Smoky Bacon Pork Chops

Instructions

Prepare Your Ingredients
Wash and dry your produce.
Preheat your oven or toaster oven broiler on high.
Line a baking pan with foil.
Remove seeds from sweet peppers and thinly slice into ¼” pieces.
Peel the cucumbers, cut in half lengthwise, scoop out seeds, and cut into ½” thick half-moons.
Roughly chop the mint leaves.
Place the cucumber, sweet peppers, mint, and white wine vinegar in a large bowl and season with salt and pepper to taste.
Mix, tossing to coat and place in the refrigerator until ready to serve.
Thinly slice the yellow onion into half-moons (use ½ if large).
Roughly chop the bacon.

Cook the Onions and Bacon
Heat a large pan, over medium heat.
Add the bacon and cook for 2-3 minutes.
Add the onions and thyme leaves (pinch the stems between your index and thumb and pull down to remove).
Cook, tossing occasionally, until bacon is cooked through and onions are tender and browned; 6-8 minutes (add oil if pan dries).
Transfer the onion & bacon mixture to a paper towel-covered bowl to drain fat, and set aside to cool down a bit.
Set pan aside keeping a little bacon fat in the pan.
Remove paper towel from bowl and mix the pepper jack cheese and desired sriracha, with the onion/bacon mixture.
Taste and season with a little salt and pepper mixing well to combine.

Season and Cook the Pork
Pat the pork chops dry, then rub with a little olive oil and season with mesquite seasoning on both sides.
Heat the same pan used to cook the bacon, over medium-high heat.
Cook the pork chops for about 3 minutes per side, or until almost cooked through (if pan dries add a bit of oil).
Transfer the chops to the prepared baking pan.
Spread the cheese and bacon mixture over the pork chops.
Place in the oven until the toppings just start to brown; 3 - 4 minutes.

Plating
Place a pork chop on each dish and serve the salad on the side and enjoy!