Stuffed Pork Chops (a new fave)

I buy boneless chicken breasts and center cut pork chops (thick cut) in bulk at Costco. I trim the fat if needed, and bag them all individually, and then put them all in two good gallon size freezer bags. This way, when I am about to leave in the morning, I can pull out however many I need and they are neither stuck together nor freezer burned. So anyway, since these two things are pretty routine dinner items, I'm always looking for good, easy, healthy ways to cook them. If it is something he likes, Richard could eat the same thing every night of the week, I however have to have some variety.

I have been looking for some new pork chop recipes and upon reading about some yummy stuffed pork chop recipes that didn't include stuffing (you know I''m low-carbing it). I ran across some recipes that used smoked gouda and some different cheeses, and then some others that sounded good too, so I decided to try something based on some of the different elements of the ones I likes, and the finished product was way easy and totally fabulous!

Bacon and Cheese Stuffed Pork Chops

• 4 thick, center cut pork chops
• 4 wedges of Laughing Cow Light Garlic and Herb cheese
  
• 4 tbs crumbled bacon pieces (see, yet another use for my handy-dandy bacon pieces)
• 1/2 c beef broth (or 1/2 c water and beef broth granules or beef bullion)
• 1/2 c red wine
• McCormick's Montreal Chicken seasoning
• Nonstick cooking spray
• toothpicks
  

1. Preheat oven to 375
2. Cut a slit in the side of each porch chop to make a large pocket
3. Season the pork chop (inside and out) with seasoning
4. Brown pork chops in skillet (sprayed with cooking spray) for 2 minutes on each side
5. Stuff each chop with cheese wedge and 1 tbs of bacon and secure opening with toothpick
6. Place in chops in baking dish (sprayed with cooking spray) and add beef broth and red wine.
7. Bake at 375 or until pork chops for 20 minutes, or until the internal temp of the meat reaches 175.
8. OPTIONAL - add the pan juice back to skillet and thicken with corn starch or flower.

Here's the nutritional breakdown(approximate, based on 4 oz chop, with fat removed)

4 Servings - Amount Per Serving

Calories 272.0

Total Fat 14.6 g

Cholesterol 74.2 mg

Sodium 923.1 mg

Potassium 451.1 mg

Total Carbohydrate 1.5 g

Dietary Fiber 0.0 g

Sugars 1.0 g

Protein 26.7 g