Cracker crusted pork chops

( 4 servings )

1 cup crushed butter crackers

garlic salt to taste

ground black pepper to taste

1 egg, beaten

4 pork chops

1/2 cup butter

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).

2. In a shallow bowl combine crushed crackers, garlic salt and pepper; mix well. In a separate bowl beat eggs.

3. Dip your pork chops in the egg batter and then in the cracker mixture. Place the pork chops in a casserole dish. Place chunks of the butter around the pork chops. Cover and bake for 45 minutes.

-from somebody fabulous

Pineapple Sausage Burgers

1 lb Ground Pork Sausage

1 can Sliced Pinapple

Sliced Cheddar Cheese

Hamburger Buns

Separate sausage meat into 4 equal pieces and form into hamburger patties. Grill or cook on a skillet until completely cooked. Place on a plate with a few paper towels on it to soak up the extra grease. Open 4 hamburger buns and place face up on a baking sheet. Place cooked sausage patty on each bottom portion of the hamburger buns and put a slice of pineapple on each patty. Add a slice of cheese onto each of the pieces of pineapple and bake at 400 degrees until cheese is melted and buns are toasted. Put the bun tops on each burger and enjoy. (I like ketchup on mine but most of my family just likes them plain.)

-Megan Lattin

Pork Chops with Cherry Sauce

4 servings

4 boneless center cut pork loin chops

1/2 C. bottled reduced-fat balsamic vinaigrette

Non-stick olive oil

1/2 C. shallots, thinly sliced

1/2 C. low-sodium chicken broth

1/2 C. dried cherries

salt and pepper

Place pork and vinaigrette in shallow baking dish and turn once to coat; marinate 10-15 minutes.

Spray a medium skillet with nonstick cooking spray and place over medium heat. Lift pork, shake off excess marinade and transfer to skillet, reserving marinade in dish. Saute pork chops until brown, about 3-4 min. per side. Transfer chops to a plate.

Add shallots to skillet and stir until softened, about 1 minute. Add chicken broth, cherries, and reserved marinade. Bring to a low boil.

Return chops to skillet and simmer until pork is cooked thoroughly, cherries are tender and the sauce has slightly reduced - - about 3 min. per side.

Season with salt and pepper. Serve cherry sauce on top of pork chops.

Pork Loin

For some reason I had never made pork loin before. This was easy, cheap, and yummy. What was I thinking in waiting so long to try it??

Ingredients

filling:
2/3 tablespoons chopped parsley
1/2 tablespoons chopped fresh sage or thyme leaves
1/3 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary
1 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2/3 teaspoons Dijon mustard
dash salt
dash ground black pepper

pork loin:
2/3 lbs boneless center loin pork roast
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/3 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
Fresh sage leaves, for garnish
Sprigs rosemary, for garnish

Directions
To make the filling: In a small bowl, combine the parsley, sage or thyme, rosemary, garlic, oil, mustard, salt, and pepper. To make the pork loin: Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Butterfly the pork loin. Sprinkle the top side of the butterflied loin with half of the salt and pepper. Spread the filling evenly across the loin, leaving a 1/2" border along the edge where you made the first cut. Beginning at the opposite edge, roll the loin up to wrap the filling. Using kitchen twine, tie the loin every 1 1/2 " to hold its shape.

Rub the loin with the oil and sprinkle with the remaining salt and pepper. Place the loin in a small roasting pan and position on the center rack of the oven. Roast for 1 hour, or until a thermometer inserted in the center registers 155°F and the juices run clear. Let stand for 10 minutes before carving. To prevent slices from unrolling, skewer the roast every 1/4" with wooden picks along the edge where the roll ends. Slice crosswise between the wooden picks and ties. Remove the kitchen twine before serving. Garnish with the sage leaves and rosemary sprigs.

Lipton Baked Pork Chops

This one is so easy, I almost didn't post it. But this is the kind of recipe I love to get-easy, fast, cheap, and tasty, so I thought I'd share it in hopes to get more easy recipes like this from you.

1 envelope Lipton Recipe Secrets onion Soup Mix

1/3 cup plain dry bread crumbs

4 bone-in pork chops, 1 inch thick (I did it boneless)

1 egg well beaten

Preheat oven to 400. Combine onion soup mix with bread crumbs. Dip chops in egg, then bread crumb mixture until evenly coated. Arrange chops on baking sheet. Bake uncovered for 20 minutes.

Pulled-Pork Sandwiches in a Pot

-Pork roast (between 3-5 pounds)

-BBQ sauce

-salt and pepper

This is a crock pot recipe, so you can choose a less expensive cut of meat. Any kind of pork roast will do, and a little marbling in the meat actually works well with this recipe.

