Planning dinner around a schedule is the best way to get home-cooked food on the table, but what happens when that schedule doesn’t quite match reality? It’s a cold winter day outside, the kids have been cooped up indoors, and your spouse calls to say the new boss home is coming for dinner. Panic instantly enters and you begin to form a long list of things you need to do – on top of cooking dinner for the boss.
You scan the pantry looking for something that will be easy to cook with the ingredients you already have on hand. The panic is growing at an increasing pace!
If you are ever in a rush to cook a meal to impress, try this Mexican recipe perfect for quick cooking. In just a little over 45 minutes you can serve a gourmet Mexican meal that tastes like it took hours to prepare.
Stuffed Green Chile Pork Chops
Serves 4
- 4 boneless pork chops, thick cut
- 4 green chile strips, stems removed
- Garlic powder to taste
- Salt and pepper to taste
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Slice pork chops halfway through, then stuff green chile strip inside each. Arrange tightly in a single pan. Add garlic powder, salt and pepper to taste. Bake for 30 minutes.
While pork chops are baking, combine the sauce:
- 10.5 oz cream of mushroom soup
- 1 1⁄2 cups chopped green chile
- 1⁄2 cup diced onion
- 1 large clove garlic, diced
- 1 tbsp of cornstarch
- 1⁄2 cup sour cream, plus extra for topping
- Avocado slices
Place first six ingredients in a pot and heat. Bring to a boil, and then simmer for 20 minutes. When pork chops are done, pour sauce on top, then garnish with cheese, sour cream and avocado slices.
Quick and Easy Recipe
To get a good day’s worth of nutrients, try this quick and easy green chile recipe:
Fresh Roasted Green Chile with Meat and Beans
Serves 4
- 1 pound hamburger meat
- 1⁄2 cup chopped onions
- 2 cups fresh roasted green chile, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, diced
- 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes
- 2 cups water
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 2 cups pinto beans, fresh or canned
- Shredded cheese
Brown the hamburger meat, then add onions, green chile and garlic. Cook for
five minutes, stirring occasionally. Add diced tomatoes and water, then salt and pepper to taste. Cook on medium heat for 20 minutes. Add beans, cook for five more minutes. Garnish individual bowls with cheese.
Winter is here, and it is a great time to cook with green chile, warming our dishes and our bodies. Along with being an ingredient that compliments just about any dish, green chile is also nutritional – it is good and good for you. Just have a look at these chile facts:
Green chile is full of calcium, which builds and maintains bones and teeth; it regulates heart rhythm; it lowers blood pressure; and it reduces blood cholesterol levels.
Stress getting to you? Green chile is a good source of iron – a nutrient that works with protein and copper to make hemoglobin. Iron builds up the quality of the blood and increases resistance to stress and disease.
Who doesn’t need more energy? Green chile contains magnesium, which plays an important role in regulating normal heart rhythms while converting blood sugar into energy.
While anyone can get vitamin C from orange juice, wouldn’t you rather get it from green chile? Vitamin C is essential in wound healing and in the formation of collagen, a protein important in the formation of healthy skin, tendons, bones and supportive tissues.
Green chile contains potassium, a nutrient critical in regulating the body’s waste.
Other vitamins found in chile are vitamin A, riboflavin, niacin, vitamin B6, folic acid, tryptophan, lysine and phenylalaine (an essential amino acid) – all of which lead to a healthier body.
Recipe Tips:
• Add refried beans topped with cheese, shredded lettuce and chopped tomatoes as a side dish.
• Substitute chicken breasts for the pork chops.
• Use the same sauce for smothered green chile burritos (fill with meat and cheese, and smother).
• Combine the ingredients for the sauce early and refrigerate overnight for an even quicker meal. This adds even more flavor, but do not cook the sauce until you are ready to serve.
Written by Reva Higgins • Photography by Joe Burgess
Published Winter 2009 in Las Cruces magazine
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Posted by LasCruces.com
