Meditteranean Crunch Salad and Chipotle Honey Pork Chops

I love trying different side dishes that can be used at BBQ's or just nights when we're home grilling outside. Every weekend I usually make a couple side salads so they're in the fridge ready for a quick lunch on the grill or dinner later that night. This weekend I tried a Mediterranean Crunch Salad recipe that I got off of http://www.wholefoods.com/. As I made it..I was a little unsure..all the veggies were raw and I thought it would be too much..but I was very surprised at how much we loved this recipe and all the good healthy vegetables that were in it. To pair with it...a very easy pork chop recipes with a chipotle honey glaze.

First up..some center cut, bone in, pork chops. Since these bad boys were thick, I cooked them for a few minutes on the stove top (about 3-4 min on each side) only because I was a little scared the honey in the glaze would scorch in the oven if I left it in too long.

Sorry for the jacked up pictures...Picasa web albums are not letting me edit this morning!

The glaze..basically 3 chipotle peppers that I ran under cold water, patted dry, and diced mixed with some honey, a tiny bit of water and salt.



The glaze..

The final product...the salad was delicious..all the veggies are raw, so it basically took some chopping and then chilling in the fridge for an hour or so

Mediterranean Crunch Salad
courtesy of Whole Foods

1 (15-ounce) can no salt-added garbanzo beans
1 cucumber, chopped
1 cup small broccoli florets
1 cup grape tomatoes, halved
1 cup finely sliced kale, tough stems removed
1/2 cup finely chopped red onion
2 tablespoons finely chopped Kalamata olives
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 small garlic clove, minced
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme

Combine all and chill for 1 hour.

Nutrition

Per serving: 130 calories (35 from fat), 4g total fat, 0g saturated fat, 0mg cholesterol, 140mg sodium, 21g total carbohydrate (5g dietary fiber, 3g sugar), 6g protein

Just a couple notes...I omitted the red onion...only because I loathe raw onion. I also forgot the thyme and just did without. I thought I had some planted in my garden and was wrong! I also had a heavy handed pour with the red wine vinegar...I love that stuff. I also added maybe 1-2 tsp of olive oil so it was more of a dressing on the veggies..but I used it very sparingly.

Chipotle Honey Glaze

3 chipotle chiles in adobo sauce
3 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon water
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

Rinse the chiles and pat dry. Dice into very small pieces. Add the remaining ingredients.

This would be excellent on chicken, pork ...hmm..any meat!