Peppercorn Coated Pork Loin & Pineapple Salsa Salad$5.13

Pork has been both good and bad in the past few years.  Some pork is good - some pork is bad.  For some reason our world tends to put a ton of salt with pork - bacon, ham, etc. are all cured in salt.  Too much sodium is just plain bad for you... I think the world skipped from bacon and ham and salt to "pork is bad for you".  Hogwash (haha)  Pork is great protein, and it doesn't have to be high in fat - depending, of course, on what cut of pork you choose.  Tonight we're going with a pork tenderloin.  Because of where the tenderloin "grows" on the pig, it's not going to be a high-fat cut of meat... it will be lean, it will be tender, and it is not an expensive cut of pork (as I've already blogged about).

Pork Tenderloin
Both Barbara and I got lucky and found marinated peppercorn tenderloins at the Aldi.  If you didn't, just make a rub out of ground peppercorns, a tiny amount of cayenne pepper, maybe a few red pepper flakes - to do a rub, wash the meat, pat it dry with disposable paper towel type things (ick, I know, but worse to reuse something that has rubbed down raw meat!), then pat (with a bit of pressure) the peppercorn mixture all over the meat.

Pork tenderloin is so super easy to bake - it takes 20 minutes per pound at 400 degrees.  If you have a 1 lb, 4 oz roast, you'll need 25 minutes in the oven.  All we do is remove the tenderloin from the package, place it in a baking dish (spray it if you want, I don't usually), and insert in oven.  After the appropriate amount of cooking, remove from oven, cover with aluminum foil (or some other heat-trapping type product, like a pan lid!!!), and let the roast (for that's what a tenderloin is, a mini roast) REST for about 5 to 10 minutes.  Slice into 1/2 inch thick slices and serve.

Pineapple Salsa Salad
2 cups remaining pineapple salsa (recipe on Monday)
1 cup black beans.59
1 cup cooked frozen corn.59
2 Tbsp cilantro
1 tsp cumin

wash can of black beans, open, drain, rinse, and drain again.  Place 1 cup frozen corn kernels in a microwave safe dish - add 1-2 tbsp (no more) water, cover with an inverted plate, and microwave for about 2-3 minutes.  You want cool but cooked corn as this is a cold salad - most frozen corn is flash cooked already, so all you really are doing is warming it, so 2 minutes is probably long enough!

Mix pineapple salsa, black beans, corn, cilantro and cumin in a large bowl, let sit for 15 to 30 minutes (while the pork is cooking) and then serve alongside the pork.

Very delicious, very nutritious, and VERY EASY. 

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