What a tough week it’s been for me!
I don’t remember work-outs ever being so hard.
Well… work-outs… that’s if we can call them that! I’ve been stuck doing nothing but riding my elliptical all half the week. Why is that, you ask?
Well, let me explain.
On Monday night, my son’s car got stuck in the ditch and in an effort to quickly fly to his rescue, I managed to slip on the ice RIGHT as I stepped out my front door. I lost control of both my feet, which ended up being projected with force WAY higher than their habitual traveling height and that resulted in me landing straight on my coccyx. It must have resonated for a good five minutes as I just sat there, wondering how in the world I would ever manage to get up, or to ever walk again for that matter.
Needless to say I was a couple of days without exercising at all. Well, two days. That’s all I could manage. Then I had to “force” the issue.
And as if that weren’t enough, this silly girl decided to go and get her tongue pierced on Wednesday.
Now that too would be known to cause one pain and that too will drain some a lot of your energy out of you…
(Insert totally unsolicited and heartfelt shout-out, if you’re in the Montreal area and are considering getting a piercing, you should totally go see Pat at Mauve. He’s the most knowledgeable and conscientious piercer ever!)
But wait, I’m not done yet.
This week also happened to be one of my lowest weeks ever as far as my carb intake goes. I can tell you one thing RIGHT now. I am NOT a good candidate for long term low carb / high protein diets. I tried to keep that number at around 100g of carbs per day for 2 weeks, which isn’t even all THAT low, and still, it made me extremely cranky, tired AND very miserable. I had no energy at all and felt like a chain smoker when I trained ‘cuz I was so out of breath. My cardio was absolutely awful.
And did I mention I had no tolerance at all? None whatsoever!
But then again, it also happened to be THE week, you know… yeah, that week. The one that starts with a P and ends with an S, and has nothing but an M to stand in between them.
So as I was saying, tough week it’s been! With a capital T. 
But hey, at least, I managed to drop one more kilo. Only 2 more to go. Now I officially pledge to never go that crazy during the Holidays ever again!
Alright, enough chit chat for now, let’s get on with the eats, shall we?
Tonight’s dish might be a little controversial. I know not everybody agrees that pork is healthy. I’m not even quite sure where I stand myself, to be honest…
But seeing as how pork used to be my ultimate favorite meat and how I have pretty much completely voided it from my diet, including BACON, (omg how I used to loooooooooooove that stuff!), I figure I can at least indulge in a little bit of loin or tenderloin every now and then.
-Yes, brain, even though it is pork meat and pork has a very bad reputation. I’m very well aware of that, thank you very much for your concern.
Still, I find that, just like chicken breasts, it’s a great source of lean protein, it’s a super tender, juicy and tasty cut of meat. Extremely versatile, super easy to cook, which it does in no time at all… really, what’s there not to like?
I think I’ll be having it a little more often, from now on. After all, it had been at least 2 years since I’d had any.
Of course, ham, sausage, greasy roasts and bacon are still crossed off my list, though.
Only the loin and tenderloin shall find their way to my table every now and then.
Unless someone eventually gives me a very good reason to stay away for good.
Until then, I’m giving me the yellow light.
Or is that the green light?
Oh, I can’t wait to take my grill out of the shed, now.
My fingers itch to grill me some meat!
Hmmmm… Barbecued pork tenderloin is simply to die for.
But until then, this beautiful pan seared version will very well do the trick!
INGREDIENTS
- 1 -650g pork tenderloin
- The zest of one orange
- ½ tsp Himalayan or fine sea salt
- ½ tsp freshly cracked black pepper
- 1 tbsp fresh sage, finely chopped
- 1 tbsp fresh rosemary, finely chopped
- ½ cup cranberry sauce
- ¼ cup water,
- ½ tsp fresh rosemary, coarsely chopped
- ¼ tsp freshly cracked black pepper
INSTRUCTIONS
- Mix salt, pepper, sage, rosemary and orange zest in a small bowl.
- Cover your pork tenderloin with this rub then place it in a large resealable plastic bag or wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 6 hours, preferably overnight.
