Cookbooks to the rescue!

Tonight's Menu

• mustardy pork chops w/gnocchi
  
• green salad "bar"
  

Whoops! Didn't mean to disappear on you for a couple of weeks there. Would you believe I got sick AGAIN? This time with some nasty fever virus thing that mutated into a sinus infection. Fun! So yeah, there's been a whole lot of takeout pizza and grilled cheese sandwiches happening around here.

HOWEVER, tonight I did something different. I have a metric ton of cookbooks but I've realized lately that I hardly ever actually cook from them! Determined to remedy that, I was flipping through Nigella Express looking for something that would use ingredients I already had on hand and came up with this one. It wasn't bad -- I don't usually cook bone-in chops in a skillet without braising them because they always end up tough and dry, and these did, but the sauce made up for it somewhat. The gnocchi were just packaged (I DID have to go out and buy those, and the cream), boiled quickly and then tossed in the mustard cream sauce.

Tonight's salad was just green leaf lettuce, wedged tomatoes (greenhouse-grown, from our last CSA box) and sliced carrots (from my garden!).

Did I tell you all we let our CSA subscription expire? We picked up our last box last week. We just weren't keeping up with the supply of vegetables, and I HATED wasting them. I've decided to redouble my efforts to feed us from my backyard garden, along with making more frequent trips to our local farmer's market(s) and food co-op. We'll still be eating local food as much as possible, never fear!

Using up the CSA veggies (again!)

Tonight's Menu

• oven-roasted pork chops and sweet potatoes
  
• buttery cabbage
  

We only get a CSA share every other week (our choice) and we end up using most of it pretty quickly, but there are always a couple of long-storing items left over right before the next pickup day. Tonight we still had a lovely head of plain green cabbage and a couple of sweet potatoes in the fridge, so I threw together this meal.

What I did was take a couple of sweet potatoes and cut them into lengthwise wedges. I didn't bother to peel them first or anything, just cut them up and chucked them into a foil-lined roasting pan. Then I threw in four nice, thick boneless pork chops. I drizzled everything with olive oil, sprinkled with salt and pepper, then snipped some fresh rosemary onto the chops. The pan went into the oven uncovered at 400 degrees for about an hour, until the potatoes were tender and the chops were cooked through (with crispy fat around the edges -- unhealthy, but SO YUMMY).

For the cabbage, I cored a small head and cut it into wedges (it yielded about 8). I melted a couple of tablespoons of butter over medium-high heat in a heavy skillet and carefully laid the cabbage wedges in cut-side down, not moving them until they had browned on the bottom. At that point I flipped them so the OTHER cut side was down and let them get nice and brown on that side, too. (Don't sweat it if they fall apart a little bit -- they'll still taste good!) Then I reduced the heat to low, added a couple of tablespoons of water, covered the pan and let them simmer for just a minute or two before turning off the heat altogether. They sat, covered, until the chops and potatoes were done, and I seasoned them with salt and pepper before serving.

This was a super easy but delicious meal, and a great way to use up some winter veggies!

Fall supper

Tonight's Menu

• pork chops with apples & onions
  
• steamed potatoes with brown butter
  
• green salad "bar"
  

It finally looks and feels like late fall around here, what with the brown leaves and the chilly dampness and whatnot. I am all about pork, onions and apples in the fall.

What I did was season some boneless pork chops with salt and pepper and then brown them in a skillet with just a wee bit of EVOO. I removed the chops and set them aside, then added sliced Granny Smith apples and onion slivers to the pan, tossing until they had picked up a bit of color. Then I poured in maybe half a cup of water (you could use cider, white wine, stock, whatever) and added some fresh thyme and thinly sliced fresh sage leaves. I laid the chops on top of the apple/onion mixture, covered the pan, and let everything simmer on low heat for about 20 minutes. SO yummy!

For the potatoes, I cut some small red-skinned potatoes (you could use any waxy potato) into quarters and steamed them in the microwave. While they were steaming I put a couple of tablespoons of butter into a small pan on the stovetop over medium heat, swirling the pan every so often until the butter had melted and JUST started to turn a golden brown. You'll need to watch it really closely so the butter doesn't burn -- you want to catch it just at the point where it starts to turn golden. I sprinkled some chopped fresh parsley over the potatoes, drizzled them with the brown butter, sprinkled on some salt and then tossed everything to coat. These were really good and a nice change from our usual chuffed potatoes.

Tonight's salad bar was butter lettuce from the CSA, grated carrots, sliced cucumber and fresh snow peas. Easy!

