Welcome to my Broke Betch Cooking series, which is exactly what it sounds like: cooking deliciousness on a budget! Living in NYC is expensive, as is ordering takeout for lunch and dinner every day. Other than Sushi Sundays, which is a long, beloved tradition for me, I try to cook most of my meals at home. Sometimes I’ll go to the grocery store with something specific in mind, but a lot of the time, I end up making something with whatever I can find in the fridge/pantry (I am the leftovers queen). I am a HUGE foodie, and strongly believe that a delicious meal is worth all the time and effort. I’m continuously surprised by how often people will reach out about the pictures of food that I post on Instagram (yes, I am that basic bitch), so I figured I would share my “recipes,” if you will, to spread the wealth! Enjoy!

Balsamic Dijon Marinated Pork Chops

I recently got an Omaha Steaks delivery as a gift. This is my second time receiving one of these packages, and I have to say, it’s one of the better gifts I’ve ever gotten. I’m not one to spend a ton of money on expensive meats at the grocery store, so it’s a gift that’s kind to my stomach as well as my wallet 🙂

I’m not a huge fan of pork, so I wanted to make a yummy marinade for these pork chops with ingredients I already had in the apartment. I recently had Chinese food and saved the side of spicy Dijon mustard that I didn’t use, so I figured I’d base my recipe around that!

 Here are the rest of the ingredients I used:

• Balsamic vinaigrette
• Olive oil
• Dijon mustard
• Brown sugar
• Garlic
• Onion powder
• Rosemary
• Salt & Pepper

I threw all of these things (guesstimated amounts) into the amazing Magic Bullet (I’ve never used it for making marinade before, so this was exciting for me) and blended until it had the consistency of a creamy sauce. I put this marinade into a Ziploc bag with a couple pork chops and let it sit for a few hours. 

After letting the chops marinate (I usually come up with my cooking ideas last minute, so it was nice that these didn’t need too long to sit) for a little, I threw them into a skillet on medium heat with a little oil. After I cut into one of them to be sure they were cooked through, I cranked up the heat and seared them on each side for some crispiness! 

Instead of tossing the marinade, I made some Basmati rice (my favorite white rice) and poured the marinade on top of everything!! 

This meal was sooo delicious and insanely quick and easy. I forgot how spicy the Chinese mustard can be, and probably shouldn’t have used the whole thing, but all-in-all, YUM. If you’re interested in experimenting with pork chops, I would definitely recommend starting here. Didn’t even take an extra trip to the store!