Lynnette Knapp

Day 14 Pork and Spuds

Hello, Dears! We have made it to 2 weeks worth of recipes. While there have been breaks from postings, I have tried to stay the course on the meals. however I have not been very diligent in my postings. This is partly due to the fact that my editor (husband) has been working hard in addition to taking summer classes and my illustrator (daughter) has been working diligently on her school assignments as well. This leaves me a rather complaining and naggy towards my team. Of course this is nothing new for them and I sometimes think my entire family has a button to tune me out. It seems to develop in the teenagers first, like many other unpleasant comings-of-age. You know what I mean, I’m sure. Acne, squeaky voices, and a mom-tuning button. Anyway, we now come to Day 14 and celebrate having survived two weeks with this recipe.

Even before tasting the outcome, I adored this recipe for it’s shear simplicity! When you really have no idea what to do for dinner, this is a great plan and as an added bonus, the sides rather lend themselves as well.

Pork Chops & Spuds

Ingredients Servings

4 pork chops

4 large potatoes

Cream of Mushroom, Chicken, Celery Soup

milk

Directions

Ok, this one is so easy it's almost (notice, I said almost) foolproof. If you forget and leave it in the oven or otherwise cause unforeseen damage outside of the recipe, that's another thing. First we start with the potatoes. You'll want to slice them thin like you would do for scalloped potatoes. In fact all you need to do is make your favorite scalloped potatoes recipe. If you're one of the millions of modern kitchen warriors that makes their scalloped potatoes from a box labeled “so-many-minutes-or-less” then you are probably scratching your head right now and asking "Scalloped potatoes? Recipe? What?" I promise, it’s really very simple. You can simply slice the potatoes, lay them in a casserole dish, with the undiluted soup add 1/3 can of milk to the soup mix pour over potatoes, place chops on top, cook in the oven 350F uncovered for an hour turning once sometime in the half hour.

This one I also served with Crispy Tomatoes

Fresh tomatoes sliced in rings, battered, dipped in cornmeal and flour, and then fried in a skillet in some olive oil. Originally the recipe (as simple as it is) made no mention of eggs, but the best way to make flour stick is to take one or two eggs and some milk and gently whip that together. Then in another bowl, add some flour and cornmeal, salt, pepper, and whatever additional flavoring you might like. I liked oregano. Fry until crisp and place on a paper towel mat to absorb the excess oil.

Again, I found a really good deal on some salad and I tossed up a little of that, added some cheese and bits of tomatoes. The ones that I didn’t feel like frying.

The spread looked really good, almost like a chef would set. It almost made me wish that I had made a cake to go with this. You know, like those meals you’d see Donna Reed or June Cleaver make that included cake or pie at the end of the meal. Note the phrase “almost.” That’s the key here, I didn’t. But, what I did do earned great reactions from the kids and makes a lot less of a mess out of the kitchen. I just stirred together some fruit with cottage cheese and called it done. It was good, and I actually wished that there had been leftovers so I could eat some later. Ravenous kids ate it all gone. It could be they really liked it, or they didn’t want to find it in breakfast.

The truth is this is another one of those dishes that left them singing my praises. Guests and family will enjoy this one too.

Please let me know what you think of this? Did you try it? What changes did you come up with? Please comment, rate, share. Until next time have fun and stay Flamboyant my Flamingo friends.

**Bracken, P. (1960). The I hate to cook book. (pg. 24). New York: Harcourt, Brace & World.