Asparagus Pasta

This recipe will definitely go on my list of things to make again very soon! What a tasty meal! I know it doesn't look like a whole lot in the picture, but don't let your eyes deceive you - this was really, really good!

This is supposed to be a vegetarian meal, which I had every intention of keeping it that way, but at the last minute I made the decision to throw some shrimp in there. I was going to be working out right before dinner, and I wanted to have more protein in the dish. The addition of the shrimp was terrific, but I could tell that it would have been just as good without it.

The sauce is what really tied everything together. It gave the meal a very light, refreshing, feel and taste to it. I added a little extra lemon juice than what the recipe called for. I made it as instructed, but I didn't think the lemon flavor was coming through enough, so I just added, mixed, and tasted until I had it just how I wanted it. Delicious! I also didn't shave my asparagus stalks - I just chopped them up.

My husband is actually the one that cooked this meal tonight! I have found a group to run with on Wednesday nights. They meet at 6:30pm, so it is about 7:30pm by the time I get home. I did some prep work before I left, but he put it all together, and he said it was very easy and didn't take hardly any time at all! This really is an excellent easy, healthy, no fuss dinner that the whole family will enjoy!

Asparagus Pasta

Total time: about 20 minutes  Yield: 4 servings

4 servings penne pasta
10 large asparagus stalks (about 1/2 pound) - at Food Lion, they sell asparagus by the bunch, and I just used that whole bunch
1/2 cup green onions, diced
1 tbsp olive oil
Coating:
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tbsp lemon juice
zest from one lemon
1/2 cup basil, loosely packed
1/4 cup garlic scapes
1/4-1/2 cup Parmesan (optional)

1. Using either a mandolin or vegetable peeler, shave asparagus into strips. Cut tips off and either toss in pasta dish or save for later use.
2. Begin boiling a large pot of water with a pinch of salt.
3. In a skillet, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add in green onions and saute for 2 minutes. Stir in asparagus, cover, and continue to cook, stirring frequently until tender.
4. While asparagus cooks, combine ingredients for coating in a small food processor and pulse until well combined adding more olive oil or lemon juice as needed.
5. Once the water is boiling, add in the pasta. Once pasta is cooked, drain and add to the pan of cooked asparagus along with the basil coating.
6. Serve with an extra sprinkle of Parmesan cheese and basil.

Caprese Chicken

Yum! This was delicious! What an excellent blend of flavors and textures - and it was quite healthy too!

I altered this recipe a little bit, but hardly at all. The recipe calls for thin-cut boneless, skinless chicken breast halves. I have a couple packages of regular chicken breasts in the freezer, and as you know, chicken breasts generally come in packages of three. I was cooking for four people tonight, but I didn't want to defrost two whole packages of chicken, and the chicken breasts were also pretty large. So what I did was marinate the three chicken breasts as instructed, and then I sliced them all up before I cooked them in the grill pan. Then I divided that all up 4 different ways and topped each plate of chicken with the tomato mixture. Worked out perfect!

Enjoy!

Caprese Chicken

Chicken:

1 (8 oz) container plain yogurt

3 tbsp balsamic vinegar

8 thin-cut boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (about 1 1/2 pounds total)

Tomato-Mozzarella Topping: 

1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

1 medium-size onion, cut into 16 wedges

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

2 tbsp water

1 pound plum tomatoes, cored, seeded and chopped (about 4 cups)

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

8 oz fresh mozzarella cheese, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

1 cup loosely packed fresh basil leaves, chopped

1. For the chicken: in a small bowl, whisk together the yogurt and balsamic vinegar until blended. In a plastic food-storage bag, combine chicken and yogurt mixture. Seal and turn the bag to coat. Marinate in the refrigerator for 20 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, heat a gas grill or grill pan to medium-high.

3. For the tomato-mozzarella topping: in a large skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Add the onion and saute about 5 minutes or until onion is slightly softened and the wedges fall into pieces. Add the balsamic vinegar and water. Bring to a simmer. Reduce heat to medium-low; cook about 7 minutes until liquid is reduced and onion is tender. 

