Brown Sugar and Mustard Pork Tenderloin

It’s been nearly a month since my last post. I've cooked many meals since then, but due to a very busy schedule, lots of nights with one parent absent, and lack of planning, my "recipes" have fallen into three categories:

1. They are already on the blog because they're my favorites.
2. I'm not proud of them (hot dogs, chicken nuggets, macaroni and cheese...you get the idea)
3. They don't require a recipe (bags of salad, grilled cheese, and spaghetti)

With that being said, you can see why I haven't posted anything about my meals. However, I found some inspiration this week. In fact I've made two new recipes in two days and they were fabulous!

Here is the deal - I get home from work around 5:30 and want to have dinner on the table by 6:30.  Most nights, this is possible, some nights I need to get home earlier OR prep in advance to have a decent meal on the table. This meal requires only a couple of minutes of prep and less than 1 hour of cooking/resting time: TOTALLY do-able on a weeknight.  Plus, you can make your sides (for me it was mashed potatoes and asparagus) while it cooks and rests. 

Highlights: The recipe requires no butter or oil. It bakes in a foil packet making it very moist and juicy. The flavors are HUGE, with only a couple of ingredients. The original recipe called for only one pork tenderloin - most packages come with two and I wanted leftovers, so below is the doubled recipe with a little modification. 

Brown Sugar and Mustard Pork Tenderloin

2 pork tenderloins (about 1 lb. each)

1/2 cup whole grain mustard

1/2 cup light brown sugar

2 teaspoons thyme, minced

1 large yellow onion, thinly sliced

Salt and pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Generously season tenderloin with salt and pepper. Set aside. In a small mixing bowl, whisk together mustard, brown sugar and thyme.

Place a large sheet of aluminum foil onto a baking sheet. Place ½ of the onion slices in the center of the foil, in a single layer. Place one tenderloin over the onions and brush with 1/4 of the mustard mixture.

Bring up foil sides. Double fold top and ends to seal packet, leaving room for heat circulation inside. Bake for 40 minutes or until the internal temperature reads 130 degrees F.

Remove from oven. Open packet carefully by cutting along top fold with a sharp knife, allowing steam to escape. When uncovered, brush with remaining mustard mixture. Leaving the packet open, broil for about 1 minute or until a nice crust forms on top. Remove from the oven and allow tenderloin to rest for 10–15 minutes before slicing and serving

Getting glazed

Wrapped up & ready to go

After resting, just sliced open

yummmmmmm