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I can't remember the last time I had pork chops. It's been a long time, I know that, but I get tired of the chicken, beef, pasta rotation and need to throw something different in once in awhile. Enter the other white meat. My friend, the same one who posted this amazing Bowties with Sausage, Tomatoes and Cream recipe, recently posted a link to Ranch House Pork Chops that went straight onto the menu.


My crockpot and I don't get along and I didn't want to ruin the chops by experimenting, so I modified this recipe for the stove top. I used the other half of the cream of chicken soup I made earlier in the week, adding some chicken broth to thin it out. The ranch seasoning added great flavor. As the original recipe suggested, I served the chops with garlic mashed potatoes, but to keep it simple I just throw some peeled and crushed cloves into the pot with the potatoes and mash as usual. It saves so much time and effort but still produces great garlic flavor.

Ranch Pork Chops
Inspired by Real Mom Kitchen

4 pork chops, 1/2 inch thick
Salt and pepper
2 tablespoons oil
1 packet dry Ranch Dressing Seasoning (or make your own)
1 1/2 cups cream of chicken soup (homemade recipe below)
1 cup chicken broth

Pat pork chops dry with paper towels and season with salt and pepper on both side. Heat oil in a deep skillet over medium-high heat until smoking. Add pork chops and sear on both sides, about 5 minutes per side or until golden brown. Remove to a plate and set aside.

Add Ranch seasoning, soup, and chicken broth to the now-empty skillet. Whisk to combine and allow to simmer for 2-3 minutes. Add the pork chops to the pan along with any accumulated juices, cover and let cook about 10-15 minutes or until the chops are no longer pink. Serve topped with sauce alongside mashed potatoes to sop up the extra sauce.

Note - you can cook the chops until just done or you can cook them for a few hours, but nothing in between. The chops will be dry if you overcook them, but a slow simmer (think a crockpot, as the original recipe indicates) will make them tender.


From Scratch Cream of Chicken Soup
Slightly Modified From Allrecipes.com

1 1/2 cups chicken broth
1/2 teaspoon poultry seasoning
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon dried parsley
Dash of paprika
2 cups milk
3/4 cup flour

In medium-sized saucepan, boil chicken broth, 1 1/2 cup of the milk, and the seasonings for a minute or two.

In a bowl, whisk together the remaining 1/2 cup of milk and flour. Add to boiling mixture and continue whisking briskly until mixture boils and thickens.

I'm sure most people have a handful of meals that bring them back to their childhood. Roast Beef with Onion Gravy is one of mine. This is my dad's favorite meal and one my stepmom made for his birthday every year. I don't know why it's taken me this long to attempt to make it, but I finally emailed her to ask how she made the gravy and was surprised to hear it was as simple as water and onion soup mix in the bottom of the roasting pan.


We had purchased an obscenely large beef tenderloin for Christmas, so after the holiday we vacuum-sealed two, 4-lb roasts and froze them. Seeing as they're getting dangerously close to having a birthday, I figured I better use them quickly. This roast was the second of the two, the first one I made a few weeks ago with my all-time favorite potato gratin recipe. In keeping with my dad's favorites, I served this with mashed potatoes and what was supposed to be peas, until I checked the freezer and saw we were out. Baby Girl loves her peas, so I wasn't surprised to see we'd gone through another bag. I just subbed green beans for the peas. Hopefully my dad won't mind the substitution.


One bite and I was transported back to my childhood. The gravy was perfect, the beef tender, the mashed potatoes rich and buttery. Perfection on a plate. I'll definitely be making this again soon, maybe even for my dad the next time he and my stepmom are in town.

Roast Beef with Onion Gravy
Recipe from my stepmom

1 (3 1/2-4-lb) beef roast
Salt and pepper
1 packet onion soup mix
3 cups cold water, plus more as needed
1 tablespoon cornstarch

Heat the oven to 450 degrees. Sprinkle salt and pepper over all sides of the roast. Place roast on a rack set in a roasting pan and put in the oven.

Dissolve the onion soup mix with 3 cups of cold water (doesn’t completely dissolve) and add it to the bottom of the pan with the roast 15 minutes after putting it in the oven. Turn the oven down to 350 degrees. Baste the roast with the mixture as it cooks, about every half hour. For medium the roast will take about 2-2 1/2 hours. Add water to the bottom of the roasting pan, as needed so the drippings and soup mix don't dry out and burn.

