Balsamic Garlic Crock Pot Pork Chops

I wanted to make crock pot pork chops but am not that fond of sweet barbecue sauce... so, inspired by Kari's stomach-popping chops recipe, here's what I came up with! Darn tasty!

• Ready In: 6 hrs 5 mins
• Serves: 4

Ingredients

• 4  pork chops, each about 1/2 inch thick
• 2  medium onions, chopped
• 2  tablespoons  minced roasted garlic
• 1  celery rib, chopped
• 1 (14 1/2ounce) can stewed tomatoes or 1 (14 1/2ounce) can crushed tomatoes
• 1⁄2 cup ketchup
• 1⁄4 cup white wine
• 3  tablespoons  balsamic vinegar
• 1  teaspoon brown sugar
• 3  tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• 2  tablespoons lime juice (lemon juice okay)
• 1  teaspoon beef bouillon granules
• 1 1⁄2 teaspoons dried ancho chile powder
• 1  teaspoon Tabasco sauce
• 1  bay leaf
• 2  tablespoons cornstarch or 2  tablespoons arrowroot
• 2  tablespoons  cool water

Directions

1. Add all ingredients except water and cornstarch (or arrowroot) to the crock pot.
2. Cover and cook on low for 5 1/2 hours, then check meat and vegetables for done-ness; remove bay leaf.
3. When meat and veggies are to your preferred texture (about 5 1/2 hours), whisk cornstarch and water together, stir into crock pot, re-cover pot and cook for 30 additional minutes.
4. Serve over rice.
5. Please note: depending on the size and age of your crock pot, cooking times may vary; older crock pots tend to cook a little faster than the newer ones (if you know your pot cooks at a low temp, you might want to turn it to high after 4 hours).