Sour Cream Pork Chops

Apparently its slow cooker week here on Great Blog Food, Made Better as I am on day number 3 of posting slow cooker recipes. I love using my crock pot(s). It is so much easier to throw the ingredients in then go about my day.

One thing that I had never made in a crock pot before was pork chops. My mom always made pork chops with Shake-n-Bake coating and I loved them as a kid. So the few times that I have made them in my adult life, I have used some sort of coating. I know that many people use the crock pot to cook pork chops so off I went in search of a recipe that fit the bill.

I found a recipe for Sour Cream Pork Chops on allrecipes.com. A 4 oz. pork chop from the original recipe provides:
331 calories
20.5 g fat
9.8 g carbohydrate
0.3 g fiber
25.4 g protein

I think that sometimes pork gets a bad rap from it's fattier counterparts like bacon. But a lean pork tenderloin that has been sliced in to chops with all visible fat trimmed is a leaner protein option. My local grocery store often has pork tenderloins on sale and I just take the whole loin up to the meat counter and ask them to slice it for me... way cheaper than buying pre-sliced pork chops.

For this recipe I only made a couple changes. I used 3 oz pork chops instead of 4 oz pork chops. I also found that I didn't need nearly as much of the sour cream sauce as the recipe calls for so I cut the ingredients for the sauce in half. I also used reduced fat sour cream instead of the full fat version. It was delicious! Very tender and fell apart with my fork. It was a great change of pace from our usual chicken.

Sour Cream Pork Chops - BETTER

six 3-oz pork chops, all visible fat trimmed
salt and pepper to taste
garlic powder to taste
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 large onion, sliced 1/4 inch thick
1 tsp chicken bouillon
1 cup boiling water
1 Tbsp all-purpose flour
4 oz (1/2 cup) reduced fat sour cream

Season pork chops with salt, pepper and garlic powder and then dredge in the 1/2 cup flour. In a skillet over medium heat, spray skillet with nonstick spray and then brown the chops on both sides.

Place the browned chops in the slow cooker and top with onion slices. Dissolve bouillon in boiling water and pour over chops. Cover and cook on low 7 to 8 hours.

Preheat oven to 200 degrees.

After the chops have cooked, transfer the chops to the oven to keep warm. In a small bowl, blend 1 Tbsp flour with the sour cream; mix into meat juices. Turn slow cooker to high for 15 to 30 minutes, or until sauce is slightly thickened. Serve sauce over pork chops.

Makes 6 servings, per serving:
220 calories
11.6 g fat
9.0 g carbohydrate
0.3 g fiber
18.7 g protein

Super Easy Spaghetti Pie

Pasta is often my go-to dinner when short on time or I don't have anything planned for dinner. I always have an abundance of pasta, sauces (gasp! I RARELY make homemade) and protein to add on hand, so its something I can quickly throw together. For my real job, I came across this recipe on The Pioneer Woman's recipe site Tasty Kitchen. Sounded like a good variation of my traditional pasta dishes, so I gave it a try!

As listed, each serving (6) of this recipe provides:

607 calories
38.9 g fat
38.1 g carbohydrate
3.2 g fiber
24.8 g protein

Like usual, I was making this the night before. I put half of the recipe in a 9x5 loaf pan for the next night and kept it in the fridge. I put the other half in a foil lined 9x5 loaf pan for a freezer meal. Afterall, there's only two of us eating real food in the house and I figured that it would be enough for the husband and myself, plus leftovers for lunch the next day.


I made quite a few changes to the recipe but I think I still got the same tasty outcome:

• substituted whole wheat spaghetti for traditional
• used 4 egg whites instead of 2 whole eggs
• used 1 green + 1 red pepper instead of just one pepper
• used 3/4 of a pound of Italian sausage instead of a full pound
• Omitted the olive oil as there was plenty of oil in the pan from the cooked sausage
• used reduced fat sour cream instead of full fat
• used part-skim mozzarella instead of whole milk mozzarella

I know that sounds like a whole lot of change, but really, it was what we already had in our house - so it was no big deal. I also omitted mushrooms because I'm pretty sure my husband might die if a mushroom crossed his lips, or so he makes me believe.

When all was said and done, this was delicious! The sausage gave the dish a really powerful flavor. I'm sure I could have decreased the fat even more if I had used turkey sausage, but that's not always so easy to find. The peppers also added a lot of flavor. I'm looking forward for when I pull the other half out of the freezer!
Super Easy Spaghetti Pie - BETTER

1/2 pound whole wheat spaghetti, cooked
4 egg whites
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
1 whole onion, chopped
1 red + 1 green pepper, chopped
1 cup mushrooms (optional)
3/4 pound Italian sausage
1/2 cup reduced fat sour cream
1 cup spaghetti sauce
1 cup part-skim mozzarella cheese

Combine 1/2 pound of cooked spaghetti while it is warm with beaten egg whites and Parmesan. Pour coated pasta into a deep dish pie pan or a 9-inch baking dish. Set aside. (I put half in a loaf pan for now and half in a loaf pan for the freezer).

Saute Italian sausage in a large pan. After about 5 minutes, move sausage to the side. Cook the chopped onion, peppers and mushroom in the same pan. Saute until veggies are soft. Remove the sausage and set aside.

Take pan off of the heat and add about a 1/2 cup of reduced fat sour cream and stir into the veggies.

