The other white meat…

I was in the mood for the other white meat this evening.  Most people associate pork with fat and calories and virtually unhealthy food.  This is NOT correct.  Pork is a very lean meat depending on the cut that you buy.  Pork Tenderloin is virtually fat free.  The same remains true for pork chops, hence tonight’s meal.  I decided to make grilled french cut white wine apple glazed pork chops with brown rice pilaf and red delicious apple white wine sauce (the red stuff).  I started out by peeling and dicing roughly 1 1/2 cups of red delicious apples and reducing them in 1 1/2 cups of white wine.  I added sugar to create the glaze.  YES I know, sugar isn’t terribly good for you but its not bad either.  Sugar is important because it (with the wine) creates the simple syrup that I needed i.e. glaze.  No calorie sweetener would not give me the same effect without adding cornstarch.  

The rice is a simple pilaf cooked in low sodium chicken broth with some sauted garlic, parsley and a small bit of kosher salt and ground pepper.  The sauce is left over glaze a little more apple and other seasonings and 1/2 tsp of cornstarch to give me the shine and consistency I needed.  The meal was service for two and was in total only 9 grams of fat!!!

DESSERT!!! Dessert was an off the top of my head type of deal but I must admit there was some inspiration from my wonderful new friend Chrystal of the Duo Dishes.  She made an amazing cake with a whipped bailey’s filling that even gave you a little buzz.  I decided to take her creation and make it my own.  I decided to make what I call my espresso irish mint cream mousse.  It’s simply that.  I made a guiltless brownie flavored cookie topped with an espresso irish mint cream mousse.  Garnish with a fresh mint leaf and cocoa powder dust and voila! This dessert was only 3GRAMS OF FAT!!! It’s not a secret but you can make cookies and brownies without using oil and eggs…i’ll clue you in on that later

 

Apple Juicy Juice!

Ever have one of those days where you want to do a nice dinner but you have limited funds.  You scrounge around the kitchen trying to find anything on deck that you can turn into something tasty.  Try doing that while trying to eat healthy meals; its definitely not an easy task.  Here’s a list of what I had:  Almonds

Rice

Butter

Parsley

leftover heavy cream

Apple Juice

Apple Juice?!?! WHAT THE HECK can I do with Apple juice?  Note* this is 100% apple juice and unfiltered…no sugar or preservatives etc.  Anyway, I racked my brain then it hit me!  I love apple glazed pork tenderloin why not branch away from that theme.  Thus my creation was born.  Smoked garlic Peppercorn Pork Tenderloin with Almond rice and apple butter cream sauce.  I had no idea if this would work or if it would turn out correctly but it was worth a try.  

YEP! thats right, I used apple juice in/as a sauce.  Apple juice started out as my base then to compliment the almonds in the rice I decided I’d add just a touch of almond extract to the sauce.  Next I added the cold cream (reserving a small amount to blend with the cornstarch).  A little kosher salt, fresh ground pepper, apple zest (basically grated apple without the peel), butter and voila! Apple butter cream sauce was born.  Give it a try me and my household absolutely LOVED it.  Best part…only 7g of fat and 150 calories!!