Shallot Herb Roasted Pork with Lemon Cream Sauce and Mushrooms

I mentioned I had girl time with Tara on Friday night. What I failed to mention was that we also had a meal...not just Tara's Toasted Pound Cake with Almond Cream Sauce . This master genius dinner was one of my favorite. Shallot herb roasted pork with lemon mushroom cream sauce. It's a mouthful to say...and a mouthful to eat. I got a recipe from The Merlin Menu for Pork Tenderloin with Lime/Cream Sauce. It sounded wonderful! And it was. In true Stephanie fashion (that's me, Tess is my nickname) I tweaked it a little for the Evil Think Tank with Tara. I know Ron Merlin doesn't mind. I had to "healthify" it, so I could save my calories for dessert. As much as I would love to use a bunch of cream, the cream cheese offered a great alternative for a creamy sauce with not much guilt. Weight Watchers has really made me more aware of getting a balance. Healthy dinner and an occasional splurge is okay. I just keep track of it. So, here's the recipe. http://www.weightwatchers.com/ has a great tool there for plugging in a recipe and being able to figure out the points. This one if 5 servings, 7 points each. This recipe makes a good freezer meal as well.

Herb Roasted Pork with Lemon Cream Sauce and Mushrooms
yield 5 servings, about 3 oz cooked pork.

1 1/4 pounds pork loin, lean. cut into thin slices or very lean boneless chops
zest and juice of one lemon
2 cloves garlic, pressed
1 T Penzey's Shallot Pepper (or use 1 tsp fresh pepper, 1 tsp dry tarragon, and 2T fresh minced shallot)
1T chopped fresh thyme

Sauce:
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons chopped onions
2 tablespoons chopped shallots
2 thin sliced garlic cloves
1/4 cup fat free cream cheese
1/2 cup fat free chicken broth (or juice and pan drippings from the roasted pork)
8 oz. sliced mushrooms
1 T minced fresh thyme
1 T minced fresh parsley

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions: Grate the lemon zest right onto the pork (save about 1 tsp for the sauce)
Squeeze the juice out...right onto the pork. I put my eye out with the juice. Don't do that. I teared up. It made me look emotionally unstable...and we can't have that.

Season generously with the shallot pepper (or alternative flavor blending). I also added 2 cloves of fresh minced garlic.

This is when I stopped and said out loud to myself , " Self, this is just breathtaking." I then realized I was talking to myself and shut my pie hole. Can't be looking mentally unstable...can't have that. Look at this pork. Are you talking out loud to yourself?! Woa, I may not be the only one on earth with issues.

Pop it onto a lightly oiled roasting pan . I used an olive oil pan spray.

Bake 425 degrees 15-25 minutes depending on the thickness of the pork. If you pierce it with a fork the juices should run clear. Remove pan from the oven and transfer the pork to an oven safe serving dish. Take any remaining juice from the pan and put in a dish (to use in the sauce).

For the sauce:

In a 10 inch skillet, melt butter and add onion, shallot, and mushrooms. Cook until the onions and shallots are a nice dark brown...about 6 minutes. Add the garlic the last 3 minutes to ensure it doesn't burn. Add juice from the pork or chicken broth, cream cheese, parsley, 1 tsp. lemon zest and thyme. Season with salt and pepper. Pour over the warm pork.

Serve immediately or divide between 5 microwave safe dishes and freeze. Makes a great take and heat freezer meal. Microwave 5-6 minutes from frozen.