main dishes

Smothered Pork Chops

Today is Lil Misses 9th birthday! My little girl is growing up so fast! She is the total package, she has both brains, beauty and she is one heck of an athlete. She is my all american girl.

Lil Miss | Country Girl Gourmet

Since it is her birthday she gets to pick out what she wants to eat for her birthday dinner and of course she picked out one of her favorite things to eat. No not pizza, cheeseburgers or chicken nuggets. She wants pork chops and polenta. Yes, she has grown up tastes when it comes to food. So I thought for today in honor of her birthday I would share one of our new favorite pork chop recipes, Smothered Pork Chops from Swanson®.

Smothered Pork Chops | Country Girl Gourmet

I discovered this recipe through my work with Allrecipes as one of their brand ambassadors, Allrecipes Allstar. Last month my assignment was working with Swanson Broth. The recipes I made were great and the other Allstars had great things to say about the recipes they were trying out. So I tried out a few more recipes and wasn’t disappointed when I came across their Smothered Pork Chop recipe.

I will say I did not follow the recipe as written, I used chicken broth instead of beef. I know the horror,lol. The pork chops turned out perfect with my substitution  and I have made them more than once. One of my favorite things about the recipe is the gravy. It does not use a can of cream of yuck and it is gluten free. That is a big plus for me.

Try them for yourself. You won’t be disappointed! Heck, use the beef broth too if you have it around.

What is your favorite way to make pork chops? 

Smothered Pork Chops | Country Girl Gourmet

4.6 from 7 reviews
Smothered Pork Chops
 
Author:
Print
 
Ingredients
  • 1¾ cups Swanson® Chicken or Beef Broth
  • 2 tablespoons cornstarch
  • 6 (5 ounce) boneless pork chops, ¾-inch thick
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 large onion, sliced
  • 1 tablespoon Dijon-style mustard
  • 2 teaspoons chopped fresh rosemary leaves
Instructions
  1. Stir the broth and cornstarch in a small bowl until the mixture is smooth. Season the pork, if desired.
  2. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat. Add the pork and cook for 5 minutes or until well browned on both sides. Remove the pork from the skillet.
  3. Heat the remaining oil in the skillet. Add the onion and cook for 3 minutes or until tender-crisp, stirring occasionally. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute, stirring often.
  4. Stir the broth mixture and dijon mustard in the skillet. Cook and stir until the mixture boils and thickens.
  5. Stir chopped fresh rosemary leaves into the thickened broth mixture
  6. Return the pork to the skillet. Reduce the heat to low. Cover and cook for 5 minutes or until the pork is cooked through.

Adapted from Allrecipes.com

Coffee Rub Steak

Once upon a time I tried to be a vegetarian of sorts. You know how some vegetarians eat seafood, well I would eat chicken and turkey. I was one of those unhealthy vegetarians, I ate a ton of junk but hey I was 18. My life as a vegetarian ended abruptly in 1999 after I became pregnant with my oldest son. To this day I can remember wanting a steak slathered in A-1 and as luck would have it I got my steak at a BBQ that evening. After that evening I was no longer a vegetarian and today a good steak is one of my favorite things to eat. I have been lucky to have been able to eat some of the best steaks out there. While living in El Paso we had several steakhouses to choose from including Cattleman’s Steak House in Fabens, TX. It is a must stop if you are ever in the area. Wagon tours around movie sets, a children’s zoo, a rattlesnake pit and more. There is just so much to do there and their steaks are awesome! They have been voted best and even featured on Travel network best of shows. Leaving Cattleman’s and other great steakhouses in Texas was pretty sad for my family. Where would we now go for a good steak? We are still looking for the perfect steakhouse in the Fort Bragg area but while on a mini vacation to Myrtle Beach we discovered an awesome restaurant with beautiful food. My steak was the closest to any steak I had in El Paso too. Plus it had a beautiful coffee rub.

At first I was unsure about a coffee rub steak. I do not like coffee. I know what you are thinking but, no, there is nothing wrong with me. I just don’t care for coffee. My husband talked me into to it and I was happy he did! The coffee rub was the perfect compliment to the steak. Plus it didn’t taste like coffee. My husband tried my steak and he loved it also. I instantly knew what I had to do next, I needed to recreate  that coffee rub. So I did and it turned into something really beautiful. Although going out and having someone else cook for me is nice since we have yet to find the perfect steakhouse I don’t mind staying in and making this coffee rub steak. My kids request it on a regular basis too and get mad if I make it when they go away to their grandparent’s for the weekend. I guess I would be too, it really is that good!

