Recipe: Pork Chops with Balsamic Vinegar

This recipe is technically a dinner for two, but we doubled the recipe to get two meals out of it. I'll post the original as it's made for two people or two meals for one person.

-2 boneless center pork loin chops, 1 1/2 inch thick
-1 1/2 tsps lemon pepper
-1 tsp vegetable oil
-3 tbsp balsamic vinegar
-2 tbsp chicken broth
-2 tsps butter

1. Pat chops dry and coat with lemon pepper
2. Heat oil in heavy skillet over medium high heat
3. Add chops. Brown 8 minutes, turn, and cook 7 more minutes or until done
4. Remove from pan and keep warm
5. Add vinegar and broth to skillet; cook and stir until syrupy (about 1-2 minutes. NOTE: I never did get to the syrupy stage, so either I did something wrong or it just takes longer than a couple of minutes)
6. Stir in butter until blended
7. Spoon sauce over chops

We served this with frozen vegetables as a side.

Estimated cost per person was a little higher as we had to buy lemon pepper. Lemon pepper is a great thing to have on hand though.

Estimated cost: about $1.50 per person per meal

The taste was really good though a little light on balsamic flavor. Add more to taste as needed. I had thought that the leftovers would be more flavorful as they had time to sit in the sauce, but they weren't as good as leftovers generally have seemed to be. Still good in a pinch however and good with any number of sides.

Recipe: Onion Baked Pork Chops

Another fairly cheap recipe and a tasty one!

4 bone-in pork chops (center cut) (bought on sale for about $1.00 each)
1 envelop Lipton Recipe Secrets Golden Onion soup (about $.65 as the whole box was only like $1.29 and you only need one envelope)
2/3 cup Breadcrumbs (already had stocked, but Wal-Mart sells big cans for less than a dollar)
1 egg well beaten (about $.15)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Combine soup mix and bread crumbs in plastic storage bag. Shake until well mixed then pour out on flat dish.
Dip chops in egg then coat with crumb mixture on both sides.
Grease baking pan and arrange chops
Bake uncovered 10 minutes, then turn and bake for another 10-15.

We served this with macaroni and cheese, which we bought for $.33 a box at Aldi. We had enough for two meals, so we had leftovers a couple days later. The leftover taste was fine, but the pork got a little bit tough when re-heated in the microwave.

The estimated cost per person per meal: less than $1.50.