4. Increase heat to medium-high and add tomatoes, salt and pepper. Cook for 2 minutes and remove from the heat Let mixture cool for 2-3 minutes then stir in mozzarella cubes and basil gently.

5. Remove chicken from bag. Discard marinade. Gently rinse chicken and pat it dry with paper towels.

6. Spray grill with cooking spray or coat with oil. Grill for 6-8 minutes per side. Serve immediately. Serve chicken on platter with topping in the center and let guests spoon their topping on.

Roasted Corn and Ricotta Enchiladas with Chipotle Tomato Sauce

I've mentioned before that I try to have at least one vegetarian dinner each week (this week we're having two!). This was pretty good for a vegetarian meal! It had kind of a different taste to it. I think it was the mixture of lime juice and honey. I wasn't super crazy about it, but it was still good!

I guess I don't have a whole lot to say about this one. It was good and easy to fix. It can easily be doubled or tripled to serve more people. I'll probably go through a few other recipes before I fix this one again though. See for yourself - maybe you'll love it!

Roasted Corn and Ricotta Enchiladas with Chipotle Tomato Sauce

Total time: 55 minutes  Yield: 2 servings

Filling:
2 large ears sweet corn
1/2 tbsp olive oil
1/8 tsp salt
1 cup ricotta
1 tbsp honey
1 tbsp lime juice
1/4 cup cilantro
Sauce:
2 large slicing tomatoes
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2-1 tsp chipotle powder
1/4 tsp salt
6-8 corn tortillas
1/2 cup queso fresco cheese (or other favorite cheese)

1. Preheat oven to 375°F.
2. Carefully remove corn from cob by placing the cob perpendicular to the bottom of a large bowl. Cut downward on the cob. Toss kernels with 1/2 tbsp olive oil and 1/8 tsp salt. Roast, stirring occasionally, until soft, 15-20 minutes.
3. In a medium bowl, whip together ricotta, honey, lime juice, and cilantro. Once corn is done, stir into ricotta mixture.
4. To make sauce, heat 1 tbsp olive oil over medium low heat. Add in minced garlic and saute for 1-2 minutes. Roughly dice tomatoes and add into pot along with chipotle powder and salt. Cook until tomatoes are starting to break down. Remove from heat and blend with an immersion blender or a regular blender.
5. Layer tortillas in between a damp towel and either place in the microwave or oven for a couple minutes until pliable.
6. To assemble enchiladas, use an 8x5 pan (or an 8x8 with extra space). Place 1/3 of the chipotle tomatoes in the bottom of the pan. Next, scoop 1/3-1/2 cup corn filling in to the center of the tortillas, roll gently, and place seam side down in the pan. Repeat with remaining tortillas, carefully squeezing the last tortillas in. Pour remaining sauce on top and sprinkle over queso fresco cheese.
7. Bake enchiladas until lightly browning and bubbly, 20-25 minutes.

Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cinnamon-Cream Cheese Frosting

OH. MY. GOD.

I'm going to have trouble writing this post for two reasons. First, these cupcakes were so beyond delicious that I don't know if there are any words I could use to describe how amazing they are. And second, I'm having trouble stopping myself from eating them long enough to type this post!

Although it is still August, I'm getting antsy for the fall season to get here. I love fall! The changing colors in the leaves, fall seasonal beers (♥ Sam Adams Octoberfest!), football, caramel apple cider, and ALL THINGS PUMPKIN! I was having a particular hankering for pumpkin this past Sunday, so I thought I'd get a jump start on the fall season and go ahead and make some yummy pumpkin cupcakes. What an excellent decision that was!

The cupcake recipe I used included a salted caramel buttercream frosting, and while I'm sure that would be really good, I wanted a cream cheese frosting. Below I'll list both websites where I got each recipe. The cupcakes turned out perfect! They have just the right level of moisture - just moist enough that you want to melt where you're standing when you take a bite, but not so moist that it sticks to the roof of your mouth or in your teeth. And the flavor - oh my, the flavor! The pumpkin flavor really stands out, but not overly so. Sometimes pumpkin flavored things can be much too sweet, but that isn't the case here. And the frosting recipe I used paired perfectly with the cupcakes! The frosting is also not overly sweet, and the flavors of both the cupcakes and the frosting blend together beautifully. My mouth is watering just thinking about them... Oh wait that's right, we've almost already eaten them all!

