Balsamic Pork Loin morphed into pulled pork sandwiches on Day 2

The pork loin recipe comes from Robin Miller of Quick Fix Meals. I really love balsamic vinegar, so this is a great way to add some rick flavor. You could also do this with pork chops.

Balsamic Roasted Pork Tenderloin

Ingredients:
Two 2 pound pork tenderloins trimmed of silver skin if necessary.
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons of honey
2 tablespoons of Dijon Mustard
2 teaspoons of chopped fresh thyme or about half as much dried.

Directions:

Coat a shallow roasting pan with cooking spray. Place the pork in the pan and season the top and sides with salt and pepper. In a small bowl, whisk together the vinegar, honey, mustard, and thyme. Spoon the mixture over the pork then roast for about 45 minutes or until an internal temperature of 165 degrees F is reached. Baste every 15 minutes if possible.

Let the pork stand for 10 minutes before slicing enough for your dinner, I think this will feed 4-6 people.

The leftover pork can be refrigerated for up to 3 days or frozen for 3 months.

Pulled Pork BBQ Sandwiches:

Ingredients:
The 2nd pork loin from the above recipe and any leftovers
a bottle of your favorite BBQ sauce, I like KC Masterpiece
Kaiser rolls

Take the pork tenderloin and with 2 forks, pull apart the pork so it is shredded. Take the port and put it in a pot, empty the bottle of barbecue sauce in and mix. I would probably add 1/4 to 1/2 cup of water to thin it out a little if it seems too thick. Cook until warmed through and the pork is coated in the sauce.

Warm Kaiser rolls in over or toast them. Serve the BBQ pork on Kaiser rolls, I would add mustard and a pickle, but that is just me.

And there you go...2 meals and basically just one prep and a warm up!

YUMMMMM!

Monterrey Chicken

This is a Lindsey classic, she created this dish off something she ate in a restaurant and its a favorite of ours. I think this is a budget conscience meal and I usually make it as s a two-for meal. Meaning, I make more than I need for the first meal and then jazz it up some and have a totally different meal the next night but with parts from this dish. I will explain below.

Ingredients:
Chicken Breasts (However many you need to feed everyone, I usually make 6 to feed 3-4 people plus have 2 left over for the next meal)
Package of Bacon
Sliced or Cheese (We use Swiss, Cheddar, or Provolone...whatever I have)
Jar of Barbeque Sauce

Take Chicken and wrap a bacon slice around it, place in casserole dish or pan. Cover with bbq sauce and put in oven at 375 for about 45-60 minutes until done. With about 10 minutes left, add slices of cheese over each breast. You can also put this in the slow cooker on low and cook it all day and add the cheese at the end. Lindsey has also made tiny bite sized versions for appetizers.

For the next day, I have a few variations of this meal. My favorite is to take the leftover chicken breasts, sauce, and bacon and cut it up or shred it and add some butter and Frank's Red Hot Sauce and it makes a barbeque buffalo chicken. I put the chicken in a whole wheat tortilla with lettuce, ranch dressing, and any other fixins and make a wrap sandwich. You can also take that same buffalo bbq chicken and toss it on a salad, add baked tortilla strips or chips and you have a bbq buffalo salad.

Lindsey will take the chicken and make quesadillas the next day with it, just shred it up, add cheese and anything else you want to a tortilla and cook it in a non stick or cast iron pan, flip when it gets toasty.

You can also just cut up the Monterrey Chicken and add it to a salad the next day.

I do this because I think it is cost effective since I don't have to buy items for two complete meals, plus it saves on prep time the second day and I don't have to turn on my oven and pay the electricity to have the oven on and my a/c to cool down the hot house from the oven being on. :) I just use the microwave the second day.

Grilled Steak with Balsamic-Rosemary Butter

This is my husband's find! He's a big fan of Bobby Flay and he ran across this recipe while we were bumming around Williams-Sonoma (I adore the fact that he loves that store almost as much as I do?!!) This is perfect to put on a Rib Eye, T-Bone, Filet or NY Strip Steak right after you take it off the grill!

2 cups balsamic Vinegar
2 tsp whole black peppercorns
2 sticks unsalted butter, slightly softened
2 Tbsp fresh chopped rosemary
2 tsp honey
1 tsp kosher salt

Combine the 2 cups balsamic vinegar and peppercorns in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce to about 1/4 cup. Remove from heat, remove peppercorns, stir in rosemary and honey. Allow to cool to room temperature. In a food processor, combine butter, salt and vinegar mixture. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes to set. Grill your perfect steaks (don't over season, a little fresh ground pepper and some kosher salt is plenty) and then dollop the butter on steaks that have come straight off the grill. YOU WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED!!!

Barbecue-Roasted Salmon

Cooking spray
1/4 cup orange juice
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons light brown sugar
4 teaspoons chili powder
2 teaspoons finely grated lemon zest
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon salt
Pinch cayenne pepper
4 (6-ounce) salmon fillets, about 1-inch thick

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Coat a shallow baking dish with cooking spray.

In a small bowl, whisk together orange juice, lemon juice, brown sugar, chili powder, lemon zest, cumin, salt, and cayenne.

Using tongs, add salmon fillets to the prepared pan. Pour the orange juice mixture over the salmon and turn to coat both sides.

Roast for 15 minutes, until a fork can be easily inserted into the salmon.

Food Network

Show: Quick Fix Meals with Robin Miller
Episode: To Your Health

Slow Cooker Beef Short Ribs

OK, these are really yummy -- but they are a heart attack waiting to happen! One serving is approximately 970 calories with 77 grams of fat. So, this is a maybe once a year recipe!

1/3 cup flour
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
2 1/2 lbs boneless beef short ribs (I used bone-in)
1/4 cup butter
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup beef broth
3/4 cup red wine vinegar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup chili sauce
2 Tbsp catsup
2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
2 Tbsp minced garlic
1 tsp chili powder

Combine flour, salt and pepper in a Ziploc bag. Shake to coat. Brown ribs in butter in a large skillet. When browned, place ribs in a slow cooker. In the same skillet, combine remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil, stirring. Pour over ribs. Cover and cook on low 9-11 hours. Approximately 1-2 hours prior to serving, drizzle your favorite BBQ sauce over the top!

Mini BBQ Meatloaf

This is one of my attempts to find quick, relatively cheap meals. We both liked this one.

1lb ground beef
1 pkg(6 oz.) stuffing mix
1 cup water
1 tsp. garlic powder
3/4 cup BBQ sauce
3/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1. Preheat oven to 375. Mix meat, stuffing mix, 1 cup water and garlic powder until well blended. Press into 12 muffin cups sprayed with cooking spray. Make an indentation in the center of each with spoon. 2. Spoon BBQ sauce into center of each meatloaf. 3. Bake 30 min. or until meatloaves are cooked through. Top with cheese; continue baking 5 min. or until cheese is melted.

Makes 6 servings.

**I think next time I make this, I'm just going to mix the BBQ sauce into the meat mixture at the beginning instead of spooning it on top.**

Grilled Corn with Fresh Dill Butter

Easy, easy, easy!!! We also use the fresh dill butter to grill halibut!

6 ears of corn
1/2 lb (2 sticks) butter (don't skimp!)
1/2 cup fresh dill chopped

Peel back husks of corn (don't take them off!). Remove silks. Soak corn with husks in cold water for 20 minutes. Combine butter and chopped fresh dill in a food processor. Remove corn from cold water. Slather corn with dill butter, replace husks and tie with kitchen twine. Place on BBQ over High heat for 20 minutes. Turn once while grilling. Remove from grill and serve with any leftover dill butter. Delicious!!!!