Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Speed Tuesdays + The Other White Meat

Speed Tuesdays!  Leah had me do a faster workout today.  8X400s with 400 rest in between starting at 1:40 and going down a second each one if I could.  This was not easy for me today.  I'm still sore from my race on Sunday so I was really just battling through it. So I will be honest and tell you I had to cheat a little.  My 400 rest was spent walk/jogging.  And I also finally brought a piece of paper and a pen so I could accurately remember all my splits so I obviously couldn't jog and write that down.  Here is my workout: 
2 Mile Warmup at 10 min pace (6.0MPH)
400: 1:40
400 Rest (Walk/Jog)
400: 1:39
400 Rest (Walk/Jog)
400: 1:38
400 Rest (Walk/Jog)
400: 1:37
400 Rest (Walk/Jog)
400:1:37
400 Rest (Walk/Jog)
400:1:36
400 Rest (Walk/Jog)
400: 1:36
400 Rest (Walk/Jog)
400:1:34
.25 Mile Cooldown
Total Mileage 6 Miles 58 Minutes
So I got through this workout.  It wasn't my best performance but I managed.  It's funny thinking that a 400 used to be my event and I used to come close to breaking 60 (PR is 62.0) and now I'm struggling running almost 35 seconds slower! Oh well!
 
 Dinners:
Last night I made Chipotle Lime Pork Tenderloin inspired by Chaos in the Kitchen
Ingredients:
2 lbs pork tenderloin (2 small tenderloins- I cooked one for this recipe and one for Tuesday)
1/2 cup lime juice
zest from 1 lime
1/4 cup honey
1 tbsp kosher salt
1 tsp garlic powder
 1 chipotle chiles in adobo sauce, chopped
1 tbsp adobo sauce (from canned chilies)

Instructions:

Trim tenderloins of fat and silver skin as much as possible.  Place in a large ziplock bag or other container to marinate. In a bowl combine lime juice, zest, honey, salt, and garlic powder. Stir to combine, then pour half over tenderloins, reserving half for sauce.
To tenderloins add chiles and adobo sauce.  Seal and marinade in fridge. Preheat oven to 425°F.  In a large, heavy oven-proof skillet (like a cast iron skillet- or if you don't have one, cook in skillet then transfer to baking dish), heat enough oil to coat over medium high temperature. Remove tenderloins from marinade and sear in hot skillet on all sides. Place the skillet in the oven and roast tenderloins for about 15 min. Check temperature with an instant read thermometer.  Remove pork from the oven at approximately 140-145, cover pork in skillet with foil. Let rest on the counter for 5-10 minutes or until temperature rises to 150. Remove pork to a cutting board, pour reserved lime juice mixture into skillet with meat juices and heat on high. Allow sauce to reduce and thicken slightly, then pour over sliced pork tenderloins.  If you don’t have enough sauce or it thickens too much you can add a little water and continue simmering it until it is the quantity and thickness you want. Pour reserved lime juice mixture over meat and cover with foil.  Allow to rest 10 minutes.  Then slice and serve with extra sauce.

 
 This was spicy and really tasty.  It was nice to have pork tenderloin again, but truthfully, I haven't missed it that much.  I served this with leftover potato risotto and what else, Kale Chips.  Once I get back into making Kale Chips, I can't stop.  I love them!  Also while the oven was hot last night, I decided to make my spaghetti squash thats been sitting on my counter for over a week.  And I prepped my Sweet & Sour Pork by making a meal kit.  
 
 Robin Miller swears by them and they really are handy.  I got dinner on the table tonight in 15 minutes!

Sweet and Sour Pork inspired by Martha Stewart 
Ingredients:  
1 can (8 ounces) pineapple chunks in juice, drained (juice reserved)
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon cornstarch
Coarse salt and ground pepper
Pinch or two of red pepper flakes
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 pork tenderloin (about 1 pound), halved lengthwise and thinly sliced
6 scallions, white and green parts separated, cut into 1-inch lengths
1 bell peppers (ribs and seeds removed), cut into 2-inch pieces
1 package (10 ounces) frozen broccoli florets, thawed and patted dry
Cooked rice, for serving
Instructions: 
In a small bowl, stir together 1/3 cup pineapple juice, vinegar, soy sauce, cornstarch, and 1/4 cup water. Season sauce with salt and pepper. In a large nonstick skillet, heat 1 tablespoon oil over medium-high. Cook pork, in two batches, until well browned on one side, about 1 minute (pork will cook more later); transfer to a plate (or if you use the prep ahead method, your pork will already be cooked so you can skip this step.) To skillet, add scallion whites and bell peppers; season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring, until peppers are crisp-tender, 6 to 8 minutes. Add pork (along with any juices), broccoli, and pineapple chunks. Whisk sauce; add to skillet. Bring to a simmer; cook, stirring, until broccoli is warmed through, 2 to 4 minutes. Stir in scallion greens, and serve with rice.

 
 This was again good not amazing.  When I finished my portion, I felt like I wanted more so I decided to make Kale Chips.  
 
 And while I was making the Kale Chips, I might as well use up that squash I made last night and make Spaghetti Squash and Kale Gratin inspired by Kalyn's  and Cara's Blog.

Ingredients:

5 cups cooked spaghetti squash strands 
1 tbsp olive oil
1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon of red pepper flakes
1 large onion, diced small

fresh ground black pepper to taste
3 cloves minced garlic
12oz washed, chopped fresh kale
1/2 cup light sour cream
1/8 cup of grated mozzarella cheese
1/8 cup grated parmesan
2 eggwhites

Instructions:

Heat 1 T olive oil in a skillet. Add the chopped onions and cook for a few minutes, until softened. Add the garlic, garlic powder, red pepper flakes and salt and pepper, and cook one minute more.  Add the kale, with water still clinging to it from washing, cover, and let it steam for a few minutes until slightly wilted (it will cook more when the casserole is baked). Spray a  casserole dish with non-stick spray. Combine the sour cream and beaten eggwhites and mix into the spaghetti squash and kale. Transfer half of the mixture to the casserole dish,  and top with mozzarella cheese. Add the remaining mixture on top and sprinkle the top with remaining Parmesan Bake about 30-35 minutes, or until the mixture is bubbling and cheese is browned on top. Serve hot.
I do this a lot.  I have an easy night of cooking planned and then because I wasn't in the kitchen very long, I decide to make something else, even though I don't really have a place for it on my menu this week.  But I'm sure we'll be able to eat it for lunch.  Plus I think my gratin was a little smaller than whats listed above. I tried a couple bites of this and it's AMAZING!  Yum! Cheese and Kale, honestly, what could be better?


Don't forget to check the blog tomorrow, I have a big announcement to make!

3 comments:

  1. I love that spaghetti squash dish! Hope you enjoy it this week.

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  2. I can't wait to eat it for lunch! I didn't have cottage cheese though- I've seen that technique before, I will have to use it next time. But Kale and Cheese, seriously my two favorite foods :)

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  3. I love the sauce you used on your pork tenderloin; as for the kale chips I am intrigued, I tried them once and thought they were awful! I need to try your recipe and then decide finally.

    ReplyDelete