Holy Hannah! I may have just fallen in love with my slow cooker. Like legitimately wanting to kiss it kind of fallen in love. You know that saying “Kiss the Cook”? Well, yeah that’s what I want to do. Technically my crockpot did cook this right?
Let’s all admit the fact that I am a cheap skate. I like to buy things on sale, especially meat and produce. Instead of shopping with a grocery list to prepare a certain meal, I buy what’s on sale and figure it out from there. That makes cooking more fun anyway. Here’s the problem though; sometimes the things that are on sale are my not so favorite foods. Do you have any of those? I’ll fess up that I’m not a huge fan of berries, melons, tomatoes (except grape tomatoes, love those!) and a few other produce items that tend to go on sale frequently. Each time I buy them I think I can trick myself into liking them, or at least tolerating them because they’re good for me.
Meat is another genre of food that typically goes on sale. I could eat chicken, salmon or beef anyday, but pork??? I’m a little picky with my pork. I like a perfectly grilled tenderloin or a pulled pork sandwich here and there, but for the most part it’s not my favorite. So when I end up buying pork on sale it ends up hanging out in my freezer for a while until I can figure out what to do with it. And that was the case for these 6 little pork chops that were just waiting to be cooked.
I decided that since I like my pork to be very tender, added with the fact that I had a very busy day ahead of me, I should attempt throwing them in the crockpot with a concoction of bold flavors. Plus I had a few tomatoes to get rid of. Double score! (I do like tomatoes cooked) I have to say, the next time I attempt to claim I don’t like pork, I’m going to have to eat my words along with a huge mouthful of these Slow Cooker Tomato and Artichoke Heart Braised Pork Chops because dang are they good!!! Speaking of mouthful…how about that recipe title?! Haha!
These pork chops need absolutely no cutting! They literally fall apart with just your fork. With the tomato sauce, white wine and balsamic vinegar melded together, you get nothing but bold tangy flavors. Choosing rice as an accompaniment to this dish was the perfect choice because it soaked up every last bit of that zippy sauce. Yes, zippy.
And so there you have it. I have fallen in love, with pork and my crockpot. It’s the little things in life.
Slow Cooker Tomato and Artichoke Heart Braised Pork Chops
Ingredients:
6 boneless pork chops, fat trimmed (4 oz. each)
1 can tomato sauce (15 oz.)
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup white cooking wine (I used an American Sauvignon Blanc)
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons freshly chopped oregano
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 cup diced tomatoes
1 can artichoke hearts, drained and quartered (15 oz.)
1 cup shredded asiago cheese
4 cups cooked brown rice
Directions:
1. Trim fat from pork chops and place in bottom of crockpot.
2. In a separate medium sized mixing bowl combine tomato sauce, balsamic vinegar, white wine, minced garlic, salt, pepper, oregano and basil. Mix until ingredients are evenly dispersed. Add diced tomatoes and drained artichoke quarters. Pour mixture over top of pork chops.
3. Cover crockpot with lid and cook on low for 7 hours.
4. Serve over brown rice and garnish with shredded asiago cheese.
Serves 6
- 6 boneless pork chops, fat trimmed (4 oz. each)
- 1 can tomato sauce (15 oz.)
- 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- ¼ cup white cooking wine (I used an American Sauvignon Blanc)
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
- 2 tablespoons freshly chopped oregano
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- 1 cup diced tomatoes
- 1 can artichoke hearts, drained and quartered (15 oz.)
- 1 cup shredded asiago cheese
- 4 cups cooked brown rice
- Trim fat from pork chops and place in bottom of crockpot.
- In a separate medium sized mixing bowl combine tomato sauce, balsamic vinegar, white wine, minced garlic, salt, pepper, oregano and basil. Mix until ingredients are evenly dispersed. Add diced tomatoes and drained artichoke quarters. Pour mixture over top of pork chops.
- Cover crockpot with lid and cook on low for 7 hours.
- Serve over brown rice and garnish with shredded asiago cheese.
