New House on the Block: Honey Garlic Pork Chops

For those of you that know me, you probably know that my weight has always been a struggle. I've tried many diets, but always have difficulty with them. This southern girl loves her tex-mex! I have finally found one that is working for me. I started late June and am down nine pounds! Woohoo!

The gist of the diet is what I would call "clean" eating. It makes so much sense! The diet consists of mainly fruits, vegetables, lean proteins and lots of water. You eat 6 times during the day and have a yummy kool-aid like protein drink with your snacks to sustain you between meals. I'm loving it!

With all that said, I am making a goal of trying one new recipe each week. This week we chose a recipe for honey garlic pork chops from Spark Recipes. It was a hit for both of us! Ths is one of my favorite types of recipes because:

1.) It's healthy.
2.) It uses a small number of ingredients that I usually have stocked.
3.) It's so easy I can make it!

Honey Garlic Pork Chops
Ingredients:
1/4 c. honey
3 tbsp. soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic or 6 cloves fresh garlic - minced

This is what the original directions say, but I have no clue what it means to baste or even what a greased grill is:

In a shallow dish, whisk together honey, soy sauce and garlic.
Coat chops in mixture.
Reserve left over honey mixture for basting.
Place chops on greased grill over med high heat, close lid and cook. basting 2 times.

SO, this is what I did instead:

Mix honey, soy sauce and garlic and coat chops with mixture
Place chops in a baking dish and cook for 35-40 minutes at 350 degrees (turning halfway)
EASY PEASY!!

I served it with watermelon and one of my favorite side dishes, roasted asparagus.

Roasted Asparagus

Chop the ends off your asparagus.

Lightly drizzle olive oil over the the asparagus and toss to coat

I then sprinkle it with a truffle and salt mixture that we recieved a while back for a house warming gift. It's so good and flavorful, but a bit pricey (you can get it from Central Market). If you don't have that, then just use sea salt and coarse black pepper. Bake for 10 minutes at 350.