When we started our weight loss journey we had to cut a lot of foods from our diet, including red meat. We just don’t eat a lot of it around our house. We went on a serious campaign of fish, ground turkey and chicken and we ate these things everyday. It can get a little boring and monotonous. We stuck with this habit until a couple of weeks ago while we were grocery shopping. We both stood there at the butcher counter and asked, “Why aren’t we eating pork?”
Pork gets a bad wrap in my opinion. It’s the other white meat, right? People think pork they think pig and they think fat and SALT. All of those things are true, but there are lean cuts of pork. And I do love me some ham around Thanksgiving and Christmas. We’ve been doing major research on the leanest cuts of pork so that we could incorporate that into our meal rotation. This week I made pork loin and it was super easy. It made two meals and it combined my love of two things sage and apples. It really didn’t take long at all the make and it served two days of meals.
What’s on that plate? This was my plate from last night and I was super hungry so I added brussels sprouts. The meal included: pork loin, grilled apples, apple & sage quinoa and cheese and cream spinach. I really through this together off the top of my head. That’s my thing, I imagine the stuff in my head and when I go home I just start throwing it together.
Pork loin: I just seared it on both sides in a cast iron griddle skillet and put it in the oven for 20 minutes at 425 degrees. I seasoned the pork with sage, onion powder, pepper, apple cider vinegar, rosemary and cut up garlic and inserted it into the meat. After searing off the meat, I covered it and put it in the oven.
Qunioa: I cooked up some quinoa like normal. 1 cup of quinoa and two cups of water, bring to boil and then reduce heat for 8 minutes. Leave covered. When it was cooked I added: pepper to taste, sage, cinnamon, apple spice, cider vinegar, on packet of stevia, half a cup of UNSWEETENED applesauce.
Spinach: The first night I used steam in the bag spinach from the bottom of the freezer. (Confession: I have no idea how long that was in the bottom of freezer because when I went to buy another bag yesterday I couldn’t find it.) Yesterday I used the plan ole frozen spinach and just cooked it in the microwave. When it was cooked I seasoned with pepper and added two tablespoons of greek yogurt (probably could have used a little more) and one wedge of laughing cow cheese (35 calories per wedge).
Brussels sprouts: These were frozen. I put them in a preheat 425 degree oven on a sprayed cookie sheet, 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar and pepper and let them roast for 25 minutes. This is put in the oven at the same time as the pork.
Apples: I just cut up an apple, sprinkled with cinnamon and place them in a skillet. Let them sit on one side for 5 mins and them flipped them. I served them on top of the pork!
Like I said, last night I was hungry because I may or may not have overdone it on my exercise yesterday. I’ll just say that marathon training keeps me going and I have to take care of my body. I don’t eat a lot of meat but I think every once and while the pork thing will do. So what did you think of my meal?
Do you eat a lot of pork? What is your main source of protein?
