Tomato Pork Chops and Bacon Stuffed Mushrooms

Some people like mushroom sauce on their pork chops, I think that's great but I like tomato based sauces as well!  This one is really simple and yummy: 

INGREDIENTS

4 pork chops

1 pinch of garlic salt

1/2 clove garlic, minced

1 Tbl vegetable oil or olive oil

1/2 onion, chopped

1 stalk chopped celery

6 oz. tomato paste

8 oz. tomato sauce

1 1/2 c. water

1/2 Tbl worcestershire sauce

salt and pepper to taste 

DIRECTIONS

1.  Season pork chops with garlic salt to taste.  In a large skillet, heat oil over medium high heat.  Add chops and brown in oil for about 4 to 6 minutes each side.  Remove from skillet and set aside. 

2.  In the same skillet, saute onion, celery, and minced garlic until translucent.  Add tomato paste and tomato sauce and heat through, stirring until bubbling.  Add water to thin sauce.  Add worcestershire sauce.  Return chops to skillet, reduce heat to very low and let simmer until meat is very tender and sauce thickens (about an 1 hour), adding water as needed.  

You can serve this by itself or, as I prefer, over rice. 

And now for those bacon stuffed mushrooms!  I thought it sounded like a fun side dish and they were certainly delicious.  Don't be intimidated by them just because we usually only eat them in restaurants.  This was my first time making them and they were really quite easy.  If you're really nervous, look up some tutorials on youtube, that's what I did!  But hopefully this will help you out too: 

INGREDIENTS 

3 slices bacon

8 crimini mushrooms (I didn't know what that was.  They're just the regular ones 

you buy in a package at the grocery store. )

1 Tbl butter

1 Tbl chopped onion

1/3 c. Cheddar cheese 

DIRECTIONS

1.  Cook bacon, drain the grease, dice and set aside.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Remove mushroom stems.  Set aside caps.  Chop the stems.  (I was most confused about the proper way to remove the mushroom stems.  You can just pull them out, and if you want a little more room, use a small spoon and scoop out that middle part).  Here's what mine looked like: 

2.  In a pan over medium heat, melt the butter.  Add the chopped mushroom stems and onion and cook until the onion is soft.  remove from heat. 

3.  In a medium bowl, stir together the mushroom stem mixture, bacon and cheese.  Mix well and scoop the mixture into the mushroom caps.  Bake in the preheated oven 15 minutes, or until the cheese has melted.  Remove the mushrooms from the oven and serve.  

See, that's not so hard, right?  Don't get upset if you break the mushroom shell, you can see I did just that.  Just live and learn.  :) 

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