Herb-Crusted Pork Loin Roast

300 Recipes in 1 Year

Recipe # 47

This along with {Jones' Baked Veggies} was our Oscar meal. We just LOVE awards shows around here, so much fun to watch! 

It was when I was making this meal that I kind of had a revelation. I'm COOKING!! Not just hamburger meat, but Herb-Crusted Pork Loin Roast!! Holy cow! It was a good feeling to say the least! The name was just so fancy sounding :) I know I'm not a huge chef, nor will I ever be, and I'm ok with that....As long as I can go into a kitchen and be comfortable in my skin is what this whole challenge is about. I will still have to look up conversions and I am hopefully going to end this year with making my own made up recipe. Here's to hoping!! 

Anyways, about the herb-crusted pork loin roast... As if you couldn't tell, I'm obsessed with 6 Sisters' Stuff and is just another one of their phenom recipes. It can be found {HERE} and it tasted amazing. I halved the recipe for only 1lb of pork loin. With my time I just took about 5 minutes off and kept an eye on it. I don't have a meat thermometer {well, I do, but it was cheap and I don't know how to use it....} so I cut it to check on the middle. 

So, go be fancy and cook you up some herb-crusted anything!!! :)

Jones' Baked Veggies

300 Recipes in 1 Year

Recipe #44

I got this recipe from my friend Kevin, who if I'm not mistaken, got it from his parents. So Jones' seemed to be fitting title for this. Nothing crazy, just a simply healthy veggie dish! I was so excited when I went to shop for this. I LOVE produce. It is such a beautiful thing to look at. One day I hope to have my very own garden...ya know when I retired and have a spare second...haha. I just love shopping for fresh produce, frozen is convenient, but fresh is just the way to go!

The Goods: 

Olive Oil

S & P 

Veggies: You could use any kind you could imagine!! I used...

2 Bell Peppers

2 Yellow Squash

1 large {or 2 small} Zucchini

1/2 Onion

Preheat your oven to 350

Cut all your veggies {de-seed if needed} into even size chunks and spread them over a cookie sheet with sides

Drizzle with olive oil and coat those puppies with salt & pepper, like more than you would think! 

Bake for about 25 minutes and you've got yourself a delightful side dish. 

I thought we'd have plenty of leftovers from this to use on a pizza later this week, but 3 of us demolished it all! {I feel like when you eat healthy you seem to demolish what you can!!}

Chocolate & Heath Bar Pretzels

300 Recipes in 1 Year

Recipe # 42

This is another Leslie inspiration! Her peppermint version's tutorial can be found {HERE}.

I made these when the bestie Jordan came in this past weekend. She was nice and had one, but then went on to snack on the plain pretzels. Dang her and her will power! :) She said she was looking forward to trying the fruit salad I made a couple weeks ago, {HERE}. I had to kindly explain to her that I have to make 300 NEW recipes this year! No Repeats!! HaHa!! 

These pretzels were a hit none the less....and the pretzels {glammed up or by themselves} are great! Try them soon with your favorite candy topping! 

*Tip: For smashing the chocolate, freeze the bar for a couple hours and then smash them when they are still wrapped. Clean up is easy that way! 

No-Bake Cheesecake Cups with Concord Grapes

300 Recipes in 1 Year

Recipe #27

Mom always knows one of the perfect gifts to give me are cookbooks. Christmas is no different! She got me "Sweet & Skinny" by Marisa Churchill.

There are a lot of fun & skinny recipes that I will be trying a lot of! :) I was one happy girl when I unwrapped this!

These cups have 240 calories & 12 grams of fat

Here are the goods you'll need:

• 6 oz of Kraft reduced-fat cream cheese {neufchatel}
• 1/4 cup of powdered sugar
• 2/3 cup frozen lite Cool Whip
• 1 cup grapes, halved
• 1/3 cup finely ground honey graham cracker crumbs

Serves 4

Preparation/Freeze time: 35 minutes

Mix cream cheese and powdered sugar on medium speed for 30 seconds, just until combined. Add the frozen whipped topping and beat for 1 minute longer, until the mixture is smooth and free of lumps.

