pork medallions with sweet and spicy sauce

I swear I had every intention of posting this recipe on Friday, but somehow time got away from me.

If you live anywhere near Atlanta, you know time flew by this weekend because there were approximately one million things going on.
Enter Final Four festivities, free concerts at Centennial, multiple Braves games, G-day, and {my personal fave} the Color Run!

Granted we only participated one of the fun things I listed, but time still went by crazy quick because we were out enjoying the beautiful weather and watching a ridiculous amount of sports with friends.

I really wanted to throw a trip to Ikea into that list of activities, but it just wasn't happening with the outrageous amount of traffic everywhere.
I am determined to pick up some succulents for our new apartment soon, though.

via

Yeah, we're not moving for a month.
Whatever.
I'm impatient.

Let's get to the food.

These pork medallions were an idea that was inspired by Clean Eating mag and turned out totally amazing.
Especially considering I dressed them in a sauce totally different from anything I've ever made before.

Needless to say, I was nervous.
If there's anything I know my man loves, it's meat and potatoes.
So pouring an experimental sauce all over his meat before he even had a chance to taste it was quite terrifying.

It went swimmingly though, thank goodness!

Things you'll need:

1 pork loin, sliced into 12 medallions

sea salt

black pepper

2 tsp olive oil

1/2 cup unsweetened apple sauce (or 1/2 cup apple butter)

dash of cinnamon

3 tbsp soy sauce

2 tbsp lemon juice

1 tsp Sriracha {optional}

1 tbsp ginger, minced

1 tsp honey

Let's talk about the sauce really quick.

First off, the original recipe calls for apple butter.

However, I didn't have that, so I mixed unsweetened applesauce with a pinch of cinnamon and microwaved it for 2 minutes to create my own apple butter substitute.

After that, I mixed my faux-apple butter with ginger, soy sauce, lemon juice, Sriracha, and honey.

Bring to a boil on medium heat, then cover and simmer on low for 4-5 minutes.

Be sure to taste it!

If it's not sweet enough, add a tad more honey.

If it's too sweet, add a tad more soy sauce or Sriracha.

You get the point.

Trim your tenderloin as needed and slice your medallions.

Season both sides with salt and pepper.

Heat olive oil in skillet on medium-high heat, and add medallions.

Cook on each side for 5-6 minutes, until cooked thoroughly.

I did six medallions at a time for six minutes on each side, and they turned out beautifully.

Thoroughly cooked and not tough whatsoever.

Drizzle with sauce and serve with your favorite side!

These would be great with asparagus or a pretty spring salad.

I served them with my spicy roasted red potatoes because we've had a 10 pound bag sitting on our counter for a week now begging to be used.

According to MyFitnessPal:

Serving size: 3 medallions

Cals/serving: 120

Carbs/serving: 6g

Fat/serving: 15g

Protein/serving: 57g

Also, FYI, the entire sauce recipe is only 112 calories.

For the entire pot.

So per serving it's anywhere between 5-10 calories.

Not bad for a sauce, if I do say so myself.

What did you guys do this weekend?

Anything exciting?

I know I'm not alone when I say I absolutely hate Mondays.

But at least it's a pretty one!