recipes

Good And Good For You Challenge: Pork Quesadillas And A Great Giveaway

February 18, 2012 By Blonde Mom 50 Comments

Photo courtesy of the Pork Be Inspired official website.

This giveaway is closed. The initial winner did not contact me so the new winner is Donna George. Congrats Donna! Please look for your email in your inbox.

It’s the final week of my Good and Good For You Challenge and pork and me…we’re like this.

Have you been following along with my adventures in pork? I’ve tried three great new recipes so far during this healthy cooking challenge through Publix and the Pork Board:

Pork Tenderloin With Lemon Garlic Sauce

Game Day Chile Wraps

Pork Roast With Sweet Potatoes and Granny Smith Apples

This week’s lean cut of pork on sale at Publix is Pork Sirloin Cutlets and I made Pork and Mushroom Quesadillas to go with the theme of Healthy Comfort Food Dinners. Yes comfort food CAN be healthy! Woot! We had leftover mushrooms from pizza night on hand, as well as flour tortillas, and my entire family loves Tex/Mex food so I knew this would be a hit! I used Gruyere cheese and the flavor was amazing. This is definitely a keeper recipe!

Check it out…(and scroll down for a giveaway).

Pork And Mushroom Quesadillas

Ingredients

12 ounces pork cutlets, pounded 1/4-inch thick (I bought thin ones, not pounding required)
1/4 cup olive oil with garlic, OR olive oil, divided
salt , to taste
6 ounces fresh mushrooms, sliced
1/3 cup green onions, sliced
8 ounces Swiss cheese, OR Gruyere cheese, shredded (2 cups)
4 large flour tortillas, (9-to 10-inch)
Directions

Stack cutlets and cut crosswise in half, then cut each stack lengthwise into matchstick-size pieces.
Heat 1 tablespoon oil in 12-inch nonstick skillet over high heat; stir-fry pork for 2 minutes or until no longer pink.
Remove pork from skillet with slotted spoon.
Season to taste with salt.
Add 1 tablespoon oil to skillet.
Add mushrooms and onions to skillet; stir-fry for 1-2 minutes or until crisp-tender.
Remove from skillet.
Wipe skillet with paper towels.
To assemble, sprinkle 1/4 cup cheese over half of each tortilla.
Top each with pork and mushroom mixture.
Sprinkle each with 1/4 cup of remaining cheese.
Fold tortillas in half; pressing gently.
Add 1 tablespoon oil to skillet.
Cook quesadillas, 2 at a time, over medium heat for 2-4 minutes or until golden and cheese is melted, turning once.
Remove quesadillas from skillet; loosely cover with foil to keep warm.
Repeat with remaining 1 tablespoon oil and quesadillas.
Cut quesadillas into wedges to serve.
Serves 4.

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes

And now for a fun giveaway!

One lucky BlondeMomBlog.com reader will receive a great prize packet that includes:

8 $5 pork coupons (total value of $40)

Water bottle

Reusable grocery bag

Digital meat thermometer

Pedometer

Recipe book

To enter the giveaway, leave a comment on this blog post letting me know which one of the pork recipes I’ve posted sounds like one you’d love to whip up in your own kitchen.

For additional entries, share this recipe or another one of my #Publix4Pork challenge recipe posts on your Twitter, Facebook, or Pinterest accounts (please leave a separate comment for each of these steps here on this post with the link). Limit to four total entries per person.

The giveaway ends at midnight CST on Tuesday, February 28. I’ll choose a winner at random from all eligible comments. The winner will be contacted via email and must respond within 2 days to receive the prize. Thanks ya’ll and good luck!

Disclosure: I am working with the National Pork Board, Publix, and The Motherhood to share with you great recipes using pork and help promote the Good and Good for You Challenge. I am being compensated for this campaign and also received coupons and a gift card to Publix to help facilitate these recipe reviews, but all opinions expressed on my blog are always my own.