Spoon about 1/4 cup of the cheesecake mixture into four serving glasses. Freeze for 25 minutes to firm the cheesecakes. Place the bowl with the remaining cheesecake mixture in the freezer as well. 

To Serve: Divide the grapes among the chilled cheesecakes, holding back 8 grapes for garnish. Divide all of the graham cracker crumbs among the cups, sprinkling it over the tops. Spoon the remaining cheesecake mixture from the cowl over the cups, dividing it evenly among them. Top each cup with  grape halves, and serve immediately. 

This was a super easy dessert to whip up quickly! 

A few notes: 

*The recipe serves 4, a small 4. It was a good dessert, but it left me wanting more :( BUT that was due to it being so delish!!!

*Our group was half and half on the grapes. Personally you can't go wrong with grapes with anything and thought it was PERFECT! Like I can't believe I would have never thought to pair grapes and cheesecake before. The other half wasn't too fond of it. My suggestion is that if you read the title and think that grapes sound good, you'll love it. If you read the title and are hesitant, then go with another fruit. 

You will love these petite cheesecake and I'm now officially obsessed with grapes and cheesecake together!

Shredded Santa Fe Chicken

300 Recipes in 1 Year

Recipe # 20, 21 & 22!!!

Oh yeah, I love LEFTOVERS!!! 3 recipes in 1! WooHoo!! 

I got this recipe {HERE} from my friend Leslie's blog. She is always posting the funnest recipes AND craft tutorials!

Some of my {craft} favorites of hers are:

Her {DIY Upholstered Headboard}

Her {Outdoor Pallet Bench}

and Her {Kitchen Table & Chairs Redo}

So so cute!! For sure go check out her cute blog!

Anyways, once she posted the shredded chicken recipe I knew I had to try it soon! 

Recipe # 20

Shredded Santa Fe Chicken Soup. Unfortunately I didn't get a pic of this one :( It just went too fast!! I served it with a little shredded cheese on top and with tortilla chips. Perfect for a cold day, and perfect to freeze your extras!!

Recipe # 21

Shredded Santa Fe Chicken Tacos

I served this on a low carb tortilla with some cheese and some salsa!

Recipe # 22

Taco Cupcakes!

These were a lot of fun to try. I found the idea for these {HERE}. I did alter a few things from the recipe. Basically I took the shredded santa fe chicken recipe and used it as the filling. I couldn't find the wonton wrappers, so I used tortillas instead. I just cut the tortilla into thirds and stuffed them in the cupcake pan. Not perfect, but it worked. My only thing I didn't like about the recipe was the cheese queso. I think if we just went with shredded cheese it would taste better. So the idea was good, just a little personal tweaks I'll make next time! 

Agave Lime Fresh Fruit Salad

300 Recipes in 1 Year

Recipe # 18

I had a couple girls over the other night and thought this was the perfect, EASY dish to put together for a light snack. I'm obsessed with this! How come I haven't been making this my entire life?? It has everything I love: fruit, grapes {I realize that's a fruit, but I really LOVE grapes :)!!}, poppy seeds and a new find agave nectar!! 

I found the recipe {HERE} at the ever wonderful Six Sisters' Stuff. I LOVE that blog! They have a ridiculous amount of recipes!! 

The recipe called for honey, but I decided to go with agave nectar. It is supposed to be a better/healthier sweetener {I tried looking for nutrition facts, but the honey I have is local and didn't have any :/}. It tasted just as sweet but it is less sticky and not as thick. A bonus in my book.

It is definitely more of a summer dish, but I wasn't about to hold off 4 more months to try this perfect salad!! I had to replace kiwi, which isn't in season and therefore nowhere to be found, with raspberries. 

I can't say enough good things about this fruity and delicious salad!! Here is another pretty pic!! 

Mom's Healthy Fruit Salad

300 Recipes in 1 Year

Recipe #15

We paired this together with the {Grilled Chicken Ratatouille} we made the other night. It was a kind of last minute sweet addition to our meal. Mom had picked up some fruit and we had to go for it! We love any kind of fruit salad, especially when its healthy! HEY-O! 

