38. Baked Stuffed Pork Chops

Another full meal from Dinner is Served!

I made this in January on some Sunday night when Todd and Leah came over. I cannot remember whether it was cold or not when I made it, but I think that pork chops call for cold weather. Or at least sweater weather. Which is why I find the peaches a little out of season, but whatever. I also find this dinner odd for the random cup of coffee. With the tomato juice and the coffee it seems like this is a little brunch-ish, right? But who in the hell would serve pork chops for brunch? That makes no sense whatsoever.

Well, now that I think about it, it’s not that far off from having steak and eggs…

But anyhoo! If you’re gonna give me tomato juice I’m gonna make a Bloody Mary. I bought the mix and the celery and my guests brought the vodka. A little Worcestershire, a little fresh lemon, some hot sauce–that makes a damn fine Bloody Mary! (If you want a good recipe check out Jackie-O’s Clamato Cocktail). But you know what makes a Bloody Mary reaaaalllllly good?

Muthafuckin OLD BAY.

Yes, again I am going to sing the praises of the world’s greatest spice blend. It does make everything better. You’re probably sick of me talking about it. But I do love the stuff. Really, where is my Old Bay sponsorship? My tin is almost empty. I think I need a new one. McCormick should give me a free container. Anyone know how I can get them to give me free shit?

But I guess that is neither here nor there. What is here is a pork chop:

I found it odd that there wasn’t any bread involved. Anyone else with me on that? The Safeway did not have double-cut chops (surprise, surprise) so I just used my little paring knife to cut pockets in regular ol’ pork chops.

So here they are, ready to go in the oven (and yes, they are sprinkled with Old Bay):

I went the easy route for the broccoli. I am not a huge broccoli fan–not enough to go and make something from scratch—so I bought some Stouffer’s Creamed Spinach and threw some French’s friend onions on top. Todd was stoked because he thought I was making Spinach Delicious, the spinach side I made for the Stewed Beef Heart (which I totally forgot to photograph for that dinner). And which I have now (AGAIN) totally forgotten to include. I don’t have a picture of it. I swear I will provide the recipe eventually!

But, long story short: Spinach Delicious was, indeed, delicious. And the Stouffer’s spinach souffle? I like it. Especially when topped with French’s onions.

Corn fritters!

I love anything that includes creamed corn (a.k.a. garmonbozia!)

And what was nice is that, although it didn’t say it on card 38, I did fry up the fritters ahead of time (right before Todd and Leah arrived) and put them aside. I then heated them up in the oven.

For the peaches I bought some of that Smuckers strawberry sundae topping in the squeeze bottle. Which was fitting, because when I actually served the peaches, I put some vanilla ice cream on top. Otherwise, ew. I’m not particularly fond of canned peaches. Although they do appear a lot in the  DiS! box. Like these baked stuffed peaches from way back when.

Here is the completed dinner:

The peaches look a little space-age atomic there, but aside from that, this was quite tasty. The pork was a little dry, but eh. Whatever. Pork chops are hard.

But yes, I give this dinner a thumbs-up. The last pork chop, with a bit of spinach and a couple of the fritters, froze nicely and made a great dinner one night when I got home late after the gym. BONUS.

One more down, guys! What, so that’s 18 cards left?