Avocado Stuffed Pork Chops

Ingredients

• 2-3* (1-inch thick) boneless pork loin chops
• Salt & pepper to taste
• 1/2 avocado mashed
• 1 Tbs lemon juice
• 2 tsp olive oil or butter
• 2 cloves galic (minced)
• 1/2 avocado diced
• 1/4 cup flour
• 2 tbs olive or canola oil

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Cut a deep pocket into the side of the pork chops, be careful not to poke through the other side.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
2. In a bowl, combine mashed avocado, lemon juice, oil/butter, garlic and s&p to taste and mix well.  Stir in diced avocado.
3. Using a small spoon, fill the pockets in the pork chops with the avocado mixture.  Secure with toothpick if needed.  Dip both sides of the pork chops in the flour.
4. Heat oil in an ovenproof skillet and add the chops.  Brown on both sides and transfer to the oven.
5. Bake for 20-30 minutes until done (meat thermometer reads 155 degrees).  Let stand for 5 minutes, then serve.

I loved this dish, it was easy to make and was a great way to have pork chops!  Even my husband who is not a huge avocado fan loved them! 

*I used 2 pork chops but had plenty of the filling to do a 3rd.

Chicken and Potato Soup

Chicken and Potato Soup

Adapted from allrecipes.com

Ingredients

• 2 Tbl Butter
• 2-3 cups diced chicken breast
• 2 Leeks cut in half and sliced
• 2-3 medium potatoes, diced
• 4 large carrots, peeled and sliced into 1/4 inch pieces
• 1 (11 oz) can corn, drained
• 1 1/2 milk 
• 2 cans low sodium chicken broth
• water (add extra as needed to cover veggies, I ended up using about 1-2 cups)
• 1/4 tsp garlic powder (you can also use fresh garlic)
• Hot pepper sauce to taste (make sure you do taste it because it can get spicy!)
• Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Melt the butter in a large pot over medium heat, add the chicken and cook 10 minutes, or until evenly browned and juices run clear.
2. Mix in leeks, potatoes, carrots, and corn.  Pour in milk, broth and water enough to cover all ingredients.  Season with hot sauce, salt, pepper, and garlic powder. 
3. Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to simmer, and continue cooking 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until potatoes and carrots are tender.

This was a great tasty healthy soup.  I used veggies from my Bountiful Basket I got and boy was it good!  I got to use 4 different color of carrots and that really made for a pretty soup. Fell free to experiment with the veggies you throw in whatever you have on hand really.  You could even use a frozen mixed veggie bag.

Parmesan Chicken Bake

Parmesan Chicken Bake
(modified from this blog)

Ingredients

• 6 chicken breasts
• 1 cup mayo  (I use olive oil mayo you can also sub with Greek yogurt)
• 1/2 cup fresh Parmesan cheese, plus a little more for the top (don't sub for the canned powdered stuff)
• 1 tsp seasoning salt (I used 1 1/2 tsp the first time and found it to salty for my liking so i reduced it a bit. You can add more or less depending on taste.)
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 1 tsp garlic powder

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees and grease the inside of a 9x13 pan.  Lay the chicken in the pan.
2. Mix together remaining ingredients and spread the mixture evenly over each piece of chicken.  Make sure to cover all exposed meat, this will keep it moist.  Sprinkle a little more Parmesan over all the chicken.
3. Bake uncovered for 45 minutes. 

This is a definitely a winner for me!!  The first go around was to salty for my taste, but with a small modification it is now a family favorite!  Kyle gave this one 2 thumbs up!  Found out today at lunch that this makes awesome leftovers so go ahead make some extra!!!

Sorry I've neglected this blog so much!  I'll try and do better!  I wish I had a picture of this dish, but we were in a hurry to eat and I forgot to snap a picture.  Check out the link at the top and see how her dish turned out.  It is a very pretty dish!