Dem Bones

I've hit a mental wall this week. I've had so much thinking to do about complicated issues at work, not to mention a ridiculously complex reverse lane carpool line, that my brain literally hurts (okay, that's a really long way of saying I have a headache, and trying to blame it on something other than the glass of cheap wine I had an hour ago). Which means there's no more mental capacity for meal planning, ingredient search, and recipe reading - let alone comprehension.

All of this means that this week has required my easiest dinner recipes ever. Tuesday night's dinner fit the bill: pork chops with apricot preserves, green beans, and rolls. Easy, inexpensive, fast, and so yummy.

Ingredients:
4 bone-in pork chops (1 pork chop per person, increase number as needed to feed your family). Note: this is where the post's title comes from. I can't stress enough you have to use the bone-in pork chops. Boneless are too thick and too dry, so don't even try them.
1 jar apricot preserves. Buy the smallest jar you can find, because while you think you might use them again for something else, at some point while you're spreading the preserves on the pork, you're going to get distracted and stick the knife back into the jar, rather than scooping some out with a separate spoon, and then you've got raw pork mixed in with your preserves, and you're definitely not going to save it then. Trust me. Just buy the small jar and save yourself the aggravation.
Salt and pepper
Bread crumbs
Fresh green beans, washed and trimmed ($0.99/lb right now at our grocery store - a veggie bargain!)
Your favorite frozen dinner rolls**

Preheat oven to 425. Put tin foil down on a half sheet baking pan (this makes no difference for the cooking, but all the difference in the world for cleaning up). Sprinkle both sides of the pork chops with salt and pepper. Place on the tin foil. Spread each pork chop generously with the apricot preserves, at least 1 tablespoon of preserves per pork chop, or a little more if you need it. Sprinkle with breadcrumbs, and put in the oven. Set your timer for 15 minutes.

Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large pan. Put green beans in the pan, sprinkle in some salt and pepper, and saute until they get to your desired doneness (I like mine a smidgen on the softer side, so for me that's about 15 minutes. If you like yours a little crisper, it will probably be about 10 minutes).

When your timer beeps, take out the pork, cover loosely with tinfoil, and put your frozen rolls in the oven. Reset timer for 8 minutes. Set the table, pour your wine, chase your children and make them wash their hands. (Then make them rewash their hands, actually using soap this time). Take the rolls out, and dinner's ready. Easy and yummy, and super easy clean up.

**A note about dinner rolls. Honestly, sometimes the little things in life make everything so much easier. We tend to be traditionalists about our dinner - unless we're having a soup or a casserole, we like a main dish, a vegetable, and a starch. One thing I struggle with when trying to get a good dinner on the table quickly is doing a pasta or a rice, which can either be a little high maintenance (pasta - easy enough to cook but always needs something on it) or slow to cook (rice). Not to mention the extra cleanup required. When strolling through the grocery store a few weeks ago I came across frozen dinner rolls, and the light bulb went on. I've kept a bag of them in the freezer ever since. They are easy, healthy (whole wheat!), fast, and make the meal feel just a little more complete. Why I haven't been using them for years on the nights when a rice or a pasta is too much work, I don't know, but there you go. Brilliance in a resealable freezer bag.

Happy eating!

What's your go-to dinner? Part I

Here's the scene: You haven't been to the store. You were too tired, too busy, or too something (anything) to do any meal planning. You're supposed to be saving money and not going out to eat. So what's your go-to meal? In this house, it's porkchops and rice. I love this recipe. It's cheap, I always have the ingredients on hand (hint: buy the porkchops whenever they're on sale and stick them in the freezer), and it's SO GOOD.

In the interest of full disclosure, this is actually my mother-in-law's recipe. Sort of. It was (is) always her go-to meal, and the first time I had it, I asked for the recipe. Unfortunately for me, it's one of those dishes that she just carries around in her head, and when she attempted to write it down...well...you can see for yourself. This is what it looked like:

Pork chops
1-2 cups rice
chopped onion
water
seasonings
canned diced tomatoes
canned crushed tomatoes

Brown chops, combine with the rest of ingredients, bake in oven 1-2 hours, around 325 or 350 degrees.

Ummmm...I don't know about you, but I'm TYPE A. Which means I need precision and order in my life. Let me tell you, the first time I made this dish with these vague instructions, it wasn't pretty. But I consider myself a pretty accomplished cook, and I wasn't going to let someone else's Go-To dish defeat me. It took me a full year, yes, a year, to finally replicate how hers tastes. And I took notes, every single time. Here's the result. Try it. You'll like it.

M.E.'s Pork Chops and Rice:

6-8 large bone-in porkchops
1 large sweet onion (suggest vidalia if you can get them), diced
1 cup long grain rice (don't go all healthy on us and try to substitute brown rice; won't work)
28 0z can Muir Glen organic diced tomatoes
28 0z can Muir Glen organic crushed tomatoes
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
2/3 cup water

Sprinkle porkchops with salt and pepper. Brown both sides quickly over high heat, set in the bottom of large casserole dish. Sprinkle onion over porkchops. (Is your family weird about texture like mine sometimes is? If so, leave out the onion and it will still be yummy.) Measure rice into measuring cup, add salt, chili powder, and garlic powder. Stir to mix the spices together with the rice, and pour over porkchops. Pour both cans of tomatoes over porkchops and rice. Pour in water. Cook uncovered at 350 for 1 hour, 45 minutes. Dinner is ready when all the liquid is absorbed, rice is cooked, tomatoes have reduced down, and porkchops are fall-off-the-bone tender. Mmmmm. Happy eating!