Farmhouse Pork Chop & Stuffing Casserole

This post was created by a partnership with the Nebraska Pork Producers Association, but all thoughts and opinions are my own.

Are you craving a classic down-home meal?  This Farmhouse Pork Chop and Stuffing Casserole is perfect comfort food that tastes great! #comfortfood

{Referral links are used in this post}

A Little About Hannah Zundel

Hannah Zundel is a part of the Nebraska pork community.  She is originally from western Pennsylvania and showed swine, beef and dairy cattle, goats and sheep throughout her school years.  Hannah fondly remembers showing pigs on a national level as a young adult. She even served on the National Junior Swine Association (NJSA) board.  Working with so many animals and meeting so many people across the country lead Hannah to become a pharmaceutical sales representative which is how she came to call Nebraska home.

Hannah explained that showing pigs is like a pageant show for animals.  The purpose is to show off the best genetics and what those pigs have to provide in terms of eye appeal.  Show pig genetics and style vary a bit from commercial pigs that focus on consistently providing pork for the world.  About 1% of the pork sold comes from show pigs. Being involved in the shows and expanding her network enabled Hannah to get a taste of the commercial swine versus the show pig community.

Hannah said the biggest reason she enjoyed showing swine nationally was the opportunity to meet quality people who would be there for you at the drop of a hat.  While some might say this sounds like the tagline for a good dating website, it’s actually NJSA.

The National Junior Swine Association is an organization that comes together to facilitate swine shows and events.  Somebody’s got to run the pageants. And Educational contests. And public speaking contests. And the skillathons. NJSA creates opportunities for youth to develop into quality adults.  Contests allow youth to prepare a speech on any topic related to agriculture and be judged on public speaking skills. Another contest is the skillathon where contestants are judged on their knowledge on tools used for swine care, breeds of pigs, basic animal welfare, swine nutrition and anatomy, the chemistry of feeds.

What is Required to Show Livestock

Livestock show people need an understanding of an animal’s’ basic needs: water, feed, and a clean place to eat and sleep. To be more competitive requires more time commitment, hair care, skin care, trainability (train livestock to present themselves and walk at a certain speed, stop when you want, etc.),

Another key to success is to have knowledge of influential breeders in the pork community – these are the people that youth call to learn feeding programs and extra steps of animal care.

Why is Showing Pigs Important?

Hannah Zundel wants to be involved with community service and helping others because she recognizes she wouldn’t have come so far in life without the help of others.

Her biggest takeaway from youth livestock shows is that she often finds herself volunteering at the events.  Watching where friends have ended up. Seeing the different ways agriculture has impacted the people that she met along the way.  Encouraging others and giving light to activities that are so beneficial.

Hannah Zundel’s Favorite Pork Recipe

Hands down, grandma’s pork chops and stuffing balls is Hannah’s favorite pork recipe.  Every time there’s a big crowd at home in Pennsylvania grandma makes a big batch of stuffing and shapes it into balls.  She spreads the stuffing balls around a 9×13 casserole dish of pork chops.

Let me tell you this is a meal worth coming home for!  Since I wasn’t able to envision the stuffing balls I used the recipe and made a Farmhouse Pork Chops and Stuffing Casserole.  We loved it the first day and leftovers for lunch on the second and third day were even better as the bread cubes had more time to absorb the seasonings.

Printable Recipe for Farmhouse Pork Chop & Stuffing Casserole