When the roast is done, take the remaining drippings and pour into a small pot and bring to boil, adding water as needed to make the amount of gravy you want. Combine cornstarch and 2 tablespoons water until cornstarch is dissolved, then add to the gravy until it thickens.

Serve the gravy on the side, with the sliced beef, peas and mashed potatoes.

I love Sunday dinners. I love spending the day in the kitchen cooking and I really love the wonderful smells that come from long-simmering dishes like pot roast. As much as I'm excited for the bounty of produce that heralds the start of spring and summer, I'm going to miss meals like this one.


I served the pot roast with mashed potatoes, green beans and the carrots, onion and mushrooms from the sauce. I also made these popovers that are basically the same as the Yorkshire Pudding I make at Christmas and were just as delicious:


I love how they puff up and get golden brown. SP and I fought over these.

Pot Roast
Adapted from Vintage Victuals and Food Network

1 tablespoon cooking oil
1/4 cup flour
Salt and pepper to taste
1 1 1/2 - 2 lb. chuck roast
4-6 carrots, peeled and cut into 3″ pieces
1 large onion, cut into wedges
1 cup mushrooms, stems removed and sliced in half
1 large can crushed tomatoes
16 ounces beef broth
2 bay leaves
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme

Heat oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Meanwhile, mix the flour, salt and pepper on a plate. Dry the roast and then coat all sides in the flour mixture. Brown the roast on all sides in the hot oil.

Pour in the tomatoes and the beef broth. Scatter the vegetables, thyme and bay leaves around the pot roast and season with salt and pepper. Cover the pot and reduce the heat to low. Braise for about 3 hours, basting every 30 minutes with the pan juices, until the beef is fork tender.

Slice the pot roast and arrange on platter surrounded by the vegetables. Serve with the pot juices.

This was my first experience with a recipe swap and I really enjoyed it. The subject for this swap was an easy weeknight meal - something that could be made in less than 30 minutes, or prepped quickly and thrown in the crockpot.


When I first saw the recipe I knew it would be perfect for Sunday dinner. I also knew I would need to make some modifications. For starters, my crockpot and I have a love/hate relationship, so I decided to cook this in my Le Creuset dutch oven. I was also worried about buying 4lbs of meat for just the two of us. And an entire bottle of red wine seemed like too much for our tastes. I found a similar recipe online (see below) and ended up blending the two together.

The brisket cooked for a few hours in the oven and the smells wafting through the house were intoxicating. We both cleaned our plates (Baby Girl loved the mashed potatoes, but I couldn't convince her to try the brisket), saying we were happy to try something different. Thanks, Laurie!!

Here is the original recipe I was given:
Brisket
Laurie's Kitchen

2 large garlic cloves (chopped or whole)
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more for seasoning
4 sprigs fresh rosemary, needles striped (sometimes I use dried)
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 (4 pound) beef brisket, first-cut
Coarsely ground black pepper
5 large carrots, cut in 3-inch chunks
5 celery stalks, cut in 3-inch chunks
1 large red onion, halved
1 Bottle dry red wine (more or less depending on what fits in your crock pot)
1 (16-ounce) can whole tomatoes, hand-crushed
1 handful fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves (dried is ok)
3 bay leaves (dried)
Beef or vegetable Broth (as needed to cover brisket if wine is not enough or if you are not a fan of a strong wine flavor)

Season both sides of the brisket with a fair amount of kosher salt and ground black pepper. Place a large pan over medium-high flame and coat with half of the olive oil. Put the brisket in the pan and sear to form a nice brown crust on both sides. Should only take a couple minutes per side. Transfer the brisket to your crock pot lay the vegetables,garlic and onions all around the brisket. Add the wine and tomatoes and beef broth if necessary; toss in the parsley, rosemary and bay leaves. Cook on low for about 6 to 8 hours until the beef is fork tender.

Remove the brisket to a cutting board and let it rest for 15 minutes. Scoop the vegetables out of the roasting pan and onto a platter.

And here is the recipe I ended up making (the original is linked below):
Zinfandel-Braised Beef Brisket with Onions
The Kitchen Sink

2 cups zinfandel or other fruity dry red wine
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/4 cup tomato paste
1 (2 1/2-pound) beef brisket, trimmed
2 teaspoons salt, divided
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, divided
Cooking spray
4 medium sliced sweet onions
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon dried thyme
6 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1 - 2-lb bag carrots, peeled and cut into (1/2-inch-thick) slices
4 celery stalks, cut into (1/2-inch-thick) slices
Chopped fresh parsley

Preheat oven to 325°. Combine first 3 ingredients, stirring with a whisk.