You need to make these ASAP! I'm demanding it! :-)

Pumpkin Cupcakes

Yield: about 18 cupcakes

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon coarse salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1 cup packed light-brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled.
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 can (15 ounces) pumpkin puree

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Line cupcake pans with paper liners; set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and allspice; set aside.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the brown sugar, granulated sugar, butter, and eggs. Beat on medium speed until well combined. Add dry ingredients, and mix on low until smooth. Fold in pumpkin puree.
3. Divide batter evenly among liners, filling each about halfway. Bake until tops spring back when touched, and a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes, rotating pans once if needed. Transfer to a wire rack; let cool completely.

Cinnamon-Cream Cheese Frosting

1 pkg. (8 oz) cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla
1 pkg. (16 oz) powdered sugar
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1. Beat cream cheese, butter and vanilla in large bowl with mixer until blended. Gradually beat in sugar. Blend in cinnamon. Spread over cupcakes.

Turkey Pesto Meatloaf Recipe with Tomato Sauce

I have to say, out of the four recipes that I've posted tonight from the past week, this one was my favorite! I love a good meatloaf, and this was a GOOD meatloaf!

The sauce that was basted on top of the meatloaf really sealed the deal for me. I probably could have just drank that bowl full of sauce. It was such a simple mixture too - Classico tomato and basil sauce mixed with some balsamic vinegar - YUM! The meatloaf alone was delicious, but the sauce really put this recipe on another level.

When I first saw this recipe, it grabbed my attention because of the pesto. I've never heard of adding pesto to meatloaf. I know some people aren't huge pesto fans, but the flavor wasn't overwhelming by any means, and in fact blended together quite well with the ground turkey. Again, once you tasted the the flavor of the sauce and how perfectly the flavors matched the rest of the meatloaf, you don't think about much else besides how sad you will be once all of the meatloaf is gone because it is SO GOOD! :-)

I whipped up some scratch mashed potatoes to go along on the side. How can you have meatloaf without mashed potatoes? An excellent meal for the whole family!

Turkey Pesto Meatloaf Recipe with Tomato Sauce

Yield: 6 servings

2 tsp olive oil
1 onion, finely diced
1 tbsp finely minced garlic
1 1/2 lbs lean ground turkey
1/4 cup basil pesto
2 tbsp finely grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup 100% whole wheat breadcrumbs
1/4 cup low-sugar marinara sauce (I used Classico tomato and basil sauce)
2 tsp balsamic vinegar

1. Take the turkey out of the fridge and let it come to room temperature while you prep the other ingredients. Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray a roasting pan with olive oil or nonstick spray (preferably a pan with some slits to let any extra fat drip out.)
2. Heat the olive oil in a frying pan and saute the onion with medium-high heat until it's starting to slightly brown, about 7-8 minutes. Add the garlic, lower heat slightly, and saute about 2 minutes more.
3. Using a bowl that's large enough to get both hands into it, combine the ground turkey, sauteed onion and garlic, pesto, Parmesan cheese, salt, and whole wheat breadcrumbs. Use clean hands to mix the ingredients, just until they are combined.
4. Form the mixture into a loaf shape and place on the roasting pan.
5. Bake meatloaf for 40 minutes. While it bakes, stir together the marinara sauce and balsamic vinegar and after 40 minutes use a pastry brush to brush it onto the meatloaf, until it's completely covered with sauce. Continue to bake, brushing with more sauce a few more times if you have some left, until a meat thermometer shows a temperature of 160°F. I cooked my meatloaf for a total time of one hour and twenty minutes before it got to that temperature. Serve hot.

Orecchiette with Spinach, Sausage & Tomatoes

This was a perfect weeknight meal - quick, easy and tasty! We strayed from the recipe some on this one. While it isn't a complicated recipe, I thought the cookbook was trying to make it more complicated than it needed to be. I will post the recipe below like I always do, but I will tell you here what I actually did to fix it.

