Pretzel-crusted pork chops with cheddar mustard sauce

 

File this one under "easier than it sounds."

Pork is one of my favorite foods to work with these days. Not only is it a "lean red meat" (better than ground beef!), it's dirt cheap compared to chicken or beef. I actually adapted this from a Rachael Ray chicken recipe.

For the meat:

4 pork chops

1 5-ounce bag of salted pretzels, any shape

Dried parsley (optional)

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 eggs

Vegetable oil, for frying 

For the sauce:

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons flour

2 cups milk

2 1/2 cups, sharp cheddar cheese, shredded

2  tablespoons spicy brown mustard

Instructions:

1. Chop up pretzels in a food processor, or place in a Ziplock bag and crush.

2. Pound the pork thin, if desired. (You don't have to; however, it will change the cooking time.)

3. Beat the eggs in a shallow dish, and place pretzel crumbs, salt, pepper, and parsley in another dish. Coat the pork chops in egg, then in the pretzel.

4. Fry with vegetable oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Cooking time will vary--for regular pork chops, it's usually 5 minutes on each side. I've found that the pretzel crust burns easily, so be careful.

5. To make the sauce, melt butter, then add in flour. Stir in milk, cheese, and mustard and stir continuously until it's a good consistency.

I served mine with lima beans and a brown rice-quinoa blend, which are both healthy sides.

And one more extreme close-up, brought to you by my husband:

 

The world's best homemade, whole wheat lasagna recipe

Previously on this blog, I promoted recipes with low-fat or reduced-calorie ingredients. Why? I'd never really researched it. I just assumed that less fat=healthier.

It might seem like common sense that fat is bad, but it's wrong, wrong, wrong.

I'm better-educated on nutrition now than when I started this blog. I read The Happiness Diet, which stresses over and over again that "fat is not the enemy." Sugar--including the kind in refined carbohydrates like white bread--is the enemy. If anything, most Americans eat too little fat and way, way too much sugar. Fat is critical for healthy brain functioning, and it keeps you full and satisfied. (Sugar does pretty much the opposite to your brain and body.) Full-fat dairy is a source of Conjugated Linoleic Acid, a fat so important it's sold in pill form as a supplement. (The book's advice: skip the supplements and eat real food.) CLA is critical for brain development and function, and it's a "body fat modulator"--meaning it prevents your body from forming weird fat rolls, especially on your stomach.

With that said, I made one of my favorite fat-laden recipes tonight: lasagna.I actually adapted this from a recipe titled "The world's best lasagna recipe."

Ingredients:

1 pound Italian sausage (I used Bob Evans brand, which comes in a one-pound package)
3/4 pound of ground beef
1/2 cup minced onion
1 tablespoon of minced, bottled garlic (is there a bigger pain in life than mincing garlic by hand? Get the bottled stuff)
28-ounce can of crushed tomatoes
2 6-ounce cans of tomato paste
1 15-ounce can of tomato sauce
1/2 cup of water
1 tablespoon white sugar (optional. I avoid adding sugar whenever possible, but 1 tablespoon in the entire batch will equal a minute amount per serving)
1 1/2 teaspoons dried basil
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning blend
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
4 tablespoons dried parsley
12 whole wheat lasagna noodles
32 ounces of whole milk Ricotta cheese
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon salt
12 slices of Mozzarella cheese
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:
1. Sautee the garlic and onion in a Dutch oven or other large skillet. Add ground beef and sausage and cook until brown.
2. After the meat cooks, stir in the tomatoes, tomato paste, tomato sauce, water, sugar, basil, Italian seasoning, 2 teaspoons salt, pepper, and 2 tablespoons of the parsley.
3. Cook lasagna noodles according to package directions. (I choose not to boil my noodles; they get too mushy. I just soften them in hot water. You can Google other methods of dealing with lasagna noodles without boiling them.)
4. In a bowl, combine Ricotta cheese, egg, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 2 tablespoons parsley.
5. After all of that's done, it's time to layer. First, coat the bottom of a baking dish with the meat sauce. Then form a layer of 6 lasagna noodles. Spread half the Ricotta over the noodles, then 6 slices of Mozzarella. Top with a layer of meat sauce and 1/3 cup Parmesan cheese. Repeat layers again.
6. Cover the baking dish with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.

I usually save this recipe for special occasions--the photo below is from my 2-year wedding anniversary. But it's Sunday and lasagna is fun to make, so why not?