Stuffed Zucchini

I was told I could not get this recipe unless I made a blog post about it, so I guess you could say I was bribed. My brother-in-law and sister-in-law had us over for dinner a few nights ago, and Kelli made this DELICIOUS meal for us. It was super yummy and we ate it all up- even little C. I changed a few ingredients because it's what I had on hand. Thanks for sharing, Kels!

Only photo I got. Yikes!

Ingredients:

1 pound ground beef

8 fresh zucchinis 

1 (32 oz) jar spaghetti sauce

1 cup cottage cheese or ricotta cheese

1 cup grated parmesan cheese or shredded mozzarella cheese

2 eggs

2 tsp italian seasoning or dried parsley and oregano 

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

• Wash and cut zucchini in half long-ways. Hollow out middle and either discard the "guts" or save for zucchini bread. ;)
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Place hollowed zucchinis in two 9x13 baking pans.
• Brown ground beef in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Once cooked, add spaghetti sauce and heat through.
• In a bowl, mix cheeses, eggs, seasonings, salt, and pepper.
• Smear cheese mixture over each zucchini and then spoon meat sauce on top of that.
• Bake 45-50 or until zucchini is cooked through.
• Sprinkle with parmesan cheese and serve warm.

Serves: 4        Total time: 1.5 hours

Perfect Pork Chops

Every pork chop recipe I have tried cooking turns out dry. Some will have good flavors, but the meat just dries out really fast. I found this recipe on Pinterest and it was literally the best pork chop recipe I've ever had! Try it out and let me know if you agree.

Ingredients:

4-6 boneless pork chops

1 Tbs olive oil

1 Tbs butter

1/2 small sweet onion, diced

2-3 cloves garlic, minced

1 Tbs fresh thyme

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp dry mustard

1/4 tsp pepper

1&1/2 cups chicken broth

3/4 cup heavy cream

1-3 Tbs cornstarch

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
• Sprinkle each side of pork chops with salt, pepper, and mustard.
• In a large skillet, over medium-high heat, melt butter and olive oil.
• Add onion, garlic, and fresh thyme to skillet and saute until fragrant (about 3 min).
• Spoon out onions, garlic, and thyme into a small bowl. set aside.
• Add pork chops to skillet and sear for about 2 min on each side.
• Transfer pork chops to a 9x13 baking dish. Spoon onion mixture on top of each pork chop.
• Pour chicken broth around pork chops.
• Bake for 20 minutes.
• Carefully remove pork chops from pan and set aside. Pour chicken broth from 9x13 pan into a sauce pan and turn on medium heat.
• Return pork chops to 9x13 pan and place back in oven.
• Add cream to sauce pan and stir. Once mixture reaches a simmer, add 1 Tbs of cornstarch to sauce pan and whisk. Add more if needed.
• Simmer until sauce reaches a gravy consistency. Add salt and pepper to taste.
• Remove pork chops from oven and serve warm with gravy on top. 

Serves: 4-6       Total time: 35 minutes