Barbequed Pork Chops

I'm trying to expand my pork chop knowledge since I usually bounce back and forth between chicken and lean beef. I tried this Cooking Light recipe that I saw over on Erin's Eats and I really enjoyed and it's fairly healthy too. I was thinking if we wanted to make it more healthy we could try Splenda's brown sugar next time.

(Source: Erin's Eats)

Sauce:
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup of ketchup
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon low-sodium soy sauce

Remaining Ingredients:
6 (6 ounce) bone-in center cut pork chops about 1/2 inch thick (I used 4 boneless chops)
1 teaspoon dried thyme (I used rosemary)
1 teaspoon garlic salt
1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper
Cooking spray

Prepare grill or broiler (I used our cast iron grill pan).

To prepare sauce, combine the first 4 ingredients in a small bowl. Place 1/4 cup of sauce in a small bowl and set aside.

Trim fat from pork. Combine thyme, garlic salt, and ground red pepper and sprinkle over chops. Place pork on grill rack or broiler pan coated with cooking spray (I use olive oil on my grill pan). Cook 6 minutes on each side, basting with remaining sauce.

Serve porkchops with remaining 1/4 cup of sauce.

Erin's link has the nutritional information for this meal as well.

Ribs and Crash Hot Potatoes

It was Casey's night to choose dinner in case you couldn't tell. I've been wanting to try Pioneer Woman's crash hot potatoes anyway so ribs were a good excuse to do this. For my ribs recipe I tried a rub from Epicurious that I found at Erin's Eats and then used some barbeque sauce (Sweet Baby Rays) towards the end.

BBQ Baby Back Ribs

(Source: Epicurious)

1 rack of pork baby back ribs (I think mine was around 2 1/2 lbs)

BBQ sauce to taste (I used Sweet Baby Rays)

Dry rub:

4 tablespoons brown sugar

1 tablespoon kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1 tablespoon garlic powder

1 tablespoon oregano (I think I used 1/2 tablespoon)

1/2 tablespoon or less of cayenne pepper

1 tablespoon chili powder

First remove the membrane off of the back of your ribs. You might not be able to see it but it's a thin strip that can be pulled off with a paper towel if you tug a little bit. Be careful not to remove the layer underneath the membrane that holds the ribs together. Mix together your dry rub and then pat the rub all over your ribs on the bottom and top. Wrap the ribs in aluminum foil and refrigerate until you're ready to cook.

Preheat your oven to 250 degrees. Make sure your ribs are wrapped securely in aluminum foil and then place on a cookie sheet (some juices will probably escape). Cook for 2 1/2 hours.

Unwrap your ribs and brush BBQ sauce all over and place them back in the oven with the aluminum foil open at 350 degrees for another 30 minutes. 

Crash Hot Potatoes

(Source: Pioneer Woman)

New potatoes

Olive oil

Kosher Salt

Black Pepper

Rosemary or other desired herb (I used parsley)

Preheat oven 450 degrees. Bring salted pot of water to a boil. Boil potatoes until fork tender. Drizzle olive oil on baking sheet and place boiled potatoes on the cookie sheet. Take potato and press down until potato slightly mashes. Rotatoe potato masher 90 degrees and press down again. Brush each potato with olive oil and sprinkly kosher salt, pepper, and herbs on top. Bake for 20-25 minutes until golden brown. Skins should be crispy. 

Teriyaki Grilled Porkchops

I found these porkchops on Annie's Eats. These were really really good and they were a big hit at dinner, the marinade had such a good flavor. I'll admit that I have a problem and never marinate the amount of time I'm supposed to. I marinate for an hour and then baste like a madwoman which is what I did this time. They still were really good. We're still in an apartment so I obviously don't have access to a grill, but we've been using our grill pan a lot lately and it does a great job. Excuse the awful picture. I remembered to take a picture halfway through dinner so what you see is Casey's plate with rice and salad after he had already eaten one of his porkchops. Oh well, you get the idea!

(Source: Annie's Eats)

4-6 Servings

Ingredients:
2/3 cup soy sauce
1/3 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/3 cup water
¼ cup rice vinegar
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2-inch piece fresh gingerroot, peeled and chopped fine (or 1 ½ tsp. dried ginger)
4-6 pork chops

Directions:
For the marinade, combine all ingredients except pork chops in a saucepan. Bring to a boil and stir until sugar is dissolved. Cool the marinade completely. Put the pork chops in a large resealable plastic bag and pour the marinade over them. Seal the bag, pressing out excess air. Allow chops to marinate, turning bag once or twice, at least 6 hours or up to overnight.

Pour the marinade into a saucepan and boil for 5 minutes. Grill chops on an oiled rack, approximately 7-8 minutes per side, or until just cooked through, basting with marinade during last 5 minutes of cooking.

Slower Cooker Pulled Pork

I've been looking for a good excuse to use my new crockpot and I found a recipe for pulled pork which sounded fairly simple and looked pretty good and those are my two basic requirements for cooking. The barbeque sauce that I chose was Sweet Baby Rays. I stuck to the recipe besides a few minor things. I seasoned the pork with onion powder and salt and pepper but those were my only changes. Next time I think I'll brown the outside of the meat before I stick it in the crockpot. I doubled the recipe, so I had a ton left over, but it's even better heated up and I think it will freeze fairly well. I definitely plan on making this again

You'll notice a lot of my recipes are excuses to use new wedding presents. You'll also notice my new dinnerware I got to serve it on. I like showing off my new toys.



(Source: Allrecipes.com)
8 servings

1 (2 pound) pork tenderloin
1 (12 fluid ounce) can or bottle root beer
1 (18 ounce) bottle your favorite barbecue sauce
8 hamburger buns, split and lightly toasted



Place the pork tenderloin in a slow cooker; pour the root beer over the meat. Cover and cook on low until well cooked and the pork shreds easily, 6 to 7 hours. Note: the actual length of time may vary according to individual slow cooker. Drain well. Stir in barbecue sauce. Serve over hamburger buns.