Honey Pecan Pork Chops

When I was growing up, dinner was often a horrible, terrifying adventure.  Rumor has it my mom used to be a good cook, but by the time I can remember, our dinners were always chicken with mystery sauce...maybe Ranch, maybe honey mustard, maybe something totally indiscernible!  Eventually my mom got sick of our complaining and we were saved by nightly takeout (my parents still eat out every night of the week), but a side effect of these adventures was that I rarely tried other things...including pork chops!  I mean, seriously, who deoesn't eat pork chops until he/she is 25 years old?!?

Well that would be me...and the only reason I attempted them at 25ish was that my husband (boyfriend at the time) requested them as a little variety to our own routine dinners.  And here's what I discovered in finally trying pork chops...they're actually pretty tasty, especially because many of the dinners featuring them happen to be sweet (although Josh most definitely prefers the hearty versions better!).  This particular recipe fits the sweet bill perfectly, but it also seems to scream "fall" to me with its mixture of honey and nuts.  I made it the other night, and even Josh had to admit that it was "good" (that's big for him as he's pretty stubborn and likes to insist that the heartier pork dishes are better).  Try it y'all...it's a good one!

Honey Pecan Pork Chops

• bonepless pork chops, cut thin
• flour...about 1/4 cup
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2 tbsp. butter
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1/4 cup chopped pecans

1.  Preheat oven to warm (or 200 if your oven doesn't have a warm feature).  Place an empty baking dish in there to warm.

2.  Mix flour, salt, and pepper.  Dredge each pork chop in mixture.

3.  Heat butter in skillet over medium high heat.  Add pork chops and cook until browned on both sides.  

4.  Remove pork chops from skillet and place in warm dish.  Return to oven to keep warm.

5.  Meanwhile, lower heat on skillet and stir in pecans and honey until heated through.  

6.  Remove pork chops from oven and pour honey/pecan mixture over them.

If your dish is not warm enough or they sit out too long, the honey mixture will start to get really sticky, so be careful of that, but otherwise these are pretty foolproof!