Guest Post Day. Meet Heather.

I'm excited to introduce you to a new friend, Heather. If today, you were thinking, hmmm I sure need some new ideas and recipes, well you're going to love reading today's post! Heather has given us links to several different yumminess. Like pork? You're gonna love today!
So, without further delay, Here's Heather!

I’m Heather from 3 kids and lots of pigs where I blog about our crazy, hectic, but full of fun and love life as I try to balance being a full-time off-farm working momma while raising the 5th generation of corn, soybean, and pig farmers in The Farmer’s family.

Big Sissy and Bubby with 100 pounds of pork we donated to our local food pantry.

So as you can already tell, pigs play a big part in our life and pork plays a big role in our diets.  We eat a lot of pork at this pigpen which is why we were so excited when it was finally announced that pork could now be cooked to an internal temperature of 145 degrees.  Per the new USDA guidelines, whole pork muscle cuts such as chops, loins, and roasts can be cooked to an internal temperature of 145 degrees followed by a 3 minute waiting period.


I've had a few questions from friends and family on if this is really safe or not since the pork may still be slightly pink after it is cooked.  I am not a meat scientist, but I can tell you that there was a lot of research done on this before the new guidelines were announced and I have complete faith in this research.  


I'll be honest, I have made a few recipes at home in the past that had me cook pork to 150 degrees followed by a 5-10 minute waiting period.  I could immediately tell a difference in these recipes versus the ones that I cooked to the previously required 160 degrees.  You will find that pork cooked to 145 degrees followed by a 3 minute waiting period before slicing/cutting are much more tender and juicier which just makes pork that much better to me and as the proud pork mom, I want you to enjoy pork to its fullest.  So go ahead and adopt 145 for those chops, loins, and roasts.  Ground pork still needs to be cooked to 160 degrees so just be sure to use a digital thermometer whenever cooking or grilling with meat.  


And in case you need some further inspiration, here are some pigpen favorite pork recipes:

Pork Chop Delight

Savory Pork and Pasta

Pulled Pork

Marinated Pork Loin

Beer Braised Baby Backs

The Best Porkchops

Cheesy Ham Potatoes

Farmstyle Ham

If you want to continue to find new pork recipes and keep up to date on our family farm and pig pen, you can follow along at 3 kids and lots of pigs, on Twitter @proudporkmom, or Facebook at 3 kids and lots of pigs and The Real Farmwives of America and Friends.