-Put pork roast in crock pot and cook for several hours. I usually cook mine on a higher heat for a few hours and then turn it down to low to finish.

-When roast is cooked, remove from crock pot and shred meat. The meat should fall apart easily.

-Put shredded meat back in crock pot (dump liquid out of crock pot first) and salt and pepper to taste.

-Add at least one bottle of BBQ sauce (depending on the size of the roast, you may need more) and warm until heated through.

-Serve on buns or rolls.

Garlic and Soy Grilled Pork

This recipe seems so easy and obvious and plagiarized (from here: south beach blog) that I almost didn't add it. But i need more recipes like this. Quick, healthy, in stock ingredients. I thought if I shared one of mine, you might share one of your favs??

(ps, my kiddos love this, but then again, they're easy to please;)

Ingredients
Grill up chunks of fresh vegetables alongside these lip-smacking pork chops for an irresistible outdoor feast. Bell pepper, sweet onion, and zucchini would work quite nicely.

2 boneless center-cut pork loin chops, trimmed of all visible fat
1/2 tablespoon light soy sauce
1 teaspoons minced garlic
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
Fresh herbs, for garnish

Instructions
Sprinkle the pork chops all over with soy sauce, garlic, paprika, salt, and pepper. Cover and refrigerate at least 20 minutes or up to 2 hours.

Coat a grill rack or broiler-pan rack with cooking spray. Preheat the grill or broiler.

Cook the pork chops 4" from the heat, turning once halfway through cooking time, for 10 to 12 minutes, or until a thermometer inserted in the center of a chop registers 155°F and the juices run clear. Garnish with the herbs.

Recipe from The South Beach Diet Cookbook.

Cafe Rio copy cat Recipes

I've been seeing a lot of these cafe rio copy cat recipes lately (i had one version of their dressing this past weekend. I posted both versions because they're slightly different). If you have a version you like, please share!!

I got this one off of www.freezerdinner.com/. I would have just posted the link, but I noticed one recipe site I like is now private and I am really grateful I had posted some of those recipes here so I can still make them. I definitely don't want to lose this recipe-it's so good!! But check out the site-lots of yummy things to try there.

Chicken

5 lbs chicken breast- boneless skinless

1 small bottle zesty italitan dressing

1 Tbsp chili powder

1 Tpsp cumin

3 cloves garlic, minced

Mix all ingredients together in a large crock pot.

Cook on high for 5-7 hours. Remove chicken and shred with fork. Reserve a small amount of juice and pour over shreeded chicken to keep moist. Keep warm.

Pork

1 bottle of honey BBQ sauce

1 Tbsp honey

1 liter of Dr. Pepper or Coke

Place all ingredients in large crockpot and cook on low all night. In the morning take the raost out leaving the juice in the crockpot, shred the roast. Then place the shredded roast back in the crock pot and leave it on low.

Lime Rice

In a sauce pan saute:

2 Tbsp butter

1 yellow onion, chopped

4 cloves garlic, minced

In a large pot, bring the following to boil

6 2/3 C water

3 Tablespoons chicken bullion

1/2 bunch cilantro, chopped

2 teaspoons cumin

2 small cans diced green chilies

2 Tablespoons lime juice

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 Tbsp lime zest (optional)

Add onion and garlic to boiling water. Add 3 cups long grain rice. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 30 minutes.

[I made in the rice cooker. Added a little less then the amount of water required for the rice cooker + the boullion and the lime juice + spices. Added the green chilis, garlic, and cilantro when the rice was almost done. Would have added onion at the same time but was too lazy too sautee so skipped it-maybe next time!!]

Fresh Salsa

4 fresh tomatoes, chopped

1 white onion, chopped

1/4 bunch cilantro, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 tsp lime juice

1 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

Combine ingredients together in a medium bowl.

Cilantro Lime Dressing

1 pkg of Hidden Valley Buttermilk Ranch Dressing dry mix

1 cup buttermilk

1 cup mayonnaise

1-2 tomatillos, peel

1 clove garlic minced

1/3 bunch cillantro, chopped

1/2 tsp lime juice

1/2 small jalapeno, seeds removed

Blend ingredients together in a blender. Add additional mayonnaise if dressing is too thin. Keep refrigerated.

Serve in the following order:

Tortillas, Shredded cheese, Chicken or Pork, Black or Pinto Beans, Lime Rice, Red and Green Leaf Lettuce, shredded, Salsa, Guacamole, Fresh Cilantro, Parmesan cheese, Fresh lime slice, Cilantro Lime Dressing, Enjoy!