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Teriyaki Pork Chops with Brussels Sprouts & Mashed Sweet Potatoes

Yum

February 13, 2019 By Laura Ligos, MBA, RD, CSSD Leave a Comment

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Oh hey, it’s me again. I know I’ve been quiet on here and now I’m flooding your life with new recipes galore this week. What can I say, when it rains, it pours. I am always cooking up a storm in my kitchen but this week I’m finally sharing some of my creations with you on the blog. These Teriyaki Pork Chops with Brussels Sprouts & Mashed Potatoes are one of those crazy delicious creations, you’re welcome.

Valentine’s Day Food?

As I mentioned yesterday, Valentine’s Day seems to be a made up “Hallmark” Holiday. While it might be just that, there’s no reason you can’t celebrate with insanely delicious food! While there is not set in stone “Valentine’s Day” foods, we can certainly guess that most people are looking for something decadent and heart warming, and hopefully something that has chocolate in it in some way, shape, or form.

While this recipe doesn’t have any chocolate in it, you can certainly eat chocolate any time of day in the form of a coffee, hot chocolate, marshmallow, candy bar, morsel, or oh-so-much-more. I’ll leave you with this recipe to make for your someone special (or maybe hint that they make it for you if you aren’t into cooking).

A meal shared with others is probably one of the most romantic things you can do, unless of course you get food stuck in your teeth, spill something on your lap, or *gasp* let out some gas in some form. But hey, if you can find someone who will enjoy a meal with you despite your downfalls, you know you’ve picked a winner 🙂

At Home Dinner Date

This year, instead of spending so much money on a fancy date with a limited menu. Why not treat your bestie to a dinner at home. You can eat delicious food, listen to the music you want, AND wear comfy clothes, sounds like a win-win-win to me.

Something I’ve learned over the years is that cooking doesn’t always go as planned and THAT’S OKAY. It’s not a matter of cooking a perfect dinner, it’s about enjoying the process and enjoying the food that you made. Believe me, not every meal I make is perfect like you see on Instagram. Most of the time it’s a mash up of real food ingredients that taste good because of the spices and the fact that it’s real food.

I not only have the recipe for Teriyaki Pork Chops with Brussels Sprouts & Mashed Sweet Potatoes below but I also decided to offer up some pairings for you! I mean, what’s a romantic dinner without pairings.

Dinner Pairing Options

While you can certainly go for a bottle of red wine (my current favorite:) I recommend having a Sassy Spritzer and if you feel so inclined, adding a shot of vodka or gin to it to spice things up.

Drink: A Sassy Spritzer

1 part Kombucha (flavor of choice)
1 part seltzer/club soda (flavor of choice)
Ice

Directions: Pour in a glass & enjoy!

Dessert: Chocolate Strawberry Dipped Marshmallows

chocolate strawberry dipped marshmallows

Want a little something after this hearty meal? Try out the marshmallows and satisfy the sweet tooth without feeling like you just ate a 500 layer sheet cake. Then you can snuggle up on the couch and call it a night.

Teriyaki Pork Chops with Brussels Sprouts & Mashed Sweet Potatoes

This masterpiece came about because my local Lululemon Albany shop was looking for some inspiration to share with their community. They wanted an at-home dinner date option for people to try out. I hadn’t posted a pork chop recipe before AND they were on sale at my local Whole Foods, so I figured, why not! It was easy to make, easy to eat, and left me feeling all kinds of warm and gooey on the inside, oh wait, that’s just me normally.

Make this dish and tag @thesassydietitian and #sassyapproved as well as @lululemon so we can see what you made for your Valentine this Valentine’s Day!

Pro Tip: Make Teriyaki sauce the night before and marinade your pork chops for more flavorful chops and so that you can just cook in minimal time!

Pro Tip #2: you can microwave your sweet potatoes and mash them after 6-7 minutes of microwaving on high wrapped in a wet paper towel to cut down on mess & time!

