Pork + Kale Quinoa Salad: An Easy, Sanity-Saving Quarantine Meal

It’s early April 2020 as I write this, which means we are knee-deep in the COVID-19 quarantine. For the past three weeks, we’ve been essentially confined to our homes – no hitting up my beloved 9Round for a good sweat sesh, no post-workout ladies lunches, no Saturday night dinners out with the fam. Weekly grocery runs have become my solitary taste of the freedom I enjoyed just a few short weeks ago. But even those are kept to a minimum in our effort to closely adhere to our stay-at-home orders, as well as stretch our newly-leaned-down food budget, as John has cut his salary in order to make sure his employees are taken care of during this craziness.

Which has contributed to this rollercoaster of emotions we’ve both been on the past few weeks. You see, John and I grew up very differently as it pertains to finances, which has often been a source of contention in our relationship. He didn’t have a whole lot, so by default, he never spent a whole lot. He’s great at saving, budgeting, going without. He keeps an eagle eye on our bank accounts because he knows all-too-well what it’s like to worry about money.

I, on the other hand, grew up with plenty, never worrying or really even thinking about money. Money doesn’t motivate me, probably because I always just assumed it would be there, and therefore, I’ve never really placed as much importance on how much of it I was or was not spending. I’ve (often begrudgingly) learned a lot from my husband about the value of a dollar. And at no point in our life together has that lesson become more glaringly valuable than right now, when we are essentially living off of our savings, which I realize we are so unbelievably lucky to have (Thanks, John. And also, ok, you were right. 😬).

So, I’ve started taking close inventory of everything we already have in our pantry, fridge and freezer, figuring out meals and snacks that I can prep entirely from things that have already been procured and paid for.

Also, since my workload hasn’t changed at all, but I’m now spending much more time each day homeschooling the boys, I found that by the time I could actually find a window to get my own stuff done, I was often working straight through lunch and not even really eating, which then of course led to unprecedented crankiness by about 3pm. So I set out to make something simple, healthy and delish that I could have on hand for quick lunches throughout the week during this temporary new normal (this is totally temporary, right?? 😳), and this is what I came up with this week: A Pork + Kale Quinoa Salad, recipe courtesy of the National Pork Board.

Used up quinoa and dried cherries we already had in the pantry, the final bit of kale and scallion that were on their last legs in our fridge, and some pork tenderloin that had been ready and waiting in our freezer. Because pro tip: pork is super versatile, it freezes really well and it’s one of the most budget-friendly proteins you’ll find. Kept the seasoning simple with salt, pepper and oil + vinegar that we always have on hand. It’s been the perfect comfort lunch this whole week.

And boy have we needed comfort. I’m not at all a fearful person. I’m usually very even-keeled, not highly emotional and don’t really worry about much. But I’ve vacillated so much over the past few weeks, often sinking into fear. For some reason, the actual virus hasn’t been the source of most of my fear in all this.

I fear the loss of freedom, wondering when we’ll be able to go about our daily lives again without restriction. I fear the complete and utter absence of control that I never realized I didn’t actually have in the first place. I fear what will happen to John’s business and thus our livelihood if this stretches on for too much longer. I fear what it would do to him mentally and emotionally to lose the company that he and his employees have put their hearts and souls into for the past several years. I fear how his rightful stress will affect our relationship. I fear that I, as the one who’s usually the anchor in our marriage, will falter and lose my grip on sanity. I fear how much more vulnerable we all are than I ever knew. I fear how easily it seems we can all be whipped into a frenzy. I fear how it seems ok to some people right now to chastise their fellow humans for simple, everyday joys like hugging a friend or taking a walk on the beach.

I fear I will never be able to find toilet paper ever again.

I’m craving control. Any control.

I know food. So I’ve turned to what I feel I can control, what I can do to help ease John’s budget-focused mind, what I can cook that will feed us right now – body + soul – in the most delicious, nourishing, dare I say scrappiest, way possible. So pork it is.

Ate this pretty much every single day for lunch last week – working from my new office, the bed.

If you’re in the same boat, looking for ways to stretch your dollar and/or freezer pork stash right now, here are a few other recipes I found, in partnership with the National Pork Board, utilizing all different cuts:

Black Bean Pork Chili
Instant Pot Pulled Pork
Overnight Bacon Casserole
Saucy Pizza Pockets
Mustard Herb-Crusted Pork Loin Roast
Pulled Pork Nachos
Crustless Basque Quiche

When this is over, I will never take those multiple mid-week grocery runs for granted ever again. Until then, I’ll just be here shopping my own freezer. This too shall pass, y’all.

Print Recipe

Pork + Kale Quinoa Salad

We are currently in the middle of COVID-19 quarantining, so I've been cooking every. single. meal. at home. I've also been trying to minimize my trips to the grocery store by using up whatever we have at home. Since we happened to have pork tenderloin in the freezer, and I was craving something nutritious and salad-y, this little hodge-podge of a salad is what I ended up doing. Everyone looooved it!

Ingredients

• 1 lb pork tenderloin
• 3 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• pinch sea salt to taste
• pepper to taste

Salad

• 1 cup quinoa
• 1 1/2 cups chicken bone broth you can use water instead if you prefer
• 3/4 cup dried cherries or you can use fresh, pitted cherries
• 5 scallions thinly sliced
• 1 cup kale finely chopped
• 1/4 cup sliced almonds
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

Instructions

• For the marinade, in a large ziploc or container, combine 3 tbsp each of olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Add pork and toss to coat, then refrigerate at least 4 hours, or overnight.
• When you're ready to cook, preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
• Remove pork from marinade, place it on a sheet pan, and season with salt and pepper.
• Roast pork until internal temp reaches between 145 degrees (medium rare) and 160 degrees (medium), on a meat thermometer, about 25 - 30 minutes. Set aside to rest 10 minutes.
• While pork is roasting, bring the bone broth up to a boil, add quinoa, cover and simmer for 15 - 20 min, until broth is fully absorbed. Fluff with a fork.
• Cut pork into bite-sized pieces. In a large bowl, combine pork and any cooking juices with quinoa, cherries, scallions and almonds. Gently stir in kale, vinegar and olive oil. Add salt and pepper to taste, and more oil and vinegar if you like.