Recipes: pork tenderloin with spicy honey glaze, white chicken chili, strawberry cobbler

Pork tenderloin with spicy honey glaze

This was a really easy recipe. I have just decided after cooking with chipotle in adobo a couple times that it's not my favorite ingredient. Chad liked this more than I did. I prefer the pork tenderloin recipe that you can find in this post. Anyway, here's the recipe:

2 (12-ounce) pork tenderloins, silver skin removed
salt and ground black pepper
1 T vegetable oil

1. Adjust an oven rack to the lower-middle position and heat the oven to 450 degrees
2. Pat the tenderloins dry with paper towels, then season with salt and pepper. Head the oil in a 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat until just smoking. Brown the tenderloins on all sides, reducing the heat if the fat begins to smoke, about 10 minutes. Transfer the tenderloins to a 13 by 9-inch baking dish.

For the glaze:
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup juice from 4 limes
1 chipotle chile in adobo sauce, minced
3/4 t cumin

After browning the pork, pour off the fat left in the skillet. Add all of the glaze ingredients to the skillet, stirring and scraping up any browned bits, and simmer until slightly thickened and fragrant, about 2 minutes.

3. Brush the entire recipe of glaze over the tenderloins before roasting. Roast them until the thickest part registers 135 degrees on an instant-read thermometer, 10 to 15 minutes, flipping the tenderloins over halfway through the roasting time.
4. Transfer the tenderloins to a carving board, cover with foil, and let rest until the pork reaches an internal temperature of 145 to 150 degrees, 5 minutes, before slicing into 1/4 inch thick pieces.

White chicken chili: this recipe was pretty good. It takes quite a bit of prep work (chopping especially), but it is an easy recipe. It also takes a while to cook with all the simmering. It made a LOT of soup, so I saved a little bit for leftovers and froze the rest so we'll see how that works. 320 calories, 4.5 grams of fat, 39 grams of protein, and 9 grams of fiber per 1.5 cup serving.

3 pounds bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts
salt and ground black pepper
1 t vegetable oil
3 medium poblano chiles, 3 medium anaheim chiles, stemmed, seeded and chopped medium
1 medium jalapeno chile and 1 small jalapeno chile, seeds and ribs removed and flesh minced
2 medium onions, minced
6 medium garlic cloves, minced (about 2 T)
2 T ground cumin
2 T dried oregano
8 cups low-sodium chicken broth
2 (15-ounce) cans cannelini beans, drained and rinsed
1/4 cup juice from 2 to 3 limes
1/4 cup minced fresh cilantro
4 scallions, sliced thin

1. Season the chicken breasts with salt and pepper (note: I just used 3 large skinless chicken breasts and it worked fine). Heat the oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat until just smoking. Sear the chicken, skin side down, until browned, about 4 minutes. Flip the chicken and sear on the second side until browned, about 4 minutes. Transfer the chicken to a plate and remove and discard the skin.
2. Add all of the chiles except the small jalapeno, onions, garlic, cumin, oregano, and 1 t salt in a large Dutch oven. Cover and cook over medium-low heat, stirring often, until the vegetables are softened, 12 to 15 minutes. Transfer half of the chile mixture to a clean plate; set aside.
3. Stire in the broth, chicken and beans. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the chicken is fully cooked, about 20 minutes. Using tongs, transfer the chicken to a large plate. Continue to simmer the chili, uncovered, until it has thickened, 35 to 40 minutes.
4. When the chicken is cool enough to handle, shred the chicken into bite-sized pieces, discarding the bones. Stir the shredded chicken, reserved chile mixture, lime duice, cilantro, scallions, and small jalapeno into the chili. Season with salt and pepper to taste. If the chili is too thick, stir in additional water to thin it out. This chili can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

Strawberry cobbler...my favorite recipe of the week! We went to some friends' house for dinner last week and brought dessert. It uses a biscuit-type crust, kind of like an old-fashioned strawberry shortcake. Very easy recipe. 220 calories, 5 g fat, 3 g protein, 3 g fiber (8 servings in recipe)

Filling
2 quarts strawberries (I used the frozen ones in a bag from Wal-Mart. Recipe says if you are using frozen, use the smaller amount of sugar and double the amount of cornstarch. Amounts in recipe are for using fresh fruit)
1/4-1/3 cup sugar
1 t vanilla extract
1 T cornstarch

Biscuit topping
1 C unbleached all-purpose flour
3 T yellow cornmeal
1/4 C plus 2 t sugar
1 t baking powder
1/4 t baking soda
1/4 t salt
1/3 c buttermilk
3 T unsalted butter, melted
1/2 t vanilla extract
1/8 t ground cinnamon

1. For the filling: Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 400 degrees. Toss the fruit filling ingredients together in a 9-inch deep dish pie plate. Place the pie plate on a rimmed baking sheet and bake until the fruit releases its liquid and is hot and bubbling around the edges, 20 to 30 minutes.
2. For the biscuit topping: Meanshile, whisk the flour, cornmeal, 1/4 cup of the sugar, the baking powder, baking soda, and salt together in a large bowl; set aside. In a separate bowl, whisk the buttermilk, butter, and vanilla together; set aside. In a third small bowl, mix the remaining 2 t sugar with the cinnamon; set aside.
3. When the filling is ready, stir the buttermilk mixture into the flour mixture with a rubber spatula until just combined and no pockets of flour remain. Remove the cobbler filling from the oven and stir. Pinch off 8 equal pieces of the biscuit dough and arrange them on top of the hot filling, spaced 1/2 inch apart. Sprinkle the tops of the biscuits with the cinnamon sugar.
4. Continue to bake the cobbler until the biscuits are golden brown on top and cooked through and the filling is again hot and bubbling, 15 to 20 minutes. Cool the cobbler on a wire rack for 15 minutes before serving.