1) Brown the sausage in a skillet, 2) Cook the pasta according to package, 3) Drain the pasta, then put it back in the same pot, adding the sausage, drained cans of tomatoes, pressed garlic, crushed red pepper flakes, spinach leaves and Parmesan cheese, 4) Heat together and mix until spinach wilts.

I thought that my version was simpler than the cookbook's version, but I will list their's below and you can decide for yourself! I got some grape tomatoes, but when the time came to fix this recipe, they had started to go bad, so I just left them out. As much as I LOVE tomatoes, I really don't think this recipe even needed them since you already have a few cans of diced tomatoes. I'd say that the grape tomatoes are optional.

A few notes from the cookbook: 1) Breaking the sausage into crumbles with the Mix 'N Chop helps it to cook more quickly and evenly, 2) Orecchiette means "little ears" in Italian. It is a small round pasta with a slight dome in the center. Companelle pasta can be substituted, if desired, and 3) For a milder dish, mild or sweet Italian sausage can be used. Italian sausage links with the castings removed can be substituted for the bulk sausage.

Enjoy!

Orecchiette with Spinach, Sausage & Tomatoes
Pampered Chef 29 Minutes to Dinner, Volume 2
Published by The Pampered Chef, Ltd. in 2009.

Total time: 28 minutes  Yield: 6 servings

1 1/4 lb bulk hot Italian sausage
3 cans (14.5 oz each) Italian-herb diced tomatoes, divided
12 oz uncooked orecchiette pasta
1 1/2 cups water
4 garlic cloves, pressed
1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups grape tomatoes
1 oz Parmesan cheese, grated (about 1/4 cup packed)
5 oz fresh baby spinach leaves (8 cups)

1. Cook sausage in (12-in.) Skillet over medium-high heat 8-10 minutes, breaking into crumbles with Mix 'N Chop. Drain canned tomatoes using large Colander into large bowl; reserve 1 cup of the tomato liquid for later use in the recipe.
2. Add drained canned tomatoes, tomato liquid from large bowl, pasta, water, pressed garlic, pepper flakes, if desired, and salt to Skillet. Cover and cook 13-15 minutes or until pasta is tender, stirring occasionally.
3. Meanwhile, cut grape tomatoes in half using Utility Knife. Grate cheese using Microplane Adjustable Grater. Add grape tomatoes, spinach and reserved 1 cup tomato liquid to Skillet. Cook 1-2 minutes or until spinach is wilted, stirring constantly. Sprinkle with cheese.

Tomato Cobbler with Blue Cheese Biscuits

Heck YES I made biscuits from scratch for the first time! And they were good! :-)

I was quite happy with how this dish turned out. I was doing my weekly menu planning on Sunday morning and came across this recipe online. The title immediately grabbed my attention. Tomato Cobbler? What? I've never heard those two words used together, ever. We have all been missing out!

To quote the blogger who posted this recipe, this dish was dang good. Of course I love all of the ingredients... scratch biscuits - good, caramelized onions - good, balsamic vinegar - good, tomatoes -good... well, you get the point. And all of that brought together was simply amazing. I did use shredded cheddar in the biscuits instead of blue cheese crumbles, and I probably could have eaten them all by myself.

This one took a little longer than I thought it would from beginning to end (that seems to happen to me a lot), but it was totally worth it. And this may seem like a odd recipe to make for a dinner to some of you, but it was truly bursting with flavor and more filling than you'd expect. We had a little side salad to go along with it and were very satisfied! Go ahead, branch out try something a little out of the ordinary for dinner! You won't be sorry!

