Wok's For Dinner: Slow Cooker Pork Chops With Apple-Cherry Stuffing

This is a meal we had on Sunday, 8/30/09. I'm posting it while we're on a short family vacation.

This is a Betty Crocker recipe that I just had to try out. I included it in my July freezer meal menu because I got fresh bing cherries for a really good price, and with my husband being a really big fan of cherries, I thought he would enjoy this meal. It's been on my weekly menu plan a time or two but kept getting pushed back for various reasons.

Slow Cooker Pork Chops With Apple-Cherry Stuffing

Ingredients:
1 pkg (6oz) herb stuffing mix
2 medium celery stalks, chopped (1 cup)
1 medium tart cooking apple (like granny smith), peeled and chopped (1 cup)
1 medium onion, chopped (1/2 cup)
1 cup dried cherries (I used fresh)
1/4 cup butter or margarine, melted
1 cup chicken broth
6 pork boneless pork loin chops, about 1/2-inch thick (I just used 4 chops)

Directions:
Spray inside of a 4- to 5-quart slow cooker with cooking spray. Mix all ingredients except pork. Place half of the stuffing mixture in slow cooker, top with pork. Spoon remaining stuffing mixture over pork. Cover and cook on low heat setting 6-8 hours or until pork is tender.

I made this in the slow cooker and it smelled soooo good! But I wouldn't recommend making it as a freezer meal like I did. The stuffing turned into mush. Actually, I wouldn't recommend it as a slow cooker meal either. For best results, bake it in the oven, layering the chops on the bottom of a 13x9-inch baking dish and the stuffing mix on top. I ended up putting the already-cooked, frozen, thawed pork chop/stuffing mixture into a baking dish and baked at 350 F for 30 minutes this evening. It tasted really good, we all liked it, but I think it would have been better cooked up fresh--never frozen--in the oven--not the slow cooker. I'm not crossing it completely off my list just yet.