This time of year we often think about all of the baking we have to do and the treats we want to create, but there are also a couple of important main meals that need to be planned as well. For most of us, this includes Christmas Eve and Christmas Day dinner. Most of us have traditions surrounding Christmas day meals, whether you have a turkey again, similar to Thanksgiving, or  whether you have something different like ham, roast beef or even goose! However, Christmas eve can get a tad tricky. Some of you may have a laid back Christmas Eve, some of you may like to party and others, like me, tend to be running around trying to make things festive while also scrambling to get to church on time.

No matter what your traditions are, you could probably use a recipe that is both fun and festive but also relatively low maintenance and this is just that. It looks beautifully impressive, serves a good amount of people but really isn’t that hard to pull off. Pair it with some roasted root vegetables, my cranberry brussels sprouts recipe and my holiday wassail and you will have yourself a beautiful dinner party!

Pear & Rosemary Stuffed Pork Loin (AIP/Paleo)

Ingredients:

5lb half pork loin

3 pears

1 large onion

3 TBS olive Oil (divided)

1 cup white wine (This gets cooked off so it is still AIP Compliant)

salt

3-6 springs of fresh rosemary

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. In a medium skillet heat 2 TBS over medium heat. Dice your onion and the sauté it over medium heat for about 2-3 minutes or until tender. Peel and dice your pears. Add your pears into the skillet and pour in your white wine. Allow it to simmer uncovered for about 10 minutes or until most of the liquid has cooked off. Meanwhile, slice your pork loin down the middle almost to the bottom, but not entirely, and spread the halves apart. Rub your pork down with sea salt. When your pears are done cooking, stuff the inside of the pork with the pears and onion and add in your rosemary. Tie your pork shut with butchers twine or thread in five to six places. Place your pork loin in a glass baking dish that has been coated with 1 TBS of Olive Oil, cover loosely with tin foil and cook for 40-60 minutes or until the internal temperature of the pork reaches 160 degrees. Allow it to sit for 5 minutes before serving.