Can you tell I'm making an effort to cook with more herbs from my herb garden lately? This time of year I tend to rely on rosemary and thyme exclusively, forgetting that I have a bunch of other stuff out there that isn't dead yet! The sage was a nice accompaniment to the apples, onions and pork; and the parsley really brightened up the potatoes. Now I need to find something to do with fennel tops -- mine are going nuts!

A lovely night to grill

Tonight's Menu

• grilled pork chops
  
• crispy potatoes and onions
  
• garlicky grilled zucchini
  
• green salad "bar"
  

It's been SO NICE in the evenings here lately. Temperatures in the upper 70s or low 80s, no humidity, and now that the sun has moved south, my back patio and grill are once again in the shade for the later part of the day. Heaven!

Soo, I have been grilling. These were pork loin chops on the bone, which I just sprinkled with Jane's Krazy Salt and garlic pepper, then grilled over high heat for about 4 minutes per side. SO yummy!

The potatoes were a variation on my "chuffed" potatoes, but with onions added. I get a lot of requests for detailed instructions on the chuffed potatoes, so here is exactly what I did. First, I cut several small red-skinned potatoes in half. You could also cut them in quarters or eighths depending on how big they are. Put them in a pot and add enough water to cover the potatoes by about an inch. Then put them on the stove, bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat and simmer them for about 15 or 20 minutes before draining off the water. You want them pretty tender, but not mushy.

Then melt a couple of tablespoons of butter in a skillet and add the drained potatoes. (I also added half of an onion, cut into slivers, this time but you could leave that out.) Toss the potatoes around in the butter over medium-high heat until a nice brown crust forms on the outside. The more violently you toss them around, the more crust you'll get. Once they've gone nice and golden brown on the outside, season with salt and pepper and serve! They should be soft on the inside -- if not, then you didn't simmer them long enough in the first step. Of course, you can adjust that to your liking if you prefer a firmer potato.

That's all there is to chuffed potatoes!

For the zucchini, I bashed up a couple of garlic cloves in my mortar and pestle, along with a little kosher salt. This acts as an abrasive and makes it easier to really smush the garlic into a pulverized paste. Then I mixed a bit of EVOO in with that to make a really garlicky oil. I cut a couple of zucchini into quarter-inch slices lengthwise, brushed them on both sides with the garlicky oil, then sprinkled with a bit of pepper. Grill them off for maybe 2 minutes per side over high heat and they're done! The boy LOVED these and I don't think I've ever seen him eat zucchini before except in quinoa pilaf!

Tonight's salad bar was torn green leaf lettuce, sliced celery, shredded carrots and wedges of tomato from the CSA. My kids STILL stubbornly refuse to eat salad since I switched from the pre-bagged greens. But DH and I are loving our salads lately!

Rushing the season

Tonight's Menu

• pork chops with apples & onions in a cider mustard cream sauce
  
• mashed potatoes
  
• sauteed cabbage with bacon
  

Oh people, it's not even quite September yet and I am SO ready for fall! I can't help it; it's been a loooong summer here in central Texas. I was in the mood for fall food tonight, and nothing says fall to me like pork, apples and cabbage.

So, the pork! I had some really large but thin bone-in chops that I just seasoned with salt and pepper and then browned on both sides in a heavy skillet with a little bit of oil. I removed the chops to a plate and covered them with foil to keep warm, then dumped half a Granny Smith apple (peeled and sliced relatively thin) and half a sweet yellow onion (also sliced thin, lengthwise) into the skillet. I tossed them around to pick up some color, then briefly removed the pan from the heat so I could pour in about 10 ounces of hard cider. (You could also use regular non-alcoholic apple cider, in which case there's no danger of a flareup and thus no need to take the pan off the heat.)

I put the pan back on the heat and left it to simmer away, uncovered, until the onions and apples were tender and the cider had evaporated by about half. Then I stirred in one tablespoon of whole-grain mustard (because I like the seeds) and slowly added about half a cup of heavy cream. I let it bubble away for just a minute before taking it off the heat.

The idea is to serve the apple-onion sauce over the chops, but I put it on the side because I knew the kids would never eat it that way. And yes, they are still free to Make (Their) Own Damn Dinner(s) if they don't like what I'm serving, but they both DO like pork chops and it's no skin off my nose to put the sauce on the side.

The mashed potatoes were my usual frozen Ore-Ida, jazzed up with milk, butter, salt and pepper. I KNOW! But for a processed food this one doesn't contain too much scary crap, and I just HATE making mashed potatoes from scratch.

