My mother asked to cook last week. Who am I to say no? lol She made one of her specialties that family members often ask for. Scalloped Pork Chops.
You layer pork chops in the bottom of a pan, we used boneless with very little fat on them. You cover them with a layer of sliced onions, then a thick layer of sliced potatoes. You then pour over canned diced tomatoes, juice and all. Season each layer with salt & pepper. Bake at 350* for 45 minutes to an hour, until meat & potatoes are done. She covers it with foil, then takes the foil off for the last 10-15 minutes.
Then dig in to serve. My mother poured some vegetable juice in this time as well. She didn’t think there was enough juice from the tomatoes. I think there would have been as the finished dinner was very juicy. And very good!
I was blessed last week to be given some home grown tomatoes and cucumbers. We didn’t plant a garden this year, so these were a real treat!
I served them straight up as a side dish to our spaghetti with venison meat sauce. I could eat just the tomatoes and cucumbers for dinner!
On taco night, I had my venison taco meat as a salad with multi grain tortilla chips. Yum!
We still had some of those gorgeous home grown tomatoes begging to be eaten. So we had BLT sandwiches on Thursday.
This was store bought lettuce, but that’s ok. The tomatoes were the star of the sandwich! I had a slice of sharp cheddar cheese on my sandwich. So good!
On Friday, I made the meal that had been scheduled for Thursday night. My son said he couldn’t find the beef in the freezer so brought in venison. So instead of walking out to our stage shed where the freezer is, I just used the venison to make my version of lo mein.
I sauteed the frozen broccoli & sliced venison with some soy sauce, garlic powder, and onion powder. I didn’t even cut any onions to put in it! I missed them though! A couple of minutes before they were done, I poured in a bag of frozen peas and carrots. When everything was done, I dumped in a pound of cooked spaghetti and some more soy sauce. It came out great! I hadn’t made lo mein in a while. I need to make it more often, as it’s pretty easy to make. Well, my version is! lol
Thursday morning, I got a call from someone I know saying they had a ton of tomatoes in their garden. They had been selling them at the farmers market, but still had a ton left. so I bought a 1/2 bushel of red and orange tomatoes. I also bought a grocery bag full of green tomatoes. I sliced and froze the green tomatoes. I put 8 meal size bags in the freezer.
I would have had more, but my husband got into them and made a big batch of fried green tomatoes. He loves them! Which is odd for a someone from Massachusetts! lol And hey! He made them all by himself! Go husband! lol
I canned the 1/2 bushel of red and orange tomatoes. I got 6 quart jars of whole red tomatoes, 8 quarts of quartered red tomatoes, and 3 quarts of quartered orange tomatoes. For a total of 17 quarts of tomatoes!
A very good pay off for about 5 hours of work! These will taste so good this winter in soups and chili.
I was very busy in the kitchen last week! How about you?
In the Kitchen with Linda & Dinner Menu
Now…. to answer the question that I get asked about a hundred times a day……….What’s For Dinner?
Saturday – quick & easy- Take out pizza
Sunday – soup & sandwich day – Corned Beef Hash & Eggs – Husband cooked!
Monday – chicken or turkey – Chicken strips, oven roasted potatoes, corn, homemade applesauce
Tuesday – pizza/pasta – Spaghetti with venison meat sauce, green beans
Wednesday – Taco Night- Mexican Roll Ups – new recipe!
Thursday – pork or beef – Turkey, cooked in the slow cooker, mashed potatoes, beets
Friday – venison – Venison roast & potatoes in slow cooker, Basil Glazed Carrots
For more ideas, visit Menu Plan Monday
