Zesty Italian Pork Chops

This is another meal post, mainly because last night's dinner turned out to be very tasty and a great summer meal. We had: Zesty Italian Pork Chops, Foil Packet Vegetables, and Cucumber Salad.

First, the Zesty Italian Pork Chops: I discovered Zesty Italian dressing as a meat marinade about two years ago. I love it! We use it to marinade pork chops, chicken, and vegetables too. I love Zesty Italian Pork Chops. To make: put some pork chops in a bag with Zesty Italian dressing and let it marinade for a few hours. Then, grill on the BBQ until they're cooked. Delicious.

Foil Packet Vegetables are very much like foil dinners, except you hold the meat and specifically plan on serving them as a side. I never thought to do this until my mother in law made sweet potatoes that way. I put a layer of onions on the foil, then put a few handfuls of sliced potatoes and carrots, then more onions (because we love grilled or sauteed onions). I then topped it off with a little bit of olive oil and salt and pepper, wrapped them up and put them on the grill. They took a bit longer than the pork chops, so next time I would probably start them first, but they were worth the wait.

The Cucumber Salad is very simple. I wanted more vegetables to serve as a side. I had cucumbers, tomatoes, and zucchini. I decided to hold off on the zucchini, though I probably should have added it to the foil packet, but it was too late. Instead, I diced up the cucumber and tomatoes and put a little bit of salt and pepper and mixed them together. Both Kyle and Becca loved it. I'm sure you could add more vegetable and even top it off with a dressing if desired, but ours was pretty good with just a little S&P.

The best parts of the meal were that it was fast, there was very little prep involved, and it turned out to be pretty healthy. Oh, and my kitchen stayed cool because everything that had to be cooked was cooked outside on the grill. The worst part of it was that there wasn't enough for us to eat our fill of it for lunch today. We've had the Zesty Italian pork chops on the menu quite often, but I am going to add these sides to the menu to make sure we repeat. I hope this gives someone an idea for a meal.