For the cabbage, I just browned off some chopped bacon in a skillet and then dumped in a bunch of chopped cabbage. Stir, stir, stir until the cabbage is tender, then season with salt and pepper to taste. Easy!

Easy dinner

Tonight's Menu

• grilled boneless pork chops
  
• grilled cabbage wedges
  
• green salad "bar"
  

This was super easy and really good, if a tad bit boring.

All I did with the pork chops was sprinkle them on both sides with Jane's Krazy Salt and some garlic pepper, then grilled them 5 minutes per side over high heat (they were a little thick -- you could knock that back a bit for thinner chops). STUPID easy, y'all.

For the cabbage, I halved a head of green cabbage lengthwise, reserving one half for coleslaw tomorrow. The other half I just cored and cut into four wedges. I brushed the cut sides with EVOO and sprinkled them with salt and pepper, then cooked them exactly the same way, and at the same time, as the pork chops. They did tend to fall apart just a little bit when I turned them, but not so much that I lost them down the grill slats or anything. This was really tasty and easy and I'd definitely make cabbage this way again!

Tonight's salad bar was mixed leaf lettuces with sliced carrots, sliced cucumbers, and wedged tomatoes. Have I mentioned that I'm getting totally BORED with the salad bar thing? The kids are still eating it so I'm still making it, but I'm also making all these awesome CSA veggies and no one is eating them but me! Argh. It's not like the salad isn't HEALTHY or anything, so I don't want to press the point, but I'm pretty much OVER green salads right now, y'all.

More bread!

Tonight's Menu

• grilled boneless pork chops
  
• European-style peasant bread
  
• grilled zucchini
  

Easy dinner tonight, y'all.

The chops were just sprinkled on both sides with Jane's Krazy Salt and garlic pepper, then grilled for about 4-5 minutes per side. Easy!

The bread was another recipe from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day (that's NOT an affiliate link, by the way -- just trying to make it easy to find stuff). This one has a mix of flours -- rye, whole wheat and unbleached all-purpose -- for a slightly more rustic taste and appearance, and I actually prefer it to the master recipe (which only has unbleached all-purpose flour). Will probably try focaccia with it sometime soon, since my family has turned out to be a bunch of focaccia freaks -- who knew?!

Grilling is my new favorite way to cook zucchini. It's a good thing I love it so much, because our CSA shares have been overflowing with zukes! All I do is cut the ends off a large-ish zucchini (you could do it with a small one, too, but the ones we're getting lately aren't small!) and then slice it LENGTHWISE, end to end. I do the slices anywhere from 1/4 to 1/3 inch thick. Brush them on both sides with EVOO (last night I smashed up a garlic clove in the oil for a little added flavor), sprinkle with salt and pepper, and grill them for just a minute or two per side. They're SUPER fast to make -- if you're grilling meat, just slice up the zucchini while the meat is grilling and then slap the zukes on the grill right after you take the meat off. That gives the meat a chance to rest while you're grilling the zucchini, and everything's ready to eat at the same time.

The leftover grilled zucchini, assuming you have any, is even good cold in salads or sandwiches. Or stick it in some lasagna or on a pizza! Mix it into some pasta, rice or quinoa! You could make a meal off these things, I swear! And you vegetarians say I NEVER HAVE ANYTHING FOR YOU. Go grill some zucchini, fer cryin' out loud!

Breaking in the new grill!

Tonight's Menu

• grilled boneless pork chops w/mango salsa
  
• whole-grain tortilla chips
  
• coleslaw
• fruit salad
  

Oh, dudes. I keep meaning to post, I SWEAR I do, but lately by the time I've dealt with all the end-of-school frenzy, the homework, the making/eating/cleaning up of dinner, and the NIGHTLY COCKTAIL, HELLO, I am just too darn pooped.

HOWEVER. We have been eating some swell stuff lately, including lots of CSA goodies, and for Mother's Day DH and the kids gifted me with a new gas grill! So I will try REALLY HARD to start posting more from now on. Swearsies!

Anyhoo, tonight I broke in the new grill with some boneless pork chops. I just sprinkled them on both sides with Jane's Krazy Salt and garlic pepper, then whomped them on the grill for about 4-5 minutes per side. The new grill leaves MUCH sexier grill marks on meat than the old one, and it has about twice the surface area. LOVE! The chops were excellent.

I have previously discussed mango salsa, coleslaw and fruit salad.

