One-Pan Pork Tenderloin Meal to Make for a Gaming Marathon
November and December I was caught up with playing World of Warcraft. Not going to lie, there were some days where dinner came out of a bag and was very crunchy. Chex-Mix. My dinner was Chex-Mix. If you’re a gamer, you know the struggle. I was very out of balance with the time I was spending gaming versus the time I was spending taking care of myself. I came up with this one-pan dinner to have a couple of meals with actual sustenance.
The inspiration for this meal started on my weekly grocery trip for my staples. Habitually, I start my meals with veggies first, and end up with broccoli, one of my favorites when I can’t decide. I instantly started thinking that I’d have to steam the broccoli, and whatever else I cooked would need to be cooked separately. I was calculating the time I’d need to spend doing dishes against how much XP I could gain. I decided to move on and probably get a frozen pizza.
On my way to round greasy deliciousness, I came across a display of pork tenderloins on sale. They were a pre-marinated dream come true. I’ve picked them up before and the flavor has always been good. I settled on an Applewood and Bourbon flavor. I remembered I had some sweet potatoes at home that needed to be used up, so I grabbed an onion and called it a win.
The hardest part of the meal was peeling and cutting the onion, and that was only because they always make me cry. I chose to cut the onion into large slices and cubed the sweet potato into about 1-inch pieces. I tossed the onion and sweet potato in olive oil, salt & pepper, and a smoky seasoning blend I had that I thought would compliment the marinade. I placed it all on the same sheet pan, separating the tenderloin from the sweet potato and onion mixture. I followed the cooking instructions on the tenderloin, checked the temp on the cook to make sure it was done, and voila had a home cooked dinner in no time. I even knocked out a quest while it was in the oven!
Finding a way to eat food with nutritional value while still enjoying enough game time to fulfil you is very important. We all know life is about balance. That’s one of the reasons I wanted to focus on both food and gaming for Fare Game, so I would push myself to find the balance. I’d love to hear more in the comments section about what you’re trying to balance right now and some tools you are using!