Mom calls this WALDORF SALAD

Ingredients:

FF Vanilla Yogurt

Grapes

Celery

3 Apples

Pecans, or any other nuts {optional}

Cut the grapes in half. Cut, peel and core the apples and chop about 2 stalks of celery. Really, as much as your prefer! Then combined it with 2 cups of yogurt. Refrigerate it for about 20 minutes. Top with pecans or your choice of nut. That's it! Its the perfect last minute sweet dessert to add to all the hard work you did for the meal. Perfection!

*The celery cuts the sweetness of it, so feel free to omit if you would like, personally I LOVE celery. Next time oranges are definitely making it in the mix too! 

Grilled Chicken Ratatouille

300 Recipes in 1 Year

Recipe #14

The name alone intrigued me to make this one! When people asked what I was making that night, I felt very proper and Martha-like....my dream :) I found this recipe on a site that offers 20 easy grilled chicken recipes, which I always have in abundance in my freezer. I found this recipe {HERE}. Check out those other 19 while your at it!! I was very easy, I brought out the classic George Foreman, and grilling the veggies were so delish! My only suggestion would be to marinate the chicken in the rub for maybe 30 minutes or so. It was just a little plain on the inside, other than that it was great. The herb mixture was very good, and it was my first time ever using marjoram. 

As I've stated before in previous posts...I really am working hard on making this "Year of trying NEW THINGS" as healthy as possible. It all reminds me of my very best friend in the whole wide world: JORDAN!  Definitely "JORDAN APPROVED!" She has been begging me to include her in my blog forEVER now :) But as I am talking about leading a healthy lifestyle there is no one more worthy of a special blog post dedication! 

Jordan Jordan Jordan.....what to say about Jordan. HeHeHe...this could get interesting! Jordan has the best personality of anyone I know. We first met at church and a short time later we became inseparable on a trip to CHI-town for a wedding. She is absurdly competitive {for instance, when in Chicago, barely knowing each other, we were in our hotel playing Speed and she made us play over and over until she won the game :)} Little stuff like that... Until this past year she may have been the only real Lion's fan and is not afraid to tell anyone :) It's what everyone loves about her. She has the best silent laugh anyone has ever "heard" and on top of all of that, she is a wonderful person all around, and anyone would be blessed to call her a friend, but I'm lucky enough she is my BESTEST!! :) 

As long as I have known J, she has been a very healthy person. Constant work outs, eating right and dresses cute....always! Anyone would agree. Well, over the past year J has been diagnosed with Crohn's disease {BTW, "Crohn's isn't recognized by my spell check. Hil MAY have gotten it right on that sign :) Jordan, you should get that fixed poster child!}. It's been a crazy year, and she has definitely had her ups and downs with it all. Although this is something that she will have to live with for the rest of her life, she hasn't ever been negative about it. In fact she has done a lot to help raise awareness and is now the "OKC poster child" for the OKC Crohn's walk and will have the opportunity to share her testimony of how God has healed and given her strength. 

While all of this stuff was going on last year it made me think of how interesting her situation is. A person who her entire life has dedicated herself and time to be as healthy as possible, running a full marathon, multiple halves and eats like a rabbit, could be diagnosed with this disease which is normally discovered by living an unhealthy lifestyle, similar to mine!! She is a very strong and wonderful woman and I couldn't say more nice things about her!

Anyways, that is just a few things I could possibly talk about J Brock! One day I'll cook together a blog that just lists all of the hilarity there is to talk about that girl! 

Dreamy Crock Pot Oatmeal

300 Recipes in 1 Year Challenge

Recipe # 11

I absolutely love oatmeal!! LOVE IT! Have you tried Quaker Oatmeal Bars? Have you tried them heated up? It's a perfect on the go breakfast. Well, I first saw this on Pinterest and I was taken aback. How come I have never thought about jazzing up my oatmeal before? Why did I feel the need to confine myself to those packets? Although those packets are nothing short of a wonderful breakfast, I am just in love with this fancier way to enjoy my favorite breakfast food!

Recipe found {HERE}, on this VERY cute site!

The recipe said 7-8 hours and it stuck to the sides a lot and it was a little burnt on the edges, so I highly recommend getting the liners and bumping your time down a bit. Next time I make this I'll post on if the lesser time works better. When I reheated mine I just added a bit of milk and warmed it in the microwave. So good! Must make for a cool Saturday morning sometime!