Smothered Pork Chops

This was a great recipe for smothered pork chops.  The pork chops had a great flavor, and the sauteed mushrooms and onions in the gravy added a delicious tangy-ness.  I served it with garlic mashed potatoes, which was a great fit.  The night I made it I had to run to my bookclub before I could eat.  When I got home, I heard words that I always want to hear, but usually don't: "Mom, dinner was SO good tonight!"  What?!  Could you please repeat that, just because it is so soothing to my ears?  I will definitely be making this again.

Smothered Pork Chops
adapted from: yourhomebasedmom.com

1 packet brown gravy mix
6 boneless pork chops
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 large onion, sliced
1 1/2 c. mushrooms, sliced (I used a can of mushrooms, water drained)
1 Tbsp. butter
1 tsp. minced garlic
salt and pepper
garlic powder
onion powder
2 Tbsp. steak sauce

Lay your pork chops out on a baking sheet and generously season both sides with the salt, pepper, garlic powder and onion powder.  In a heavy frying pan, heat your olive oil over medium-high heat.  Add the pork, turn it down to medium and cook until it is cooked through.  Remove it from the heat.  In another pan, heat the butter over medium-high heat.  Saute' your onions and mushrooms until they are tender.  In a small sauce pan, cook the brown gravy according to the package directions.  Add the minced garlic and steak sauce and stir it well.  Stir the mushrooms and onions into the gravy.  Serve the pork chops with the gravy mixture over the top.  

Lazy Sunday Casserole

This was a delicious meal that we just happened to make on... Sunday.  It was easy, the only real time-consuming part was chopping up all of the vegetables.  It was the first time I've cooked with, or eaten for that matter, fennel.  It's a very interesting vegetable, it has almost a black licorice flavor (which I actually don't like, but eaten as a bite with all of the other vegetables combined it wasn't bad).  My husband liked the flavor of it combined as well.  My sister-in-law informed me that fennel is an ingredient in a lot of Italian sausages (which may be a clue as to why I don't like Italian sausage that much) so it complimented the flavors of the dish well.  

After all of my fennel talk, it was just a small part of the dish and the overall flavor was well balanced and delicious!  The vegetables were moist and it had just the right amount of seasoning.  This is one of our new favorites for sure.  I got it from Kayotic Kitchen, a new blog that I found via Pinterest, and was so happy to find it.  As she suggested, we used vegetables we had on hand, so my slight adaptations are from the vegetables we needed to use up which included mushrooms. My husband was very happy that I finally chose a recipe that used sausage, his favorite.  And I liked it just as much as he did!

Lazy Sunday Casserole

slightly adapted from Kayotic Kitchen

Ingredients

4 sausages (beef or pork)

3 large potatoes

3-4 large carrots

1 red bell pepper

1 large onion

1 fennel bulb

5-6 mushrooms

2 garlic cloves

2 tbsp oil

Kosher salt

Freshly cracked black pepper

1 1/2 tsp Italian herbs

1/2 cup chicken broth

4 tbsp balsamic vinegar

Directions

1. Peel the potatoes, wash them and cut each potato into large cubes. Chop carrots into large pieces and slice mushrooms.  Chop onion into wedges. Remove the base and stalks of the fennel and slice it into wedges as well. Slice bell pepper into strips and put everything in a big roasting tray.

2. Use a big bowl to combine the oil with the Italian herbs, grated or chopped garlic, and chicken broth and pour it over the vegetables. Toss them around to make sure the broth gets everywhere. Season with a generous amount of salt and black pepper.

3. Cover the tray with aluminum foil and pop it in a preheated oven. Bake at 450F (225C) for 45 minutes.

3. While the vegetables are cooking, lightly brown the sausages and slice each sausage in half. (Sausages do not need to be cooked through.)

4. After 45 minutes the potatoes and vegetables should be fork tender. If they’re not, cover the tray with the foil and pop them back in the oven for a few more minutes. If they are fork tender, place the sausages in there and pour the balsamic vinegar all over. Place the tray back in the oven, uncovered, for 25 to 30 minutes. Take it out after 15 minutes, flip over those sausages and ladle some of the juices lurking at the bottom all over the vegetables and sausages. Put it back in the oven for the remaining time, until everything is nice and brown.

Slow Cooker Mushroom Pork Chops

My mother-in-law introduced me to this recipe a few years ago and it has become my favorite way to eat pork chops. It is so easy and smells wonderful as it cooks all day long. I serve it over rice or a potato and I'm pretty sure all of my children ate this the last time I made it :)

Mushroom Pork Chops

by: Carolyn

4 pork chops

2 cans cream of mushroom soup

1 1/2 c. water

1/2 c. milk

1 tsp. garlic

1 tsp. onion powder

1/2 tsp. seasoned salt

salt and pepper to taste

1 can sliced mushrooms

Mix together the mushroom soup, water, milk, garlic, onion powder, seasoned salt, salt and pepper in a bowl (I mix mine directly in my crock pot). Add the mushrooms and stir gently. Add your pork chops. Cook in a slow cooker on low heat for seven hours or high heat for five.