Greek Pork and Potatoes with Yogurt Sauce

If you’re looking for a low sugar, easy meal that’s packed with nutrition, this is it my friend.  I recently made this while fighting a nasty virus because I wanted comfort food (which for me, means meat and potatoes) that would give my immune system a boost.  When I’m sick, I automatically pull out my sugar free recipes because sugar suppresses your immune system by inhibiting your white blood cells.  With lots of disease fighting garlic, red peppers rich vitamin C, heart healthy olive oil, and potassium packed potatoes, this recipe is chock full of good-for-you nutrients.  Throw in some yogurt sauce with probiotics to keep your gut healthy, since a healthy gut means a healthy immune system, and you’ve got a tasty way to fight a virus.  Did it work?  The next day I felt a lot better and had my energy back, so you be the judge.


3-4 medium boneless pork chops, trimmed of fat
4 small potatoes, scrubbed (the runts of the bag)
1 small red bell pepper, cut into 1/2 in. strips
4-5 tsp. minced garlic (I used the kind from a jar)
Olive oil
Oregano
Parsley
Salt and coarse ground pepper
Yogurt Sauce recipe below, made in advance (optional)

Place pork chops in the middle of a greased 9″x13″ baking dish.  Cut potatoes in half lengthwise, then slice into 1/2 in. pieces (like thick scalloped potatoes).  Place potatoes around pork chops in pan.  (If you’re using 4 pork chops, you may need a separate pan for the potatoes.)  Drizzle potatoes with olive oil.  Sprinkle meat and potatoes with salt and freshly ground pepper.  Generously sprinkle oregano over meat.  Sprinkle about 1/2 tsp. garlic on each piece of meat, and generously sprinkle remaining 3-4 tsp. garlic over potatoes – it will seem like a lot, but you need a lot to flavor potatoes.  (I had to use my fingers to do this, which is pretty messy, but who cares if your fingers smell like garlic when you have a cold and can’t smell.)  Sprinkle parsley on potatoes.  Top meat with red pepper slices, then drizzle olive oil over the meat and peppers.
Bake at 400 degrees for 40-45 minutes or until meat is done according to a meat thermometer.  Serve with yogurt sauce, if desired.

Yogurt Sauce:
1 c. plain yogurt
1/2 c. finely minced, peeled cucumber
1 tsp. dried dill
1/4 tsp. sugar
1/4 tsp. garlic salt
1/8 tsp. onion powder

Combine ingredients in a small bowl.  Cover and refrigerate at least an hour for flavors to blend.  Leftover sauce can be enjoyed as a dip with multigrain chips.