Day 127.
Now, you may be saying "Caramel Apple? Pork chops? Wha?"
Trust me. These are good.
Here's what you'll need.
3-4 3/4 inch thick pork chops
1 teaspoon vegetable oil
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons butter
2 apples, peeled, cored and sliced
salt and pepper to taste
Begin by brushing the chops with the oil. Place them, oil side down, into a hot skillet.
Cook thoroughly and remove from pan.
In that same pan, melt the butter.
Stir in the brown sugar.
I didn't think that looked like enough butter, so I added 2 more tablespoons.
Stir in the apples.
Add the pork chops back to the pan.
Now, here's my secret for tender chops. Add about 2 tablespoons of water to the pan, then slap a lid on it. Let it cook until the liquid is absorbed. This kind of steams them, and helps to keep them tender.
See?
Day 36.
I had to sub this morning, so I knew it would be best to throw something into the crockpot for supper. We love this pulled pork recipe, and it so simple! I had bought a huge pork roast, so we invited a couple of friends over to help eat it. There's still a ton left!
Here's what you'll need.
1 3-4 lb. pork roast (You can go cheap here 'cause we'll cook it slowly)
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon cajun seasoning
4 cups water
1 tablespoon liquid smoke
4 cloves garlic, chopped
Melt the butter in a large pan.
Cut the pork into large-ish chunks and add to the pan of melted butter. Season liberally with the cajun seasoning. Cook on all sides until nicely browned.
Add the browned pork to your crockpot.
Add the water, garlic and liquid smoke. Stir well.
Cook on high for 6 hours.
After 6 hours, take the pork out of the crockpot and shred it. Add back to the crockpot to keep warm while serving.
Yum. You can add barbeque sauce to the top if you wish, but I like it plain.
In this instance, I used a much larger roast. I found one on sale that was bone-in that was the same price as one half the size that was boneless. Did that make sense? I bought an almost 8 lb. roast for the same price as a 4 lb. boneless. Okay. That was better. Anyway. We have lots over, but we'll freeze it for a quick meal later on.
Our friend, Todd, who ate with us said it was awesome. So did my friend, Jamie. Todd actually volunteered to be the critic for my food posted on the blog. I may have to take him up on that. :)
Day 22.
Today, my friends, I'd like to talk to you about bacon. Yes, bacon. We here at Chez Ginder love, love, love bacon. We love it on sandwiches, we love it in salad and we love it on our cheese fries.
We especially love BLT's. Well, okay. I do.
Kurt likes B's.
Just bacon.
I'm going to show you how we cook our bacon here. We take it seriously.
Here's what you'll need.
Bacon!
Cut it in half. It will make things easier.
Break out your cookie sheets, and place your cooling racks on the sheets. I used three of these for 1 pound of bacon. Preheat your oven to 400*
Now, lay the pieces of bacon out on the racks. If you like lovely, delicious, crispy bacon, don't overlap the pieces. If you like floppy, gross bacon, overlap away. Can you tell which team I'm on?
While you bacon is bakin' make yourself some toast. (Bacon, bakin'. Bahaha. I'm hilarious.)
Lay out some lettuce. I like romaine.
Knock Knock!
Who's there?
Lettuce!
Lettuce who?
Lettuce in! It's cold out here!
Add some tomatoes.
What? I don't have anything witty to say about tomatoes. Sorry.
After about 20 minutes, Team Crispy will be happy to find their bacon just perfect.
Pile some bacon on the other piece of toast.
Proceed to chow down.
