Hello there!

Mondays are Meal Planning Mondays! I absolutely love to cook and try out recipes (and hardly follow them exactly – I like to make them a little bit of my own!) and let people know how they are.

I got this idea when I started Melanie’s Mess Hall on facebook. People get together and save recipes here so they don’t have to clog up their own facebook walls. I try out ones that they post and then we’ll go back and comment on them. I’ve had a few fails, but mostly they’ve been great. Other people will try them out and comment or post their own. It really is fantastic and I’ve gotten lots of happy people commenting!

I’d like to start off my blog with a recipe. One of our favorites at our house.

My husband LOVES pork. I never really cooked it on my own in my life before him and don’t really remember eating it growing up. It’s cheap and it’s the “other white meat!” D (my son) even knows that my husband loves it! Any time we talk about it, he pipes in with “Daddy loves pork!” It’s a staple in our house and you can do so much with it.

A while ago (before babies!), we tried to eat healthy – we really did. One of our favorite go-to’s for recipes was “Cook This, Not That.” It’s a great book that gives you trade off’s from some pretty bad for you meals at restaurants. By no means are they exact replicas, but the recipes are pretty tasty. It’s probably the best “diet” cook book we’ve used.

One of our favorites is a blue cheese and peaches pork chops recipe. It’s so simple and absolutely delicious.

Ingredients:
4 thick cut (1″) bone-in pork chops (8 oz each)
Olive oil
Salt & black pepper to taste
2 firm peaches or nectarines, halved and pitted (I have used a can of sliced or halved peaches in a pinch)
2 tbsp pine nuts – toasted (We don’t use pine nuts)
1 small red onion, thinly sliced (We have used regular onions, and regardless of what kind of onions, I ALWAYS saute them before adding them to the cheese and vinegar. I can’t handle raw onions)
1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese
1 Tblsp balsamic vinegar

1. Heat grill to hot. Brush the pork with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Grill for 4 to 5 minutes on each side. The outside should be charred (not burned), but the meat should be light pink in the middle.
2. While the chops cook, brush the peach halves with oil and add them to the grill, cut side down (if I am using already sliced peaches from a can, I do this on my grill pan inside the house. They fall apart on the outside grill and it’s easier. Plus the grill terrifies me, if I’m being honest. Otherwise you lose the peaches in the grill!)  Grill for 5 minutes or until soft. Remove, slice and toss with the pine nuts, onion (in our case, the sauteed onion), blue cheese and vinegar; season with salt and pepper. Top each chop with the peach mixture and serve.

Bare (bear?) with me on photos – I am still learning!

I gave some of this to Dylan, but without the topping. I thought it would scare him away and he eats pork sometimes so I didn’t want to ruin it. We served it with cous cous.

Happy cooking!