I love quick and easy recipes. If I had to spend hours in the kitchen preparing and cooking dinner, I wouldn’t enjoy it. At all.

While I clearly love to eat, I don’t love spending too much time in the kitchen.

Tonight’s recipe was inspired by Real Simple. I recently signed up to receive their weekly recipe via e-mail and I have received some great ones! I just file them away in my Gmail and peruse them when I need inspiration.

Chris and I don’t eat pork nearly as often as we used to, but it’s a nice change from chicken and fish.

I now present to you my pork chops & apple slaw.

IMG_6712As you can see, the pork is breaded.

Here is my assembly line for the breading.

 IMG_6708 Flour, eggs, and plain breadcrumbs.

I heated a pan on high heat with 3 tbsp of vegetable oil.

IMG_6710 I waited a bit too long before I turned the pork chops. Oops. At least I like things extra crisp!

Once I blackened browned each side, I put them in the oven on 350 for about 12 minutes.

They were placed right below the kale chips!

IMG_6705 To season these I sprayed them with olive oil and added:

  • A pinch of kosher salt
  • 1 tsp garlic powder
  • 1 tsp cayenne pepper
  • A sprinkle of parmesan cheese.

 kale chips I left these in the oven for about 18 minutes. They came out beautifully!

As did the apple slaw.

IMG_6714The was super easy to make!

I chopped up one large granny smith apple into matchstick size slices.IMG_6693 And added them to a large bowl.

Then I added 2 stalks of chopped celery.IMG_6697 And 1/3 cup of toasted pine nuts.

IMG_6699 Lastly I stirred in 1/4 cup of Stonyfield plain yogurt.

IMG_6701 And added a dash of S & P and parsley flakes.

IMG_6715 The toasted pine nuts were a key ingredient I thought.

Dinner = delicious.

IMG_6717_1 Dessert is tasting pretty good too.

IMG_6722I’m eating some chocolate chip ice cream as I type. As you can see I am an excellent multitasker :)

I was fortunate to be able to fit in a workout during my lunch break today. I rushed home, and rushed to the gym, and then ended up eating lunch at work.

My workout consisted 20 minutes of treadmill intervals and 20 minutes of elliptical intervals.

The treadmill intervals went like this:

  • 3 minute warm up at 6.5
  • 60 seconds at 8.5
  • 2 minutes at 6.5
  • repeat 5x
  • 2 minute cool down at 6.5

The elliptical intervals went like this (resistance level 6):

  • Minutes 1-2: easy speed (between 6 and 6.5)
  • Minutes 2-2:30 – 30 second sprint (between 8 and 10)
  • Minutes 2:30-4:30 – easy speed
  • Minutes 4:30-5 – 30 second sprint
  • Repeat 4x

Then I had a quickie shower and rushed back to work! I loved being able to fit in my exercise during the day.

Before I sign off I would like to wish our beautiful Nylah pups a Happy Birthday! She turns ONE today.

We feel really lucky to have rescued such a great dog! She is mellow and loving and wants to be friends with everyone. Chris and I got her on March 10, 2009 when she between 8-12 weeks old. Some guy dropped her and another puppy of at Pet Smart because he couldn’t take care of them. Since were weren’t sure of her exact age we picked somewhere in between and have her a birthday of December 10.

She has been a great addition to the family!

Do you have pets?

In honor of her birthday I tried to create a slideshow, only it didn’t work. If you want to see pictures, keep scrolling. Otherwise consider this your warning :)

248253 (2)

258 261

262 (2)

015 (2)

030 (3)

026 (3)

She’s a keeper!