Cathy's "Baked" Chops and Veggies

Cathy's Chops and Veggies are presented

Yum. Look at how tender and moist this meal turns out. Easy to prepare after a long day, and one has a bit of control of the dirty dishes situation. I think this meal is delicious so asked for the prep instructions. Got the whole recipe. Yaaaay!

Ingredients:
• four pork loin or rib chops, sliced one-inch thick (about one-and-a-half pounds)
• one-quarter cup of Progresso beef flavored broth or chicken flavored broth
• four potatoes, cut into fourths
• four carrots, cut into one-inch pieces
• four medium white onions, cut into fourths
• two teaspoons of salt
• one-quarter teaspoon of pepper
• chopped fresh parsley (if desired)

Method:
1. Trim excess fat from meat.
2. Spray 12-inch nonstick skillet with cooking spray and heat over medium-high heat.
3. Brown the pork in the skillet about five minutes, turning once, until brown.
4. Add the broth, prepared potatoes, carrots and onions to the skillet.
5. Sprinkle with salt and pepper... heat the mixture to boiling. Reduce the heat, cover, and simmer the meal about thirty minutes, and bake the meal until the vegetables are tender and the meat is slightly pink when cut near bone. Sprinkle with parsley.

Been A While

Have been working on "stuff" yet have neglected this Weblog. Still studying web development code and finally consider myself a beginner code monkey. Am getting proficient at HTML5, CSS3, and am beginning JavaScript. Started viewing some videos tonight about XML to see how this language can help my page development. Had a catastrophic fall. Really changed my life by teaching me respect for time and life. Has brought me even closer to God through Christ. Am still paying off the medical institutions that helped me live. Have insurance yet had to really use a lot of its available options and the copays are tearing into my budget.Today, 21dec17, is looking pretty though.

Literally. A lady and I met online. And we are formally bound to each other with a bond of our word. No other. No looking. No touching. Just she and I. Period. We are married. This is my first formal public announcement of our intentions. She is working a plan to get here to my home to be with me.And I will save everything I can to be ready to help her if and when she asks. Am on disability so even putting aside ten bucks is difficult. Yet we will be together because this is her wish as well as mine. As an added bonus she is majestic, gorgeous, well-mannered and smart. Both of us have lost our parents. I am 56, she is 35. Time tells all things.

Anyway, with this said, was cooking a simple bachelor's dinner tonight (there are many labor intensive recipes online) and got to thinking about this neglected Food blog... and Cathy has mentioned it once or twice as encouragement. So I figured, "Why not?" This light meal is just plain ole macaroni with high-quality ground beef and a canned Italian type sauce. Mac noodles are a lot more "tidy" for me to eat, the clean up is not bad, and it is guaranteed to taste wonderful.

The image above shows the draining macaroni (I really dislike watery sauce so i drain "all" of the water). After the pasta is drained, add a tablespoon of pure olive oil so that the pasta has a smooth stir. The sauce with meat above is just a can of brand name spaghetti sauce heated to a simmer with one-half pound of fried clean ground beef (when there is a language barrier at the butcher's block ground beef is clean or not) added with any grease drained off onto a clean paper towel.

A small bowl of mac and meat with Italian pasta sauce is shown above. I always add black pepper. The reason? Because authentic Italian is designed with the addition of black pepper in mind. Not many "regular" type folks know this fact which I learned entirely by accident during one of my studies. Black pepper used to be a fine delicacy, and expensive, so was a sign of material wealth to have black pepper as an optional offering on a table set for guests. And because it is so tasty Italian's food eventually just adapted to having this expensive treat added. Could look it up because i am sure someone has mentioned it on the Internet. How else would I know? A neat piece of trivia, hey? One must admit black pepper as well as peppers from the Americas are a nice accent. This meal's preparation was a well spent twenty minutes. Just what the bachelor ordered!