Heat a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Sprinkle beef with 3/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon black pepper. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add beef to pan; cook for 8 minutes, browning on all sides. Remove beef from pan; cover and set aside.

Add 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon black pepper, onion, sugar, and 1 teaspoon thyme to pan. Cook 20 minutes or until onions are tender and golden brown, stirring occasionally. Add garlic, carrots, and celery; cook 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Place beef on top of onion mixture; pour wine mixture over beef. Cover and place in oven. Bake at 325° for 1 3/4 hours.

Remove dutch oven from oven and turn beef over. Place back in the oven for 45 minutes or until beef is tender. Remove beef from oven and cut across the grain into thin slices. Serve with onion mixture and sprinkle parsley on top.

I served the brisket over mashed potatoes with buttermilk biscuits on the side. I've never cooked a brisket before and according to the other ladies in the swap, this gave us all a chance to make something we wouldn't normally have made. I can't wait for the next one!

This year SP and I hosted Christmas dinner. It's an easy meal, the same one we've had for years at my stepgrandmother's house, but when you're the one cooking it there's immense pressure to make it fantastic.

We started with delicious olives, artichokes, meat, cheese, stuffed peppers and asparagus that my aunt brought:


The main course was roast beef. I followed the Wegmans cooking directions but left out the red wine sauce. I hadn't anticipated how long the beef would need to cook, so I'm glad we had stuff to nosh on while we waited. Here it is resting before I carved into it:


... and a few slices for the table:


Green beans with almonds:


Mashed potatoes (I used my ricer to get them silky smooth):


Yorkshire pudding:


... which is much easier to make then I would have thought. My plate for the first round:


Everything was delicious, if I do say so myself. Next year I think it'll be even better because I know how long everything takes to cook!

I'm looking at this picture and I honestly have no idea what I did to make this meal. This is the problem with waiting months between taking the pictures and blogging about the meal.


I'm pretty sure the meat is chicken and that I pounded it out, breaded and shallow-fried it. But I'm drawing a complete blank on the sauce. It looks like it could be cheesy, especially since I put it on the broccoli as well as the chicken. Sorry, folks!

Meatloaf muffins are one of my favorite ways to cook meatloaf. Everything is already portioned out and it only takes 30 minutes to cook.


For these I added salsa and breadcrumbs to the meatloaf mix, then topped each muffin with ketchup. Mashed potatoes and corn rounded out the meal.

SP asked me to roast a chicken for dinner one recent Sunday. I do love a roast chicken dinner with mashed potatoes and gravy.


I didn't think to buy green beans at the store and we didn't have any frozen so I had to sub broccoli. It was fine, but green beans are my favorite veggie with roast chicken.


The skin was crispy and delicious. I never used to eat chicken skin but when I can get it very crispy I love it. I made the gravy by cooking 2 tablespoons butter with 2 heaping tablespoons flour to make a roux, then adding chicken stock and allowing it to thicken. I seasoned the gravy with salt and pepper - simple and tasty.

The thing I love about roast chicken is how easy it is to make. I served it with mashed potatoes and green beans:


We had a chicken in the freezer from the last trip to the wholesale club, so all I had to do was season it (stuff the cavity with crushed garlic and a lemon cut into wedges, sprinkle the outside with salt and pepper) and rub the outside with oil. It baked at 400 degrees for about an hour and a half. My chicken was a little frozen in the center, so I ended up having to cut the meat off the bone and finish roasting it on a sheet pan.

This year my mom took over the cooking of the traditional Christmas feast. She made a standing rib roast, which my stepdad expertly carved:


... as well as Yorkshire pudding with the pan drippings:


My mom took these pics because I was feeding the baby, so I don't have closeups of the green beans with almonds or the mashed potatoes, but here's a table shot:


And my plate with a little bit of everything:


The meat was done perfectly, nice and rare. Everything was fantastic and a great meal to celebrate our first Christmas with Baby Girl. Dessert was a yummy, dense chocolate cake:


... and coffee. I could have eaten half the cake, it was that good.