Budget-Friendly Pork Tenderloin
Pork Tenderloin with Apples, Cabbage, and Onions is a one-stop, budget-friendly, high-protein, low-carb, one-pot skillet supper that’s filling and healthy.
How’s that for checking the “What to Make for Dinner?” boxes?
The hefty addition of apples and vegetables effectively (and healthily) extends the number of servings. It’s great for weeknight dinner, offers up great leftovers, and can be served at a casual dinner party, too.
One recipe of Pork Tenderloin with Apples, Cabbage, and Onions provides 4 ounces of meat, half an apple, half an onion, and a cup of cabbage per person, with less than 700 calories for the entire meal!
Real-Life Health and Wellness
Welcome to the Good and Good for You™ newsletter, a quick 5-minute read with real-life ideas and info on ways to help improve your day-to-day, including a tasty and healthful recipe.
This issue shares:
- Best Life Living Tip: An Apple a Day, for Real…🍎
- Self-Care Strategy: Seasonal Updates 🍁
- Ideas and Inspiration: Unshuck the System 🦪
- Good and Good for You™ Recipe: Pork Tenderloin with Apples, Cabbage, and Onions 🐷
Thanks for reading. I know you value your time and want to use it wisely. This is real-life info that can help you stay on track with health and wellness. I read and research to “fill my cup” with good stuff and good people, and want to share it here with you.
Read on for more — including this hearty, fall-loving healthy recipe for Pork Tenderloin with Apples, Cabbage, and Onions that’s ready in 30 minutes or less.
Best Life Living Tip
“An Apple a Day Keeps the Doctor Away” is not just a catchy phrase, it’s sound nutritional advice.
This issue’s best life living tip is to add fruit to savory dishes. The recipe for Pork Tenderloin with Apples, Cabbage, and Onions is a multi-layer blend of flavors and textures. Adding fruit to savory dishes adds fiber and nutrition and lightly sweetens the recipe without added sugar.
Adding apples to savory dishes offers:
- Improved digestion – pectin, found in apples, is a fiber that acts as a prebiotic and serves as fuel for the good bacteria in your gut.
- Antioxidants – apples are loaded with antioxidants with anti-inflammatory properties and support immune function.
- Brain health support – data suggests that the antioxidants in apples, particularly the flavonoid quercetin, may help protect brain cells from oxidative stress and inflammation, which are associated with cognitive decline as we age.
Savory Fruit and Meat Combinations
I generally have 2 vegetable side dishes for supper and skip the rice, pasta, and potatoes. In this recipe, the apples act as the “starch,” becoming more savory than sweet while cooking alongside the meat and cabbage.
Make the fruit part of the meal, not just a garnish.
- Apples get the gold star for versatility — pork, chicken, beef, sausages, duck, lamb, and more..
- Roast a spatchcocked chicken on a bed of seedless grapes on the vine.
- Sweet tart plums, apricots, and peaches complement the rich flavor of beef. Toss a peach on the grill with the steaks!
- Citrus fruits need slower cooking, but melt into tart and tangy goodness like this Spicy Clementine Chicken.
Self-Care Strategy
As we head into fall, the change of seasons is a terrific time to reassess your self-care routines. Our bodies and minds are deeply connected to seasonal rhythms. Just as the seasons change, so do our bodies, moods, and energy.
It’s easy to just stay on auto-pilot, when we need to pause and relect.
- Refresh Your Routines: Shift your schedule to match the season – earlier evenings, mindful movement, and nourishing rest. (I’ve added lymphatic drainage movement to my mornings and do a quick 3-minute session before I leave my bedroom every morning.)
- Eat with the Season: Choose hearty soups, seasonal fruits and vegetables, and warming spices to fuel your body. (Apples for the win!)
- Protect Your Energy: Say no when you need to, prioritize rest, and give yourself space to recharge. Do you need to reboot your responses? (If you feel resentful or put upon, it’s not going to get better by itself.)
Good and Good for You™ Spotlight
With groceries so expensive, it’s important to maximize their use and prevent food waste.
One way to do it is to make “potassium broth.” Effectively, it’s a clean-out-the-fridge vegetable stock, and is a fantastic way to use up every little bit.
Potassium broth is a great no-to low-calorie, no-fat sipping “snack” that’s good and good for you. Since it’s liquid, it’s filling! I included it in my little WW-inspired weight loss booklet, Fresh Start. It’s been a part of my weight loss and health journey for years.
Ideas and Inspiration
A few years ago, I was able to go out on Frenchman’s Bay in Maine with Graham Platner, an oyster farmer. It was amazing to see his passion for his work, sustainable seafood, and his home state.
Graham is a Marine and a US veteran who fought for our country in Iraq. He’s now running for Senate. “Unshuck the System” is the name of his campaign tour, and he’s just the man to do it.
(Candidly, I have rarely in my life met a man as manly as Graham. Liberal snowflake? Uh, no. I mean, “No sir.”)
I am grateful to see a hard-working, real-life citizen, not a career politician or corrupt millionaire, running for office. We need more of this across the entire country in both parties.
If you want to learn more about Grant and his platform, please take a look at his website, GrahamforMaine.com
Make it Count
Hope you like this recipe for Pork Tenderloin with Apples, Cabbage, and Onions. It’s a flavorful, easy recipe for fall while apples are in season and can be easy on the wallet, too.
Look for tenderloins in two-packs, and to further maximize your savings, consider making two different meals from a single two-pack.
Thanks so much for reading. Please follow along on IG @virginiawillis for more best life tips, self-care techniques, inspiration, and healthy recipes. As long as you’re doing what’s Good and Good for You™ more often than not, you’re on the right track.
You can do it!
Bon Appétit Y’all!
Virginia Willis
Pork Tenderloin with Apples, Cabbage, and Onions
Ingredients
- 1 teaspoon pure olive oil
- 1 pork tenderloin pork ¾ to 1 pound total
- ½ teaspoon coarse kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 2 sweet onions coarsely chopped
- 2 cloves garlic
- 2 apples such as Honeycrisp, cored and sliced
- 4 cups loosely packed sliced cabbage about ¼ head
- 3 bay leaves, preferably fresh
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 350°F. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Season the pork with half the salt and pepper. When the oil is shimmering, add the pork and sear until well browned, about 2 minutes per side.
- Scoot the meat to one side. To the same skillet, add onion, garlic, apples, and cabbage. Season with remaining salt and pepper. Lift the pork with a pair of tongs and stir the vegetables and apple to combine. Place the tenderloin on top.
- Transfer to the oven and bake until the internal temperature registers 145°F when measured with an instant-read thermometer, 8 to 10 minutes. Serve immediately with mustard, if desired.
Nutrition
Discover more from Good and Good for You™ with Virginia Willis
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
