Roasted Pork Loin with Apple Mango Pesto Chutney

My husband and I love to experiment with food; it's a way to exercise our creativity and let the creative juices flow. Sometimes those juices run a bit sour, but tonight's experiment was a rousing success (at least at our house!) The basic roasted pork loin recipe is simple and infinitely adaptable, so it's a great recipe to start with if you're wanting to expand your culinary horizons and do a little experimenting yourself. Here's what I did tonight:

Ingredients:
Pork loin (I usually buy the Tyson 2-packs. This way you can cook them both at once and freeze the extra one for a quick dinner later.)
1 cup lemon juice
1 cup Sprite
dash garlic powder & ground black pepper
1 cup apple sauce
1/2 cup pureed mango
1 tsp pesto

Wash your pork loin, poke holes in it with a fork, and place it in a gallon size zipper bag.  Pour in the lemon juice and Sprite, sprinkle in a dash or two of garlic powder and pepper. Let the pork loins marinate in this mixture for a few minutes (anywhere from 10 minutes to an hour. If you're in a hurry, just let it marinate for 10-15 minutes.)  While the pork loin is marinating, make a chutney by mixing together the apple sauce, mango, and pesto.  I typically keep some diced mango in the freezer for smoothies, so I just thawed a few chunks in the microwave and them mashed them with a fork while I stirred them together with the apple sauce.  Once the pork loins have marinated, line an oven safe pan with parchment paper and place the pork loins in the pan. Cover them with the chutney and place them in a 375 degree oven for an hour (or until a meat thermometer inserted into the center of the pork loin reads 170.)

What's great about this recipe is that the high acid content of the marinade make the pork loin fork tender, and the sweet mango and pungent pesto give the dish a mellow sweetness that even young children will enjoy.