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teriyaki pork chops with brussels sprouts and mashed sweet potatoes

Teriyaki Pork Chops with Brussels Sprouts & Mashed Sweet Potatoes

  • Prep Time: 10 minutes
  • Cook Time: 30 minutes
  • Total Time: 40 minutes
  • Yield: 2 1x
  • Category: Main Course
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Ingredients

  • 1 lb boneless pork chops ((about 2 chops))
  • 4 slices bacon
  • 1 lb brussels sprouts (washed & halved)

Teriyaki Sauce

  • 1/2 cup soy sauce or tamari
  • 2 tbsp maple syrup
  • 1 tsp sesame oil
  • 4 cloves garlic (minced)
  • 1/2 tsp sesame seeds
  • 1/2 tsp sriracha or hot sauce
  • 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar

Mashed Sweet Potatoes

  • 1 lb sweet potatoes (peeled & chopped)
  • 1 tbsp butter or ghee
  • salt & pepper (to taste)

Instructions

Mashed Sweet Potatoes

  1. In a medium pot, cover potatoes with water & bring to a boil over high heat
  2. Reduce heat to low & simmer for 20 minutes or until you can easily pierce sweet potatoes with a fork. 
  3. Turn off heat, drain water, add butter/ghee and mash with a fork or a potato masher, set aside until read to serve! 
  4. Teriyaki Sauce
  5. Mix together all ingredients with a whisk. Pour 1/4 cup over brussels sprouts in a medium bowl. In a shallow dish, pour the rest over pork chops & let marinade for at least 30 minutes (or overnight).

Pork Chops & Brussels Sprouts

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F
  2. In a large cast iron (or oven safe) skillet, over medium heat add bacon, and cook (turning) until crispy (not burnt!). Remove bacon, place on a paper towel lined dish, set aside and reserve 1-2Tbsp bacon grease, discard the rest.
  3. Return skillet to stove, add bacon grease, and Brussels sprouts w/teriyaki sauce. Cook 3 minutes so Brussels sprouts get crispy. Push to the outside of the skillet. 
  4. Add pork chops (discard remaining teriyaki sauce) and pan sear for 3 minutes, flip, and put in oven for 15 minutes or until internal temperature of pork chops reads 145°F. 
  5. Serve Pork Chop on top of mashed sweet potatoes with Brussels sprouts on top. 

Did you make this recipe?

Tag @@thesassydietitian on Instagram

xoxo,

Sassy

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Pin Now, Pork Chop Later

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@thesassydietitian

We’ve made it over a week together and it feels We’ve made it over a week together and it feels like it’s always been this way.

Motherhood is a wild ride & it’s only getting started. I have never been so tired & simultaneously so fulfilled in my life. That’s not to say it’s not filled with tears, worries and doubts but what fun would it be if it were all sunshine and roses anyway?

Going into this all I have felt so supported by friends going through this with me BUT I felt so unsupported by the general public. It seems like we want to fear and shame moms because misery loves company, right?!

The focus quickly shifts from mom to baby (still shocked that I only have an appointment at 6 weeks even though my body went through the biggest event of its life) and there also seems to be this shift from joy to shame & guilt.

Here’s some of what I heard from people:

😕Sleep when baby sleeps. You’ll never sleep again.
😕Don’t let baby sleep in a car seat, or a bouncer, or anywhere but their crib EVER. 
😕You’ll never have time to shower again, enjoy it now. 
😕Cry it out is cruel and harmful to the baby. 
😕Get baby on a schedule/never put baby on a schedule.

These are all things I heard and that truly led me to believe I was going to lose all sense of who I was and my life as I knew it.

What I wish people had said instead were:

🥰Your heart will grow bigger than you could imagine.
🥰You’ll cry the happiest tears you’ve ever cried.
🥰You’ll feel like a giant hole was filled that you didn’t even know was there.
🥰You won’t feel guilty about cleaning your house, it just won’t matter anymore.
🥰Babies pooping will make you laugh so hard you will feel like a kid again.
🥰You will have time to eat and shower and you don’t have to neglect yourself.