- Preheat your oven at 375F
- Add about a teaspoon of olive oil at the bottom of a large non stick pan and heat it over medium-high heat.
- When pan is real good and hot, add your pork tenderloin and leave it to sear for 2-3 minutes until a nice golden crust forms, then flip it around and repeat with all four sides.
- Transfer your tenderloin to a shallow oven safe dish, cover loosely with foil and cook until internal temperature reaches 145F (about 20-25 minutes)
- Take your tenderloin out of the oven and let it rest for about 10 minutes before to slice and serve.
- Serve with cranberry sauce, if desired, and a side of fresh vegetables. Brown or wild rice would also work beautifully with this.
- To make the cranberry sauce, simply mix all the ingredients in a small food processor until well smooth and well incorporated.
Sorry to hear about your son’s car (hope that resolved ok) and your coccyx… ouch! I fractured my coccyx giving birth so I know how painful that can be (and how often we’re reminded of it
). This dish is brimming with light Sonia. Just looking at the beautiful colours and luminous photography is warming me up. And that’s a good thing, cuz baby it’s COLD outside!! 
.
You fractured your coccyx giving birth? How on earth did that ever happen? OMG! As if giving birth alone wasn’t painful enough! Do share that story, please, I am curious! Plus, I simply love your stories!
Oh, and thank you so much for yet another amazing, heart warming comment. Seems like you’ll just never cease to make my day, as well as inspire me to take even better pictures. Thank you, Kelly. Most sincerely. Thank you.
ps… I don’t know how cold it is in your part of the country, but it’s getting really, really cold here. The temperature is supposed to drop below 30 as of tomorrow. That’s the part I hate the most about winter. Even more so than the crazy almost 2 meters of snow that we got over the course of a couple of weeks earlier in December. Gawd I hate winter! But hey, if it weren’t for winter, I don’t think we’d be making much comfort food!
Mind you… I think chilly, windy fall would suffice!
The good ol’ fashion way… pushing. 10 pound baby, natural birth
. I’ll admit, it was a tad painful (or shall I say invigorating 
).
Invigorating, eh? Right! I too, gave birth to a 10 pound baby. It was quite invigorating alright…
Thank goodness that’s all behind us now! 
Now that’s a meal! And surely it would give you heaps of energy. Really vibrant, cheering colours too – like Kelly said.
Thank you Suzanne! Glad you like!
I can definitely relate to the energy/mood feelings when going too far down the road as far as low carb/high protein…The skin is wonderful…but the lack of “get up and go” has me scrambling for a sweet potato or rutabaga fix…
Could this be due to the COLD weather and post-Noël duldrums?!..At any rate..your pork tenderloin with the cranberry orange garnish looks positively scrumptious and sounds so “right” for this time of year..I love pork tenderloin..fast…not expensive…lean and YUM…I will definitely put this in the weekend dinner rotation..starting THIS weekend..Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts/musings AND fabulous recipe.
Ah, but thank YOU very much Donna for taking the time to leave such a lovely comment. And thanks for letting me know I am not alone suffering from that low carb regimen. You should see the HUGE sweet potato I bought this past week-end. I just can’t wait to eat it. I think I’ll have the whole thing to myself, all in one go!
And you’re quite right… the cold weather doesn’t help. I guess winter is definitely not a good time to go low carb.
This looks absolutely amazing. I love your blog!! So inspirational.
Thank you so much Sarah. Your kind words are greatly appreciated!
I am using my tablet “Christmas gift to me!” for the first time and came across your blog. I love this easy recipe and looking forward to trying it this weekend. The colors are beautiful and only add to the joy of presenting a well balanced meal.
Thank you, Veronica! I appreciate your kind words. And what better use for a tablet than to browse food and recipes? You truly rock! Glad you landed on my site, too!
So am I. Tenderloin on the table and looks and smell fantastic…let’s eat!
Right on! Hope that dinner was satisfying, Veronica!
Wow, this is my type of healthy meal! Love it! And it looks so pretty with those cute orange cherry tomatoes on the side