Pineapple Ginger Pork Chops

Sorry about the lack of recipes lately, I've been very busy and blogging kind of fell to the wayside.  However, I have a bit of a backlog of recipes and am planning to post more consistently.

We had these Pineapple Ginger Pork Chops last night for dinner.  I found the base recipe on AllRecipes, read the reviews, and made some changes for my version.  Usually I taste as I go when I'm experimenting with a recipe, but this time I just tossed everything in and didn't taste it until we were seated at the table.  The verdict?  Both of us really liked it!  The pineapple and ginger flavors are definitely there, but it's not too over the top sweet, and the soy sauce, garlic, onion, and pepper add to the savory flavor.  It tastes vaguely Asian inspired.  The recipe makes a lot of sauce, too, which is perfect over rice.  Best of all, it's easy to make and reasonably healthy.  Definitely a repeat at our house!

Pineapple Ginger Pork Chops

1 T olive oil
6 boneless pork loin chops (any thickness you want, I used thin ones)
2 1/2 C chicken broth
3 T soy sauce
1 1/2 T white vinegar
3/4 t dried ginger
1/2 t garlic powder
1/2 t onion powder
1/2 t salt (or to taste, you may want less)
1/4 t pepper
3 T cornstarch
1 C pineapple juice
3 T brown sugar

Add oil to large skillet, turn to coat, and heat over medium high.  Add pork chops and brown on both sides.  Remove pork chops to a plate and use a dry paper towel to wipe any pork chop goobers out of the skillet (be careful not to burn yourself!).  Add chicken broth, soy sauce, vinegar, and seasonings to skillet and bring to a boil.  Place pork chops back in skillet and simmer over medium low until they're cooked through (thermometer inserted into the center of one reaches 145 degrees F).  The amount of time will depend on how thick they are.   Thin pork chops only need to simmer about 5 minutes but thick ones will need at least 10 minutes.

Remove pork chops to a clean plate.  Add cornstarch to pineapple juice, stir with a fork until smooth, then stir in brown sugar.  Whisk mixture into simmering skillet and continue to whisk until sauce has thickened.  Cook for another minute, then add pork chops back to skillet and turn to coat.  Cook another minute or so or until pork chops are heated through.  Serve over rice.

Yield: 6 servings

Tuesdays with Dorie: Whole Wheat Loaves

Time for another Tuesdays with Dorie recipe!  Last month one of the recipes was popovers, which I made and promptly forgot to post about.  Oops!  There's going to be a Tuesdays with Dorie makeup day at the end of this month so I might post about the popovers then or else try another recipe.

In any case, this week's recipe is Whole Wheat Loaves.  It's a basic wheat bread recipe that uses half white flour and half whole wheat flour.  This recipe was a dream to make and would be great for a first time bread baker.  I had to sub honey for maple syrup and molasses for malt syrup, AND I got sidetracked and let my dough grow too large during the first rise, but the finished bread turned out perfect anyway:

So far we've only put butter on it, but it would be great toasted with orange marmalade or made into grilled cheese sandwiches.  It's just a nice, standard wheat bread with good texture and good flavor.  Nothing fancy, but definitely good and I will make it again for sure!

If you want to see the recipe, you can check it out at Veggie Num Nums or The Family That Bakes Together.  Enjoy!