Weight Watchers Wednesday - Honey-Mustard Pork Chops

How fitting that this post should come right after my cheese-and-bacon laden Bacon Quiche recipe.

But don't be fooled. It's only a once-a-week commitment that I'm making to eating healthier.

Unfortunately for me, these pesky 20 pounds I've been holding onto since Nora was born don't seem to be going anywhere. And I want them to go. Anywhere. Somewhere. Just far, far away from me. Apparently, though, it sometimes requires a change in habits to lose weight, and I haven't changed a single habit. Just wishing and hoping the pounds away isn't cutting it anymore. Thus, Weight Watchers Wednesday was born.

Every Wednesday I'm going to make a new and healthy recipe. It might come from my Weight Watchers cookbook (I'm gonna start there) or it might come from Cooking Light or another healthy food source. Wherever it comes from, though, it's gonna be healthy.

No heavy cream, no half-and-half, no "four cups of cheese" or "1/2 pound of bacon."

We'll see how this goes.

Thank goodness it's only once a week.

Honey-Mustard Pork Chops
Courtesy of the Weight Watchers New Complete Cookbook
4 Points
4 teaspoons honey
1/4 cup Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon cider or wine vinegar
1/4 teaspoon salt
Freshly ground pepper, to taste
4 (5-ounce) bone-in loin pork chops, 1-inch thick

To prepare the marinade, in a small saucepan over low heat, heat the honey until it liquefies. Stir in the mustard, vinegar, salt and pepper; cool to room temperature. Place the pork chops in a gallon-size Ziploc bag; add the marinade. Seal the bag, squeezing out the air; turn to coat the chops. Refrigerate, turning the bag occasionally, at least 8 hours or overnight. Remove the chops from the refrigerator 30 minutes before broiling. Preheat the broiler. Discard the marinade. Place the chops on the broiler rack and broil 3-4 inches from the heat until cooked through, 6-7 minutes on each side. Makes 4 servings.

Per serving (1 chop): 178 calories, 7 g. fat, 3 g. saturated fat, 0 g trans fat, 10 mg. cholesterol, 124 mg. sodium, 2 g. carbs, 0 g fiber, 26 g. protein, 27 mg. calc.

Marinated pork chops, roasted corn & potatoes

A few weekends ago we had a smidge of sunshine in the forecast, so I asked Patrick to fire up the grill. We love to grill, but we've been getting such amazing amounts of rain lately that it seems almost impossible to find a dry time to grill. Thankfully, the rain held off until about five minutes after Patrick got done grilling our dinner that evening.

Sidenote: we have a charcoal grill, and while we love the flavor it imparts on food, we don't like how stinking long it takes to heat the coals. It makes weeknight grilling impossible. So, we're thinking about a future purchase of a gas grill. My family is partial to Weber grills. Anyone have suggestions?

I don't make pork too often for some reason, but when I do, this marinade is my go-to marinade of choice for tasty grilled pork chops. And, of course, it's easy. (That is, if you're not the one grilling. If I were grilling, we'd end up with undercooked meat or overdone meat. Thankfully Patrick likes to grill.)

Oh, and how can I forget -- the CORN. Oh my goodness gracious. The corn is so yummy!! I grew up eating boiled corn-on-the-cob, and man alive, this blows it out of the water (sorry, Mom). It's also healthy, with about 109 calories and 4 grams of fat per serving.

The potatoes are roasted rosemary-onion potatoes. I love roasted potatoes, and addition of rosemary and onion gives these nice flavor.



Pork Chop Marinade
My mom's recipe
1/2 cup soy sauce
3 tablespoons vinegar
2 tablespoons corn or vegetable oil
4 garlic cloves, minced or crushed
2 green onions, chopped
1 tablespoon dry mustard (or regular yellow mustard, both work great)
1 teaspoon ground ginger
Dash of pepper

Combine all ingredients in a dish large enough to accommodate all of your meat. Score meat deeply and place in dish with marinade. Marinate for two hours in the fridge, turning frequently.

I'm not going to pretend that I know anything about grilling, but from what I've read, grill your pork chop until it registers 135 degrees in the center and then let it stand for 10-15 minutes. The heat will continue to cook the pork, but will leave it juicy instead of dry and overcooked.

Oven-Roasted Corn on the Cob
Weight Watchers recipe - 2 points per serving
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh cilantro
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon water
4 ears of corn on the cob, shucked

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Tear off 4 (12-inch-square) sheets of heavy-duty foil.

In a shallow bowl (I use a glass pie plate), combine the cilantro, lime juice, oil and water. Roll the corn in the cilantro oil, then place on the foil; brush with any remaining cilantro oil. Wrap the foil around the corn securely, then place directly on an oven rack. Bake, turning occasionally, until tender, about 25 minutes.

Roasted Rosemary-Onion Potatoes
4 medium russet potatoes
1 small onion, finely chopped (about 1/4 cup)
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons dried rosemary leaves
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper

Heat oven to 450 degrees. Grease a jelly roll pan (15 1/2" x 10 1/2" x 1). Cut potatoes into 1-inch chunks. Mix onion, oil, rosemary, thyme, salt and pepper in a large bowl. Add potatoes; toss to coat. Spread potatoes in single layer on pan.

Bake, uncovered, for 20-25 minutes, turning occasionally, until potatoes are light brown and tender when pierced with a fork.

Note: Be careful not to do what I often do when making these. We like our potatoes darker and crunchier, but the onion does tend to burn when I leave these in for much longer than the 20-25 minutes, and then you're left with little black specs of burned onion instead of nicely browned onion. The potatoes are still good, but you miss out on the onion and have to pick through the burned bits to get to the potatoes. Not fun.