What are you Cooking the Week of August 25, 2024?

[chocomouse]

We had burgers and corn on the cob, all on the grill. And I made coconut-rum ice cream for later this evening.

[BakerAunt]

We had another meal of leftovers on Friday: pork, the rest of the coleslaw, some more of the pasta salad, and an ear of corn each.

[Mike Nolan]

The oven-baked chicken thighs were good enough that Diane actually ate the breading/skin, which is unusual for her.

There was sage in the mix of herbs and spices I used, but I think it made the breading taste more like a stuffing. Not a bad taste, just not a 'fried chicken' taste. Next time I'll leave it out. A simple salt-and-pepper blend is worth trying, too.

The rest of the dredge blend was: salt, pepper, oregano, paprika, ginger, celery salt, dry mustard. Diane thought the chicken needed salt, I'm not sure adding more to the dredge would have helped.

I didn't have quite enough of the KA keto flour mix and didn't want to open another bag yet, so I added some oat fiber. Not sure that was worth repeating, though.

The dip had egg, diluted cream (instead of milk) and paprika. That seemed to work well. I need to practice my breading technique a bit, though.

[RiversideLen]

I had a hamburger, leftover mashed potato, an ear of corn and broccoli.

[Joan Simpson]

I had hotdogs and grapes.

[chocomouse]

Leftover salads here!

[Italiancook]

I baked Trisha Yearwood's Pork Chops and Rice. The rice goes under the pork chops with broth/water. I baked mine for 55 minutes to make sure the pork didn't have any pinkness. Broiled for a few minutes, not to brown as recipe says, but to give the chops a little color. We enjoyed this. The reviews on Food Network are mixed, with some saying it didn't have much flavor. We didn't find that fault. Maybe because I used meat market chops and a blend of rice (white, brown, wild & red). I'll make this again baking it for only 50 minutes, since I will run it under the broiler.
https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/trisha-yearwood/pork-chops-and-rice-recipe-2124315

Making this reminded me of something my mom baked that I liked a lot. She put homemade (from scratch) Thanksgiving dressing in the bottom of a pan, put pork chops on top & baked. Don't know at what temp or how long. I've decided I want to bake this, but couldn't find a recipe online. I need a recipe for the scratch stuffing, since I've always used Pepperidge Farm or Stove Top at Thanksgiving.

Unfortunately, almost everything I found has the stuffing on top of the pork chops in a mound, instead of a layer of stuffing on the bottom. Plus, the recipes use a can of cream soup and milk. I can't use either. I did find 2 recipes with the stuffing on the bottom in a layer, but those were for cornbread stuffing. I don't like cornbread stuffing.

Do any of you have a recipe for baked pork chops with stuffing as a bottom layer. Without sausage.?

I thought maybe the reason so many people were putting the stuffing on top of the pork chops was that the food police had declared stuffing under the pork chops to be unsafe in the way that stuffing inside a turkey is now frowned on. I Googled and the answer I found is that it is safe.

Thanks for any help you can offer.

[Mike Nolan]

cantaloupe and salami here, I also had a salami and tomato sandwich

[BakerAunt]

Saturday night's dinner was roasted chicken thighs, microwaved frozen green beans, and an ear of corn each.

[BakerAunt]

Italian Cook: I think that the recipes with the stuffing on top of the pork are designed to keep the pork from drying out. The cream soup and milk are also probably there for preventing the pork from drying out. The old temperatures for when pork is done were actually too high, so drying out was a real possibility. I agree with you that this particular workaround is not the best solution.

As for your recipe. You could probably use prepared Pepperidge Farm stuffing mix as the bottom layer. It might need more liquid if it needs to bake longer than the usual baking time for a pan of stuffing. For reference, I bake my Pepperidge Farm stuffing at 350 F for about 20 minutes. Depending on the thickness of the pork, you might need to bake your stuffing and pork chops longer than that.

As long at the pork registers at a safe temperature, there should not be a problem with the stuffing. 145F is recommended.

https://www.usda.gov/media/blog/2011/05/25/cooking-meat-check-new-recommended-temperatures#:~:text=minute%20rest%20time.-,Cook%20pork%2C%20roasts%2C%20and%20chops%20to%20145%20%C2%BAF%20as%20measured,best%20quality%E2%80%94juicy%20and%20tender.

If you want to make your own stuffing, King Arthur has a recipe for a "stuffing" bread in which the spices are in the bread, then the bread is turned into stuffing.

Best wishes as you work to recreate a recipe that hits all the memory circuits. I've learned when doing so that it does not have to be the exact recipe, just one that tastes good, is healthy, and invokes the past.

[Mike Nolan]

Pork is underutilized nearly as much as it is misunderstood. Aside from bacon and ham, I probably only cook pork 3 or 4 times a year.

I used to buy the Smithfield smoked pork chops and cook them on the outdoor grill, where they only take a few minutes, but they're really high in sodium and when I started cutting back on sodium (per doctor) that was one of the things that got dropped from the menu.

They're fairly keto-friendly, though. There also seems to be a consensus among those on keto that increasing electrolytes is a key to avoiding the 'keto flu', and that usually includes going well over the recommended levels on salt. I may work them back into the repertoire, they're a fast meal prep. (I like them with applesauce, though, and applesauce is NOT very keto-friendly, but if I limit it to a tablespoon or two, it shouldn't break the carb bank.)

[Italiancook]

Thanks for all the info, BakerAunt. I read the article and was surprised it says to temp the meat at the heat source. Most TV chefs pull the pan out of the oven to temp the protein. I've always temped mine in the oven, so I'm glad the experts agree with me.

I printed KAF's recipe for the stuffing bread. Thanks for telling me about it. Looks like a simple bread to bake. I'm certain I'll go that route, although it's helpful to know how you bake Pepperidge Farm stuffing. I usually buy 3/4" pork chops unless I'm slow-cooking them with sauerkraut. Then I ask for the thick pork chops, and I don't know what size they are. My first test run trying to replicate my mom's stuffing & pork chops will be the 3/4". I'll let you know how the bread works out, but it'll be October before I can experiment.

[Author]

Posts