Tricia's Week 35 Recipe: Ranch Roasted Pork Chops & Red Potatoes

What happens when you combine summer farmer's markets with buy 1/get 1 sales at the local grocer?  A good meat and potato recipe that is healthy and delicious!  I adapted this recipe:  http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-detail.asp?recipe=293949 from SparkRecipes to the following:


Ranch Roasted Pork Chops & Red Potatoes

*4 boneless pork chops *400 grams red potatoes, cut to bitesize (8-9 small)...Um, I might have used a few more, I forgot to count *12 small farmers market carrots, peeled and cut to bite sized chunks *1 small garden purple pepper, chopped to bitesize *5 tbsp extra virgin olive oil (I used 2 of chili olive oil and three of 'regular') *1 oz. pkt. Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing & Seasoning Mix 1/4 cup water

 

Preheat oven to 350

1. Rinse and slice potatoes and carrots and pepper into bite-size chunks.
2. Mix olive oil and Ranch seasoning packet in a bowl.
3. Dip pork chops in olive oil mix to coat both sides and place in a 9x13 greased baking dish.
4. Put potatoes, pepper, and carrots into olive oil mix, shake to coat, and place around pork chops.
5. Add water and cover dish.

6. Bake at 350 covered for 40 - 45 minutes, then uncover and bake 15-20 minutes more, or until chops are cooked through and potatoes are tender inside. 

I will definitely make this again.  I happen to think I will add more veg, and perhaps try it in the slow cooker with a pork tenderloin.  Maybe adding a few olives, some mushrooms, or parsnips or beets, or ...  really, it's a great base recipe with low sodium that you can adjust depending on your protein and veg available.