Extra Crispy Pork Chops

This recipe is one of our favorite ways to make pork chops. I love beef, I don't love chicken. Pork is the healthy alternative for our household.

Overall I think the pork chop gets overlooked. Everyone thinks of bacon and sausage when they think pork. A think chop is really one of my favorite cuts of meat to prepare though. It's very versatile, lean, and super easy. Plus- today's pork market is ultra safe. The risk of trichinosis only exists in free-range meats so your standard butcher-counter chop can safely be cooked to medium. No dried out meat!!

This recipe is an adaptation of an adaptation of the America's Best recipe (you need to be a subscriber to read the recipe). I like America's Best but often times the super-precise recipes aren't the most practical for everyday cooking.

Start with 4 pork chops of equal thickness.

Line up 3 bowls: 1 with flour, 1 with the egg mix, 1 with the bread crumb mix. The egg mix is very, very thick but trust me. It works.

Dip the chop in the flour, then the egg, then the bread crumbs. You're baking the pork chops on a greased cooling rack over a baking sheet.

Bake at 425 for 17-25 minutes or until done. These stay super moist but they can get dry if you really over-bake them. Remember pork can have a tinge of pink in the middle and still be safe!

I made these with Parmesan garlic spaghetti squash, salad, and rolls. Yum! I traditionally serve them with the Parmesan crusted potatoes au gratin because the creamy sauce on the potatoes goes well with the crispy of the chop. The spaghetti sauce concoction was equally yummy though!

Extra Crispy Pork Chops:
4 pork chops of equal thickness (I like a 6 ounce chop but you can really use any cut you want, just mix more breading layers if you need more for more chops)
Bread Crumb Mix-
3 1/2 cup panko crumbs
1 tbsp dried chopped onion
1 tbsp garlic powder
2 tbsp grated Parmesan
1 tsp thyme
2 tbsp parsley
Egg Mix-
3 egg white
3 tbsp Dijon mustard
3 tbsp flour
Flour-
6 tbsp flour

Mix your dipping bowls thoroughly. Dip chops in flour, then egg, then bread crumbs. Make sure to coat the sides! Bake at 425 till done.

Parmesan Scalloped Spaghetti Squash

A friend of mine made my first spaghetti squash back in the fall. She brought a cheesy kale dish made with it and I loved it. Coach wasn't a fan but he thought it was the sauce.

So normally when I make our favorite ultra-crispy pork chops, I make Parmesan scalloped potatoes to go with it. This time I decided to change things up and use a spaghetti squash dish instead.

I basically made a sauce like from the potato dish and stirred it in with the squash and all the cheeses. Then I baked the whole thing to hot and bubbly.

Once again, phone pictures because that's all I have around when I think about pictures!

I sliced the squash in half and use a spoon to scrape out the seeds and loose gunk (pumpkin style). I placed the halves cut-side down in a baking dish with about an inch of water. Then I baked it at 350 for 45 minutes until the skin was blistering. Take it out of the oven and let it cool just enough to handle. Use a fork to scrape out the insides into spaghetti like strands. I placed the strands in a buttered glass baking dish.

 I'll be honest- I could stop here and just eat it with salt and pepper. I love this stuff. But I stuck with the plan and started a Parmesan sauce.

I stirred up a roux with equal parts butter and flour and about 2 cloves of minced garlic. I added milk and cream and whisked until the roux was all dissolved. I sprinkled in a liberal amount of thyme, Parmesan, a cracked black pepper. Picture of the roux was all I got for you (I was in a rush folks, dinner had to be ready by the time Coach came home!).

 I poured the sauce over the squash and stirred in more mozzarella and Parmesan. Then I sprinkled even more cheese on top and popped it back in the oven at 350. The squash holds on to the yellow color pretty strongly so it's not the white cheesiness that the potatoes have. Plus, you know, camera phone.

All in all, it was good. I took all the leftovers and just ate them for lunch. :) Coach tolerated it and ate a big helping but he still wasn't the hugest fan. It was improved, but still not ranking high up his list.

Let me know if you make it any better!!

Water Challenge Week 3

Wowza! 3 weeks in already!!!

So I forgot to take a picture on Sunday....and on Monday.....but I snapped one today!! So maybe the photo tracking isn't the most accurate. Oh well.

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

This week was hard because I was traveling- look for those posts soon!! I went to Universal Studios with some friends and it just made water consumption more challenging. I still managed my goal of 90+ ounces a day even if I didn't reach the full gallon each day. By far the most-seen attraction were the bathrooms!! (For the record, we visited 2/3 of all the bathrooms in the park, it became a thing to use them all).

I started using water flavoring this week too. While normally drinking plain water is fine for me, I found myself starting to struggle. So I bought some simple drink mixes (the HyVee brand of Crystal Light to be exact) and gave it a try. I really don't want to be drinking my calories except for my milk and I was hesitant to start the slippery slope of caffeine some of them provided. What I discovered though was my own personal crack.

