Glazed Pork Chops with Apricot-Ginger Sauce

This is a recipe from my "Our Best Bites" cookbook. I love this cookbook, because there are pictures for every recipe, and there aren't super weird ingredients (I mean, they have a few things that you might not have on hand, but once you get that spice, you're all set), and I'm not a big cookbook person. Anyway, just wanted to give them credit for the recipe. It's a super yummy way to switch up your pork chops:

Glazed Pork Chops with Apricot-Ginger Sauce

3/4 t. salt (they say to use kosher, but I just use regular)
1/2 t. garlic powder
1/2 t. onion powder
1/4 t. black pepper (they say to use freshly ground.)
4 pork chops
2 t. olive oil
1 T. butter
1 clove garlic, minced
2 teaspoons minced ginger (or bottled minced ginger) [I've just used the powder one that is in the spice section, and it turned out fine.]
1/2 cup chicken broth
2/3 cup bottle apricot-pineapple preserves (I used just plain apricots sans pineapple)

1. Heat large skillet over medium-high heat.
2. While the pan is heating, combine the salt, garlic and onion powders, and peper. Sprinkle half of spice mixture over one side of pork chops.
3. When the pan is hot, add the olive oil. Place pork, spice side down, in the hot pan. Sprinkle remaining spice mixture on the top of the pork chops. Cook pork for 3 minutes and then flip and cook for 3 more minutes. Remove the pork from the pan and cover with foil to keep warm (one of the times  I didn't do this and it made things take longer harder further along in the recipe, so don't be lazy like me and do it :)
4. Reduce the heat to medium and add the butter. When melted, add the garlic and ginger (if you're using the powder kind, add the ginger when you put in the chicken broth). Saute for ~30 seconds wile stirring. Add the chicken broth and bring to a simmer. Use a spatula to scrape the browned bits from the bottom of the pan and continue to simmer for 1 minute.
5. Whisk in the preserves. Bring the sauce to a simmer and return the pork to the pan. Cook for an additional 2-3 minutes on each side or until cooked through to an internal temperature of 160 degrees F.
6. Remove from heat and let pork chops rest for 5 minutes before serving. Serve over white or brown rice and spoon sauce from the pan over each piece of pork.

My Favorite Taquitos

I know that this isn't a pork recipe, but it's one I love to do for lunch because it's quick and yummy. Here's the recipe for the Taquitos that I love to make. In my typical fashion, I tweak things. I use canned chicken, and more cream cheese. I also usually end up using cheddar cheese and them put a little red pepper flakes to make up for not using pepper jack, because I never have pepper jack on hand. And I never remember to salt the them after I spray them with the cooking spray. 

Also, sometimes, we put these in a cake pan and pour green enchilada sauce on top for some yummy, creamy enchiladas. SO good! 

Baked Creamy Chicken Taquitos
Original Recipe by Our Best Bites

http://ourbestbites.com/2014/07/baked-creamy-chicken-taquitos/

Ingredients
1/3 cup (3 oz) cream cheese (low fat is fine, avoid fat free)
1/4 cup green salsa
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon granulated garlic, or garlic powder
3 Tablespoon chopped cilantro
2 Tablespoon sliced green onions
2 C shredded cooked chicken (for extra yumminess, use grilled taco chicken!)
1 C grated pepperjack or plain jack cheese
small flour or corn tortillas
kosher salt
cooking spray or olive oil

Heat oven to 425. Line a baking sheet with foil and lightly coat with cooking spray.Heat cream cheese in the microwave for about 20-30 seconds so it’s soft and easy to stir. Add green salsa, lime juice, cumin, chili powder, onion powder and granulated garlic. Stir to combine and then add cilantro and green onions. Add chicken and cheese and combine well.   You can prepare up to this step ahead of time. Just keep the mixture in the fridge.

If using corn tortillas, work with a few tortillas at a time and heat in the microwave, wrapped in damp paper towels until they are soft enough to roll without cracking. Usually 20-30 seconds will do it. If using flour tortillas straight from the fridge, it helps to warm them in the microwave so they’re easier to roll.

Place 2-3 T of chicken mixture on the lower third of a tortilla, keeping it about 1 inch from the edges.  Roll up tortillas and place seam down on a baking sheet, not touching one another.  Spray lightly with cooking spray, or lightly brush with olive oil and sprinkle lightly with kosher salt.  Place pan in oven and bake for 15-20 minutes or until crisp and the ends start to get golden brown.  Remove from oven and let cool slightly before serving.  Dip in sour cream, or our favorite: Creamy Lime-Cilantro Ranch.

Freezer Instructions: Prepare the taquitos through rolling them out and placing them on the baking sheet. Place the baking sheet in the freezer and freeze until solid, then transfer to a large freezer bag. When ready to cook, preheat oven to 425 and place the taquitos on a lined baking sheet. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown and crispy.

