas, so I was anxious to get home and try it. It was so simple and I didn't have to worry about overcooking the pork!

Fig and Goat Cheese Stuffed Pork Tenderloin

1 pork tenderloin (1 - 1 1/2 pounds)
1/2 cup fig jam
3 ounces goat cheese, crumbled
5 fresh basil leaves, torn
Salt and pepper to taste
1 tablespoon olive oil

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Slice pork tenderloin lengthwise almost the whole way through (stopping just before the edge, like you would a sandwich). Place the tenderloin between two sheets of plastic wrap and pound it until it's about 1/2 inches thin. Spread the fig jam over one side of the pork, then top with crumbled goat cheese, torn basil leaves and salt and pepper to taste.

Now, roll up the pork and fasten with kitchen twine or toothpicks. Now brush the outside with the oil and season with additional salt and pepper.

Insert your meat thermometer if you have it and let it bake about 30 minutes or so until it reaches an internal temperature of 155 degrees.

Remove and let set for about 10 minutes, then slice and serve! I served with simple sides including roasted potatoes seasoned with dried rosemary, salt and pepper tossed in olive oil and green beans with a smidge of butter, salt and pepper and more torn basil.

A Balanced Weeknight Meal

Some nights inspiration just strikes. After my success with with brussel sprouts, I decided to do a take 2 and see if I actually liked them (and not just the bacon!) I saw this recipe for Nutty Warm Brussel Sprouts Salad in Cooking Light, and did my own (a little less healthy) spin. This meal fell together nicely and represented lots of important nutrients. The brussel sprouts tasted almost sweet! A great weeknight meal.

Nutty Brussel Sprouts
2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 elephant garlic clove, minced
1/2 cup fresh breadcrumbs
1/2 pound brussel sprouts
Salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup shredded Asiago

Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add garlic; cook 1 minute or just until golden, stirring constantly. Add breadcrumbs; cook 1 minute or until lightly browned, stirring constantly. Transfer garlic mixture to a small bowl.

Separate leaves from Brussels sprouts; quarter cores. Heat remaining tablespoon oil over medium heat. Add leaves and cores to pan; cook 8 minutes or just until leaves wilt and cores are crisp-tender, stirring frequently. Remove from heat; toss with breadcrumb mixture, salt, and pepper. Top with walnuts and cheese.

Cranberry Rice
2 cups brown rice
1 tablespoon butter
Salt to taste
3/4 cup dried cranberries

Prepare rice according to package instructions. Stir in butter and salt to taste, and toss with cranberries. If you have addition walnuts from the brussel sprouts, try those too!

Maple Dijon Pork
1 pound pork tenderloin, cut into 1-inch thick slices
Salt and pepper to taste
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons dijon mustard
2 tablespoons maple syrup
2 tablespoons butter

Heat a large skillet on medium heat. Season pork with salt and pepper on both sides. Warm 1 tablespoon oil in skillet, and cook pork, about 7 minutes on each side, until done. Remove to a plate.

Heat remaining oil in skillet and whisk in maple syrup and dijon, bring to a simmer. Whisk in butter, and additional salt and pepper to taste. Add pork back to skillet and toss in sauce. Serve.

The Best Salad You'll Ever Have

If you haven't purchased the September issue of Bon Appetit, stop what you're doing now and RUN to the magazine stand. I'm absolutely obsessed with this issue, filled with bacon, figs and goat cheese, and have made probably 6 recipes (and actually following them too!) already.

My absolute favorite has to be the Warm Escarole Salad with Goat Cheese, Hard-Boiled Eggs and Bacon, which I actually made twice this week. A sort of spin on cobb salad, this salad is SUCH a treat. If you can't find escarole, substitute any leafy green of your liking. For the exact recipe, check the link above. My version includes more bacon than what Bon App called for :) Because of that, I reduced the amount of oil added to the dressing since there were additional bacon drippings.

Warm Escarole Salad with Goat Cheese, Hard-Boiled Eggs and Bacon

2 heads of escarole, torn into large bite-sized pieces (about 8 cups)
5 bacon slices
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup finely chopped shallots
2 hard-boiled eggs, chopped
1 5.5-ounce log soft fresh goat cheese, crumbled

Divide escarole among 6 plates. Cook bacon in medium nonstick skillet over medium heat until crisp. Transfer to paper towels to drain; reserve skillet with bacon drippings. Finely chop bacon; set aside.

Whisk olive oil and vinegar in small bowl to blend. Heat bacon drippings in skillet over medium heat. Add shallots; sauté until slightly softened, about 3 minutes. Add olive oil mixture and whisk just until heated through, about 1 minute. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Drizzle vinaigrette over escarole. Sprinkle with eggs, goat cheese, and bacon.

I served the salad as a side to the Pineapple-Glazed Pork with Chiles and Lime- also delicious! Another recipe that I followed, two in one night- crazy!

Pineapple-Glazed Pork with Chiles and Lime

1 cup pineapple juice, divided
3/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons coarsely chopped seeded red jalapeño chiles
3/4 teaspoon ground allspice
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
2 3/4-pound pork tenderloins
Chopped fresh cilantro

Preheat oven to 500°F. Bring 3/4 cup pineapple juice and sugar to boil in heavy large saucepan over high heat, stirring until sugar dissolves. Cover; boil until syrup is deep brown, checking frequently to prevent burning, about 8 minutes. Remove from heat. Immediately swirl in remaining 1/4 cup pineapple juice, chiles, and allspice. When bubbling stops, whisk in lime juice and season with salt and pepper. Pour 1/4 cup glaze into small bowl and reserve.

Line baking sheet with foil; place rack in center of sheet. Sprinkle pork with salt and pepper; place on rack. Brush with glaze from saucepan. Roast until thermometer inserted into center of pork registers 145°F, brushing occasionally with glaze from saucepan, about 15 minutes. Slice pork. Drizzle with reserved glaze and sprinkle with cilantro.

Fresh Fig and Brie Stuffed Pork Tenderloin

I made my trip to the farmer's market this weekend in search of fresh figs, and I was not disappointed. I love fresh figs, but somehow had never cooked with them myself. These plump delights were the perfect inspiration and appear twice in this meal.

Fresh Fig and Brie Stuffed Pork Tenderloin

12 figs
2 cups red wine
1/4 cup fig jam
1 tablespoon brown sugar
4 ounces brie cheese (1/2 of a small wheel of brie)
2 pounds pork tenderloin
Salt and pepper to taste

Place about 12 figs in a medium sized bowl and cover with red wine. Marinade about one hour. Half figs lengthwise and set aside,. Use marinade and stir in 1 tablespoon brown sugar and 1/4 cup fig jam and microwave for 30 seconds.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Slice about 4 ounces of brie cheese into strips. Butterfly pork and place brie and fig slices down the length. Next tie pork together with kitchen twine to secure and place in a greased baking dish. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Spoon marinade over the pork. Cook about one hour, until the pork measures 150 degrees with a meat thermometer. Let cool 5 minutes then slice and serve.

Fig and Caramelized Onion Salad

1/2 small red onion, sliced
1 tablespoon sugar
1/4 cup olive oil, divided
4 ounces fresh spinach
5 figs, halved and marinaded in red wine
Red wine fig marinade (reserved from pork tenderloin recipe above)
Salt and pepper to taste

Heat a small skillet on medium heat. Toss onion in sugar, and then cook in 1 tablespoon oil, about 6 minutes. Add to a medium bowl with spinach and fig halves. Then toss in 1/4 cup marinade and remaining oil. Season with salt and pepper and serve.