Grilled Honey Garlic Pork Chops With Grilled Pineapple

It's Monday once again and I am hoping you had a wonderful weekend celebrating Mother's Day.  My day was fabulous, spending time with Dan, our children, grandsons, and sons in love who live in Nashville.  We certainly missed our son, daughter in love, and grandson who live in New York City.  I did get to talk with John and Roman.  Hopefully, we will get to spend some time together soon.   We enjoyed a lovely brunch on the porch of the West End Cafe.  The weather was spectacular.

Both of our daughter's were promised some "me" time by their husbands which they got to enjoy together.  They both have busy, busy lives and those of us who are past the years of young children, school, teams, jobs, and so many activities it can make your head spin, know how much a little "me" time is appreciated.  I know I'm prejudiced, but our daughters and daughter in love are all wonderful, caring mothers and certainly deserve every second of peace and quiet they can eek out of their hectic schedules.

My Mother's Day was spent doing nothing but enjoying time with family and whatever else I chose to do for the rest of the day which was a whole lot of nothing.  If you know me, you know I don't do a whole lot of nothing well.  I am really working on staying present, not being busy, busy all the time.  I spent most of the afternoon on the deck enjoying the weather (which was amazing) and putting together some craft projects I have been working on.  Creating is the best way I know to spend a day.  It was an absolutely wonderful afternoon.  We should all do more of a "whole lot of nothing" whenever we can.  Adding beauty to our lives and the world by creating is so good for the soul.

Then, of course, it's the reality of Monday once again.  Time for routine and all the things that need to be done to keep life flowing.  Our 2.5 year old grandson came and spent time with us this morning while his mother went to write.  It was very cool this morning, so we played some games indoors until it was warm enough to go outside.  It was another fantastically gorgeous day.  Look at this picture of me leaning on the deck rail watching Adrian and Pawpaw playing baseball.  The sky looks photoshopped, but it isn't.  That is how the sky looked today.  Simply beautiful!

After Holly picked Adrian up, we had lunch on the deck and then I spent the afternoon working on my projects.  It was cool enough that I had to wear a light sweater, but that was okay.  These are the days we live for.  Dan mowed the grass, I crafted.  Fair enough don't you think?

Before I knew it, it was 4:30.  Then the proverbial question arises, what's for dinner?  Ugh.  No idea.  Time to stand and stare in the refrigerator.  My first thought was chicken, but there were pork chops.  Yes, pork chops!  Quick.  Easy.  Perfect.   Grilled pork chops - even better.  No turning the stove on and we can stay outside some more.  This is a simple recipe from Allrecipes.com with an easy marinade that is delicious.  The chops sort of have the flavor of Asian barbecue.  Yum.  Here is what you need:

6 pork chops
1/4 + 1/8 cup honey
3 Tbsp soy sauce
4-6 garlic cloves, minced (depends on how big they are)

Mix the honey, soy sauce, and minced garlic in a small bowl.  Lay the pork chops in a shallow pan.  Pour the marinade over all the chops and turn to make sure both sides are coated.  Let sit for 15-30 minutes.  Grill until the juices run clear and the centers are no longer pink.  Look how beautiful they are  ( and tasted even better).

For the grilled pineapple, cut a fresh pineapple into quarters, remove the core and the fruit of the pineapple by running a knife between the outside skin and the fruit.  Rub a little olive oil on the pineapple so it won't stick to the grill.  Grill on each side until the pineapple begins to caramelize.  Remove and drizzle with just a little honey.  BEST PINEAPPLE EVER!

I cut the pineapple into small wedges and put 3 or 4 pieces on a pork chop when serving.  Deeee-licious.  Tomorrow, I will make a mango, pineapple salsa with the left over pineapple (if there is any).
Mm mm mmm.  Wish you could taste it.

Everything we had for dinner was cooked on the grill.  One of the things I love best about warm weather - cooking and eating out of doors.  The weather is perfect right now and it is so relaxing.  Makes it easy to just "be" and breathe in, breathe out.   No hurry, no worry.  Tomorrow is supposed to be much warmer, so hopefully we will spend as much time out of doors as we can.  There are more flowers to plant before it rains again.

If you don't have an outdoor grill, you could make these pork chops and the pineapple on a stove top grill.  Quick.  Easy.  Delicious.  As for the grilled pineapple - if you've never had it, it's a must try!

Everyday Donna

Things to Remember:

Where the pineapple got it's name:

Christopher Columbus discovered this fruit in 1493 during his second voyage when he landed on the island of Guadaloupe and brought it back to Europe.  He called it "pina de Indes."  (pine of the Indians)
 When European explorers discovered this tropical fruit in the Americas, they called them "pineapples" (first so referenced in 1664 due to resemblance to what is now known as the pine cone).  Wikipedia