Pork Medallions with Cherry Sauce

I've learned a lot from marriage.

Our wedding day, May 2007

• Men don't change (see this post)
• Some people (my husband) will never gain weight (see this post)
• Other people's needs matter more than my own
• I can't pretend I'm always altruistic--I'm the baby of the family, and sometimes I'm just too self-centered to take good care of my husband. I do try, though!
• Pork isn't so bad.

Obviously these are not listed in order of importance.

Before we were married, I had only eaten pork once, and it was too salty for my taste.  All of this "the other white meat" stuff fell on deaf ears--I was not interested in eating pork.

The husband, it turned out, loves pork.  So, in trying to be a good wife (see point number 3, above) I decided to try making pork for him.  The first time--not so good (I used this recipe, and it just wasn't for me.)  The next time I was a fan.  Since then--we've eaten it on many occasions, including a Christmas Eve and Christmas dinner that we hosted at our humble home.  Turns out pork has some good things going for it--and I can buy pork tenderloin super cheap at Costco. :)

When flipping through Ellie Krieger's The Food You Crave, I was instantly drawn to the Pork Medallions with Cherry Sauce.  This sounded similar to the Cooking Light pork dish that won me over, so I figured we may as well try it out.

I've never bought dried cherries before--I always cheat and use Cherry-flavored Craisins (don't judge, I know they're so artificial, but we love them!).  I figured I should try these with the real deal though, so I splurged.

The recipe is certainly easy enough--and is on the table in less than 30 minutes!

Pros:
*Quick and easy! (less than 30 minutes)
*Easy to find/keep on hand ingredients
     (and relatively inexpensive)
*"Hands-off" enough so you can prep the side dishes/veggies while the pork cooks

Cons:
*Sauce texture is kind of funky--it's mainly dried cherries with some vinegar
     --I tried pureeing it when we reheated the leftovers, and that helped
*Taste = just okay

I wanted to love this recipe--but it turns out I just don't love dried cherries.  I'd like to say I'll revisit this in the future---but I don't think so.  I did like the fact that you cook the pork in a stainless (or not nonstick) pan--I forgot how wonderful those browned bits are that go in the sauce.  I'll definitely be using my stainless saute pan more in the future!

Nutritional Info:
Calories: 245
Total fat: 9 g
Cholesterol: 92mg
Sodium: 380 mg
Carbohydrates: 31 g
Protein: 8.5 g
Fiber: 0 g