Southwestern Style Pork Chops

This meal is easy as a wink to prepare, warm and filling, oh and did I mention delicious?!  One chop was a little tough (I can’t figure out why) but the rest just pulled apart with our forks. 

Southwestern Style Pork Chops

• 6 pork chops, trimmed of excess fat
• 1 15-ounce can chili beans
• 1-1/4 cups salsa (I’d recommend a fresher salsa for this recipe  since the sauce will only be as good as the salsa you pick)
• 1 cup whole kernel corn

Place chops in the bottom of your slow cooker. Add chili beans and salsa. Cover and cook on low for 5 hours. During the last hour of cooking time stir in corn. Serve over rice and garnish with cilantro, shredded cheese and sour cream if desired.

Kim’s note:  This is a lactose-free meal, cheese and sour cream are only an add-on for those who want it.

Swiss Pork Chops (slow cooker)

Here's some comfort food at its best:

I recommend to lessen the number of potatoes in the pot and make mashed potatoes on the side.  We eat the fresh mashed potatoes with dinner, then send the roasted ones with Hubby to work as leftovers.

Slow Cooker Swiss Pork Chops

• 1.5 lbs pork chops, trimmed of fat
• pepper
• 2 medium red potatoes cut into bite sized pieces (or more if not doing mashed potatoes)
• 1.5 c. baby carrots
• 1 med onion, cut into wedges
• 1 can diced tomatoes with Italian herbs
• 2 packets pork gravy mix
• 1 c. cold water
• mashed potatoes, if desired

Layer potatoes, onion and pork in your slow cooker. Sprinkle chops with pepper.  Add tomatoes.  Mix up one packet of gravy with 1 cup cold water and pour into crock pot.  Top everything with the baby carrots.

Cover and cook on low heat setting 7 to 8 hours or until pork and vegetables are tender. I did 5 hours on low, then one more hour on high with great results.

Kim’s notes:  If you want to serve this meal with mashed potatoes, then make them near the end of your cooking time.  Use the second packet of gravy for serving, or add liquid from the slow cooker to the package gravy and and then thicken it.

Never thickened your own gravy? It’s easy as can be – add 1/4 c. of flour to 1 c. of water, shake until combined, or if you don’t have a shaker of some sort you can use a wire whisk to get the clumps out.  Add just a little of the flour mixture at a time to your gravy so that you don’t over thicken it.  Be sure to taste the gravy along the way so that you don’t over flour it or so that you can add spices/pepper if desired.

Apricot-Teriyaki Pork Lo Mein

That's a long name, but it's worth it to try this yummy stuff.

Apricot-Teriyaki Pork Lo Mein

• 2/3 cup apricot preserves
• 3 tablespoons favorite teriyaki sauce
• 1 Tbs. Honey-Dijon mustard
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1.5 lbs boneless pork chops, cut into thin strips
• 1/2 med onion, thinly sliced
• 2-3 cups fresh, thin veggies (I typically use broccoli slaw, shredded carrots and zucchini, cabbage, bean sprouts, and chopped pea pods, but use whatever your family likes)
• 1/2 pound angel hair pasta(about 4 servings)

In a medium-size bowl, stir preserves, teriyaki sauce, mustard and ginger. Set aside. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat (use a little cooking spray). Saute pork and onion until browned, drain excess liquid. Spread about a third of the apricot preserve mixture over the pork and cook, covered, over medium-low heat for 6 minutes or until an instant-read thermometer registers 160°F when inserted into thickest part of meat.

Meanwhile cook noodles according to package directions.  Steam veggies until just crisp-tender as you like.  Drain cooked pasta and veggies and place in a large bowl. Mix into pasta and veggies the remaining apricot preserve mixture. Top with pork and onions.

Variations:

1. Leave out the pork for a vegetarian meal or side dish.
2. Try it with lean chicken or beef.
3. Not a fan of pasta?  Make the same meal, but serve over rice.

Cafe Rio Sweet Pork

We adore Cafe Rio, but now that we live outside of its reaches, we have to make do with what we've got.  There are a million copy cat recipes online for their pork, but this is the one we've had the best success with so far.

Cafe Rio Sweet Pork (source: The Organized Chef)

• 2 pounds pork loin, trimmed
• 3 cans Coke (not diet)
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• dash garlic
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 can sliced green chilies
• 1 can red enchilada sauce
• 1 cup brown sugar

Put the pork loin in a heavy duty Ziploc bag to marinade. Add about a can and a half of coke and about 1/4 cup of brown sugar. Marinade overnight.

Drain marinade and put pork (sprinkled with garlic powder), 1/2 can of coke, and water in crock pot on high for about 3-4 hours. Remove pork from crock pot and drain any liquid left in the pot. Shred pork removing any remaining fat or gristle.

In a blender, blend 1/2 can Coke, green chilies, enchilada sauce, and remaining brown sugar. Put shredded pork and sauce in crock pot and cook on low for 2 hours.

Enjoy over rice, in burritos and tacos, or for salads.  Leftovers can be frozen and reheated later.