Tomato Cobbler with Blue Cheese Biscuits

Yield: 6 servings

For the Biscuits:

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 tbsp baking powder

1 tbsp granulated sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp coarse ground black pepper

3 tbsp unsalted butter, cold and cut into cubes

3 tbsp vegetable shortening, cold and cut into cubes

1/2 cup blue cheese crumbles

3/4 cup cold buttermilk

For the Filling:

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp unsalted butter

2 large onions, sliced

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

2 pounds cherry tomatoes

1/4 cup coarsely chopped basil

3 tbsp all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

salt and coarsely ground black pepper

To make the Biscuits:

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt. Add cold butter and shortening. With your fingers, quickly break up the fat into the dry ingredients. Rub the fats into the dry ingredients until well incorporated. Some butter pieces will be the size of small peas, others will be the size of oat flakes. Toss in blue cheese crumbles. Stir to incorporate.

2. Create a small well in the center of the flour mixture. Add buttermilk all at once. With a fork, quickly bring together the wet and dry ingredients. The dough will be rather shaggy. Dump dough out onto a lightly floured work surface. Knead dough about 10 times, bringing it together into a disk. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate until the filling is assembled.

To make the tomato Filling:

3. Add olive oil and butter to a medium saute pan over medium heat. Add sliced onions and season with salt and pepper. Cook and brown onions, stirring occasionally, until caramelized, about 18-20 minutes. Add garlic and cook for one minute more. Remove pan from heat, add balsamic vinegar and set aside.

4. In a large bowl, toss together clean cherry tomatoes (no need to cut them), chopped basil, flour, and red pepper flakes. Add caramelized onions and toss together until everything is lightly and evenly coated in flour. Season with salt and pepper.

5. Place rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

6. Pour the tomato and onion filling into a square 8 x 8-inch baking dish. Place in the oven and bake tomatoes filling for 25 minutes.

7. Remove the biscuit dough from the fridge. On a lightly floured work surface, roll out biscuit dough into a 3/4 or 1-inch thickness. Use a 1 1/2 to 2-inch round biscuit cutter to cut out biscuits. Dip the cutter in flour should it get sticky. Remove the partially cooked filling from the oven and carefully place 6 biscuits atop the tomato filling in the pan. Brush biscuit tops with buttermilk and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Reshape and reroll excess biscuit dough to make extra biscuits at another time. (The shaped biscuit dough freezes very well.)

8. Return warm filling and biscuit dough to oven and bake for 17-20 minutes, until the biscuits are golden brown and cooked through, and the tomato mixture is bubbling.

9. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for about 15 minutes before serving. Tomato Cobbler is best served warm.

Grilled Fish Tacos

I took two pictures - one of my fish tacos, and one of the picture in the cookbook of the fish tacos. I think that I was so hungry by the time dinner was ready and I was getting my picture, that I didn't take as much time and care as I usually do to get a good picture of the dish, which resulted in a terrible picture. My picture doesn't do the recipe justice - it was a delicious meal!

The cookbook says that this recipe only takes 24 minutes to fix. That is a lie. I think a big reason why it took me so long to fix is because it took me a while to cut everything up. Once everything is prepped, it didn't take long to fix, but that was a major part of the process. The fish didn't take long to cook at all. The grocery store didn't have any cod, so I got tilapia instead. It tasted excellent! Just seasoning the tilapia with a little bit of black pepper was perfect - the flavor of the fish really came through and tasted great!

The sauce was really good as well. As I was putting each taco together, I wasn't sure how far the sauce would go, so I only put a little on each taco. I ended up having plenty left over, and I think the tacos could have used a little more sauce, so don't be shy with it when you're putting it all together. 

A few notes from the cookbook: 1) Napa cabbage is a mild-flavored cabbage with tight, compact head of yellow green leaves that are ruffled at the top, 2) Shredded cabbage is traditionally served in fish tacos. Here, napa cabbage is used for its lacy and tender texture, but the more readily available green cabbage can be used, and 3) If desired, tilapia fillets can be substituted for the cod fillets.

I roasted some zucchini and squash to go with the main dish. I love roasting vegetables! All you have to do is brush a little olive oil on the veggies, sprinkle them with some salt and pepper, and pop them in the oven at around 400° or so until they start browning - delicious! Overall, a healthy, wonderful meal that you don't want to miss out on! Give it a try!

Grilled Fish Tacos

Pampered Chef 29 Minutes to Dinner, Volume 2

Published by The Pampered Chef, Ltd. in 2009.