One pack of wild strawberry drink mix and I'll have 24 ounces of water downed in 10 minutes. It's amazing. I love artificial strawberry flavor and always have (is that weird?). This stuff is delightful. It only has 75 mg of caffeine too; less than a cup of coffee!! I don't feel as guilty about all that. So now when I find myself behind on my water, I'll just add some of the flavor mix and get some solid drinking done!!

Overall I feel good. I'm used to the bathroom routine now. I'm less bloated and combined with my recent back-to-jazzercise, I've got a slimmer waistline overall. I started the work outs at the same time so I can't say one or the other is having the most impact. I truly think it's a combo. I haven't had such quick results from exercise before and my skin is staying extra clear. That's the water!!

So this is the last week and honestly, I'll continue. I'm snacking less, I like the way I look, why go back? Drinking more and more water every day keeps me from eating and drinking things I should have less of. Win-win!

Gallon Challenge

Ok- so I'd seen some things on Pinterest and then I did some reading and ultimately I decided to challenge myself. No, not to start every post with a run-on sentence (though I would be dominating that challenge). It's the Gallon Challenge.

The goal is to drink a gallon of water a day. At first I thought that was way too much, in reality though it's pretty spot on with my recommended fluid intake. Now you all will get to enjoy my updates and see some pretty honest photos of my face. Get excited.

Starting pic:

In all honesty, my hair and skin are pretty good. I have even skin tone, minimal dark spots, little acne issues. But I wanted to see if this would help with my eye baggies, and just general perkiness of my skin. Instead of trying fancy skin systems, I figured I would just try general good nutrition first!

So after a week (and a day) here I am. I remember to photo myself in bed so you know, enjoy the pillow backdrop.

My results after a week:

• The skin under and around my eyes is a little more plump. Not in a bad, puffy way, in a less-tired way. This could be due to me getting rest over the 3-day weekend though. We'll see what the results are long term.
• My teeth are a little whiter. I'm not really drinking any less staining fluids (coffee and tea aren't part of my daily diet, and I didn't cut back on my red wine any). I figure the constant rinsing from drinking the water has to be helping though.
• I started on Sunday and on Friday was down 3 pounds. I started working out again though a couple of weeks ago so it's not just from the water. The weekend pretty much ruined that though (Restaurant Week will do that to you). 
• I am snacking less. Not because I don't want to. I still crave food at certain times during the day. I'm just being very conscientious about drinking instead. They say that a lot of our "hunger" is actually thirst. And as I've been drinking my water, I have been able to hold off my hunger for longer stretches. 
• No changes in intestinal systems or habits :)
• Less bloating until the weekend. Then the eating really ruined that.

How I'm doing it:

• First concern was measuring. That's actually been the easiest part. I have a 34 ounce Bubba I use. I drink one at work before lunch, one between lunch and when I go home, and a third between home and bed time. I also have 16 ounces of milk in the morning with breakfast (that's 2 cartons in school lunch language). Then I usually have another 12-16 ounces of milk or water in the evening. So I hit my gallon pretty easily.
• Second concern was needing to use the bathroom. I was really worried about this, but in reality I'm not going excessive amounts. Before I usually went once during the school day, maybe twice if I stayed late. Now I go about 4 times or every couple of hours. I was most concerned about night since I normally wake at least once for the bathroom but I've actually been sleeping through better. Not sure how that works but I'll take it!
• What am I drinking? I'm doing just water and milk. That's pretty much all I drink anyway. I still have my occasional glass of wine in the evening but I don't count it as part of the challenge. I did buy some Crystal Light packs for when I get tired of plain water but I haven't broken into them yet. I've always been very careful of not drinking my calories so that hasn't been a big switch for me. If you're a heavy caffeine drinker though I would be careful about weaning yourself off. The goal ultimately is for a gallon of water though so I stick as closely to that as I can.

And that's what I'm up to. I'll post another update in a week and let you know how the challenge went while traveling!

Restaurant Week 2015

For those of you unaware- Coach and I like to eat. It's kind of our thing. So Restaurant Week is one of our highlights. As a culinary arts teacher (part of my FCS job donchaknow!), I'm automatically a member of the Missouri Restaurant Association which means I get the dates for Restaurant Week MONTHS ahead of time. And you better bet I put it on the calendar.

So for some it seems pretty easy- pick a restaurant from the list, go, enjoy. For foodies like us it takes planning and strategy. The week runs Friday to the next Sunday. So you have a full week and 2 full weekends to enjoy. This year I ruined half our fun by leaving town the second week. So we really had to make ours last.

