Now and Later

Leftovers.

We've all got 'em.

We all get sick of 'em.

When I was at a WW meeting once, they had a cookbook called "Now and Later" on sale for $5 and I grabbed it fast. It's full of 160 recipes of meals to make now and things to turn them into later. I try to do this on my own, but am getting really sick of my creations. You know....pork roast, pork tacos, bbq pork sandwiches, etc, etc, over and over. Gets a little old.

Since being members at Sam's, pork and chicken are some things we always have in the freezer ready to go, but I was really needing a new recipe and some new flavors, so out came the new cookbook. Here you go!

Double Chili Pork Roast

1 1/4 lbs sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks (I used way more than that because we looove sweet potatoes)

1 large sweet onion, cut into wedges

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup Asian sweet chili-garlic sauce

*I could only find "chili garlic sauce" and it smelled super spicy, so I just used about 1/4 cup, added a splash of vinegar and some olive oil to thin it out a bit)

1 tsp adobe chili powder (recipe calls for ancho chile powder, but I couldn't find it)

1 tsp ginger

1 (2lb) bonelss pork loin, trimmed

Preheat oven to 450. Mix potatoes, onion and water in 9x13; bake 15 minutes

Meanwhile, mix the rest of the ingredients together in small bowl

Remove 9x13 place the pork in the center on top of the veggies. Brush the pork and veggies with half the sauce. Bake 10 minutes. Reduce oven to 300 and bake 35 minutes. Brush pork and veggies with remaining sauceand bake for about 15 more minutes, or until temp registers at about 160. (about 15-20 more minutes) Let stand 10 minutes. Cut in half, save half for the later and enjoy the other half for now.

*This had a MAJOR kick to it, but was so good! Like usual, whenever I make a pork outside of a crock pot it always takes longer than it should so the kids got a different supper and we ate after they went to bed.

Now for the later:

Pork and Bok Choy Noodle Bowl

Whole wheat spaghetti (I used about 3/4 of the box)

2 14 oz cans of Chicken broth

2 tbls low-sodium soy suace

2 tbls chili-garlic sauce (I used 2 tsp...again, cuz it's HOT)

1 tsp ginger

1 lb bok choy, quartered

1 1/2 cups carrots cut into thin slices

1 lb reserved pork from the now.

Cook spaghetti. Drain and reserve 2 cups of the liquid.

Mix the broth, cooking liquid, soy sauce, chili sauce, and ginger in the pasta pot; bring to a boil. Add bok choy and carrots; reduce the heat and simmer until veggies are tender (about 5 min). Add spaghetti and pork; cook until heated through. Delicious! It's like a major fancy bowl of ramen noodles.

*I had never worked with bok choy before so I googled and watched a little video on how to prepare/cut it.It was easy!

So, stay tuned for more now and laters. They're good for you. easy, and yummy!