McChops

McChops

One of the benefits of creating your own dinner recipe is that you get to name it whatever you want. In the honor of St. Patrick's day and the fact that I am 3/4 Irish, I've called it McChops. Yeah, it is more Italian in flavor for the herbs, and based on the ingredients that are more of a true Irish holiday meat, but sometimes it IS all about me...and I tend to blend flavors together so I can enjoy life on MY terms...

Ingredients

• 3 slices thick bacon
• 3 thick cut boneless pork chops
• 8 oz tomato sauce
• Italian herb & Old Bay Seasoning mix

Instructions

1. Preheat the toaster oven to 400 F
2. Cook the bacon in a skillet until it is cooked but flexible
3. Mix the Italian herb mix & Old Bay Seasoning with the tomato sauce
4. Put a couple of tablespoons of the tomato mix into a small casserole dish and spread it around (to prevent sticking of the chops)
5. Place the 3 chops in the casserole dish
6. Fold the cooked bacon in half, and lay 1 on top of each of the chop
7. Pour the tomato sauce over the chops
8. Cook for 1 hour (or so, check with an instant thermometer to see if it is done)

Pork Chop Soup

It is finally snowing here in Cleveland...
So, you know that means...SOUP!!!
I searched my fridge and pantry, to get an inventory of what I had. Then I bopped over to allrecipes.com to search for something that matched close to what I had. And I found a pork chop soup recipe (click HERE for the original). But, like grandma always said, "recipes are a guideline, use what you have, and make it taste the way you want." So, of course, I modified the guideline according to what I had. What appears below is what I am making.

Pork Chop Soup

Ingredients

• 3 (8 ounce) boneless pork chops
• 1-1/2 teaspoons Old Bay seasoning
• 1-1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
• 1-1/2 teaspoons garlic & pepper powder
• 3/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 2 bay leaves
• 4-1/2 cups vegetable broth
• 3 cups water
• 1/4 cup flour
• 3 medium potatoes, cut into small chunks
• 2 cans of mixed vegetables (drained)

Directions

1. Place pork chops, Old Bay, oregano, garlic & pepper powder, pepper, bay leaves, vegetable broth, and water in a large stock pot or Dutch oven. Bring to a boil, uncovered, then reduce heat to medium low and let simmer for 1 hour. Remove the pork chops and set aside to cool.
2. Whisk 3/4 cup of the cooking liquid with the flour; set aside. When the pork chops are cool remove and discard any bones or fat. Chop the meat into bite size pieces.
3. Add the potato, mixed vegetables, and cooked pork back to the pot. Bring the mixture to a boil, stir in the flour mixture. Reduce heat and simmer for 1 hour. Remove the bay leaves before serving. Serve with some bread for dipping...

It makes about 4 quarts of soup. I used my 5 quart Dutch oven to make it (see pic above).

Well, it will be done in a few hours... But while it is simmering, I think I might be able to cut down the preparation time a bit, from 2 hours to 1 hour. Well, if I am successful in doing that, I'm sure I'll post another blog entry...