How to be a Housewife

I only use recipes for dinner now and then -- I am more of a "on the fly" kind of cook (think CHOPPED). Tonight I came up with two GREAT recipes that I want to write down (or we'll never have them again).

We had such a great dinner tonight! After 34 years of eating my cooking, my husband got up from the table and said "That was one of your Top 10 best meals". Gasp!

My produce basket from GreenBean Delivery  included collard greens (which I've never cooked before), and I still had some beautiful butternut squash left from a previous basket. I thought the collard greens would go well with pork chops, so my basic starter ingredients were:

3 boneless pork chops
1 bunch of collard greens
2 small butternut squash

So here is what I came up with.

I made maple flavored mashed squash - recipe here (except I omitted the rum).

Preheat oven at 350 degrees.  Make the squash recipe first and get it in the oven according to recipe.

For the PORK CHOPS (serves 2):

3 boneless pork chops
6 tsp horseradish sauce
6 tsp Gulden's Brown Mustard
Black pepper to taste
1 tbsp olive oil
1 cup chicken stock

Heat the olive oil in non-stick fry pan. Meanwhile, use a pastry brush and "paint" one side of each pork chop with a tsp of horseradish sauce, then 1 tsp of the brown mustard, then sprinkle with black pepper to taste. Place "painted" side down in hot pan. Then "paint" the top side of each pork chop with horseradish and mustard exactly the same way. Cook over med. high heat, turning after 4 to 5 minutes.

Once both sides are nicely browned, slide pan into oven (where you already have the maple butternut squash cooking). Cook in oven for about 10 -12 minutes.

Remove pan from oven and remove chops from pan. Place pan over medium low heat, slowly add chicken stock and "deglaze" the pan - stirring to get all the little bits of horseradish and meat up off the bottom and blended into the stock. It will turn dark brown. Keep adding chicken stock and stir as you go.

Serve the pork chops and pour a large spoonful of the sauce over each chop.

Don't omit the sauce! You'll notice the horseradish and mustard really didn't stick to the pork chops -- it's all on the bottom of the pan you cooked the chops in. When you "deglaze" the pan, all that flavor is incorporated into the chicken broth, and adds real depth of flavor to the pork chops via the sauce.



BLT COLLARD GREENS

1 large bunch of collard greens, washed
2 slices of bacon, chopped
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup diced onion
2-3 cloves of garlic, minced
6 grape tomatoes, halved
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
Salt to taste

Cut stems off of collard greens, then cut leaves into 1/2 to 1 inch slices. Set aside.

Pam spray deep-sided fry pan (that you have a cover for), heat over medium high heat, and add diced bacon. Cook until bacon is crumbly. Remove bacon from pan with slotted spoon.

Add onions to pan and cook until almost translucent. Add garlic, and chopped collard greens and stir so onions and garlic mix throughout. Return bacon to pan. Add 1 tbsp olive oil, stir, cover and cook over low heat until collard greens are tender, about 10 to 15 minutes. Stir occasionally.

When greens are tender (not soggy like spinach! You want them to still have a bit of "bite" to them), add tomatoes, return cover to pan and cook another 2 to 3 minutes. Remove cover and add vinegar and stir to distribute it throughout the greens. Serve.

Enjoy!

I've been tagged by a friend via email to share 20 Weird Things about Me, and then pass it on to 20 email friends to pass along to 20 more friends, etc etc...  Since I'm not big on passing unsolicited email along, I thought I'd just write here, you can read it, and you can consider yourself "tagged" and post the same about you on your blog!

20 Weird Things About Me

1. I drink my first two cups of coffee with just Cremora. The rest of the day, I drink it with Sweet n'Low and heavy cream.

2. I like plain food. No flavored oatmeal, frosted donuts, sugary cereal -- I prefer it plain, thank you.

3. I am scared to death of moths and butterflies.

4. I once cooked lunch for President Jimmy Carter's mother. She's dead, you know. It wasn't from my cooking.

5. In my lifetime I remember telephones you crank by hand, wringer washing machines, the first TV show in color, TV's with no remote controls, and FM Radio being considered subversive.

6. When cooking, I wash my hands before, after and sometimes during working with any meat.

7. My brother's and my birthday are the same day - four years apart. My daughter and her aunt, and my sister and my grandfather also have birthdays on the same day.

8. I read at least 150 books a year. Ninety-five percent of that reading is done in the bath tub.

9. My name was once mentioned in a murder trial. (I had nothing to do with it.)

10. My first full time job out of school paid $63 a week, and I thought I was living the life. I had a new car and my own apartment.

11. The clothes in my closet are sorted by color.

12. I've been married 34 years and I love that man more than the day I married him.

13. I knew Steven Tyler when he was still Steven Talerico. I was friends with Tom Hamilton, Aerosmith's bass guitarist.

14. I once owned and operated the largest Internet Service Provider in great Cincinnati. I still have 150 phone lines coming into my house. It ought to be interesting to explain that if we ever sell.

15. I am compulsive about making my bed. If for some reason it's not made when I go to get in it at night, I have to make it before going to bed!

16. I once snuck into a Harry Chapin concert during intermission. A guy came and sat beside me and asked me how I liked the concert so far. I said, "Don't tell anyone, but I just snuck in." He laughed, stood up and walked up and got on stage. It was Harry Chapin.

17. I came up with the idea for the first personal printer for computers. I submitted my idea to IBM and got paid $1000. Little did I know how underpaid I was.

18. My father was in the 101st Airborn Parachute Infantry in World War II. If you watch "Band of Brothers" that is his experience. In one part of the movie, a sargeant says to a paratrooper, "Just leave your chute." The paratrooper says, "I can't. I promised my girl I'd bring it home." My mother's wedding dress was made from the silk of my dad's parachute.

19. My grandmother's pride and joy was her grape vines. She made the most wonderful grape jellies. Around age 5 a friend and I went into my grandmother's grape garden and had a grape fight. We literally squished every grape. It was the one and only time I remember my grandmother so mad she was speechless. Lesson learned.

20. We have lived in Ohio for 24 years. We agreed to transfer here because my husband's company told him it would be for three years. Not a day goes by that I don't miss my friends and family in New Hampshire.

That's it! Now how about you? Do you have 20 weird things?? If you post this on your blog, leave a comment with your blog address and I'll link to you here.

Stat counters are wonderful things. I don't check mine often, but imagine my surprise when I checked my stat counter yesterday and discovered someone who would not want me to know they are visiting my blog - is. It made me laugh out loud. And to this one person, I am posting this message.



The only reason I post this is because there is only one person who could read that and KNOW that it's intended  for them. And I wanted that person to know that I know they're visiting my blog. I don't care - but I know.


And for this single post, I'm turning off "Comments". Because I can.

I received a phone call very early this morning. Mr. B was up on and off during the night with an earache. Could I take care of him for the day? Of course.

He arrived - with his stuff.

And since he's sick, he gets to play unlimited video games. And keep warm under the monkey blanket.

And have his favorite breakfast - blueberry oatmeal and orange juice.

Of course, my day has now changed. I planned on going grocery shopping. Instead, I'll be going to the pediatrician's office.


And then, I'll be giving medicine - and hugs - and smOOches - and enforcing the rule that if you don't go to school, you must take a nap.



After all, that's what Umma is for.