Pork Tenderloin and Pork Chops

We've been eating a lot more pork lately, and I've found many recipes that are great. I am going to share 2 that I make over and over because they are delicious. I buy tenderloins in bulk from Sam's Club. Having a big freezer in the garage is wonderful for bulk shopping and saves us a lot of money.

The first recipe is one that my friend Holly and her husband created and won first or second place at the NC state fair. I can't remember exactly because it was probably 8 or 9 years ago. They called it Oriental, but to me it tastes Polynesian, which is somewhat similar. I will make the disclaimer that the recipe says to boil the marinade, which we have done many times, but technically you're not supposed to reuse a marinade over again- you're supposed to trash it because of e-coli or one of those other yucky diseases. You make the choice.

Oriental Pork Chops

1/4 cup soy sauce
2 Tbsp corn starch
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup ketchup
2 Tbsp white vinegar
1 8-oz can crushed pineapple (in it's own juice)
4-6 boneless pork chops (make sure they're thick enough to slit in half)

Combine first 6 ingredients & juice from pineapple (reserve pineapple for later). Set aside. Cut slits into the sides of the chops to form pockets. Marinate chops for 1 hour or overnight. Stuff each chop with 1 Tbsp pineapple. Reserve marinade. Preheat grill & cook pork chops over med-high heat 10-15 minutes on each side until done. Add remaining pineapple to marinade & boil for 3 minutes. Serve over chops.
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The next recipe is really just something I did based on a Pampered Chef idea. I used the Deep Covered Baker (a must have) to cook a tenderloin. I threw in some other things, cooked some brown rice and made the marinade above as a sauce to compliment. The jerk seasoning can be found in the McCormick section of the grocery store, or Pampered Chef also sells it.

Easy Jerk Pork Tenderloin

1 pork tenderloin (fat trimmed off)
1 bell pepper (your choice of color)
1/2 yellow onion
2 Tbsp jerk seasoning
Olive Oil

In a microwave safe baker (that has a lid), pour 1-2Tbsp olive oil and spread around the bottom. Slice up the pepper and onion and spread across the bottom of the baker. Place the tenderloin on top. Pour 1-2 Tbsp olive oil across the top of the tenderloin and then sprinkle jerk seasoning all over the top of the meat. Cover and cook in microwave on high for 8 minutes. Check center of meat with thermometer. It needs to read 150. If it is not quite to 150, heat for a couple more minutes, then recheck temp. Once you reach 150, cover and let sit in the baker for 10 additional minutes. Then it will be ready to serve!

Again, I served with rice and the "Polynesian" sauce above and some french bread. For the sauce, I mixed everything but the pineapple in a saucepan, brought to a boil until thickened, added the pineapple, stirred and served. This one is easily doubled if you have the deep covered baker, I actually made this recipe doubled this week and shared it with another family, Jeremy and Lindsay, who I think about and pray for daily. They lost their 4 month old son recently. Please pray for them, too.

Hope you enjoy your weekend. It's beautiful outside here, so I hope to spend some time out there this afternoon.