Pork Tenderloin and Sweet-Spiced Onions

This is a "quick" slow cooker recipe. It only takes 2 hours to cook. I made it on Saturday while I was home.

Ingredients:

1/2 tsp Coarsely Ground Black Pepper

1/2 tsp Ground Cinnamon

1/4 tsp Ground Allspice

1/8 tsp Salt

1 lb Pork Tenderloin (I would change this to 1.5 or 2 lb)

2 tsp Canola Oil

1 Large Onion, chopped

1/2 tsp Finely Shredded Orange Peel

1/4 c Orange Juice

2 Tbsp Soy Sauce

2 tsp Cornstarch

2 tsp Sugar

2 c Hot Cooked Whole Wheat Couscous

1/2 c Frozen Peas, thawed

1 oz Sliced Almonds (about 1/4 c)

Combine black pepper, cinnamon, allspice, and salt in a small bowl


Sprinkle evenly over the pork and press onto meat

In a large nonstick skillet heat 1 tsp of the oil over medium-high heat. Brown pork for about 4 minutes, turning occasionally to brown evenly.

Place pork in the slow cooker


Heat the additional 1 tsp of oil and cook the onions until they are browned.

Spoon the onions around the pork.

Pour orange juice over the onion.

Cover and cook on Low for 2 hours or High for 1.5 hours.

Transfer pork to a cutting board and cover to keep warm.

Turn the slow cooker on high.

Whisk together the soy sauce, cornstarch, sugar and orange peel in a small bowl until the cornstarch is completely dissolved.

Stir the mixture with the onions in the slow cooker. Cover and cook for 15 minutes to thicken.

Mix cooked couscous, peas, and almonds together.

Serve the couscous along with the pork. This was a great meal! The pork had a wonderful cinnamon taste. It was also the first time I have ever mixed something in the couscous. I loved the combination.

The recipe called for 1 pound of pork, but I would recommend using 1 1/2 to 2 pounds if you prefer more protein.

Nutrition: (Pork and couscous)

340 Calories

10g Fat

4g Fiber

29g Protein

33g Carbs

8 WW PointsPlus

Recipe from Better Homes and Gardens Diabetic Slow Cooker

Sausage and Black Bean Stew

This is a nice thick stew for a cold winter day. It has definitely started to get really cold around here finally.

Ingredients: (Serves 6)

3 15oz Cans of Black Beans, drained and rinsed

14 1/2oz Can of Fat-free Chicken Broth

1c Celery

3 Cloves of Garlic, minced

1 1/2 tsp Dried Oregano

3/4 tsp Ground Coriander

1/2 tsp Ground Cumin

1/4 tsp Ground Red Pepper (not Cayenne)

1 lb Link Turkey Sausage, thinly sliced and cooked

Slice celery

Mix all of the ingredients except the sausage in the slow cooker.

Cook on Low for 5-7 hours

Remove 1 1/2 cups of the bean mixture and puree in a blender

Stir the puree back into the slow cooker

Slice the sausage. When I made the recipe I missed the word "Cooked". Oops. So we ended up putting the raw sausage in the slow cooker. We just had to cook it a lot longer. (1 hour)

Cook sausage and stew for 30 minutes on Low.

Dinner is served. It was pretty good. It was a little spicy for our tastes. I realized today that the red pepper I used said "Cayenne" in very small text. Oops. Haha

Nutrition:

292 Calories

8g Fat

10g Fiber

29g Protein

40g Carbs

8 WW Points Plus

Recipe from Fix-It and Forget-It Lightly

Shredded Taco Chicken

This one is a lot like the Garlic Chicken.  I made it because I wanted to switch up my salads for the week.  I also received a chili dip mix at a Tastefully Simple party and I thought it would work better spread out on two pounds of chicken because it was soooo spicy.

Ingredients:
2 lbs Boneless Skinless Chicken
1 packet Taco Seasoning (I used the Dip Packet)
1/2 cup Water
I forgot to take the picture of the ingredients but it was pretty basic.

Place the chicken in the bottom of the slow cooker.  Mix the water and the Taco Seasoning together and pour it over top the chicken.

I set it on low for 8 hours and then warm for 2 more hours.

Take a fork and shred the chicken.  It was really moist and came apart really easily.

For dinner I put the chicken on top of Tortilla chips and cheese and then I covered it with lettuce.  It was so good!! Then I had a Crystal Light Margarita with it. :)

I'm having the rest of it for lunch this week.  I'm using it on a salad with black beans, corn and cheese.

