Happy Sunday. It’s currently 10:02 p.m. and that’s sad. That only means one thing… I have to wake up early and get ready for another week of work. I think I’m overdue for a vacation, like… I need it. All I can think about it surviving these next 5 days so I can have an extra day off for Labor Day. I just prepped my food for the week… 6 days out until my first weightlifting meet! Now, I’m watching Beetlejuice 🙂

Last night I had girls’ night with a couple of my high school girlfriends, and I made apple and mustard marinated pork loin chops and served them with sweet potato and butternut squash gnocchi and oven-roasted broccoli. The gnocchi were great! Just look at those little nuggets. Recipe to follow sometime this week!

What you’ll need: 

8 pork loin chops, score the meat
1/4 cup apple puree (made with apples and a dash of water)
1/4 cup dijon mustard
1/4 cup grapeseed oil  
2 tsp ground cumin
4 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup red onion, minced
1 tbsp fresh sage, finely chopped
1 tbsp fresh oregano, finely chopped
2 tbsp bacon fat

How you’ll do it: 

1) In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients except for bacon fat. Make sure you coat the pork chops generously.
2) Cover with saran wrap and let marinade in the fridge for at least 3 hours.
3) When ready to cook, heat a skillet on medium high bacon fat. I cooked the pork chops into two batches, so 1 tbsp per batch.
4) Cook the pork chop on each side until fully cooked inside. Should take 7-8 minutes each side depending on the size of the chop. Make sure the inside of the chop by using a thermometer. It should be cooked at 160F.
5) Serve and enjoy!