Holiday Stuffed Pork Chops

If you will be entertaining this holiday season then you need to try this entree!  Not only is this a very yummy dish, it is also a very beautiful dish!!  And my mom and I decided that the dressing that you make to stuff the pork chops is so good and pretty itself that it would be good to serve as is!!  This was a WINNER at my family’s Thanksgiving dinner this year!!

I got this recipe from the Southern Living Christmas Cookbook.  It did not give nutritional information so I don’t have that information to pass on.   My educated guess would be 5 to 6 points per serving.  (and of course, as usual, my recipe below has a couple of differences from the recipe in the cookbook)

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp butter
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1/2 cup chopped celery
• 1 cup fresh breadcrumbs
• 1/2 cup sweetened dried cranberries, coarsely chopped
• 1/4 cup 98% fat free chicken broth
• 1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp ground sage
• 1 (4 lb) boneless pork loin roast (about 9 in long)  (or you can substitute 6 (1 1/2 in thick) boneless pork chops)
• 2 tbsp olive oil

Directions

1. Melt butter in a large ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat; add onion and celery.  Sauté 8 to 10 minutes or until vegetables are tender and liquid evaporates. Remove from heat.  Stir in breadcrumbs, cranberries, chicken broth, parsley, salt and sage.  Let stand for 1o minutes.   Transfer to another bowl and wipe skillet clean.
2. Cut pork loin into 6 (1 1/2 in thick) chops.  Cut a 1 1/2 inch slit in one side of each chop, cutting to but not through other side (about 1 1/2 to 2 in), to form a pocket.
3. Spoon breadcrumb mixture evenly into slits in pork. 
4. Cook chops in hot oil in ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat 2 to 3 minutes on each side or until chops are browned.  Cover skillet with lid or aluminum foil.  Bake at 350 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes or until thermometer inserted in pork registers 155 degrees.  Remove from oven and let stand 5 minutes or until thermometer registers 160 degrees.
5. Note:  I increased this recipe to be able to handle the number of people I needed to serve.  Therefore I did not have a skillet big enough to hold all of the chops so I browned 4 at a time and then transferred to a baking dish sprayed with non-stick spray.  I found that I needed to cook them for about 45 minutes as well.