Hunger Challenge Three-Day Pork Tenderloin

Our oatmeal breakfasts and sandwich lunches are rather mundane but our dinners do have flare. Yesterday I made pork tenderloin that I would normally cover with a plum sauce I made from plums given to me, but we can’t use foods given to us or already in stock. So the pork tenderloin I marinated in soy sauce, cooking sherry, garlic, and brown sugar was eaten without the extra topping – still very good with broccoli and rice.

Tonight the leftover will be cut in half a used in Fortune brand mushroom flavor Udon soup (7.26 ounce noodle package from the refrigerated section $1.48). I’ll add some baby bok choy, half a package of portabella mushrooms, onion, and basil.

Day three of the pork tenderloin will be mixed in with Fortune brand Yakisoba stir fry noodles (7.7 ounce package in the refrigerated section for $1.98). This will be dressed up with baby bok choy, the rest of the mushrooms, onion, carrot, broccoli and basil.

Going into this I new that in order to stay within the $18 a day budget challenge for our family I’d have to stick to things that produce tasty leftovers and buy condiments for use in multiple recipes. This week has had a bit of an Asian theme to it so far.

Pork Tenderloin Marinade:
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon dry sherry or Chinese rice wine
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 clove garlic, minced

Plum Sauce:
2 pounds ripe plums
¼ cup honey
1 tablespoon ginger
4 cloves garlic, minced
¼ to ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper, crushed red pepper flakes, red chili paste (basically add heat to your taste or none at all)
¼ cup soy sauce

• Pit the plums and add everything except the soy sauce to a pan
• Bring it to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer until the plums are soft (about 15 minutes)
• Remove from the heat and stir in soy sauce
• Puree in a blender or food processor