Green Salad with Avocado, Cherries & Grilled Pork Tenderloin {Food Matters Project}

I love the summer for so many reasons (mostly the food) and my favorite dinners in the summer revolve around our gas grill. I do everything I can to make sure that something in most of our meals is cooked on the grill.  Plus, then there is much less clean-up for the hubby at the end of the night!

Growing up, my parents had a pool in the backyard so every weekend was about fun in the sun which was always accompanied by one something delicious off of the grill and my mother never dissapointed.  I think, more than anything, my parents were just happy to have my friends and I at the house where they could keep a close eye on us (I don't know WHY that was necessary...as I was an angel as a teenager...go ahead and laugh mom). But some of my favorite memories growing up involve our pool and the smell of the grill smoking and flaming as it heated our next mouth-watering supper.  I guess that is why I LOVE our grill so much.  It helps that the hubby is such a grill master which means less work for me :)

Jenn from VanillaLemon chose this week's recipe for the Food Matter's Project.  It reminds me of one of my favorite summer meals at my parent's house.  I took my mom's grilled pork tenderloin, jazzed it up a bit, and put it on top of a green salad full of fresh fruit and vegetables (avocado, cucumber, carrots, cherry tomatoes, cherries, bell peppers, sunflower seeds).

Since I started my current diet we don't eat a lot of corn because for my diet it works a lot like a white starch (which I don't eat), so I kept the corn out of this recipe but do think it would be delicious if you want to add it, especially if it is grilled!

Asian Marinated Grilled Tenderloin
1/4 c soy sauce
1/4 c olive oil
1 tbsp chopped garlic
1/2 tsp powdered ginger
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

Put all ingredients into a bowl and mix well. Pour over a pork tenderloin in a resealable bag and marinate for at least 1 hour.

Grill on medium heat for 25-30 minutes, rotating every 8 minutes.  Take off the grill and let it rest for 10 minutes under foil.  Slice and lay it over your salad.

Enjoy!

Click here to view the other recipes from the project this week!