We’ve officially entered my favorite season: porch season. Last night we cleaned off the table on our front porch and had our first outdoor meal of the year. Everything about it was wonderful — the brightly-colored scenery, the scent of freshly-cut grass, the taste of a homemade meal. The company wasn’t too bad, either.

I love outdoor meals because they make it easy to disconnect and soak up the moment. James and I get a chance to catch up about our days without being interrupted by text messages or e-mails. And there’s something about fresh, spring air that just makes my soul so happy.

Because the weather was so beautiful, I didn’t want to spend too much time in the kitchen throwing together dinner. I had some thinly-sliced pork chops thawing in the fridge and decided to use them to create a lightened-up version of pork piccata. James is a huge fan of schnitzel, so I knew he’d enjoy its Italian cousin. Dare I say he liked pork piccata even better than his beloved German version?

I served this pork alongside some pasta tossed in lemon olive oil, freshly-ground pepper and parmesan cheese. James and I kept looking at each other after every few bites and saying how delicious the meal turned out. This is definitely one I’ll be keeping my recipe arsenal for a long time to come.

If you don’t have pork on hand, you can easily replicate this recipe using chicken or veal. I hope it’s as big of a hit in your house as it was in mine!

Easy Pork Piccata

[ingredients title=”Ingredients”]

• 1 lb. thinly-sliced boneless pork chops (you can also use a meat tenderizer to turn thicker pork chops into cutlets for this recipe)
• Juice of one lemon
• 1/2 cup Italian breadcrumbs
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. pepper
• 1 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 1/4 cup low-sodium chicken broth
• 1 Tbsp. capers

[/ingredients]

[directions title=”Directions”]

1. Set aside 1 Tablespoon of lemon juice. Using a brush, lightly coat both sides of each pork chop in the remaining lemon juice.
2. Combine breadcrumbs, salt and pepper in a shallow bowl. Dredge each pork chop in breadcrumb mixture until completely covered.
3. Heat 1 Tbsp. olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Once the skillet is hot, add pork chops and cook until browned — about three to four minutes on each side.
4. Once pork chops are done, remove them from the skillet and cover them with aluminum foil to keep warm.
5. With the skillet still over medium heat, slowly add wine to the to the pan, using a spoon to scrape any browned bits off the bottom. Add chicken broth, the remaining 1 Tbsp. lemon juice and capers. Simmer for about five minutes, until sauce is reduced by about half.
6. Remove aluminum foil from pork and drizzle it with the warm sauce. Serve immediately.

[/directions]

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Sometimes, you just don’t have enough time or energy to whip up a healthy, homemade meal. You come home from work, collapse on the couch, prop your shoes up on the coffee table and drift off into the world of Real Housewives marathons (team Vicki and Tamra 4ever).

This pasta is for those times. It takes less than 20 minutes to whip up and I almost always have the ingredients on hand. This recipe also gives you a lot of pasta, so there are plenty of leftovers to take for lunches throughout the week.

Did I mention there’s cheese involved? Let’s be real, I don’t think any of my recipes don’t involve cheese. But, a little bit goes a long way — this adds the gooey comfort we all adore without adding too many unnecessary calories.

Now, go get that water boiling so you can make it back to the couch just in time for the housewives’ claws to come out.

Weeknight Chicken Sausage Pasta

Ingredients: 

• 16 oz. pasta of choice
• 1 lb. fully-cooked chicken Italian sausage, chopped into bite-size pieces (such as Al Fresco) 
• 1 cup bell pepper, chopped
• 1/2 cup red onion, chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/4 cup freshly-shredded parmesan cheese
• 1 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. pepper

Directions:

1. Cook pasta according to package directions.
2. While pasta is cooking, add olive oil and garlic to a large skillet and sauté over medium-high heat until fragrant, about one minute.
3. Add sausage, onion and bell pepper to skillet and cook until sausage is heated through and onion and pepper are soft — about four minutes.
4. Drain pasta and add to skillet containing sausage, onion and pepper. Remove from heat and mix until combined.
5. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and cheese.

The post Weeknight Chicken Sausage Pasta appeared first on The Broadcasting Baker.