Pork Chops with Cream Sauce

1 Tablespoon olive oil

1 Tablespoon butter

4 center-cut pork chops, boneless, about 1 1/4 inch thick

salt

pepper

2 Tablespoons grated onion

1/2 cup water

3/4 cup chicken stock

3/4 cup heavy cream

Season pork chops with salt and pepper.  In a large skillet, over medium high heat, add olive oil and butter.  When the butter has melted, add pork chops and sear (there should be a good amount of color), about 3 minutes each side. 

Remove the pork chops from the pan, reduce heat to medium and add the onion.  Cook until softened, about 1 minute.  Deglaze the pan by adding 1/2 cup water, scraping up the bits from the bottom of the pan.  Stir in stock and return chops to pan.  Bring sauce to a simmer, reduce heat to medium low, cover and cook until chops are cooked through - 15-20 minutes (I like 15, Mat likes 20).

Remove pork chops to a warm platter and cover with tin foil to keep warm.  Over high heat, boil the pan juices to reduce by half, 3-4 minutes.  Add the heavy cream and continue to boil, stirring continually, until the sauce reduces and thickens, about 5 minutes.  Pour sauce into a gravy boat.  Serve.

This recipe is a simplified version of Pork Chops with Dijon Sauce by Simple Recipes.  I found that I needed longer cooking times than they did--maybe it's an elevation thing.  They have some great step-by-step pictures that may be helpful if you're going to try this recipe.

If you need to double this recipe, use two pans (I use my big skillet and my stockpot), then pour the drippings from one pan to the other to make the sauce.

Lemon Pound Cake

Anna Lou Hutchings' recipe

Cake
1 pkg yellow cake
1 3-oz pkg lemon jello
4 eggs
3/4 cup oil
1 cup water

Glaze
3 cups powdered sugar
9 Tablespoons lemon juice (always fresh)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray 9x13 pan with Pam.*  Combine all cake ingredients and mix well.  Pour into pan and bake for 40 minutes.  Mix glaze ingredients until smooth.  Prick cake with fork and pour half of glaze on cake.**  To serve, pour a puddle of glaze on plate, then place cake slice on puddle.

*This is Pam.  Lovely, isn't she.  I butter and flour the pan.  Alone.  :)

**I let the cake cool completely before pouring on the glaze.

Restaurant-style Sandwich

tortilla or bread

sour cream*

yellow mustard

cooked chicken

sliced tomato*

avocado*

sprouts

*lightly sprinkled with kosher salt

Chewy Oatmeal Cookies

Grandma AnnaLou's Recipe

1 scant cup butter (scant?  I just used 1 cup)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
3/4 teaspoon soda
1/3 cup boiling water*
2 1/2 cup flour
2 cups oats
1 cup each raisins and nuts
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Blend fat,** vanilla, sugar, salt and eggs.  Dissolve soda in water,*** mix with egg/fat mix.  Mix flour with oats.  Add to fat mix.  (Hmmm, this must be where you add the raisins, nuts, and chocolate chips.**** And notice the last sentence in parenthesis!)  Drop onto sprayed cookie sheets.  Bake at 350 degrees 10-12 minutes.  (Let dough chill for 30 minutes).

*I wonder why it needs to be boiled?  I was a little concerned that it would "use up" the magic properties of the soda (I admit to a lack of any chemistry knowledge whatsoever), or that it might "cook" the eggs or something, so I drizzled it in slowly (on low speed or you're going to have water flinging everywhere and in your eye--thank goodness I wear contacts!).  It did look a little curdly at first, but ultimately mixed in well.

 **This must be an old recipe--using the word "fat" without fear that anyone might object. 

***Great Grandma Ruth's Applesauce Chocolate Chip Cookies call for the soda to be dissolved in applesauce.  I wonder if this ensures even distribution or something.

****Of course you can pick and choose which add-ins you want.  If you are Dad, it's just raisins and nuts--the chocolate is an abomination.  If you are the little girlies, chocolate chips only.  If you are me, chocolate chips and toasted walnuts--but really, the raisins are quite tasty in this cookie, so maybe I'd say 1 cup chocolate chips, 1 cup toasted walnuts, 1/2 cup raisins.

Easy Veracruz-Style Tilapia

2 1/2 cups salsa

1/2 cup green olives, chopped

2 heaping Tablespoons capers, drained, chopped

6 tilapia fillets, thawed, seasoned with salt and pepper

butter, olive oil, coconut oil (take your pick or combine them)

Turn your oven on warm.  In a liquid measuring cup, combine salsa, olives, and capers.  Stir well.

Melt the butter/olive oil/coconut oil in a large skillet over medium heat.  Cook the tilapia about 2-3 minutes per side until done (2-3 fillets at a time usually fit in the pan).  Remove to a glass baking dish in the warm oven, tent with foil.  Cook remaining fillets and keep warm in oven.  Pour the salsa mixture into the skillet you cooked the fish in, scrape all the bits off the bottom of the pan.  Bring to a simmer.

Remove baking dish from oven, pour salsa mixture over all (or if you have family members who won't eat the sauce, just serve fish [with a little lemon would be nice] and sauce separately).  Enjoy!

Note:  You could use halibut, red snapper--if there is leftover sauce, it would even be good on scrambled eggs!

Oven Pancakes

Turn oven to 450 degrees.  Put 6 Tablespoons butter (cut into pieces) in a 13x9 inch casserole dish.  Place pan in oven to melt butter.

Now the hard part:  REMEMBER TO TAKE THE DISH OUT BEFORE BUTTER BROWNS OR BURNS!

In a blender, put the following:

1 cup milk

6 eggs

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup flour

Blend well.  Carefully pour mixture into pan of melted butter.  Do not stir.  Bake for 18 minutes.  Pancakes will be high and fluffy.  Serve immediately.

Oven-Roasted Potatoes

About 8 red or gold potatoes

olive oil

salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Drizzle cookie sheet with a little olive oil.  Scrub potatoes.  Remove any unsightly bits, but you can leave the peel.  Cut into about 1 inch cubes.  Pour onto the cookie sheet.  Drizzle some more olive oil over the potatoes.  Sprinkle with salt (Kosher) and pepper (freshly ground).  Using your hands, toss the potatoes until they are well-coated in oil.  Bake for 30 minutes, or until potatoes are tender--giving everything a good stir with a spatula after fifteen minutes of cooking.

Yams and Sweet Potatoes, made the same way. Sweet and delicious!