Yields 12-16, when using 6″ tortillas, depending on how full you make them.

Crock Pot Freezer Meals

A friend of mine posted this link on Facebook, and I thought I'd share. A lot of these recipes involve pork, so it is perfect! Basically, it is ten crock pot freezer meals. I'm going to be making these tomorrow, and then I'll be trying them over the next few to 10 weeks. I'm pretty excited, and it is rare that I get excited over food posts on Facebook. These all looked super easy, had good ingredients (no condensed soups), and look delicious. Add that to the fact that their freezer meals that go in the crock pot?! It seems like a no-brainer to try it out. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Pictures are from www.mommysfabulousfinds.com

Mushroom Pork Chops

8-10 Pork Chops
2 cans cream of mushroom soup
1 can mushrooms, pieces and stems
1 1/2 cup sour cream
1 cup milk
salt and pepper

Place pork chops in slow-cooker. Spread remaining ingredients over chops, using salt and pepper to taste. Cover and cook on high 2-3 hours or low 4-5 hours. Carefully remove chops to serve, as they will fall away from the bone easily. Serve with sauce.  *Debbie G. Harmon, Slow-cooker Cookbook, pg. 17

Notes: I tried this one out when I was visiting Mom last week. I halfed the recipe, except for the mushrooms, and I used frozen chops--I didn't even thaw them. I put them in the crock-pot and then we headed out for the day, so we used the low setting. We ate the chops and sauce with rice. They were SO good! The pork fell right off the bone, and the sauce was pretty good over the rice--and neither one of us are rice people. This recipe is awesome if you are going to be out and about right up until dinner time. Super quick to throw together before you step out the door, and probably some of the best chops I've eaten.

At Target

We saw this yesterday at Target, and I had to take a picture. Notice that it is the left side of the pig? Now we can know where the cuts came from, right?

Dixie Pork Chops

Several years ago, I ate a chicken dish that was cooked in apple juice, and it was so amazing, that I have been pining for the recipe. So when my husband and I attended a dinner at Sundance, and they served this AMAZING pork that was cooked with apples and sweet potatoes, I knew I had to find a recipe to replicate it, at least to some degree. Thanks to allrecipes.com's ability to do a recipe search with certain ingredients, I found this pork chop recipe called "Dixie Pork Chops":


       1 tablespoon vegetable oil
       4 pork chops, 1 1/2 to 2-inches thick
       1/2 teaspoon salt
       *1/2 teaspoon sage (optional)
       *2 tart apples, cored and sliced
       1/4 cup brown sugar
       2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
       1 cup hot water
       1 tablespoon white vinegar
       *1/2 cup raisins


Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Fry pork chops on each side until browned, about 3 minutes per side. Transfer to a baking dish, reserving the drippings in the skillet. Cover pork chops with apple slices and sprinkle with sugar.

Stir the flour into the fat in the skillet until smooth. Whisk in the water and vinegar. Simmer over medium-high heat, stirring constantly, until thick. Add raisins and pour over the pork chops. Cover the baking dish with a lid or aluminum foil.

Bake for 1 hour in the preheated oven. Remove the aluminum foil for the last 20 minutes of cooking.

*I made these with the sage and without the raisins, since we hate raisins. We really liked these chops--including my three-year-old who rarely eats meat. The sweetness of the apples really compliment the pork. However, it seemed to be missing a little something. (Maybe the raisins? Ha ha.) Next time I make these, I will probably add a little more sage. We may even try craisins in place of the raisins, but all in all, it is a very good starting point if you're feeling like having something that tastes a little gourmet without a lot of work.

Egg Rolls

We haven't figured out quite what to do with all our pork yet, but we really like this egg roll recipe. It uses sausage and is super easy, and it's really good.

Egg Rolls

1 lb sausage

1 bag cole slaw (14 oz.)

1 pkg. egg roll wrappers

2 T soy sauce

2 T sweet and sour sauce

Cooking oil

In large frying pan brown sausage until done. Stir in cole slaw, soy sauce, and sweet and sour sauce. Cook for about a minute, then remove from heat. Heat oil on med-high heat. In center of each egg roll wrapper use about 3 tablespoons mixture and fold sides in and roll up. Using tongs, place in oil and cook 1-2 minutes on each side until golden brown. Drain on paper towels.

*Egg roll wrappers can be found in the same cooler as the cabbage mix usually.

We usually don't end up using all of this because it makes a lot. We tried freezing the filling and the wrappers (separately) this time. I'll have to remember to let you know how it turns out.


We also love this sweet and sour sauce recipe to go with it:

Sweet and Sour Sauce

1/3 cup white or rice vinegar

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 T ketchup

1 tsp soy sauce

2 tsp cornstarch mixed with 4 tsp water

Mix the vinegar, brown sugar, ketchup, and soy sauce together and bring to a boil in a small pot. Mix together the cornstarch and water and add to the other ingredients. Stir to thicken.