Oh, and the girl child TOTALLY eats coleslaw now! I KNOW! It only took TWO YEARS of having to Make (Her) Own Damn Dinner for her to start eating the food I cook. I thought it would never happen. Look for an update on the original purpose of this blog soon, along with tips for using up all that CSA produce!

Grilling in February

Tonight's Menu

• grilled boneless pork chops
  
• steamed red potatoes
  
• grilled asparagus
  

It was a gorgeous weekend here in central Texas -- brilliantly sunny and in the 70s both Saturday and today -- so I rather sheepishly asked DH to pick up some propane when he was out running errands this morning (I had used the last of ours back in October). This led to a super easy, if not exactly seasonal, dinner.

The thick, boneless pork chops were just sprinkled with Jane's Krazy Salt and garlic pepper and then grilled about 4 minutes per side over high heat. Easy-peasy.

I cut some small red-skinned potatoes in half, then tossed them in a bowl with a bit of water, covered with plastic wrap, and steamed them in the microwave (I used my microwave's "smart" setting for hard fresh veggies). When they were done steaming I just tossed them with a little bit of butter, salt and freshly ground pepper.

For the asparagus, I just snapped off the woody ends, tossed them with some EVOO, salt and pepper, and grilled them on a veggie screen over high heat, tossing them around every couple of minutes. It took maybe 7 minutes total for them to reach the crisp-tender stage.

So easy, and SO yummy! I can't promise I won't be grilling from here on out -- it's been a REALLY warm winter around here and I'm itching for some summery dinner fare. Of course, now that I've said that and we've bought the propane and all, it'll probably snow next week!

Saucy!

Tonight's Menu

• spiced pork chops
  
• steamed basmati rice
• sauteed baby spinach
  

I used to make this spiced pork chop recipe, which I originally got from Taste Of Home magazine, all the time but I don't see it in my archives so I guess it's been a while! It's very yummy, particularly in cooler weather. Which we are NOT having, but hope springs eternal and whatnot.

What you do is take half a cup of flour and mix in a bunch of herbs and spices -- garlic powder, dry mustard, paprika, celery salt, ground ginger, dried oregano, dried basil, some pepper and a pinch of salt. Then dredge four pork chops (I like the thick boneless ones) in the flour/spice mixture. I usually mix the flour and spices in a big plastic zipper bag and then shake the chops right in the bag, just to save time and a bit of mess. Once the chops are coated in flour and spices, brown them on both sides in a skillet with a little oil.

While the chops are browning, mix together a cup of ketchup, a cup of water, and 1/4 cup of brown sugar and set it aside. Remove the chops from the skillet and place them in a single layer in a 9 x 13-inch pan, then pour the ketchup mixture over them and bake uncovered at 350 degrees F for about an hour. The chops come out tender with a sweet-tangy sauce that's really good with rice. This recipe is easily doubled but the sauce doesn't freeze all that well, in my experience.

Spinach was the usual deal -- a big bag of pre-washed baby spinach sauteed in EVOO and seasoned with salt and pepper. The spinach cooks WAY down, so figure on one salad-sized bag for every 2-3 people you're feeding.

Gravy

Tonight's Menu

• skillet pork chops with mushroom gravy
  
• steamed Texmati rice
  
• caramelized baby carrots
  

This was pure comfort food, y'all.

The chops recipe is one I've used since before DH and I got married. Actually, it was his recipe originally. This time I used bone-in chops. So yummy. I let them simmer while I cooked the sides. When the sides were done, the chops were done.

Rice was steamed in the microwave. I have no instructions for you except to use two parts water to one part rice. Our microwave has a "smart" setting so I use that.

The carrots were also steamed in the microwave (I used fresh baby carrots; I suppose you could use frozen if you had to). Then I melted some butter with some brown sugar (equal amounts of both) in a skillet and tossed in the steamed, drained carrots until they were coated with the caramelly goodness.

Grilling in September

Tonight's Menu

• grilled boneless pork chops
  
• grilled potato-onion packets
  
• sauteed green cabbage
  

Easy, tasty, but STILL BORING.

Chops were sprinkled with Jane's Krazy Salt and garlic pepper, grilled on high heat 3-4 minutes per side (they were really thick). The same way I've made them ALL SUMMER LONG.

I've done the potato-onion dealie before too. Very easy. Takes a bit longer to cook than the chops do, so put the packet on the grill while you're prepping the meat, then take it off after the meat has rested post-grill.