Step 1: Pick your restaurant. We usually take this as our opportunity to try someplace new. We chose '37 Steak- the new steakhouse at our favorite casino- and Michael Forbes Grill. If we'd had the 2 weekends, we would have added EBT and/or Jess & Jim's. Maybe next year!

Step 2: Make your reservations. I like to book as early as possible. It's easier to adjust a reservation later than it is to get in on a crowded night.

Step 3: Put on your stretchy pants. The menus are never small and it's almost always delicious.

This year's winner was for sure '37. While Michael Forbes was good, it wasn't the best steak (or in Coach's case- catfish) that I've ever had. '37 had a unique menu with the classics and everything was perfectly cooked. The service was phenomenal (we had a complementary dessert served to us simply because we raved about the bacon in my husband's cocktail. Yes he had a drink with bacon in it, and yes we had bacon for dessert).

Now since one of our restaurants was at the casino, we went ahead and booked a room to make a night of it. It was the perfect start to our 3 day weekend and a great time with our friends. The best part is that even the basic room at the hotel has great big huge soaking tubs. I love to soak in a hot bath but we don't have a good tub at our house. So I spent a good 45 minutes avoiding drowning and loving every minute of it.

Now for the food details!

At '37 I ordered the chicken and crab wellington off the restaurant week menu. Chicken breast, prosciutto, spinach, crab, and a creamy sauce inside a flaky pastry. Coach had the filet and both entrees were cooked to perfection. The sides are family style so our table split The Hashbrown (yes, it's so good it earns the "the"), sweet corn, and asparagus. We all had salads (my Caesar was yummy), and we all split my chocolate tower cake dessert that came as part of the restaurant week deal. The specialty drink that night was an old-fashioned with a jalapeno and brown-sugar peppered bacon. We raved, they brought us a cup of bacon, we had meat for dessert (and that's not the first time).

Michael Forbes is a much larger menu. Here's my thing- when a menu serves steak, lasagna, burgers, and tacos, you kind of wonder what they're good at it. My experience is that it's never all of them. Since I didn't have steak at '37 I went ahead and ordered the filet. It was edible and cooked right but just not as good as the nicer steakhouses. My side was the potatoes au gratin which was really diced roasted potatoes with cheddar melted on top. Good, but nothing I can't (and do) make at home. Coach ordered the fried catfish which is deboned table side so that was fun. And they bring you home style rolls right out of the pan and they were delightful. All in all though I found the menu very similar to chain menus (especially 54th Street) and I didn't find the food significantly higher in quality. It was still yummy though and it's always nice to try someplace new. Since they are on our Passport Dining list we'll probably be back.

So that was our go at Restaurant Week 2015, Week by previous year's but 2 in one weekend isn't bad :). If I wasn't leaving Wednesday then we'd sneak in a mid-week one too at one of the more casual places. If you're ever going to visit Kansas City, Restaurant Week is a good time to be in town!

Lyrics Revisited

Sometimes you grow up and hear a song from junior high and you really hear the lyrics for the first time and the whole song is changed for you.

My most recent encounter was with the often joked, much loved by teenagers, Discovery Channel Song (which is actually "The Bad Touch" by Bloodhound Gang? Who knew?).  I'll only pull out my most favorite lines and let you know the thoughts I had when hearing them again:

"Me and you do the kind of stuff that only Prince would sing about"

Ok- so in late high school I heard the remake of Darling Nicky which introduced me to Prince's original Darling Nicky which shines a whole new light on this line. At least that's the Prince song I'm thinking of.

"I want you smothered want you covered like my Waffle House hashbrowns"

 Oh hashbrowns, that would be so good right now, I love mine smothered too. All that cheese.....

"just like Coca-Cola stock you are inclined"

That's actually pretty intelligent.

"To make me rise an hour early just like Daylight Savings Time"

That's not attractive, there is nothing attractive about Daylight Savings Time. Unless it's fall back, yes you should fall back like Daylight Savings Time.

"Let me be Pacific I wanna be down in your South Seas"

By golly, that's even geographically accurate!

"Please turn me on I'm Mister Coffee with an automatic drip"

Hahahaha, Mister Coffee's in a rap.

So maybe I haven't entirely matured since junior high but I certainly listen to the lyrics more. I mean the song's still just about sex which isn't really my song muse of choice. BUT- the lyrics are clever and accurate which is more than I can say for half the rap music my students are listening to these days. Gotta love a man who uses accurate geography and yummy food euphemisms to talk about doing it.

3-day Weekend? 3-day YES

🎶Staycation, all I ever wanted.... Staycation, had to get away! 🎶

This weekend starts with the kick-off of restaurant week!!! Ie- one of our favorite weeks of the year! Stay tuned for a recap and info on how we conquer the week most beloved of foodies in Kansas City. 

In the meantime, I'll happily relax in my paid-for-one-night ultra-long-and-super-perfect tub before hitting restaurant 1 😄

🎶...had to get away...🎶