Trim-It-Down Tuesday: Weeknight Pork Chops and Apples

This week's recipe was so good! It doesn't taste like it's low-cal or "diet" at all.


And this week, I took pictures!



Weeknight Pork Loin Chops and Apples

Warm flavors like sage and cinnamon play up the contrast between the juicy chops and caramelized apples. Tart Granny Smiths and slightly sweeter Braeburn apples both work well for this dish.

Yield
4 servings (serving size: 1 pork chop and 3/4 cup apple mixture)

Ingredients
1 teaspoon dried rubbed sage
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
4 (4-ounce) boneless center-cut loin pork chops (about 1/2 inch thick)
1/2 teaspoon vegetable oil
Cooking spray
1 teaspoon butter
4 cups (1/2-inch) slices peeled Granny Smith apples (about 4 medium)
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Dash of salt

Preparation
Combine first 3 ingredients, and sprinkle over the pork. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray over medium heat. Add pork; cook 3 minutes on each side or until done. **Note: It took me much longer than 3 minutes per side to cook these. More like 5 minutes per side at least! Just make sure to cook all the way through.

Remove the pork from pan. Cover and keep warm. (Please note that because our pan tips forward on our stove a bit, all the oil and juices kind of flood the front of the pan. But next time, I would use less oil than I did this time.)

Here is a photo of Chris peeling and slicing the apples. What a nice husband!

Melt butter in pan over medium heat. Add apples and remaining ingredients, and cook 5 minutes or until tender, stirring frequently.

Serve the apples with pork.

I served ours with mashed potatoes and a side salad of field greens with balsalmic vinegrette. Granted, mashed potatoes aren't really "diet".... but they were the splurge of the meal.

As I said, these turned out really really well. The apples were so good! The only thing I would say is to make sure the pork is thoroughly cooked through, which took me longer than the 3 minutes per side on medium heat.

Nutritional Information
Calories: 251 (30% from fat)
Fat: 8.3g (sat 3.1g,mono 3.3g,poly 0.9g)
Protein: 24.1g
Carbohydrate: 20.2g
Fiber: 2.3g
Cholesterol: 67mg
Iron: 0.9mg
Sodium: 388mg
Calcium: 38mg

Abby Duchin Dinces, Cooking Light, OCTOBER 2003