Cabbage was just half a head (or more, depending on how much you want) of green cabbage given a rough chop (about 1-2 inch pieces), then sauteed in a hot skillet with EVOO. Season with salt and pepper when it's tender. Easy.


I never thought I'd get bored with grilling, especially since I didn't get to do much of it this summer due to all the rain, but I totally am! I think the problem is that my food mood depends more on the calendar than the weather. Now that it's September (my birthday month, thankyouverymuch), I feel like I should be moving more in a fall-ish direction with my food. I want roasts, stews, soups, casseroles, stuff like that. But it's still in the 90s and (finally) sunny here, so I can't really bring myself to heat up the kitchen much and/or serve heavy meals. But it's SEPTEMBER. So I WANT TO. I just CAN'T.

I am in food limbo, people.

That being said, tomorrow we are having (grilled) hamburgers. Sometime this week, we will have I SWEAR TO GOD the last (grilled) fajitas of the season, because I already have the skirt steak.

I seriously need to spend like an entire day going through my Cooks Illustrateds and my Eating Wells and whatnot to find some NEW STUFF to cook.

So stay tuned, if you feel so inclined.

Beginner's luck

Tonight's Menu

• grilled boneless pork chops
  
• leftover sweet & sour red cabbage
  
• leftover green beans from the garden
• fried green tomatoes
  

Yeah, this dinner was a bit of a hodge-podge. The cabbage and beans were left over from the other night; I was trying to clean out the refrigerator a bit.

The pork chops were seasoned with Jane's Krazy Salt and garlic pepper, then grilled over high heat for 4 minutes per side. Easy.

Believe it or not, this is the first time I've ever made fried green tomatoes. When my tomato plants first started to bear fruit in the spring, I couldn't bear to pick the tomatoes at the green stage. I had visions of ripe, juicy red tomatoes all summer long. Well, I got them, and how! We ended up giving a bunch away because there were just SO MANY. The plants were getting really gross looking lately and the bugs have been horrible, so we're not getting much in the way of ripe fruit anymore. My dad (my personal gardening guru) says it's time to plant fall tomatoes anyway, so today I yanked out all my existing tomato plants and scavenged what I could in the way of produce. I ended up with a few green tomatoes and thought this would be a good way to use them up. (If I'd had more, I'd have made my first attempt at green tomato pickles, which are a thing of beauty.)

Anyhoodle, this is how I made them. I just kind of winged it instead of using a recipe. I decided to go with a four-tray approach: milk, seasoned (with salt and pepper) flour, beaten egg, and seasoned (with salt, pepper and cayenne) cornmeal. I sliced the green tomatoes fairly thin (like 1/8 inch) and dipped them in the above order -- milk first, then flour, then egg, then cornmeal -- before GENTLY laying them into a half-inch or so of heated canola oil in a high-sided skillet. I worked in batches so as not to crowd the pan. I honestly can't tell you how long they took to cook -- I just babysat them VERY closely, turned them when they were looking lightly brown, and took them out when they were a uniform color on both sides. I drained them on paper towels but didn't re-season since I had basically salted them twice already.

They came out very crispy with a thick crust that DID NOT FALL OFF. My husband, who declared himself a hater of fried green tomatoes before I started cooking them, actually had seconds. He compared the coating to that of fried okra. I prefer more of a tempura batter on my fried veggies but wasn't brave enough to attempt one. These came out really good, though, I have to say. I think the cayenne made all the difference in flavor, and the four-tray method really helped the coating stay on the tomatoes.

Porky!

Tonight's Menu

• grilled boneless pork chops
• leftover quinoa pilaf
• the last of the spinach salad with oranges and toasted almonds

Pork chops were the usual deal -- thick, boneless loin chops sprinkled with Jane's Krazy Salt and garlic pepper, then grilled for about 4 minutes per side.

Everything else was leftovers.

Too tired to cook much tonight.

Mixed grill

Tonight's Menu

• grilled boneless pork chops and chicken leg quarters
  
• chuffed potatoes
  
• caramelized brussels sprouts with toasted almonds
• leftover salad
  

I KNOW! I have not been posting. Sorry about that. It's mostly been same old, same old around here (except that the other night I made spiced pork tenderloin with grilled stone fruits -- apricots and peaches -- and it was FABULOUS).

Anyhoo, I finally made a trip to the natural food store for the GOOD chicken so I decided to grill tonight. I sprinkled both chicken and pork with Jane's Krazy Salt and garlic pepper (the chicken got a coating of EVOO beforehand). I grilled the chicken for 10 minutes per side over medium-high heat, then turned off the burner they were on (gas grill) and left them there while I grilled the chops for 4 minutes per side on the other burner. Other than the chicken catching fire multiple times, it all turned out swell.