Filed Under: Bloggy Things, Reviews & Giveaways 50 Comments

Good And Good For You Challenge: Game Day Pork Chile Wraps

February 3, 2012 By Blonde Mom 2 Comments

Photo courtesy of Pork Be Inspired

Sunday is the big game and whether you are in it for the love of the game or just to critique the commercials, you’re definitely going to be indulging in some food and beverage, right? My Good and Good For You Challenge with the Pork Board and Publix recipe of the week is for delicious, and easy, Game Day Pork and Chile Wraps.

This recipe, like last week’s for pork medallions and a lemon garlic sauce, was so simple it almost sounded too good to be true. It was another winner, though, and had my husband going back for seconds. I served the wraps with black beans and sweet potato fries mainly because that is what we had on hand. It ended up being a great weeknight dinner that took very little time to prepare. Now my girls did not eat the assembled wraps, but they loved the individually sliced strips of pork.

Game Day Pork and Chile Wraps

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients
12 ounces boneless center cut pork loin chops, 3/4-inch thick, lean
1 tablespoon olive oil
Salt and black pepper
4 8-inch Tortillas, 98% fat free
1/4 avocado, pitted, peeled, thinly sliced
1/3 cup red onion, thinly sliced
1 4-oz can diced green chiles
4 cups mixed salad greens, (about 2 oz)...note that I did not add any salad greens and we still thought the wraps were really tasty

In medium skillet over medium-high heat, warm oil. Sprinkle pork chops with salt and pepper and cook about 3-4 mins. per side until browned and internal temp. reaches 145 °F, Place chops on a plate and let rest 5 mins.
Cut chops into 1/4-in. slices.

Microwave tortillas on high until slightly warm and softened, about 30 sec. Place tortillas on workspace and top with pork, avocado, onion, chiles and salad greens stopping 2 inches short of one edge.

Working one tortilla at a time, fold one side of tortilla up and over fillings. Tuck fillings in tightly, then fold in the 2-in. edge. Continue rolling tortilla toward the other side, securing with toothpick if necessary. Repeat with remaining tortillas and serve.

Serves 4

Calories: 290 calories
Protein: 23 grams
Fat: 10 grams

Follow along with all the other Good And Good For You bloggers on Twitter with the hashtag #Publix4Pork. You can also join the challenge on the official Pork Be Inspired Facebook page.

Next week I’ll be featuring another recipe I’ve tested out in our kitchen with the pork cut of the week on sale at Publix, pork roast. The following week I’ll wrap up this series (get it…wrap) by posting a great giveaway that includes $40 worth of pork coupons.

Do you have any good wrap recipes to share?

Filed Under: Domestic Diva 2 Comments

Soup, It’s What’s For Supper

January 27, 2012 By Blonde Mom 5 Comments

So far so good on my New Year’s resolution to eat dinner at home EVERY night this month! I feel like I’m running in an organized mom marathon and WINNING (for a change). Yes! I may pass out at the end of the month, gripping my crockpot, but I’m in the home stretch now.

One of our favorite cold weather meals is soup. January is National Soup Month and since I’m working with Vicks this winter I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to share with you a recipe I found on in a video on their new Nature Fusion YouTube channel which features Denene Millner from My Brown Baby. This “one pot wonder” chowder recipe from chef Curtis Stone sounds perfect for an easy (sign me up now, please) and hearty family dinner this winter!

Be sure to stop back by next week for another Vicks post. I’m giving away one of our winter must haves, a Vicks humidifier! We have gas heat in our home, which is really drying, and have been running our humidifier in our bedroom since before Christmas.

Do you have any good soup recipes to share? Please link up in the comments or paste them there if you’re not a blogger! This Tex/Mex chili recipe is a favorite of mine and one we usually enjoy while watching football.

Disclosure: I am being compensated for my work with Vicks this winter as a member of the Vicks Blogger Brigade but, as always, the words and stories I share with you are all my own.