To assemble the pie - pour the creamy vegetable mix onto the spaghetti "crust". Next cut up the sausage and place a layer of pieces on the vegetables. Cover it all with a layer of spaghetti sauce and then a layer of shredded mozzarella.
Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Makes 6 servings, per serving:

436 calories
25 g fat
31.3 g carbohydrate
5.1 g fiber
23.8 g protein

Snake Bites

OK… Paula Dean doesn’t have a blog, but I love watching Paula Dean. I have no illusions that I am going to be getting a healthy meal out of any of her recipes but they sure tempt my taste buds. A few weeks ago, my husband and I were watching her Halloween special where she made a recipe called Snake Bites. Essentially it was rolled up crescent roll dough with meats and cheeses on the inside. I promptly went to foodtv.com to get the recipe. As printed in the recipe, each serving provides:

563 calories

37.8 g fat

1421 mg sodium

28.2 g carbohydrate

0.6 g fiber

26.2 g protein

Now when I decided to make this for a special treat for my husband for dinner, I had no intentions of making it health-i-fied. However, I’m not sure if the recipe is written wrong but it calls for 30 ounces of meat and 12 ounces of cheese. There is NO WAY that would fit in one can of crescent roll dough! So I used significantly less meat and cheese, as well as reduced fat crescent roll dough, only one egg yolk and reduced fat cheese for a slightly healthier version. (I also omitted the mustard, but that’s because I hate mustard). I also didn’t shape this into a snake as we were just having it for dinner – not any special occasion. I’m pretty sure my two month old doesn’t quite appreciate the Halloween snake shape either.

Snake Bites - BETTER (makes 10 appetizer servings)

1 can reduced fat crescent rolls

Flour, for dusting

4 ounces lean ham

4 ounces salami

10 pepperonis

4 oz. reduced fat cheddar cheese

1 egg yolk

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with foil and spray with nonstick spray.

Dust a flat surface lightly with flour. Spread out the crescent dough – do not separate. Pinch together the seams so that you have 1 piece of dough. Roll out to make a large rectangle. Make sure the dough is not stuck to the surface at all.

Layer the meats down the center of the rectangle, leaving a 1 inch border on either end.

Top the meats with the cheese. Fold one side of the dough over the filling, lengthwise. Fold the other side over the middle. Pinch the seam with your fingers to seal. Press the outside of the dough to make sure everything is sealed tight. Brush the top of your dough with beaten egg yolk. (I also sprinkled with garlic powder).

Transfer dough/meat roll to prepared cookie sheet. Bake for 25 minutes or until golden brown and cooked through. Let sit for 5 minutes before slicing.

254.9 calories

15.7 g fat

589 mg sodium

18.6 g carbohydrate

0.3 g fiber

9.5 g protein

*** This would likely also be good using the breadstick, French bread, or pizza crust dough. My husband and I both thought that the crescent roll taste was a little strong ***

Creamy Ham and Potato Soup

As the leaves begin to change and the temperatures fall, it starts to feel like soup season to me. I had an extra large bag of potatoes that I wanted to find a use for and craved something warm. So I searched for the perfect potato soup recipe. The Girl Who Ate Everything posted a delicious looking Creamy Ham and Potato Soup a few weeks ago and I thought I would give it a try. As originally posted, this soup provides:

600 calories

26.5 g fat

1196 mg sodium

72.5 g carbohydrate

7.6 grams fiber

20.2 grams protein

When people think of making healthy changes, they often limit their scope of “healthy” to calories, fat grams or carbohydrates. But healthy changes can come in a variety of forms. Soups especially tend to be very high in sodium. The average American only needs 2,400 mg of sodium each day but many Americans consume 8,000-10,000 mg or more each day. Eating too much sodium (or salt) can contribute to elevated blood pressure, cardiovascular disease and just plain old fluid retention.

In this recipe, I changed the chicken broth to low sodium chicken broth, omitted the ½ tsp salt and switched out the diced ham for Boar’s Head brand reduced sodium ham. With those changes, I was able to cut the sodium nearly in half. I also only used 2 Tbsp of butter and 2 Tbsp of flour to make the roux and it was perfectly thick enough.

Creamy Ham and Potato Soup - BETTER

3 ½ cups peeled and diced potatoes

1/3 cup diced celery

1/3 cup finely chopped onion

½ cup carrot, diced

1 cup diced low sodium cooked ham (such as Boar’s Head)

3 ¼ cup low sodium chicken broth

1 tsp ground white or black pepper, or to taste

2 Tbsp unsalted butter

2 Tbsp all purpose flour

2 cups skim milk

Combine the potatoes, celery, onion, carrot, ham and chicken broth in a stockpot. Bring to a boil, then cook over medium heat until potatoes are tender, about 10 to 15 minutes. Stir in the salt and pepper.

In a separate saucepan, melt butter over medium-low heat. Whisk in flour with a fork, and cook, stirring constantly until thick, about 1 minute. Slowly stir in milk so that lumps don’t form and until all of the milk has been added. Continue stirring over medium-low heat until thick, 4 to 5 minutes.

Stir the milk mixture into the stockpot and cook soup until heated through.

Top with cheddar cheese, chives and bacon if desired. Serve immediately.

(Reheats well for lunch the next day, too!)

Makes 6 servings

Per serving:

317 calories

8.6 grams fat

606 mg sodium

46.2 grams carbohydrate

4.9 grams fiber

14.7 grams protein