Baked Pork Chop Cacciatore

This recipe for Pork Chop Cacciatore took some tweaking. Originally the recipe didn't include any rice, but I wanted to make it a one-dish meal, so I made it twice in the last couple weeks, adjusting ingredients until it turned out delicious! I love meals like this where you throw it together and then pop it in the oven while you take care of other things.

Baked Pork Chop Cacciatore

Yield:  6 servings

1 cup uncooked rice
6 pork chops, about 3/4 inch thick
2 bell peppers, cut into rings
1 onion, cut into rings
1 can (28 ounce) diced tomatoes
1 can (19 ounce) tomato sauce
1 Tbs of any mixture of the following (1 tsp Italian seasoning, 1 tsp oregano, 1 tsp basil)
1 tsp parsley
1 tsp garlic powder (or 2 cloves, crushed)
salt and pepper (to taste)
1/2 tsp sugar
1 cup water

Directions:

1. Put rice in bottom of a lightly greased 9x11 baking dish.
2. Brown seasoned pork chops (season the chops first with salt & pepper - or last time I seasoned them with about a Tbs of onion soup mix instead of salt and they were awesome!) . Place chops on rice.
3. Top the chops with the pepper and onion rings. Drain the diced tomatoes, reserving the juice. Sprinkle the tomatoes evenly on top of everything.
4. In a large measuring cup or bowl, combine the reserved tomato juice with the tomato sauce, seasonings and water. Pour over everything.
5. Cover the dish with foil and bake at 360 degrees for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Let sit for 10 minutes before removing foil and serving.