Pork Chops over Roasted Summer Vegetables in a Citrus Balsamic Vinaigrette and Avocado Cream

Take a deep breath before you try to read this title...that was the longest title on the planet, right? My bad.

So, my life is pretty stupid busy. I live out of tupperware (you will notice most of my food pictures are in tupperware) and rarely have time to make a hot meal at home. But today, i FINALLY had a morning off so i wanted to make something a bit more elaborate. I sadly can't eat eggs--those little suckers make me bloat (TMI?)--so breakfast isn't quite as fun as it could be. But this meal was fresh, delicious, and perfect for really any meal! PS--i only made one pork chop for this meal, but the veggies make 4+ servings so grab a bit more pork and make a meal for someone special :)

What you need:

For the chops-

• 1 pork chop
• salt and pepper
• 1 teaspoon fat (olive oil, coconut oil, etc)

For the roasted veggies-

• 1 eggplant, roughly chopped
• 1 yellow squash, roughly chopped
• 1 zucchini, roughly chopped
• 1 head broccoli, roughly chopped
• 1 red onion, chopped in crescents
• 6 garlic cloves, peeled
• 2 tablespoons italian seasonings
• 4-6 tablespoons olive oil

For the citrus balsamic vinaigrette-

• 1 cup fresh basil
• 4-5 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1-2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 orange
• 1/2 lemon
• 2 garlic cloves
• salt to taste

For the avocado cream:

• 1 avocado
• 1/2 orange
• 1/2 lemon
• 1/2 lime
• salt to taste
• 1 teaspoon avocado oil (you can use olive oil if you don't have this)

What you do:

Start with the veggies:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
2. Chop up your veggies and put in a deep baking dish. Add the olive oil and italian seasonings and stir up a bit until the veggies are nice and covered with the oil.
3. Put in the oven and let those suckers roast for around 45 minutes. Just keep an eye on them because the broccoli can get a bit black if you're not careful! 

While the veggies are roasting, make the balsamic vinaigrette and avocado cream:

1. Start with vinaigrette: Pull out your always awesome food processor and add all the ingredients for the vinaigrette and turn that sucker on. Let it run for about 20-30 seconds and check it out if it's runny enough for your taste. If not, add a bit more olive oil.
2. Now pour your vinaigrette into a container, or glass jar like i did, and store in the fridge. 
3. Rinse out your food processor real quick, then add your ingredients for your avocado cream. Let your food processor run a bit longer than you did for your vinaigrette to make sure the avocados become completely creamy. Put the avocado cream in another container and store in the fridge until your breakfast/meal is ready!

Now cook up your pork:

1. At this point i had about 10 minutes left for the veggies to finish cooking (but i was cleaning up the kitchen in between cooking) so grab a saute pan and put over medium heat then add a bit of olive oil or other fat to heat up.
2. Salt and pepper your pork chop(s) and add to hot pan.
3. Cook on both sides for about 4-5 minutes depending on the thickness of the chop.

Now once your pork chop is finished cooking and your veggies are all roasted up, pull the veggies out of the oven and add to a plate. Top the veggies off with 1-2 tablespoons of your basil vinaigrette, then set your pork on top and top it off with a bit more of the vinaigrette and lots of avocado cream!! BOMB!

____________

Post comments below! Thanks for following my blog :) you guys all rock!