Ranch Crock Pot Pork Chops & Parmesan Mashed Potatoes

Here's a Sunday dinner that practically cooks itself while you get all the kudos. That's right...just allow the busy cook's best friend, Mr. Crock Pot, do all the work. This is an easy recipe that I've made even easier using some of today's modern conveniences!

Ranch Crock Pot Pork Chops with Parmesan Mashed Potatoes
6 boneless pork chops, 1/2 in thick*
1 packet Ranch Dressing Seasoning
2- 10 oz cans Cream of Mushroom soup
4-5 large potatoes, rinsed  
5 T. butter
1 cup fresh grated Parmesan cheese
6 cloves of roasted garlic (roasting directions below)
1 1/2 cups milk (whatever you normally use, skim, 2%, etc)
1 t. salt or to taste
1 t. black pepper or to taste
*Note - If you buy bone-in chops, be aware that the crock pot will cook the bones out of the chops and you could end up with bones in the gravy.


Directions - Place pork chops, soup and Ranch seasoning in crock pot and cook for 4 hours on high or 6 hours on low. While the pork chops cooked, I roasted my garlic.

How to Roast a Garlic - Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Remove all of the loose papery skins from the outside of the garlic head, then cut the top off of the garlic, exposing the cloves inside. Drizzle the cloves with olive oil. Wrap the garlic bulb in aluminum foil and place in the oven to bake for 30-40 minutes. Remove from foil and allow to cool for 15 minutes. To remove garlic from skins simply squeeze them out and place them in a bowl (remove any skins that may squeeze out) and mash them with a fork and set aside for later.

Super Quick Parmesan Mashed Potatoes - Once the chops are cooked. Cut the 4 large potatoes into large chunks (I no longer peel my potatoes now that I've learned that most of the health benefits are in the skin!), and place in a medium-sized steaming bag (such as Ziploc Zip-N-Steam). Cook in the microwave for 8 minutes. If tender (fork test it), transfer potatoes to mixing bowl and mix until potatoes are mashed, then add butter, Parmesan cheese, mashed roasted garlic, milk, salt and pepper.

To Serve - Scoop mashed potatoes onto serving plate. Place a pork chop on top of the potatoes, then spoon gravy from the crock pot over all. Sprinkle with parsley and serve.  

Adapted from Food.com.