Nathan's Pork Chops

My very picky grand-nephew Nathan once declared these the "best pork chops ever."  I got this recipe from one magazine or another as Cheddar Chicken.  You can use either boneless chicken breasts or pork chops -- works just great.

The baking time is based on 1-inch thick pork chops -- these were custom cut by a local grocery store from a pork tenderloin.  If you use thinner chops, or chicken breasts, cut the cooking time down to 20-25 minutes. 

NATHAN'S PORK CHOPS
  

1 sleeve of Ritz crackers

¾ cup of shredded cheddar cheese

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 stick unsalted butter, melted

4 boneless pork chops

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with foil – I use the nonstick foil.

Put the crackers in a large (gallon) zipper bag. Beat them (great tension relief after a frustrating day at the office) until they are crumbs. I suppose you could use a food processor or a blender to do this, but I like to pulverize something once in awhile ;)

Mix the first 5 ingredients in a shallow bowl. (You can use the bag you made the crumbs in, shake-n-bake style, but this seems to work much better when I use a bowl.)

Dip each pork chop in butter, then coat with the cracker mixture, making sure to coat completely. Place on foil-lined baking sheet.

Sprinkle any leftover cracker mixture on the tops of the pork chops. Drizzle any leftover butter along the pork chops. Bake for 35-45 minutes, until golden brown and juices run clear.