Italian Tomato Pork Loin

I love it when pork loin goes on sale!  It is a lean versatile meat.  I always buy the biggest one I can find in the store so that I can plan ahead to cut it in half for two meals.  Kroger had it on sale for $1.66 lb.  I was tempted to get two, but I settled for one this time. 

Sometimes I'll roast a Brown Sugar Pork Loin.  Other times I'll cut it in cubes and make Pork Teriyaki.  On days when I don't want to do a lot of prep work, I'll make Italian Tomato Pork Loin.  This is one of those recipes that just "came together" on it's own one day when I decided to "wing it" for dinner.  It works really well in the crockpot as well.  You can cook on low for 6-8 hours or on high for 3-4 hours.

I start by cutting a larger (5-6 lb.) pork loin into 2 halves.  I use one half for this recipe and save the rest for future recipe.  In this case, I cut one half into boneless pork loin chops that I plan to marinade for another meal.  I spent about $9.50 for the whole pork loin.  My ingredients for this recipe are things I have on hand and inexpensive.  So, my cost for dinner tonight was around $5 for the main course.  It fed 5 of us with plenty leftover!

Ingredients for Italian Tomato Pork Loin

I slice in half first

Half goes in my casserole dish.  The other half slices into pork loin chops.

Ingredients:
3 lb. pork loin
1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
3/4 teaspoon garlic powder
3/4 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1 tablespoon sugar
1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes

Preheat oven to 350 F

Place pork loin in 2-3 quart covered casserole dish.  Sprinkle with Kosher salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, Italian seasoning, and sugar.  Pour entire can of tomatoes over pork loin.  Cover and bake in preheated oven for about 2 hours.  (Until internal temperature reaches 165 F.)  Remove from oven and let stand for 5 minutes.  Enjoy!

Sprinkle with seasonings and sugar

Cover with can of diced tomato

Bake until 165 F and no longer pink in middle

Enjoy!

 

 

 I hope you enjoy this meal!  These pork chops below.... they will be another meal.  And, possibly a future blog post!  Aren't they beautiful?

Boneless pork loin chops for later use

Grilled Pork Chops with Pineapple

I was so excited yesterday to see that Kroger had boneless pork loin chops on sale for $1.88 per pound. This is one of my favorite meals to cook as all three of my children actually like it, and it involves little effort from me. (A definite win-win situation in my house!)

Normally I use one of the seasoning packets from Weber Grill Creations pictured below. If you clip coupons, you can pick up one of these envelopes for free with double coupons. But, even if you pay full price, it is less than a dollar and the taste is really great.

This time, I wanted to try and duplicate the results I get with seasoning mix with a home-made recipe.

The package in the picture shows 3.88 lbs of pork chops. I did not use all of these chops. I used 7 of them and put the other 2 in a bag for later use. Not shown in the picture is the can of pineapple rings that I bought on sale a few weeks ago for 50 cents per can. Including the cost of the wine and olive oil, I estimate this dinner to cost $7.50 and fed our family of 5 easily.

You will need:
1/4 cup white wine (I used Chardonnay)
1/4 cup olive oil
2 teaspoons Italian Seasoning
2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flake
1 teaspoon lemon juice
2 lbs. pork loin chops (boneless)
1 can pineapple rings

First, mix the white wine, olive oil, seasonings, salt, and lemon juice in a measuring cup and whisk together using a fork or small whisk. Place pork chops in a zipper bag and pour the marinade over the chops. Seal bag and place in the fridge to marinade for at least 2 hours.

What I did next is heat up the indoor grill on medium high heat. (I use a George Foreman, but you could just as easily use a grill pan on the stove or an outdoor grill.) After it has had 4-5 minutes to heat up, I added the pork chops and closed the grill. After 4 minutes, I opened the grill and rearranged since the chops closest to the hinge on my grill cook faster than the rest of the areas. Another 4 minutes and I did another quick rearrange. Then I let the chops cook for just another minute or two more. You want to remove them from the grill when you see grill marks on the chops and they are still a little bit pink when you cut into them. They will continue to cook internally as you let them rest for a few minutes.

After giving my daughter a quick taste test of the pineapple in the can, I added the rings to the grill to cook for 4 minutes so that they were heated all the way through. If I had done this on the outdoor grill, they likely would have had some beautiful char marks as well. (But, I prefer the indoor grill for the ease of cleaning.) Remove the pineapple when they are heated all the way through and cut into bite sized pieces.

The taste on these pork chops was especially yummy if you add a small bite of pineapple to every bite of pork chop on your fork. Unfortonately, my youngest is sick today, and he has refused to eat anything other than a peanut butter sandwich, but my 9 year old thought these chops were DE-licious, but she doesn't care for the pineapple. So, she had her serving sans pineapple.

NOTE: Be sure that you are using KOSHER salt when you measure. If you use table salt, you wont want to use nearly as much salt at the crystals are much smaller and take up about 1/3 the space.

Smothered Pork Chops

Pork Chops were on sale for $1.49 a lb. this week, so I bought 2 of the large Family Value Packs. Although I prefer the boneless chops, I was happy to get a good deal on these with the bone in. My husband loves what we call "Smothered Pork Chops" because he loves the gravy for dipping bread into or serving over mashed potatoes.

You'll need the following:

1.5 lbs pork chops (about 5 chops)

2 T olive oil (not pictured)

1 small onion chopped

2 cloves garlic (I ran out of fresh so used 2 teaspoons of the jar kind)

2 cans cream of mushroom soup (feel free to mix and match with cream of chicken, cream of celery, etc.)

1 can chicken broth (or beef)

salt and pepper to taste

Add olive oil to your pan on medium heat and allow to warm up. Chop your onion and add to the pan. Cook until tender (not translucent) then add minced garlic. Salt and pepper the onions and garlic lightly. After about 1 minute, add the pork chops in a single layer and DO NOT TOUCH for 7 minutes so that the chop is lightly browned. Season to taste with salt and pepper and flip over (keeping a single layer). Cook for another 5 minutes and remove from pan.

Reduce heat to medium low, and add chicken broth (feel free to substitute beef or vegetble broth). Stir to incorporate brown bits on bottom of pan. Add both cans of cream of mushroom soup and continue stirring until no lumps remain. Add chops back to pan. Reduce to low and cover. Simmer for another 10 minutes and serve.

Suggestions:

I like serving this with mashed potatoes or rice for the gravy. Tonight I served it with a cucumber salad, but sometimes I will serve green beans or steamed broccoli.