Parmesan Crusted Pork Chops

My sister, Brooke, gave me this recipe.  I may have changed it a bit because when she gave me the recipe she told me she used "some" bread crumbs, and "a lot" of Parmesan cheese.  I used to cook all carefree like that.  And then, I started a blog . . . 


So, I took her recipe and guessed about what "some" and "a lot" meant.  I think I must have been close, because the result was quite tasty.  It's also surprisingly simple to make.  And, I think it's pretty versatile. I served my chops with fettuccine alfredo and steamed broccoli, which were both a nice compliment.  Brooke says she usually serves hers with cheesy rice.  After having tried the chops, I'd guess that the cheesy rice would go well too. 


Here's what you need:
6 Thinly sliced Pork Chops
1 Cup Italian Bread Crumbs
1 Cup finely grated Parmesan Cheese
1 Tsp Garlic Powder
Salt and Pepper to taste
2 Eggs
Vegetable oil for browning the chops 


Here's what you do: 
1.  Combine the bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, garlic powder, salt and pepper in a bowl.  


2.  In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs until well beaten. 


3.  Put a pan on the stove on medium to medium-high heat.  Add vegetable oil and allow the oil to get warm.


4.  While you're waiting for the vegetable oil to heat up, preheat the oven to 350 degrees and cover a cookie sheet in aluminum foil.


5.  Coat one pork chop in the bread crumb mixture.  Dip it in the beaten eggs.  Return it to the bread crumb mixture and coat again.  Immediately put the pork chop in the pan of warm oil.  Cook each side of the pork chop until it is golden brown and then remove from pan and place on cookie sheet. 


     Hint: While I had one pork chop in the pan cooking, I started step number 5 on 
      the next pork chop, paying close attention to the pork chop on the stove to 
      make sure it didn't burn. 


7.  Once all the pork chops have been browned and are on the cookie sheet, place the cookie sheet in the oven and bake for about 35 minutes, or until the chops are cooked all the way through. 

Enjoy!

Roasted Red Pepper Alfredo with Mozarella Stuffed Meatballs

I went to lunch at Applebees with a couple of friends not too long ago.  Amber suggested I try their Provolone-Stuffed Meatballs with Fettuccine.  I did and they were pretty good.  So, I decided to make my own version of them.  This is what I came up with.  It turned out pretty good.  I'll experiment next time with different cheeses, I think.  Making the meatballs is a little time consuming, but the rest of the meal is quick and easy to make.  I used this recipe to make the meatballs, but I toned it down some so it was a little less spicy.

Here's what I used for the Meatballs:

½ Cup Green Onion, finely chopped

¼ Cup Italian Style Bread Crumbs

3 Heaping Tablespoons of Shredded Parmesan Cheese

1 Pound Ground Beef

1 Tablespoon Garlic Powder

2 Tablespoons Crushed Red Pepper (for a less spicy meatball use 1 Tablespoon – or less – Crushed Red Pepper)

8 oz Mozzarella Cheese

Here's What I did to make the Meatballs:

1.  Preheated the oven to 350 degrees. 

2.  Cut the Mozzarella Cheese into small cubes.  Set those aside in a bowl.

3.  Mixed together the Green Onion, Bread Crumbs, Parmesan Cheese, Garlic Powder, and Crushed Red Pepper. 

4.  Crumbled the Ground Beef on top of the mixture of dry ingredients.  Then, using my hands, I mixed the ground beef with the dry ingredients. 

5.  I picked up one piece of mozzarella and formed a meatball, approximately 1 inch in diameter, around the piece of cheese.  Repeat until either all of the cheese or all of the meat mixture has been used.  I ended up running out of the meat mixture before cheese. 

     Hint:  Try to form the meatballs around the cheese as tightly as possible. 

     Any gaps will allow some of the cheese to melt out while the meatballs

     are baking.

6.  Placed the meatballs in a glass baking dish with about 1 inch in between each meatball.  

7.  Baked for about 25 minutes.  Remove them from the oven when the outsides are brown and the insides of the meatballs are cooked fully.  Some of your cheese will likely melt and run out of the meatball while they are baking.  Don't be concerned -- I still had plenty of cheese inside the meatballs.

While the meatballs were baking, I made the pasta. 

Here's what I used for the Pasta:

16 oz Fettuccine Noodles

2 Jars Alfredo Sauce

1/2 Jar of Roasted Red Peppers

Here's what I did to make the Pasta:

1.  Boiled water and cooked the Fettuccine Noodles as directed on the package. 

2.  While the noodles were cooking, I sliced up half of the jar of Roasted Red Peppers (use only the peppers, not the juice).

3.  Put the Alfredo Sauce on the stove in a sauce pan to heat. 

4.  Added the cut up roasted red peppers to the alfredo sauce.  Heated til warm.

To serve, I spooned some fettuccine noodles into a bowl and topped that with the roasted red pepper sauce.  Then I placed a few meatballs on top of the pasta.  I also served this with garlic bread.  It was delicious!

Enjoy!