We need to do a better job of building each other up, supporting one another and our decisions while refraining from offering unsolicited advice and opinions. 

So for all you future mamas and new mamas out there, I see you, I’m proud of you and I cannot wait to share our stories with one another and the world.

Let’s stop fear mongering (just like the diet world) and start building one another up.

Xoxo,
Sassy & lil sassy man
🌈Some things truly are worth the wait. It’s b 🌈Some things truly are worth the wait. It’s been a long year of loss, unknowns and worry but it’s all been worth it to get to meet my lil man🥰
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Now time to introduce this sassy human who is already so well loved to the world...
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Introducing 

💙 Connor James Ligos 💙
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After an almost 24 hour labor, Connor joined us over a week past his due date on 2/12/21 at a whopping 9lb2oz & 22.5 inches long with a full head of hair and lungs to scream hello to us with.
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We are so in love already and cannot wait to share him with the world. Thank you for all the love and support from friends and family and to all those that helped us in the hospital. Holy cow labor & delivery teams are truly magical and I cannot imagine doing it without all of their support.
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Now back to snuggling this human of mine and trying not to cry at every last thing he does 🥰 
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Mom, Dad & Bode are all doing well!
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#babyboy #pregnancyafterloss #rainbowbaby #birthdayboy #birthannouncement
I get it, we all eat so we all then want to talk t I get it, we all eat so we all then want to talk to others about what worked for us. That's great!
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What's not great is when we push our nutrition and eating behaviors onto others ESPECIALLY when we are not qualified to do so.
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So often when people meet me for the first time they are worried to eat around me and/or buy groceries around me. My friends can attest I am not judgemental around food and will gladly eat that cake, queso dip or sip on that glass of wine right alongside of you. I am not the food police and do not offer unsolicited nutrition advice unless it's a client who is paying for my help OR on Instagram and other social media platforms where my goal is to educate.
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Why do I share this? 
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Because I see far too many people diving down diet rabbit holes, finding success & then claiming to be nutrition experts purely because something worked for them. 
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I've also seen this alot being pregnant, everyone wants to tell you what worked for them. IF you use that stipulation of "this worked for me" then fine, share away but if you start doleing out advice please pause, take a breath and think about NOT doing it.
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People are OVERWHELMED by diet culture and some so badly want to change but YOUR way is not the only way and it most likely is not what will work for your friend/coworker/cousin/neighbor so please, stop trying to be an expert in something you aren't.
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Got it!?! 
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Ok, carry on.
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xoxo,
Sassy
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#nutrition #nutritiontips #nutritionist #dietitianapproved #rdapproved #rdchat #dietitiansofinstagram #dietitian #dietitiansofig #albanyny #albanynutrition #albanynutrition
Your nutrition does NOT need to be all or nothing. Your nutrition does NOT need to be all or nothing. I'm not saying you have to find perfect balance (does that even exist?) but I am saying that we shouldn't feel like either we have to eat perfectly or that we might as well give up.
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Instead we should look to the grey area in between for our nutrition guidance. 
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What do I mean?
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I mean that we need to realize that we can still eat cookies but we probably should throw some veggies in there. 
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We can have a glass or 2 of wine but we should probably also drink some water. 
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We can take rest days but we should also find ways to move our bodies regularly.
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And the list goes on.
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It's not about all or nothing it's about doing something daily to help your health and nutrition without it feeling like a set of rules or a free for all.
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How do we find that grey area in between?
👉🏻 stop hopping on and off fad diets
👉🏻listen and trust your self, not your coworkers and cousins 
👉🏻focus on the simple things (ie drinking water instead of worrying about supplements)
👉🏻work to remove guilt and shame around food & body
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Where do you currently fall Right now?!
🤪 all
👍🏻in between 
🙅🏻‍♀️ nothing 
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Xoxo,
Sassy
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#dietitian #dietitiansofig #dietitiansofinstagram #nutrition #nutritionist #nutritiontips #thesassydietitian #rdchat #realtalk

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