29 January 2009

Healthy Family Lunch



In my quest to be more French, I have been making a big Sunday lunch so, as a family, we can eat leisurely, spend time together, have fuller bellies, and then enjoy a small dinner later on.  However, Sundays are the earliest day of the week for me as I need to prep my Sunday school classroom and have choir practice all before our 8:30 am church service.  That means if I want to have a nice lunch prepared, I need to pull out my trusty crock pot.  This past Sunday I made Apple-Cranberry Pork Roast that I adapted from my new favorite cookbook, Fix it and Forget it:  Big Cookbook.  I threw everything in the crock pot at 6:30 am, right before I ate breakfast, and it was ready to go for lunch at 12:30 pm!  Right before serving, I quickly sauteed some spinach and garlic for a healthy side dish.  I am sending this recipe over to Michelle at What's Cooking for her Healthy Family Dinners which is the January theme for Monthly Mingle.  Isn't the picture pretty too?  Another one of my hubby's.  Enjoy!

Apple-Cranberry Pork Roast with Homemade Apple-Cranberry Sauce by Joie de vivre.  Adapted from Fix it and Forget it:  Big Cookbook

Ingredients:
2 lbs. pork tenderloin
2 Tbls. olive oil
3 c. low sugar apple juice
3 Granny Smith apples, peeled and chopped, or just chopped if you like a more rustic applesauce with the peels
1 c. frozen cranberries
3/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. black pepper

Directions:
1.  Heat a skillet over medium-high heat.  Add the olive oil and brown the pork tenderloin on all sides.
2.  Add the pork tenderloin to the insert of a 4-5 quart crock pot.  Add all the other ingredients.
3.  Cover and cook on LOW for 6-8 hours.
4.  Remove pork tenderloin and let rest 5 minutes on a cutting board before cutting.
5.  Remove apples and cranberries to a bowl with a slotted spoon.
6.  Mash apples and cranberries adding liquid from the crock pot as necessary to achieve desired consistency.
7.  Serve apple-cranberry sauce alongside sliced pork.



Sauteed Spinach with Garlic by Joie de vivre



Ingredients:
10 oz. spinach, washed and dried
1-2 cloves garlic, finely minced
1-2 Tbls. olive oil
balsamic vinegar.

Directions:
1.  Heat a large pot over medium-high heat.  Add olive oil and saute garlic for about 30 seconds. 
2.  Add the spinach and stir with tongs until completely covered with oil.  Cover the pot for 2-3 minutes to let the spinach wilt.
3.  Remove the spinach and sprinkle lightly with balsamic vinegar.

28 comments:

Beth (jamandcream) said...

I've recently bought a slow cooker so will be bookmarking this one. Sounds delish

CurryLeaf said...

Love the spinach.Yum with balsamic.Must try.

Chef E said...

You did a great job capturing the image of both dishes...I am running out to buy spinach right now!

Tangled Noodle said...

Love these both. I really need to use my slow cooker more often.

The Peanut Butter Boy said...

I am a huuuuge fan of pork tenderloin, those look like the perfect ingredients to go with it too. I need to get myself a slow cooker, those things work magic!

Reeni said...

This sounds great! What a lovely lunch!!

anudivya said...

That was quite simple and yet healthy. Work it!

Peter M said...

I'll take a heaping pile of that garlic and spinach!

Meg said...

Yum! The spinach looks especially yummy!

test it comm said...

This does sound like a healthy and a good lunch.

Bob said...

Those look great! I have been wanting to try to eat my main meal at lunch too... it just never really works out. :/

Anonymous said...

I would love to try adding balsamic vinegar to spinach. That's a great idea!

Elizabeth said...

I don't eat pork unfortunately, but apple cranberry sauce sounds great!!

The Duo Dishes said...

The pork roast sounds so great...sweet and tart and homey. Just great.

Elizabeth said...

I don't eat pork roast but apple cranberry sauce sounds really yummy!

Raaga said...

I've been trying to recreate some of the "settings" that were so familiar during my childhood... I so know what you mean. The dish looks delish. I will try the spinach garlic saute soon.

Pravs said...

nice recipes...it's great to have a crockpot handy for such meals.

Anonymous said...

Ah, spinach and garlic, can't go wrong with that!

Purva Desai said...

It looks indeed a healthy lunch.....will try ur healthy version soon.

Sunny said...

I can't wait to try out the spinach recipe... I love spinach!

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the blog visit! I am a new fan of your blog...you have some fantastic recipes here!

That meal sounds so good...I really like spinach prepared that way, I could eat an entire pan by myself:-)

Sheila said...

What an incredible meal! Not only does it look great (and I am certain that it tasted fantastic), but it is healthy and easy.

Thank you!

Stash said...

This is exactly what I'm craving right now. It's seasonal, it mixes fruit into a savory dish, greens, GARLIC... the list goes on

Anonymous said...

Not often that one gets to say, hey, that spinach looks terrific!

Somehow, though, I can never cook spinach without a few pine nuts & raisins sneaking their way in there too...all by themselves...

Abitofafoodie said...

Love the flavour combinations here. I don't cook enough pork - this dish indeed makes a wonderful Sunday lunch.

Alicia Foodycat said...

That looks so delicious and so healthy! Well done you for being conscious enough to prepare food at that time of the morning.

Meeta K. Wolff said...

wow! this is a spectacular dish! looks absolutely d'lish and perfectly healthy! thanks for bringing this along to the mingle!

Diana said...

I love spinach. That sounds really yummy. What age do you teach Sunday School? I hope to start having Sunday lunches that we can invite new people to church or friends to like people used to do before Sunday became the busiest day for restaurants. It'll have to wait til we're doing a little less on weeknights though. Sunday is our one day of rest not doing ministry right now!

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