Pork Chops and Brownies

Since we stayed home all day yesterday, I cooked some pork chops in the crock pot for our dinner. I'm always nervous about leaving the crock unattended during a work day, you see, because I am not confident that one of the cats will not jump up and do something to create disaster. Nope. As a result, I really only use the crock pot when I'm going to be home for the majority of the day. I guess that's kind of sad. You know what they say, though, you have to do what you have to do when it comes to mischief making felines. They do say that, right?

The recipe I used for the chops comes from my handy dandy crock pot cookbook. My parents gave me this book for Christmas in 2008 along with a little baby crock pot. My mom also, helpfully, starred the recipes that she had made for me in the past so I could make them for myself. I think the thing I love about cooking in a crock pot is how much of a stress-saver it is. You don't have to worry about when to add ingredients, or if you're cooking it too long or not long enough. You just toss that stuff in there, turn it on and you're off!

Here is the chops recipe, in case you want to try it:

4 pork chops
1 can cream of mushroom soup (I used cream of celery)
1/4 cup ketchup
2 tsp Worchestershire sauce

-Put the chops in the cooker.
-Combine the soup, ketchup and Worchestershire. Mix together in a bowl.
-Pour mixture over chops.
-Cover and cook either on High 3-4 hours or on Low 8-10. 

Tada! I served my chops over egg noodles, but I'm pretty sure I've had it over rice many times in the past. I also opened a can of corn to go with it. Yum.

I decided, sort of last minute, that I wanted to try my hand at making brownies from scratch. I didn't want a complicated recipe that called for anything I didn't already have at home, so I was pleased when I found this basic brownie recipe on Tasty Kitchen. Boyfriend and I had planned on eating around 5:30, so I whipped these up right before that time, while I was simultaneously cooking noodles and corn. I think I ended up baking them for about 29 minutes (the recipe suggests somewhere between 25 and 30) and they turned out beautifully. I even added a cup of chocolate chips! Give these a brownies a shot sometime. They're better than boxed. I promise.

After dinner, we watched Slapshot, which is always a good time. If you haven't seen it, you really need to. 1970s Paul Newman! Hockey!! Johnstown, PA! So many good things. Oh, and the music. I love the music. 

How was your Saturday? Aside from my self-proclaimed culinary achievements, mine was fairly lazy. Haha.