Plan B --Honey-Mustard Pork Chops

Honey-Mustard Pork Chops
Weight Watchers New Complete Cookbook Copyright 2006

4 teaspoons honey
¼ cup Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon cider or wine vinegar
¼ teaspoon salt
Freshly ground pepper, to taste
4 (6-ounce) bone-in loin chops, 1-inch thick I used boneless loin chops

1. 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.
2. Place the pork chops in a gallon-size zip-close plastic 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.
3. 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: 178 cal, 3g fat, 10mg chol, 124mg sodium, 2g carbs, 0g fiber, 26g pro, 27mg calcium

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I had originally planned on making a slow-cooked pork chop recipe with these pork chops but I chickened out. Boneless pork loin is as tricky as boneless chicken breasts in the slow cooker. You'll find plenty of recipes for boneless chicken breasts to be cooked in a slow cooker but that doesn't mean it's a good idea.

I have a sick kidlet this week so I didn't have much time or energy to search for a replacement recipe. I grabbed this simple one. It was very good - the chops were moist and flavorful yet they didn't really taste like honey-mustard. It's not necessarily a bad thing when a marinade only gives meat a mild flavor but if you're looking for a strong honey-mustard flavor, you won't find it here.

The recipe I decided not to use was from a library cookbook. When I checked it out, the librarian told me that the book was a favorite with the ladies who worked there - they all take turns checking it out. And not one of them has made anything from it! I laughed, because it was at least the second time I checked out that book (a 5-ingredient slow cooker cookbook, from BHG, I think) and I hadn't made anything from it either. I still haven't, even though I was pretty determined to do it, just so I could tell the librarian that I made one of the recipes. It's a pictureless book but there's an appeal to the simple recipes. I can't quite figure out why the recipes aren't getting used. For me personally, although the recipes are 5 ingredients or less, it seemed that most of the ingredients were things I didn't keep on hand - canned soups, frozen vegetables, cuts of meat outside my usual repetoire.

I'm not finding a lot of recipes to make from this Weight Watchers cookbook. I'm not sure what makes it 'complete'. Most of the recipes are a bit fancy for my house. There are probably some gems in there, I just need to find them.

I'm going to do the April cookbook drawing later today. I didn't forget.

Blast From The Past: Seared Salmon with Balsamic Glaze from September 2005. I bought salmon at Costco last week, in an attempt to add more fish to our diet.

Question of the Day: How often to you cook fish at home? What types of fish do you make?