Pork Chops with Green Beans and Peppers

Medifast Lean and Green:  Pork

Serves 4

• 4 bone-in pork chops (5 oz each)
• Coarse salt and ground pepper
• 1 tbsp Olive Oil
• 1 cup green beans, trimmed and cut into 1-inch lengths
• 1/2 cup scallions, whites thinly sliced and green parts cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1 jalapeno (optional), thinly slice
• 2 cups roasted yellow or red peppers

Medifast Lean and Green Recipe:  Pork Chops with Green Beans

1. Preheat oven to broil.
2. Roast pepper for about 15 minutes and set aside to cool.
3. Cut peppers into 1 inch squares.
4. Heat a large skillet over high. Season pork chops on both sides with salt and pepper. 
5. Add 1 tablespoon oil to skillet and swirl to coat. Add chops and cook until golden brown, about 4 minutes per side, flipping once. Transfer chops to a serving platter, cover loosely with foil, and let rest 5 minutes.
6. Wipe skillet clean and heat over medium-high. Add 2 tablespoons oil, green beans and scallion whites.  Cook, stirring occasionally, scallions are soft and green beans are crisp-tender, 3 minutes. 
7. Season with salt and pepper. Add jalapeno (if using) and scallion greens and cook, stirring frequently, 1 minute. 
8. Add peppers and cook until warmed through.
9. Serve pork chopse which vegetables on top. 

Pork Chops with Lemon and Parsley

Pork Chops

It's that time of the week when my refrigerator is empty and I've run out of veggies.  This is the perfect dish for that.  This is a very simple meal that takes about 25 minutes to cook.  The recipe is for two servings. When cutting up lemon zest, try to avoid the bitter white part of the lemon.  I find that using my peeler gives me better control.
 
Medifast Lean and Green Recipe
Zest of 1/2 lemon
1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
1/4 tsp garlic, minced
1 tbsp olive oil
Salt and Pepper to taste
2 bone-in loin pork chops, (about 5 ozs each)

1. In a small bowl, combine lemon, parsley, garlic, 1/4 tsp salt and 1/8 tsp pepper. Set aside.
2. Heat oil in a large skillet over high heat. Season pork chops on both sides with salt and pepper. Cook in skillet until browned, 2 to 3 minutes per side.
3. Add 1/2 cup water to skillet; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low; cover, and simmer gently until pork is cooked through, 8 to 10 minutes. Transfer pork chops to a platter or serving plates; Sprinkle with lemon-parsley mixture.
4. Serve.  

Lean & Green Requirements
less than 3 condiments
1 healthy fat serving
1 Lean Serving

Pork Tenderloin with Dijon Mustard Sauce

It's summer and it's time to grill!  This dish is very fast to make.

For condiments, we are allowed 1/2 tsp of mustard seed and 1 tbsp of mustard.  I just combined these two and if you're more lenient, just use pre-made whole grain dijon mustard for better taste.   My brand recommendation is at the bottom of this page.  It's only 10 calories in 1 tsp.  Before I was OP, I used twice the amount of mustard and mustard seed.  It did taste better but the portion below is my recommendation now.  Stay OP!!!

Spray some balsamic vinegar to your veggies to marry the flavors.

Medifast Lean and Green Recipe

1/2 tsp mustard seed

1 tbsp (dijon) mustard

1 tsp olive oil

5 oz pork

salt and pepper

1. Combine mustard seed and dijon mustard.  Mix thoroughly.
2. Season pork with salt and pepper
3. Heat grill to medium and lightly oil the grates
4. Place pork on the grill.  Cover; Turn when grill marks are visible; Cook until meat is no longer pink in the middle.
5. Brush with mustard/mustard seed
6. Serve with your favorite grilled veggies.

Vietnamese Cauliflower with Garlic and Pepper

This cauliflower is good with soups, rice or by itself but to stick with L&G, I grilled pork instead.  I usually serve it with rice for my husband and kids.

The picture shows 3 oz. I always underestimate how big the serving we're allowed to have is ... so just add more for 5 oz of pork. I used all my condiments for the cauliflower so I had none left for the pork. But after grilling, I sprinkled some of the liquid from my cauliflower and it added good flavor to the pork.  Also, ignore the parsley ... that's just garnish to make it look pretty ... I like my food looking pretty ;-)

Medifast Lean and Green Recipe
1 tsp Olive Oil Healthy Fat Serving
1 tsp Minced Garlic Condiment #1
1 cup Cauliflower 2 Green Servings
1/4 Tbsp Fish Sauce Condiment #2 -- 1/4 allowed for fish sauce
1 packet Sweet Leaf Sweetener that is 0 carbs, 0 calories and 0 glycemic index -- get it! :-)
1 tbsp Water
1/4 tsp Black Pepper Condiment #2 - 1/2 allowed for pepper
1/2 tbsp Cilantro Condiment #2 - we're allowed up to 1 cup so this is a very small portion.

1. Grill the pork and set aside.
2. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat until a bit of garlic sizzles at once, and then add the garlic. Toss well.
3. Add the cauliflower. Cook for 1 minute, and then toss well, exposing the other sides to the hot pan.
4. Mix the fish sauce, water, sweet leaf and pepper in a bowl
5. Add to the cauliflower and cook, tossing often until the cauliflower is tender but still pleasantly crunchy, about 1 minute.
6. Stir in the cilantro, toss once more and transfer to a serving plate deep enough to hold the sauce.

I do "try" to avoid sugar when I cook for me and my family. One of the substitues I absolutely love is Sweet Leaf. It has a very good taste minus the calories.

I avoid High Fructose Corn Syrup for my children. What I found is that most fish sauces include this ingredient. Thai Kitchen Fish Sauce is one of the few I've seen that does not use HFCS. 

Both are available in available local health grocery stores my favorites of which are Mother's Market, Wholefoods and Sprouts.