Pork Chops and Rice

Pork chops and rice is a dish my mom has been making since I was a tiny little kid.  Dad and my brother loved it because it's stick-to-your-ribs man food.  I hated it and gave Mom all kinds of grief every time we had it for dinner, flat refusing to eat anything.  Eventually I agreed to eat the rice.  I later agreed to eat the pork chop, but only with a heaping helping of ketchup.  Now I love it so much that I almost requested it for my birthday dinner.  It may sound bland, but, trust me, if you like pork, you'll love it.

Spinach and Bacon Quiche

 

I don't care what diet I'm on, I will always eat quiche.  And like so many other recipes I've shared, I think Mom's is the best.  We just made it for the first time since I moved home and it lived up to all the hype I'd created for it in my head.  I've happily eaten it for breakfast and lunch the past three days.  It's also much less difficult to make than I thought it would be.  For some reason I thought it was one of those complicated precision dishes.  It's not.  Any cooking rookie can pull it off.  Here's the recipe.

Pinto Beans

There is nothing simpler than a pot of pinto beans.  Though I love beans and cornbread now, I spent my childhood hating it.  Unfortunately for me it was Mom and Dad's favorite, so this was a dinner that we had at least twice a month.  I have, however, spent my adulthood making up for all the pots of beans that I missed.  I crave pinto beans, cook them often, and request that Mom cook them even more frequently.

Feijoada

The Barefoot Contessa  has done two shows on roasted fruits and vegetables today.  On one of her shows, she said roasting is a great trick for the wintertime when vegetables have less flavor, because it concentrates the flavor.  I've been on a roasted vegetable kick lately, so it's all I can do not to go to the grocery store, buy a bunch of veggies, and spend the day roasting away.

Anyway, Mom is feeling much better today.  She's buzzing around like a very annoying little bee, putting away all the Christmas decorations.  I told her if she'd chill for a bit, I'd gladly help her.  Her response was, "I can do it.  And, if I'd a felt like it yesterday, it'd already've been done, ya'll."  Buzz, buzz.

Although she's feeling better today, yesterday was probably the worst of Mom's cold, so I was on my own to concoct dinner with a house full of food.  Brother Jason and I ate at a Brazilian restaurant in OKC last week and I had an amazing dish called feijoada, which is Brazil's national dish.  It's a black bean stew with pork and beef served with rice and collard greens.  Since I didn't have access to all the ingredients included in a typical recipe, I came up with my own using the ham leftover from Christmas dinner.

Pineapple and Brown Sugar Ham

A few years ago, Mom got really sick right before Easter and spent several days in the hospital.  She was still pretty weak once she got to come home, so some of her teacher friends cooked Easter dinner and brought it to our house the Friday before Easter.  She had a appointment with her doctor that day, and when we got home we walked into a house that smelled incredible thanks to her good friend Beth's amazing pineapple and brown sugar ham.  Since then, we have co-opted this recipe into our family's recipe repertoire.  

Sausage Balls

Yet another easy recipe, we fix sausage balls fairly frequently and they are always on the Christmas Eve appetizer dinner menu.  Because of Mom's cold, brother Jason was assigned sausage ball duties tonight.  He did well.