Honey Garlic Pork Chops

This is the finished product! It tastes as good as it looks!

   As I said in the last post, it was almost grilling season! Well, I am one of those people that like to grill year round, unless there is blizzard-like conditions or it is sub-zero outside. Well this post I made and reviewed  the recipe from this pin. This recipe doesn't have a lot of ingredients and is fairly easy to make. I am always looking for new ways to grill pork chops because as Corey put it, they tend to get dried out or charred easily. This one looked like it could remedy that problem and because it has ketchup in it, I figured my picky eater Autumn would approve. For the record, I use a gas grill, but I am going to assume that the recipe will work just as good on a charcoal grill.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 cup Ketchup 
• 1/3 cup Honey
• 1/4 cup Soy Sauce
• 2 Garlic Cloves, minced
• 1 1/2 lbs. boneless pork chops (6- 4 oz. portions)
• salt and pepper

 

RECIPE:

1. In a medium bowl, stir the ketchup, honey, soy sauce and garlic. Mix well and set aside. 
2. Lightly season both sides of the pork chops with salt and pepper. (Please see the tip section for what I did differently, if you can't tell from the picture). Brush each chop with the sauce to coat.
3. Grease the grill grates (I used olive oil) and heat the grill to medium-high heat. Place the chops on the grill and cook for about 5 minutes on each side, while basting the chops with sauce often. Make sure the internal temperature reaches 145 degrees.

 

*see step #2 and tip #2

The sauce

**I also made corn on the cob on the grill for the first time to go with these pork chops, and they went really good with this recipe! If you want the recipe I used (for the corn) here you go. It's pretty cut and dry so no need to give it it's own post.

REVIEW:
Well, this was a HUGE hit with us all. Like I said, even my pickiest eater Autumn loved them. Corey told me that it was a definite winner and I needed to make again soon. He also suggested I try this with chicken, which I may do sometime.

Oh they smelled sooooo good on the grill!

TIPS:

• Soy Sauce- Corey is not a huge fan of soy sauce, so I only used about half of what the recipe called for and it worked just fine.
• I opted for seasoning salt instead of regular salt. I love using this stuff!
• I also tenderized my pork chops with a meat tenderizer before I seasoned and sauced them.
• This time around I used portions that were closer to 6 oz instead of the 4 oz. I had to cook my meat for about a minute longer on each side to get it up to temperature. I can't recommend using a meat thermometer enough when grilling so that you don't have to cut into it (and risk drying it out).

 I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we did! If you have any tips or tricks that you used, or other suggestions I would love to hear about them!

If you aren't already following me on Pinterest, here I am! I have lots of food/drink/cooking tip boards, so if you don't want to follow ALL of mine, you can pick and choose:

• Yummy in the Tummy is where you will find most of my recipes that are posted on my blog. 
• Healthy Things is what I NEED to start making more of! It also has helpful workout tips to
• Cooking and Baking Tips and Tricks no recipes here, but lots of useful tips and tricks to use when you are cooking/baking :)
• Drink Concoctions both alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages can be found in here
• Chicken I'm Going To Eat Every Flippin' Chicken Pinned On This Board  well, if you know me, I am a huge fan of Game of Thrones, and this kind of uses one of my favorite lines in the show...and I love chicken!
• Pumpkin Gets Its Own Board Because It Is So Awesome I haven't done much with this one lately, but I will be in September-December...I love to make (and eat) things made with pumpkin!!
• Healthy Quick Foods 2015 (I don't know why I put years with some of my boards) but if it is considered "quick" and "healthy" it will be here.
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• Freezer Meals I only have a few in here, and haven't actually tried them yet...Still on the fence about freezer meals...

Blessed Be and Bright Blessings fellow bloggers!!

Texas Taters!

    It feels like it's been quite a while since I have posted here, and for that I do apologize! It always seems like when I set out to do something, ten other things come first-UGH! Anyways, I do promise to be better about my recipe tests and posting them sooner.

   With that being said, this blog post I am sharing a recipe called "Texas Potatoes" which came from this pin. I did change the title a bit, I thought Texas Taters rolled off the tongue better...Anyways, this one is a bit more involved than what I normally make and review but I am trying to be more diverse.


