It’s a Saturday night date night in for us this weekend! My husband and I love to cook together so a cooking date night in is actually really fun!
This meal took me outside my comfort zone because the cutlets were coated in breadcrumbs. For a long time I’ve labeled breadcrumbs as a “bad food” and felt shame whenever I ate something breaded and/or fried. But that needs to stop. And I’m not saying I should now eat fried food all day err day, but I am saying that I should not shame myself for days if I have some breaded chicken or pork once in awhile... when I want it. So this meal was another step on my journey. I'm working on letting go of the restrictive eating and “good food/bad food” mentality I’ve placed on myself for years, and instead choosing to engage in this beautiful life God has given me!
First, log into your Pandora, search “Italian Cooking Music” (yes I’m serious… We’re cooking Italian food so we listen to Italian cooking music), and pour yourself a glass of wine! (Thanks to our church Life Group friends who gave us this bottle of wine as a gift!)
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cut your pork into ½ inch thick slices. I got a WHOLE LOTTA PORK at Costco because they carry the Good Nature Pork line which advertises no antibiotics, no growth stimulants, and no preservatives and is a VERY reasonable price per pound. We’ll keep ⅓ out for cooking this week and freeze 2/3rds for another time.
Prepare the coating materials! You’ll need 3 bowls for this. Put the flour in bowl #1, the eggs in bowl # 2, and the breadcrumbs with Italian seasoning in bowl #3. At this point my sweet husband leaned over to say “I really like cooking with you” and I stopped to kiss him :)
Line a cookie sheet with foil (I think parchment paper or a silicon baking mat would be fine too) and spray with a light dusting of oil. Set aside. Dunk the pork one piece at a time in bowl #1, then bowl #2, then bowl #3. Place breadcrumb covered pork on the cookie sheet. Repeat the process as many times as necessary.
Spray the tops of the cutlets with a light dusting of oil. Pop the pork in the oven for 10 minutes. (Not pictured: me trying to take the cutlets out to spray them with oil and them all falling off the cookie sheet and onto the oven door… Put. down. the. wine.). Flip the cutlets over, spray with a light dusting of oil and return to the oven for 10 minutes. For an extra crunch, broil the cutlets for 3-5 minutes until crispy.
We paired our cutlets with zoodles in marinara sauce (which you can check out in this post) and a plain baked sweet potato! Finito!! This date night was another success and I ate something breaded without shame for the first time in a while.
Ingredients
Pork loin or tenderloin cut into ½ inch thick slices
1 cup of breadcrumbs
2 eggs, beaten
¼ cup flour
Sprinkle of Italian seasoning
Salt and pepper to taste
Meat
After watching Food Inc and reading Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan I’m more picky about the meat I eat. Whenever possible (aka when I’m buying the meat myself) I try to find meat from animals that haven’t been treated with antibiotics. Costco carries the Good Nature Pork line which advertises no antibiotics, no growth stimulants, and no preservatives and is a VERY reasonable price per pound!
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Cut pork into ½ inch thick slices. Get out 3 bowls. Put flour in bowl #1, eggs in bowl # 2, and breadcrumbs with Italian seasoning in bowl #3. Line a cookie sheet with foil and spray with a light dusting of oil. Set aside. Dunk the pork one piece at a time in bowl #1, then bowl #2, then bowl #3. Place breadcrumb covered pork on the cookie sheet. Repeat the process as many times as necessary. Spray the tops of the cutlets with a light dusting of oil. Bake pork for 10 minutes. Remove, flip cutlets. Spray again with a light dusting of oil and bake for 10 more minutes. For an extra crunch, broil the pork on high for 3-5 minutes until crispy.
Additional Serving Ideas
We paired these cutlets with zoodles and a baked sweet potato.
My husband basically made it a pork parmigiana by topping it with marinara sauce and mozzarella and popping it into the oven at 350 for 5 minutes.
Your Journey
Do you feel the same way about breaded or fried foods? What do you say to yourself that makes you feel shame or fear around those foods? How can you replace those words you say to yourself to be more kind and forgiving? Comment below!
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