Creamy Ranch Pork Chops & Potatoes

Comfort food at its finest! Smooth and pillowy mashed potatoes, creamy, flavorful gravy and a deliciously tender pork chop all in one bite. The best part is you really only need 4 ingredients for the pork chops!

I'm a little crazy. I had scrolled past a picture of something like this on pinterest. It had a picture of the pork over the potatoes and a picture of a ranch packet. So I assumed I knew what I was doing without actually opening the link. I went shopping and grabbed the things I figured it asked for, went home and pulled up the link just to make sure and I was a little off! The recipe was way more complex than I'd thought and I just had a few basic things to use.

So I used them anyway. And you know what? It's fanFREAKINtastic! Holy crap. My daughter who hates potatoes (she's learning...) still gobbled this up and kept telling me how yummy and flavorful it was. So I'm kinda like hm, I don't know that I want to try the more complex recipe when I can just make this and have my kids eat it all with fewer ingredients/time put into it.

What you will need:

• Pork chops (as many as you'd like. I think I used 8 and there was plenty of gravy for them all)
• 1 can cream of mushroom soup
• 1 can cream of chicken soup
• 3 T ranch mix
• 1-2 T kosher salt (I tasted the gravy before serving and added more salt in and pinch more of the ranch mix but you decide!)

Directions:

• Mix together the soups, ranch mix and salt
• Place pork chops inside a crock pot
• Pour the gravy mix on top of the pork chops
• Cook on low for about 5 hours

Jerk Pork Wraps with Lime Mayo

Another great recipe to add to my "healthy" category. Okay so the lime mayo isn't really all that healthy but I'm sure you could use fat free or something and make it healthier. In the end, the flavor of it didn't really add a whole ton to the meal anyway so technically it could be left out and not be missed. We are also going to use Baja Fresh's pineapple salsa next time because it's spicier, so I'll update this with that recipe next time. Whenever I have a recipe that uses tortilla's but the main recipe is gluten-free, I am still considering it a gluten-free meal because I feel that I can still do something with it to keep it gluten-free like eliminating the tortilla and using it as a rice topper or putting it on corn tortilla chips.


**Update**- I'm not sure if the recipe I tried is similar to what they have at Baja Fresh, but it's super good! Check out this Spicy Pineapple Salsa!

What you will need:

Taco's

• 1 1/2-2 lb. boneless pork shoulder roast
• 6 tortillas**
• 1 T Jamaican jerk seasoning (naturally gluten free)
• 1/4 tsp. Thyme
• 1 C water
• 1 T lime juice
• 1 red pepper, diced
• 1 green pepper, diced
• 1 red onion, diced (only if you aren't using the Lime Mayo)
• 1 mango, peeled, seeded and chopped OR pineapple chopped (I used the pineapple)
• cilantro (optional)
• lettuce (optional)
• Lime Mayo

Lime Mayo

• 1/2 C Mayo
• 1/4 C finely chopped red onion
• 1/4 tsp. finely shredded lime peel
• 1 T lime juice
• 1 clove garlic, minced

Directions:

Taco's

• Trim the fat off of the pork shoulder
• Rub pork shoulder with jerk seasoning
• Sprinkle the pork with thyme
• Pour 1 C water over the meat and cook on low for 8-10 hours or on high for 4-5 hours
• Remove meat from slow cooker and drain juices
• Shred the pork shoulder
• Toss the shredded pork in 1 T lime juice
• Build your taco with the pork, pineapple/mango salsa, cilantro, lettuce, dressing, cheese, etc.

Lime Mayo

• I just tossed all these ingredient into my food processor and voila

**For the tortilla's, I buy the La Abuela brand in the refrigerated section by the cream cheeses at the store. A cast iron skillet is always a great way to warm up the tortilla's!

Kira's Garlic and Herb Pork Tenderloin

A while back I posted a recipe I'd tried for pork. It was really good, but since then I've made it "my own" and have changed things. So, this is how I make my pork, though I never measure anything for it so it's all approximate.

 

You will need:

• 1-1.5 lb. Pork tenderloin, I never buy any that are already seasoned
• 5 cloves fresh garlic, I only ever use fresh garlic for anything
• 1- 1 1/2 T thyme, depends on your taste
• 1 T salt, because I love salt
• 5 T olive oil
• Dash of basil

Directions:

• Preheat your oven to 375 degrees
• Place your pork in a large pan, I use a turkey pan and place the pork on the rack
• Mince your garlic and thyme, I have a slap-chopper I use to mince them up after I've diced them a bit
• In a bowl, combine the olive oil, garlic, thyme and salt and add a dash of basil
• Using either a spoon or a pastry brush, coat the pork with the mixture, basting your pork with it is an option as well
• Cover your pork very tightly like you would a turkey-

• Cook at 375 degrees for one hour and let it rest for at least 10 minutes before slicing

This is extremely easy, and extremely tasty. I usually throw in potatoes with it and they're all done at the same time in my oven. Today I did potatoes and crack bread with it and baked the crack bread while the pork was resting and it all worked out fabulously.

**This is also made for my oven in particular. I've suspected that the temperature in my oven is off so don't hate me if something is off ;)**