Coffee Rub Steak | Country Girl Gourmet
Making a Coffee Rub Steak is pretty simple. You start with a good quality coffee. Yes, you could use something like Folgers but your steak will taste much better when made with a good quality coffee. We like nice dark roasts. You combine the coffee with your other spices to create your rub seasoning mix.

Coffee Rub Steak | Country Girl Gourmet

Next you add it to your steak. We have used rib eyes and NY strips but any nicely marbled steak will work. You can add as much or as little as you would like. I use a heavy hand to help ensure a nice crust.Coffee Rub Steak| Country Girl Gourmet

Now all that is left to do is cook your steak your favorite way and to your desired doneness. I have cooked our steaks both on the grill, heavy bottom skillet as well as our electric skillet with good results.Coffee Rub Steak| Country Girl GourmetWhen done cooking just remember to allow your steak to rest for 10 minutes before serving.
Coffee Rub Steak| Country Girl Gourmet

We serve with baked sweet potatoes and other favorite vegetables such as asparagus.

Have you tried coffee rub steak? What did you think? What is your favorite way to make steak?

Coffee Rub Steak
 
Author:
Print
 
Ingredients
  • 2 Tablespoons Fresh Ground Coffee
  • 1 Tablespoon Brown Sugar
  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1 teaspoon paprika
  • 1 Tablespoon Chilli Powder
  • 1 teaspoon Coarse Sea Salt
  • 1 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
Instructions
  1. Mix all ingredients in a medium bowl. Transfer to an airtight container. Coffee rub can be made 1 month ahead and stored in an airtight container at room temperature.
  2. To use sprinkle desired amount on steak and cook using desired method to desired doneness.
  3. Allow steaks to rest 10 minutes before serving.

Sesame Chicken

One of my favorite things to use in my kitchen is my crockpot, yes my crockpot. Crockpots are perfect for almost every situation. You need to keep food warm, use your crockpot. Kids have practice after school and you want to make sure you can have dinner on the table and avoid the fast food rut, use your crockpot. It is hot outside and you don’t want to heat up your kitchen, use your crockpot. I can’t even begin to tell you how many meals my crockpot has cooked. There was a time when my kids were in track and cross country that I used it every single night. Needless to say, I am always looking for new recipes to use in my crockpot.

The newest addition to my collection of recipes for the crockpot is Sesame Chicken. We love Chinese food around here and I make it myself since our last experience with a Chinese buffet ended up with my husband and myself having food poisoning… on Christmas. Not to mention you really aren’t going to find gluten free Chinese dishes. Did you know Soy Sauce is not gluten free? I am thankful for gluten free soy sauce, Tamari is my friend! We eat some sort of Chinese food probably once a week so it is a must have.

Back to the Sesame Chicken though. I have always been a fan of sesame chicken when we use to go out for Chinese. I haven’t had it since I became gluten free so when I found the recipe I was intrigued. I made it for my family one night when I had a dinnertime board meeting for Team RWB and I came home to nothing. They devoured it and didn’t same me anything at all. How rude! On the bright side though that is how I knew the recipe was a winner. That and my kiddos constantly asking me if I can make it again. Needless to say it has been added in to our regular rotation.

Sesame Chicken | Country Girl Gourmet

If you are looking for a fake out take out winner try this sesame chicken! Plus it gets extra points for being made in the crock pot so I can put it together and forget about it and do what I need to do. Talk about Win-Win! When will you be trying it out?

Sesame Chicken
 
Author:
Print
 
Ingredients
  • 1½ pounds skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
  • ½ cup honey
  • ¼ cup soy sauce
  • 2 tablespoons ketchup
  • 2 tablespoons dried minced onion (fresh onion can be substituted)
  • 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
  • ½ teaspoon garlic powder
  • 2 teaspoons cornstarch
  • 3 tablespoons water
  • sesame seeds, or to taste
Instructions
  1. Spread chicken into the crock of a slow cooker.
  2. Stir honey, soy sauce, ketchup, minced onion, vegetable oil, and garlic powder together in a bowl; pour over the chicken.
  3. Cook on Low until the chicken is tender, 3 to 4 hours.
  4. Remove chicken from the sauce in the slow cooker to a cutting board. Stir water and cornstarch together to dissolve cornstarch completely; pour into the sauce in the slow cooker until smooth.
  5. Cook on High until slightly thickened, about 10 minutes.
  6. Cut chicken into bite-size pieces and stir into the sauce. Sprinkle sesame seeds over the chicken and sauce mixture.

Adapted from Allrecipes.com