Chuffed potatoes were the usual deal -- red potatoes cut in half or quarters, parboiled then chuffed up in a hot pan with some butter, seasoned with salt and pepper.

I have made the caramelized brussels sprouts before. This time I made the recipe exactly except I substituted toasted almond slivers for the pistachios.

Vinho Verde was a nice accompaniment to the meal.

Artichoke!

Tonight's Menu

• grilled boneless pork chops
  
• steamed artichoke
  
• big-ass salad
  

Sometime last week, out of the blue, the girl child asked if we could have an artichoke for dinner sometime. I have no idea what put that into her head, but it prompted me to explain how I grew up eating artichokes steamed and dipped in lemon butter, and her dad grew up eating stuffed artichokes, and never the twain shall meet so I rarely make them.

But hello, my GIRL CHILD was ASKING for a VEGETABLE. So I made one. MY WAY.

I gave it a good rinse, cut off the stem and the very tippy top, then took kitchen shears and snipped the tips off the rest of the leaves (that's where the pointy spine thing is). Then I stuck it in a steamer basket and steamed the hell out of it for like half an hour. It STILL wasn't quite done (it was a BIG 'choke, y'all) so I stuck it in a bowl with a bit of water, covered it tightly with plastic wrap, and nuked it for a couple of minutes more. Finally the leaves pulled away easily.

I had forgotten how yummy they were. We only ate about half of it so we'll have the rest tomorrow and then I'll cut out the yummy heart and scarf it up all by myself. Well, I MIGHT share with DH.

Punchline: I don't think the girl even tried the damn thing. She put ONE leaf on her plate but I didn't see her eat it.

Still in a rut

Tonight's Menu

• grilled boneless pork chops
  
• cabbage sauteed with bacon
  
• the last of the leftover green beans with onions and bacon
  

Yep, it's a rut all right.

Pork chops were sprinkled with garlic pepper and Jane's Krazy salt before grilling, like usual. (They were delicious, though. They were super thick so I did them for about 6 minutes per side and they were cooked through but REALLY juicy and tender. Yum.)

Cabbage was half a head roughly chopped, two slices of bacon chopped, stir stir stir, season with salt and pepper, done.

Sigh.

Can't go wrong with grilled pig!

Tonight's Menu

• rosemary grilled boneless pork chops
  
• tiny red potatoes, parboiled then chuffed up in a hot pan with butter
• big-ass salad
  

Super easy dinner tonight. I had some massively thick boneless chops, which I rubbed with a mixture of EVOO and snipped fresh rosemary (bashed up together in a mortar/pestle and then left to steep for a bit) before sprinkling with my usual Jane's Krazy salt and garlic pepper. Then I grilled them for about 7 minutes per side. They were THAT thick. They came out perfect -- juicy and just BARELY pale pinkish at the very center.

The boy child has mastered my technique for chuffed potatoes so he made them tonight. He does a great job, and somehow manages to get a better crust on them than I do! Go, boy child!

This one's for you, Kristen

Tonight's Menu

• skillet pork chops with mushroom gravy
  
• steamed basmati rice
  
• steamed broccoli
  

It's been brought to my attention that I've been neglecting the ol' blog lately. Which is totally true, and I have no excuse except that I don't like to admit publicly how often we eat frozen pizza and hotdogs and crappe like that. So here you go; this is what we had tonight. I made the pork chops the same way as usual except I used Cream of Mushroom Soup With Roasted Garlic. Fancy!

It's finally cool enough outside for this meal to make sense, too. And it makes the house smell SO GOOD.

Grilling in late October is just wrong

Tonight's Menu

• grilled boneless pork chops
  
• sauteed cabbage with bacon
  
• steamed baby carrots
  

As much as I love grilled food, I'm kind of hoping this is the last time I'll have the opportunity to do it for a while. It was well into the 80s today and SO humid. Yuck. The cabbage and carrots were my nod to seasonal appropriateness. I'm in the mood for fall food, but the weather is not cooperating, dammit!

Unless I'm doing some kind of Asian marinade or barbecue or something, I nearly always season my grilled chops the same way -- with Jane's Krazy Mixed-Up Salt and McCormick Garlic Pepper Blend. That's it, and that's all. Just sprinkle generously on both sides and grill away. If you've bought decent chops and don't overcook them, they'll be plenty juicy and SO tasty.