Total time: 24 minutes  Yield: 4 servings

2 limes, divided

2 plum tomatoes, seeded

1 small onion

1/3 cup snipped fresh cilantro

1/2 cup mayonnaise

2 tbsp milk

1 garlic clove, pressed

1/4 tsp salt

2 cups thinly sliced Napa cabbage, green tips only

1 avocado

8 (6-in.) corn tortillas

1 lb skinless cod fillets

1/4 tsp coarsely ground black pepper

1. Juice limes using Juicer to measure 1/4 cup juice. Dice tomatoes and chop onion using Santoku Knife. Snip cilantro using Kitchen Spears. For sauce, in Small Batter Bowl, combine 2 tbsp of the lime juice, mayonnaise, milk and pressed garlic; whisk until smooth. For salsa, combine remaining lime juice, tomatoes, onion, cilantro and salt in Classic Batter Bowl; mix well. Thinly slice cabbage. Peel, seed and thinly slice avocado.

2. Heat Grill Pan over medium-high heat 3 minutes. Lightly spray tortillas with vegetable oil using Kitchen Spritzer. Place half of the tortillas onto pan; cook 2-3 minutes or until lightly browned, turning once using Saute Tongs. Place tortillas in Large Micro-Cooker; cover and keep warm. Repeat with remaining tortillas.

3. Lightly spray same pan with vegetable oil using Kitchen Spritzer. Season cod with black pepper. Place cod onto pan; cook 5-8 minutes or until cod flakes easily with a fork, turning once. Remove cod from pan, flake into bite-size pieces. Top tortillas with cabbage, cod, sauce, salsa and avocado slices as desired.

Pork Tenderloin with White Bean Salsa

Oh man, check out how thick those pork chops are! I've been buying pork chops from Food Lion for years now and I don't think I've ever seen ones so thick before. I decided to just get some pork chops instead of a pork tenderloin for this recipe. They came out very juicy cooking them in the grill pan!

Another small change I made to the recipe was that I used turkey bacon instead of real bacon. Real bacon is a wonderful treat to have every once in a while, but I was trying to keep the recipe healthy so I used turkey bacon. Turkey bacon has a great flavor to it! Real bacon will always have a special place in my heart, but I'm just as happy having turkey bacon. Give it a try sometime! You'll probably be surprised at how good it is!

I was pretty curious how the salsa mixture was going to taste.... salsa with bacon? Genius! How have I been missing out on this my whole life? Everything mixed together was so good! The salsa mixture alone was bursting with flavor, but then paired with the Jamaican Jerk seasoned pork chops was fantastic! Another successfully delicious dinner!

Pork Tenderloin with White Bean Salsa
Pampered Chef Latin Flavor
Published by The Pampered Chef, Ltd. in 2008.

Prep time: 15 minutes  Total time: 32 minutes  Yield: 8 servings

2 pork tenderloins (1 lb each)
2 tbsp Chipotle Rub or Jamaican Jerk Rub
1/2 small onion
1 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro
6 slices bacon
1 can (15.5 oz) small white beans, rinsed and drained
1 cup red salsa
2 garlic cloves

1. Trim fat and silver from pork. Heat Grill Pan over medium heat 5 minutes. Season pork with rub. Spray pan with vegetable oil using Kitchen Spritzer. Grill pork 18-20 minutes or until Pocket Thermometer registers 155°F for medium doneness or 165°F for well done, turning every 5 minutes. Remove pork and tent with foil; let stand 5-10 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, chop onion with Food Chopper. Chop cilantro using Chef's Knife. Slice bacon into 1/2-in. pieces.
3. Cook bacon in (10-in.) Skillet over medium heat about 8 minutes or until crisp. Remove bacon from Skillet; drain on paper towels. Drain all but 1 tbsp of the fat from Skillet. Add onion; cook and stir 3-5 minutes or until softened. Add beans, salsa and garlic pressed with Garlic Press. Bring to a boil and remove from heat. Stir in bacon and cilantro. Slice pork into medallions and serve with bean salsa.