This is a delightful recipe that your whole family will love. It's comfort food that's nice enough to serve to company. The apples are so tasty with the pork.

Ingredients:
1 pound lean, center cut pork tenderloin
2 apples, peeled and cut with apple slicer to remove core
1/4 cup white wine
1/4 cup apple cider
1 T brown sugar
1/4 t cinnamon
pepper
garlic powder
rosemary

Directions:

Preheat oven to 357 degrees.

Slice pork tenderloin into 1 inch thick slices and place in the bottom of a 9 x 13 glass baking dish.

Put apple slices in a ziplock bag and add sugar and cinnamon. Shake until coated. Add the apple slices to the pan. (I put the meat in two rows on either side of the pan, and I put the apple slices in a row down the middle.)

Pour in the wine and apple cider. Sprinkle the top of the pork with pepper, garlic powder, and rosemary.

Bake 30 minutes or until pork is done and apples are slightly tender.

Serving Size: Makes 4 servings.

I was looking for a way to make a healthier sloppy joe that still tasted good, so I decided to try chicken. I make shredded BBQ chicken quite often, but I wanted the taste of regular sloppy joe sauce. This version is pretty much what I wanted. It has MUCH less sodium than using the packages of sloppy joe mix that I traditionally use when making them with ground beef. This would freeze very well.

Ingredients:
8 oz no salt added tomato sauce
1 T brown sugar
1 t Worcestershire sauce
1 t yellow mustard
1 t cider vinegar
1 T dried minced onions
12 oz. cooked shredded chicken breast

Directions:
Mix all ingredients together in a medium saucepan on the stove. Heat through. Serve on hamburger buns (not included in nutrition info).

Serving Size: Makes 3 servings

Tomorrow, my son turns 16! It's amazing how quickly time flies. This weekend we celebrated his birthday with his friends. We took 10 teenagers to his favorite Japanese restaurant, and then came back to our house so they could hang out and have birthday cake. I made him a chocolate ice cream cake, which was a huge hit. We also spent some time visiting my parents this weekend. I made Corey's birthday dinner tonight since it would take too long to cook on a school night. It was a busy, but nice weekend.

This week track meets kick in. We will have lots of evening activities, but I think I have the menu planned well and have enough stuff pre-cooked that we will be good to go. Be sure to check out last week's Hash Brown Pizza recipe (sorry it took so long to post) - it was a good one. My lunch soup this week is Refried Bean Soup. I'll be experimenting with a new pork tenderloin recipe on Wednesday, so if it is successful, I'll post the recipe later. 

Here's this week's menu. Enjoy and have a great week! Be sure to follow me on Facebook to get fast updates from the blog. :)

Sunday - Ultimate BBQ Chicken, Green Beans, Salad, Strawberries  - Corey's birthday dinner request
Monday - Pizza Burgers (300 cal), Oven Fries (157 cal), Salad, Fruit Salad
Tuesday - Chicken Sloppy Joes (recipe coming soon), Green Beans, Salad, Peaches
Wednesday -Oven Roasted Pork Tenderloin with Apples (recipe coming if it's good), Asparagus, Salad
Thursday - Fish Tacos, Broccoli, Salad, Applesauce
Friday - Steak, Baked Potatoes, Green Beans, Salad
Saturday - Chicken Manicotti, Broccoli, Salad, Strawberries

This is a different take on pizza. It's pretty easy to make, and you could substitute whatever toppings you like for the pepperoni.

Ingredients:
1 pkg (20 oz) Simply Potatoes Shredded Has Browns
1 egg
1 T flour
1 cup Hunts Garlic & Herb Pasta Sauce
4 oz. shredded part skim mozzarella cheese
34 slices Hormel Turkey Pepperoni

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350.

In a large mixing bowl, beat the egg. Add in the hash browns and flour. Stir to combine.

Pour into a 2 quart baking dish sprayed with no-stick spray.

Bake for 30 minutes or until potatoes are slightly brown on top.

Remove from oven and top with pasta sauce, cheese, and pepperoni. Return to oven and bake for 15 minutes or until cheese is melted.

Makes 4 servings.

Spring break is over and it's back to work this week. Our spring break was a little different than usual this time as my dad had to have surgery, so we spent a lot of time at the hospital. Corey and Eric did make it to Corey's college visit on Tuesday, which was very good, and we took advantage of the 80 degree day today and went for a hike in Arkansas. If you ever have the chance to go to Alum Cove, do it! It was very pretty.



Needless to say, I didn't have a lot of time this week to do any kind of advanced planning, and I was thankful that I already had meals ready for the week. I'm going to keep this post short and just get the menu up for you. I'll have to post the recipe for the potato pizza later in the week. My lunch soup is Hearty German Soup (82 cal).

Here's this week's menu. Enjoy and have a great week! Be sure to follow me on Facebook to get fast updates from the blog. :)


Sunday - Steak, Baked Potatoes, Asparagus, Salad
Monday - Hash Brown Pizza (281 cal), Broccoli, Salad, Peaches
Tuesday - Tuna Noodle Casserole (367 cal), Green Beans, Salad, Applesauce
Wednesday - Grilled Pork Tenderloin, Cheddar Potato Strips (207 cal), Green Beans, Salad
Thursday - Eat at Book Club
Friday - Corey's 16th birthday party!
Saturday - Taco Bake (240 cal), Salad, Green Beans, Strawberries



For more menu ideas, visit orgjunkie.com.

These are great for parties or family get-togethers.

Ingredients:

2 pkgs King's Hawaiian Honey Wheat Rolls
1 pound 96% fat free shaved deli ham
6 slices Sargento Reduced Fat Swiss Cheese, cut into fourths
3 T Worcestershire sauce
2 T mustard
2 T brown sugar
1/4 cup butter, melted


Directions:


Cut the rolls in half and line the bottom of a sheet cake pan with the bottoms of the rolls. Evenly divide the ham and place on each bun and top with a fourth of a slice of cheese. Place the tops of the buns back on the sandwiches.

Mix together the melted butter, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, brown sugar and onion powder. Use a basting brush to liberally coat each sandwich until all sauce is used (you can just pour it over the tops if you wish).

Cover the pan tightly with foil and place in the refrigerator to marinade anywhere from 4-24 hours.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Bake for 15 minutes, or until cheese is melted and bun tops are golden.

Makes 24 sandwiches

For those of you who love sauerkraut, you will appreciate this hearty, low calorie soup.

Ingredients:

1 lb. lean ground beef (93/7)
1 large onion, chopped
1 T minced garlic
2 cups Imagine Organic Low Sodium Low Fat Chicken Broth
2 14.5 oz cans Healthy Valley Low Fat No Sodium Added Beef Broth
1 14.5 oz can no salt added diced tomatoes
1 jar Claussen Sauerkraut
1 cup water
1 T brown sugar
1 T Worcestershire sauce
4 bay leaves
2 T dried parsley
1 t ground sage
1 t black pepper 

Directions:

In a nonstick skillet sprayed with olive oil in a mister bottle, cook chopped onion until soft and slightly browned. Add garlic and cook for one minute. Transfer onion and garlic to large stock pot.

In the same skillet, brown ground beef.

While the beef is cooking, add the chicken stock, beef stock, tomatoes, sauerkraut, water, brown sugar, Worcestershire sauce, bay leaves, parsley, sage, and pepper.

When beef is cooked, add it to the stock pot. Bring soup to a boil, and then reduce heat to low. Simmer for 1 hour. Remove bay leaves. Serve soup with a dollop of sour cream if desired.

Makes 12 1-cup servings