So It Begins...

Today is the day folks.... I am starting my quest for healthy food perfection. It was really hard to choose my first venture, I wanted something impressive, but I also don't want to burn it.

So I chose, what I believe to be a perfect first choice recipe.

Roast Stuffed Pork Tenderloin

It's a beautiful, lean pork tenderloin stuffed with a mixture of broccoli, oat bran, walnuts, bread crumbs and apricots. The picture looks amazing and I can't wait to cook it this evening. I almost feel like a fraud because I had to leave out the oat bran. My local Target didn't have any. That's one thing I hate about super store chains. They never have the healthy stuff. I am also substituting dried apricots for fresh as Target did not have these either.

I'm under a lot of pressure tonight, seeing as how I am cooking for my biggest food critic, Maury. He's a very picky eater. I am confident he will love it though. We shall see :)

Here is the recipe:

1/2 c. cooked broccoli

1/4 c. finely chopped parsley

1/2 c. bread-crumbs

1/4 c. fine oat bran

1/3 c. chopped walnuts

1/3 c. chopped apricots

2 Tbsp. water or low sodium chicken stock

2 Pork tenderloins - I chose 1 large one

1 Tbsp. black peppercorns, coarsely chopped

1 tsp. dried sage

1 tsp. dried rosemary

1 tsp dried thyme

Sea Salt

Preheat oven to 350

In medium bowl combine broccoli, bread-crumbs, oat bran, walnuts, parsley, apricots and water/chicken stock. Mix well, set aside.

Place tenderloin on cutting board and butterfly it, cutting almost all the way through but not quite. Flatten the tenderloin a little using a cleaver or meat hammer. Spoon the stuffing inside.

Fold one side over and secure with toothpicks - TRICK: soak the toothpicks in water beforehand to avoid burning.- Sprinkle with dried herbs, peppercorns and sea salt.

Bake in baking dish for 25-40 minutes or until meat thermometer reads 160. Remove meat and cover with foil and let stand for 5 min.

Enjoy!

RESULTS:

So the pork was okay. I am little disappointed. I expected this savory, delicious meal and it was just mediocre. The stuffing was a little too sweet for my taste, compliments of the apricots I am sure. Pork is really hard to cook, I think. It's all about temperature and timing. Maury didn't have a meat thermometer, so it was really difficult to tell if the meat was done or not. I will probably revamp the stuffing. When I think of stuffing, I want something hearty. This was too much vegetable and not enough stuff, you know what I mean?

I paired it with some Uncle Ben's 90 minute Whole Grain Medley rice and a tossed Ceasar Salad. Those were yummy :)

All in all I am pretty disappointed in my first recipe. Oh well, on to the next.