Apricot Pork Tenderloin *Two For One Dinner*

With a sometimes very busy weekly schedule, I love when I can get two meals out of one night of cooking!

My mom gave me this recipe awhile ago and it is a hit with the family. The pork is so tender that you can cut it with your fork and there is a lot of flavor.

What is great about pork tenderloin is that you get two pieces of meat in the package. I cook both pieces the same and slice up one for that nights dinner and save the other for another meal. So far I have made pork tacos, pork burritos, pulled pork BBQ sandwiches, pork enchiladas, and pork tortilla soup with the left over piece. I also occassionally just reheat the other piece and serve it with different sides than the night before.

So this meal will give you a lot of versatility!

Tonight we had the pork tenderloin with chicken broth white rice, greens beans with red bellpepper, and jellied cranberry sauce. 

Here are the recipes...

Apricot Pork Tenderloin

Marinade: in a ziplock bag add 1/2 cup low sodium soy sauce, 1/2 cup chicken broth, 2 crushed garlic cloves, 1 tablespoon dry mustard, 1 teaspoon dry thyme, 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger, salt and pepper.

Add your pork tenderloin to the bag and marinate 3-4 hours.

Cooking: Preheat oven to 325*. Remove pork from marinade. Place pork on a rack (I place my cooling/cooking rack on a foil lined cookie sheet to catch the drippings) and cook for 2 to 2.5 hours. I rotate the pork once half way through cooking so the pork ends up crispy on both the top and the bottom.

Remove from oven when cooked and let set 5 minutes to let the juices settle. Slice at an angle.

Apricot Sauce: in small pot mix 10-12 spoonfulls of apricot jam, 2 tablespoons chicken broth, and 1 tablespoon low sodium soy sauce. Heat over medium heat, serve on table with pork.

Chicken Broth White Rice

Measure out remaining chicken broth. Pout into medium pot, add a little pepper and bring to a boil. Add exactly that amount of quick white rice to pot, stir, remove from heat, cover and let set 6-7 minutes. Remove lid, fluff and let set another 2-3 minutes. Garnish with green onion.

Green Beans with Red Bellpepper

Bring medium pot of water to boil. Add in cleaned, snipped green beans and cook until fork tender. In skilled add in chunk pieces of red bellpepper and drizzle with extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper. Begin to sautee while green beans cook. Drain green beans and pat dry. Add to the skilled and sautee with red bellpeppers until the skin on both starts to brown/blacken some. Sometimes I will squeeze a little lemon juice over them and add some lemon zest.
I hope you enjoy tonights dinner as much as we did!

Tomorrow night I am making pulled pork BBQ sandwiches with the left over pork tenderloin along with corn and tatertots.