THE RECIPE:

What you will need:

• 1 lb. ground beef (I recommend getting it as lean as possible)
• 2 to 4 potatoes (depending on size and how thin you slice them*), uncooked
•  3/4 cup diced onion 
• 1 clove garlic, minced or pressed (I minced mine)
• One package baby bella mushrooms, sliced (I omitted this from mine because my family is not a fan of mushrooms)
• 1 Tbsp. of fresh or dried parsley (I used dried)
• 1 tsp. garlic salt
• 1 tsp. onion powder
• a few pinches of pepper
• 1 can cream of mushroom soup
• 1 cup cheddar-jack cheese (or any cheese you prefer), shredded

*If you have a mandolin to slice potatoes with, that will make your life much easier! I sliced mine 1/4" thick

Here's the ingredients

1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.
2. While that heats up, start browning your ground beef over medium/medium high. Add in your diced onions and seasonings.

   

    (Pic 2) Looks beautiful!

   
   

   (see Pics 2 & 3)

   

   (Pic 3) It smells so yummy, my mouth is watering!

3. While the beef is getting browned, wash (if you haven't already) and skin the potatoes. Start slicing them.  

   

   (Pic 4) Remember a mandolin will make this easy!

4.  Spray the bottom of the casserole dish and line it with a layer of sliced potatoes (see Pic 5). 

   

   (Pic 5) Not sure why it's upside down...

5. When the beef is close to being browned, add the pressed/minced garlic. Mix well (Pic 6). 

   

   (Pic 6) Garlic added!

6. Add your can of mushroom soup, mix well over low heat (Pic 7).
7. Scoop about half of your beef mixture over the first layer of sliced potatoes, covering all the potatoes (Pic 8).
8. Add another layer of potatoes using the remaining slices.
9. Scoop the remaining beef mixture on top of the last layer of potatoes. 

   

   (Pic 7) added the soup

   
   

   

   (Pic 8) 1st layer of meat mixture on top of 1st layer of potatoes

   
   

   

   (Pic 9) 2nd layer of potatoes added

   
   

   

   (Pic 10) 2nd layer of meat mixture

10. Cover with foil and bake for 45-60 minutes. Bake until your potatoes are fork tender.
11. Remove the foil and sprinkle the shredded cheese on top. Bake until the cheese is melted (about 10 minutes).

 (I will apologize that I do not have a finished product photo, my phone battery died before I could finish taking pictures of my creation).

REVIEW-FAMILY VERDICT:
This was a very tasty dish, and everyone in my family loved it! So I definitely added this into our dinner rotation. I do have a few things I would like to try for this recipe in the future. One, I will probably add some kind of veggie into it the next time- I am thinking corn, or even a chipotle seasoned corn. Ooooh I bet that would be good! I may even leave the skin on the potatoes once (if I can keep my family from seeing that...they don't like skins like I do). So if my picky family loved this, I am willing to bet yours will to!

SUGGESTIONS/TIPS:
 If you are like me, you probably were asking during the first few steps if the beef needed to be drained of the grease or not before adding the garlic or cream of mushroom soup. I honestly had no idea (and if you clicked on the pin link, and then the link from that pin it never says whether or not to). So I assumed that you do NOT drain the grease. I think it does add flavor, however, this is why I suggested using as lean of ground beef as possible. The one I used was 80/20 and while it was delicious, it did look a tad greasy to me. I don't think it affected anything else, just didn't look as appetizing as it could have. I think if I had drained the grease it may not have cooked right, or tasted dry. So do NOT drain your ground beef after cooking!

If you try this recipe or have a different variation of it, please feel free to comment below. I love hearing other suggestions and stories.

Please follow my food boards on Pinterest:

•  Yummy in the Tummy- this one has all kind of goodies, from quick and easy party foods to ooey-gooey baked goodies
• Healthy Things- I am trying to lose weight and get back into shape, so my healthy recipes (and some exercises and other healthy stuff) are found here
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• Drink Concoctions- Both alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks are found here
• Chicken...I'm going to eat every flippin' chicken on this board- Well, this combines my love of chicken and Game of Thrones (that's why the board is named what it is, after one of my favorite quotes in the show). There are lots of goodies in here that I will be posting here soon!

I am also in the process of adding more, especially with grilling season upon us! If you wish to follow ME, you can find me here.

I'm also game for any suggestions from YOU. If you have a recipe to share, please send it to my on Pinterest (or you can post a link in the comments) and you may see it on here someday!

...Let's see what else we can brew in my kitchen!

Bright Blessings to all!!