Smothered Pork Chops

I have been wanting to branch out and try cooking with different types of meat instead of just the boneless, skinless chicken breasts. I know there are a million ways to prepare chicken, and I'm not even close to trying them all out. But the other day I noticed some trimmed pork loin chops on sale. I decided to buy them and find the recipe later. And boy did I find a good one. Not knowing what kind of recipe I wanted to try, I just searched foodnetwork.com until I found a recipe that looked good, and used ingredients I had already, I did not want to go to the store. I came across a recipe from Tyler Florence called Smothered Pork Chops. This recipe appealed to me because, like I said, I didn't have to go to the store, it used buttermilk, which I had left over from the chocolate cake I had just made, and it made gravy, and how I do love my sauces!

This recipe was very simple to follow. I was so excited I didn't have to go to the store that I didn't realize I only have vegetable stock, not chicken stock. I decided to just use it, and it may have altered the flavor a bit, and I know the color was a brighter orange, but it was still a very tasty dish so it must not matter too much.

I followed the recipe exactly. Dredge the pork chops in a flour mixture, brown them, remove from pan, add liquid to make gravy, put chops back in and cook until done! That's it. A few things, I made four pork chops, like it calls for, but I had way more flour mixture than needed. So next time I might cut that down by half. I'm not the best at cooking pork chops just yet. I had to cut mine open to see if they were done. And I know that's a no no because all the juice can run out, but I didn't want under cooked meat. I also would have liked more gravy, so I'll probably adjust the recipe next time to include more liquid. But this was a great weeknight dinner. It was quick, the husband raved about it, and, like I said, you'll most likely have all the ingredients in your cupboard. (I know most of us don't usually have buttermilk just lying around, so I looked up buttermilk substitutes and it's super easy to make if you have milk and vinegar. Here is a good article with a few different recipes for buttermilk.) I served the pork chops up with rice and asparagus (my husbands go to vegetable).

Smothered Pork Chops

Mozzarella and Tomato Grilled Cheese

There are few things better than a grilled cheese sandwich on a cold, rainy day. I while ago I caught and episode of Tyler's Ultimate on Food Network. I don't usually watch him, but he was making the perfect meal for a rainy day. He made these delicious looking mozzarella grilled cheese with tomato and pesto. I had to try them.

I had never made my own pesto before, but his looked easy and very doable. I toasted the pine nuts in a pan on the stove. I actually forgot about them and they burned. Once you can smell them I'd say you've toasted them too long. I made the pesto in a mini attachment to my immersion blender, before I got my food processor. It worked fine because you're not making very much. I found some great sourdough bread at Trader Joe's, and good substantial bread will do. And then I assembled them up and grilled them on my Cuisinart Griddler, such a great little appliance. I paired the sandwiches up with some broiled vegetables, obviously soup would be a good choice too. Quick, easy, and a great twist on the classic grilled cheese.




Mozzarella and Tomato Grilled Cheese Recipe

Since making this recipe we've expanded out grilled cheese/panini making to include all sorts of meats, different cheeses, grilled onions, sundried tomatoes. The list goes on. If you think it's going to be good, it probably will be. And if you don't like straight pesto, we've been making a pesto mayo with about two parts pesto and one part mayo. Let the creative panini juices flow.