Grilled Herb Balsamic Lamb Chops

Our vacation life for the summer has finally come to an end. And yeah, we are ready for it to end. Don't get us wrong it was fantastic. We went amazing places, ate fabulous food with some of the people we love the most. But honestly only sleeping at home 5 nights out of 5 weeks is a bit much even for us.

Transitioning back to being at home for good has been good something we are both enjoying doing after long vacationing. But this time our transition situation back home has changed just a tad....

Yes, two days after returning home we added this precious girl to our life, family and home. And she is just so precious! Meet Sally Pork Chop. Our long awaited English Bulldog that actually I've been advocating for us to get for at least the 12 years we've been married. It's the only dog I've ever wanted. And reluctantly my honey finally agreed. It's a HUGE transition to our life.

For example I've been trying to write this post for 36 hours now and just can't seem to get it done. Our new baby needs a lot of our attention and we are more than happy to share it with her. 

So her first night home I wanted to make sure to make a meal to show G that our life will still continue. Making and enjoying great meals will still be a part of it. So since Sally Pork Chop is on a lamb & rice puppy chow regimen I decided that lamb chops would be the perfect protein for this meal.

I found some good looking chops at Costco. We do love love Costco meat usually.

I made a balsamic herb marinade that I let them sit in for an hour before grilling. Which gave me ample to do some more loving on our girl before I actually got too involved with cooking. The marinade was so flavorful made with honey, dijon, balsamic and herbs from our patio.

I then grilled on the grill getting a nice sear and cooking them to medium rare...while I boiled down the balsamic sauce to glaze them with at serving time.

I served them with a roasted beet salad with goat cheese, slice almonds and a Trader Joe's brand Raspberry vinaigrette. 

We also opened a bottle of Fidelitas 2007 Optu to enjoy with our meal. A  perfect special wine to enjoy our first night and meal as puppy parents. 

The chops were divine and G loved that were paired both with the beet salad and the wine. Oh yeah, we can do this! We can be dog owners and still live our life. I'm determined to make it happen.

Recipe:

Grilled Herb Balsamic Lamb Chops
6 lamb chops
1/4 cup olive oil
1/8 cup balsamic vinegar
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp each fresh thyme, oregano, basil and chives chopped and combined
1 Tablespoon honey
2 teaspoons dijon mustard
salt and pepper

Place lamb chops in a shallow baking dish. Combine olive oil, vinegar, garlic, herbs, honey, mustard, salt and pepper and pour over chops. Toss to coat. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour. Preheat grill. Grill chops 5 minutes on each side until medium rare. Boil remaining marinade and glaze over chops before serving.