I had an idea a while ago. I wanted to see how many dinners I could make from one of those whole Pork loins you can buy at the grocery store. That was about 6 months ago and I am finally getting around to this project. I thought I would kick off the project with a longtime favorite recipe for Parmesan Pork Chops.
We do this exact same recipe with chicken breast and chicken thigh. I also use this Parmesan topping our our Turkey Meatloaves. So pretty much I haven’t found anything yet that doesn’t taste awesome with a Parmesan crust.
Onto our pork project. Sometimes we need the comfort of having budget friendly meals ready to prepare. The plan is to take one $25 pork loin and turn it into 10 dinners at an average cost of $2.50 per dinner for the 5 of us. We won’t be able to get away with this in a few years as the kids get older. The 4 and 1 year old maniacs don’t eat much and I have been told as they grow they will require more food. We will be freezing portions and I will go into detail on weighing and freezing in the wrap up post on this project. The pork loin is a little over 8 lbs so to get 10 dinners we will need to make some with under a pound of meat in it.
The Parmesan Pork Chops recipe is very simple and it tastes amazing. I am going to use 1 large thick cut section of pork that weighs 1 lb. You can certainly use a couple smaller chops but I like using one big one and serving slices from it.
To start I mix together 1 heaping tablespoon of mayo, 1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese, 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon black pepper.
That mixture is spread over the pork chop on a baking sheet.
1/4 cup of bread crumbs gets patted down on top. I used panko bread crumbs. Then I topped that with some dried chives from the garden (I am trying to use up last years dried herbs as I am starting to build a stockpile from this year).
Into a preheated 400 degree oven it goes for 25 minutes. Since this was a thick cut I used my meat thermometer to check for 135 degrees and then took it out and let it rest a few minutes. I used this time to pick pieces of crispy cheese off the baking sheet and eat. It was time well spent.
Next I cut slices and serve on a plate loaded with veggies. They were accompanied by potato wedges, cucumbers, peas, and green beans.
One pork recipe down and 9 to go. I hope the maniac don’t get sick of pork dinners!
- 1 1lb Pork Chop
- 1 tablespoon mayo
- 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, shredded
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/4 cup panko bread crumbs
- 1/2 tablespoon dried chives
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees and ready baking sheet.
- In a bowl combine mayo, cheese, garlic powder, salt, and pepper.
- Spread mixture on top of pork chop on baking sheet.
- Press bread crumbs and chives into the mixture on top of the pork.
- Transfer to oven and cook approx 25 minutes until done.
- Allow to rest a couple minutes.
- Slice and enjoy!