Latin Baked Chicken

Serves 4
Prep time: 5 minutes, Cooking Time: 40 minutes

1/4 cup fresh lime juice
3 tablespoons lower-sodium soy sauce
2 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons minced chipotle chile in adobo sauce
8 (4-ounce) bone-in chicken thighs, skinned (I used boneless and didn't need to change the cooking time)
Cooking spray

1. Preheat oven to 400*.

2. Combine first 4 ingredients in a large bowl. Add chicken; toss well to coat. Let stand for 10 minutes at room temperature. Arrange chicken on a broiler pan coated with cooking spray, reserving marinade. Bake at 400* for 15 minutes.

3. Place reserved marinade in a blender; process until smooth. Place pureed marinade in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil; cook 3 minutes. Brush chicken with half of cooked sauce; return to oven and bake an additional 10 minutes. Brush chicken with remaining sauce; bake an additional 10 minutes.

Served with yellow rice (with chopped cilantro) and green and yellow wax beans.

Results: I was expecting this to be easier than it was (I thought I'd put it in the oven and be done with it), but the extra marinade steps added a bit to it. Still! This was simple and delicious! I'll definitely make this one again!

Grilled Pork Tenderloin with Chipotle-Peach Glaze

Serves 4

2 teaspoons chili powder
2 teaspoons brown sugar, divided
3/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon salt, divided
1 (1-pound) pork tenderloin, trimmed
1/2 cup peach preserves
1 tablespoon apple-cider vinegar
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon minced chipotle in adobo sauce
4 peaches, halved and pitted

1. Spray grill rack with nonstick spray. Preheat grill to medium-high heat.

2. Combine chili powder, 1 teaspoon of the brown sugar, the cumin, garlic powder, and 1/4 teaspoon of the salt in a small bowl. Rub mixture all over pork to coat. Stir together preserves, vinegar, mustard, chipotle, and remaining 1 teaspoon brown sugar and 1/4 teaspoon salt in small bowl. Set aside.

3. Place pork on grill rack and grill, turning occasionally, 15 minutes. Brush pork with 1/4 cup of the preserves mixture and grill, turning, until pork is glazed and browned, 6-8 minutes longer. Transfer pork to cutting board and let stand 5 minutes.

4. Meanwhile, lightly spray peaches with nonstick spray. Place on grill rack and grill, brushing with remaining 1/4 cup preserves mixture, until slightly softened, about 2 minutes on each side.

Cut pork into 12 slices and serve with peaches. Served with Lemony Fennel and Radicchio Salad from this recipe.

Results: This was my Mother's Day dinner, so I can't vouch for the prep time or the cooking time, but Chris didn't have any problems making it. I think the cooking time for the pork needed to be longer. Peaches are no where near being in season in Colorado, so we couldn't find any. I'm looking forward to making this again with the peaches, which sound really good. The pork was delicious! I loved the flavor the peach sauce added to the tenderloin.

Slow Cooked Pork Carnitas

Recipe from Gina's Skinny Recipes

Serves 8 billion

2.5 lb pork shoulder blade roast, lean, all fat removed
6 cloves garlic, cut into slivers
cumin
adobo (I couldn't find adobo, so I just added some extra sauce from the chipotle peppers in adobo sauce)
garlic powder
3/4 cup 99% fat free chicken broth
2-3 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce (I used 3, p.s. you can freeze any that you don't use)
2 bay leaves

1. Season pork with salt and pepper. In a medium pan, sauté on medium-high heat, brown pork on all sides for about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool.
Using a sharp knife, insert blade into pork, cutting small holes and insert garlic slivers. Season pork generously with cumin, adobo and garlic powder all over.

2. Pour chicken broth in the crockpot, add bay leaves and chipotle peppers. Place pork in crock pot and cover. Cook low for 8 hours. After 8 hours, shred pork using two forks and combine well with the juices that accumulated at the bottom. Remove bay leaves.

Served with tortillas, rice (with cilantro and lime) and avocados.

Results: First, I've got to give Henry some props, because he helped me make this dish. Props, Hen!

Second, this was fantastic! Everyone loved this, except for Voldemort...I mean, He Who Shall Not Be Named. He would only eat the rice and the tortilla (but only the part that didn't touch the pork.) Everyone (except for me, because I'm disciplined like that) went back for seconds, even Henry. The pork had just the right amount of flavor, without being spicy at all. It was a little more difficult to prepare than I like my slow cooker recipes to be, but it was totally worth it.