Pork Chops and Green Beans

Imagine a dish like this combined with pork chops!

Years back, when I was still married, I used to buy pork steaks instead of pork chops because they were cheaper and meatier than pork chops. My husband was a lover of pork chops and didn't seem to mind (or notice) the difference. They look very much the same.

One of the ways I would cook the chops would be to score them, pan fry them and then pour stewed tomatoes over them in the pan to finish cooking. I wasn't the best cook, but he seemed to like them and ate them without complaint.

Another dish we would eat (and I still do) was cooking hamburger and adding green beans and tomato sauce. We would serve that with fried potatoes and everyone enjoyed this meal.

Since moving back to New Jersey, I've enjoyed green beans served with marinara sauce in restaurants. I don't like them with garlic, but if they have marinara, I'll order them.

So, this leads me to today's meal choice. I was actually looking for hamburger patties I was sure I had in the freezer when I saw a pack of bone-in pork chops I had frozen in November. Nice ones, very meaty. I took them out and thought the pint of green beans I'd frozen would be a perfect accompaniment. Except, I decided to take it just a bit further. I added a can of diced tomatoes and a sprinkling of diced onions I also had frozen recently.

First, I placed the green beans in the bottom of the baking dish. Then I laid the pork chops on top, sprinkled the onions over them and poured in the diced tomatoes. I topped it off with steak seasoning and a little salt, turned the oven on to 350, put the dish in the oven and set the timer for an hour. When the timer went off, I took the dish out and let it rest for about 10 minutes before taking the first chop out. 

Other than being a bit peppery because I'd used a tad too much steak seasoning, it was really really good. The chops were perfectly cooked, tender and moist, the beans were overcooked the way we like them (if you start with fresh, you probably won't overcook them) and the tomatoes added the perfect additional seasoning to the entire combination. This was all in addition to the fact that the chops were still frozen when I placed the dish in the oven.

Now, the image I used here comes from a blog about Southern cooking and green beans with stewed tomatoes is apparently a favorite. Although my dish didn't include sugar like theirs did, the concept is the same as is the look, other than mine also had pork chops in it. I have linked back to that blog so you can enjoy what they have to offer. I think her beans look divine, personally!

So, here you have another meal I've put together that combines what we have on hand with the fresh vegetables my daughter has brought home from work. Actually, quite a low carb meal, if you happen to be looking for that kind of meal. I wasn't thinking about it at the time, but it's good for me because it keeps my blood sugar from spiking.

I'd love to hear some of your ideas for pork chops, tomatoes and green beans, if you've done anything different from what I did. I'm always looking for new ideas to try that are simple and easy.