Nutritional Info
5.5 Servings (4oz)
WW Points Plus: 3
Calories: 110
Fat: 2.5g
Fiber: 0g
Protein: 23g

Pinto and Barley Soup

I've really started liking bean soup lately and thought this would be worth a shot.  I decided to make it vegetarian to cut down on the calories and fat.

Ingredients:
8 cups Chicken Broth
1/2 cup Dry Pinto Beans
1/2 cup Barley
3 cups Carrots, chopped
1 large Onion, chopped
2 cups Mushrooms, chopped
1 teaspoon Parsley
3 Garlic Cloves, chopped

I did this the night before to give the beans some extra time to soak in the broth.  Then chop the vegetables and mix everything together.

Sorry this turned out so blurry

I set this on low for nine hours and then it sat on warm for 2 more.

The kitchen smelled fantastic when I got home!

Nutritional Info
6 Servings
Points Plus: 4
Calories: 92
Fat: 1
Carbs: 20
Protein: 5

Cinnamon Oatmeal

I never want to spend much time making breakfast at 6am. So I was looking for something I could heat up quickly in the morning. I don't like cereal since it doesn't keep me satisfied for long. Oatmeal is a great option with lots of fiber. :D This is my first time making it in a crock pot.

Ingredients: (Serves 6)
3c Old Fashioned Oatmeal
4.5c Skim Milk
4.5c Water
1t Vanilla
1t Ground Cinnamon
3T Margarine

You can reduce the amount you make pretty easily. Just use the 3:1 ratio for the milk/water to oatmeal.


Spray the slow cooker with non-stick cooking spray.
Mix the oatmeal, milk, water, butter, vanilla, and cinnamon in the slow cooker. You don't even need to melt the butter.

I have heard of a lot of people that had issues with the oatmeal burning to the slow cooker. I made sure that I sprayed the crock and added butter to prevent the burning.

Cover and cook on warm for 9 hours. I cooked the oatmeal on warm, because people suggested this to prevent burning. I did this and the oatmeal was pretty liquidy. None of the oatmeal burned. Next time I will cook on low for 4 hours, and then have my slow cooker switch to warm for 9 hours. Hopefully, this will make thicker oatmeal without burning.

Stir and divide into tuperware for the week. :)

I ate my oatmeal with raisins and brown sugar. It was very good! I'll be enjoying it for the rest of this week.

Nutrition:

249 Calories

7g Fat

4g Fiber

11g Protein

36g Carbs

6 WW PointsPlus

Chicken Stroganoff

I spent the last 4 days on a test trip up north. After a long drive home, I had no idea what I was going to make for dinner the next day. Luckily, I had this recipe that I have always loved to make in the past, and I had all of the ingredients already. :) This is a very simple chicken stroganoff.

Ingredients:

1lb Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast

10 1/2oz Can of Cream of Mushroom Soup

16oz Light Sour Cream

Envelope of Dry Onion Soup Mix

Place chicken in slow cooker

Mix soup, sour cream, and french onion soup in a separate bowl.

Pour mixture over chicken.


Cook on Low for 7 hours or High for 4 hours.

Break chicken into chunks with a spoon.

Serve over noodles or rice.

Nutrition: (Serves 4 without noodles or rice)

369 Calories

19g Fat

1g Fiber

34g Protein

14g Carbs

9 WW PointsPlus

Applesauce Chicken

I had quite a bit of applesauce on hand so I thought I would be resourceful and try Applesauce Chicken.   It turned out really good!  It would be a great Fall dish.

Ingredients:
1 lb Boneless Chicken
1 1/2 cups Applesauce
1 tablespoon Onion Flakes
1 tablespoon Apple Cider Vinegar
1 tablespoon Tastefully Simple Garlic Garlic (or two cloves)
1/4 teaspoon Cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon Pepper

Place the Chicken in the bottom of the slow cooker.  I used a two cup measuring cup to mix everything else together.  Then I spread it out on top of the frozen chicken.

Before work I set the slow cooker on low for seven hours and then it sat on warm for five hours.  It has to sit on warm longer when I leave earlier for the gym.

We really enjoyed this one because it was so different than most chicken recipes.  If you are looking to get out of a rut this would be a great one to try!  I served mine on wheat couscous with broccoli.

Nutrional Info (Not including couscous):
WW Points Plus: 5
Calories: 840
Fat: 7
Protein: 38
Carbs: 10