Pork Shoulder Tagine

 Over the years I've collected more than a few recipe books and one of our favourite recipes is from Slimming Worlds SP Sensations book, Beef and Apricot Tagine.  Not authentic I know but I prefer pork to beef so make ours usually with a pork shoulder steak each, tinned chickpeas, tomatoes, onion, butternut squash and dried apricots.  I can't give the exact recipe but if you search there are loads out there using ras el hanout spice mix, lots of cumin, paprika, chilli, garlic and cinnamon (not too much cinnamon in this house)

I could make the recipe healthier by using pork loin but I've given up an awful lot of foods I enjoy but sorry there's not enough of a difference to make me eat a drier blander cut of meat.

Verywells recipe analyser has the nutrition as

Nutrition Facts
Servings: 4
Amount per serving
Calories	814
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 33.3g	43%
Saturated Fat 9.6g	48%
Cholesterol 88mg	29%
Sodium 1063mg	46%
Total Carbohydrate 90.1g	33%
Dietary Fiber 23.2g	83%
Total Sugars 21.6g
Protein 44.4g
Vitamin D 0mcg	0%
Calcium 214mg	16%
Iron 9mg	51%
Potassium 1790mg	38%

The fat level shown is higher than the reality as I do trim shoulder steaks where possible but it is still quite high so I usually add even more vegetables to the plate and a small amount of cooked brown basmati rice.

Just for interest I swapped out the pork shoulder for chicken breast and the nutrition changed to 

Nutrition Facts
Servings: 4
Amount per serving
Calories	489
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 7.1g	9%
Saturated Fat 0.8g	4%
Cholesterol 0mg	0%
Sodium 663mg	29%
Total Carbohydrate 90.1g	33%
Dietary Fiber 23.2g	83%
Total Sugars 21.6g
Protein 23.1g
Vitamin D 0mcg	0%
Calcium 214mg	16%
Iron 8mg	43%
Potassium 1790mg	38%

Not a staggeringly different amount of calories but look at how the fat has dropped  from 43% to 9% and the cholesterol from 29% to 0.  When you see the figures like this it's easy to understand why the official guidelines are to reduce red meat consumption and swap out for chicken, white meat or plant based proteins. I wish I could say as I get deeper and deeper into the nutrition side of things that I'll start to love chicken and tofu and ditch the pork but I can't see me wanting to give up a nice juicy pork chop.