Teary Eyed Fried Pork Chops

We mad them last night. They were delicious. I am not much for trying new things, and it drives my husband crazy, so I am trying to mix it up a bit and use the same stuff we usually eat, with a different taste. Here is the recipe: 

Ingredients

• 1 cup corn oil for frying
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon garlic salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 4 (3/4 inch) thick pork chops
• 1 cup pepper sauce (such as Frank's Red Hot®)

You basically fry them like regular pork chops, in a pan. We used pancake mix instead of flour to give it that sweet and spicy taste. Then, we put it on a sandwich to cool it down a bit and added shredded cheese. It was truly amazing. Without the bread it isn't TOO spicy, but your eyes do water and your mouth will burn. Either way, they are so good. I wish we could have them again tonight. 

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Teary-Eyed-Fried-Pork-Chops/Detail.aspx

A Little Note On The Chicken

We had it again the other night, but but my husband cooked it in a pot so it was more like deep frying it. Then we added the rice in after it was cooked and mixed it all together in the Italian seasoning. It was heaven. Also, we Love to add hot sauce to our meals. It's good for you and it adds more flavor. I was afraid it would ruin the taste of the Italian seasoning and chicken, but it enhanced it. 

*Just a little side note, when buying hot sauce, it is healthier not to buy anything like Texas Pete that has preservatives in it, such as Xantham gum. You want something like Tabasco. The only ingredients are red peppers, salt, and vinegar. And if you are cooking with it a lot, I suggest buying the larger bulk bottles. It turns out cheaper, and there is a bigger opening for easy pouring than there is on the smaller bottles. 

Spaghetti and Meat Sauce

So here is another recipe we tried. We tweaked it a bit though. I got the recipe from allrecipes.com. It is called Mariu's Spaghetti with Meat Sauce. It was actually pretty good. Although, considering how much beef broth was poured into it, on accident, it was a little watery. That and the fact that we didn't have much time for it to sit and simmer. Other than that, it was pretty good. Here is the recipe and link to the website, and out to the side, I will put what we did to it. (We are picky eaters, but we Love flavor.)

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil (Put it in while you are cooking it, even though cooking it is believed to remove the nutrients. You can also add some after cooking, if desired.)
  
• 1/2 cup minced onion (We chopped up big slices that we could very easily remove. I am not a fan of onions, but I like the flavor.)
  
• 1 clove garlic, minced (I have a picture of a minced clove of garlic. For those of you who don't know what a clove is. Buy one thing of garlic. It will be divided into parts. One part is a clove. I will try to find a picture of that.)
  
• 1/2 cup minced celery (Again, we chopped it up in big pieces.)
  
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 pound lean ground beef (We doubled the meat. If you double the meat, you probably want to double everything else.)
  
• 1/2 teaspoon white sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon dried mint (We had to skip out on the mint. We couldn't find it in any stores.)
  
• 6 ounces fresh chopped mushrooms (We skipped on. I do not like mushrooms or the flavor they produce.)
  
• 1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
• 2 (10.5 ounce) cans beef broth
• 2 teaspoons dried basil (We had to buy the seasoning instead of buying fresh because we could not find it fresh.)

We mixed it all in together in a crock pot, after the meat was browned, of course. We let it simmer on high for 45 minutes. (It would have been better to simmer for a few hours or even all day.) And then made the noodles and mixed the two. I also made garlic toast using butter and garlic salt. I am thinking of buying a garlic press so that next time I can make real garlic toast. It was actually a pretty cheap-to-make sauce, considering the cost of a can of tomato sauce. And some of the stuff you can save for the next time, like garlic. We are also able to use the celery for other things and the onion.

There are different directions on the website for making the sauce in a pan, but I much prefer the crock pot. Just click on the link to read more about how to cook it that way. 

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Marius-Spaghetti-with-Meat-Sauce/Detail.aspx?src=etaf

It is important to keep your vegetables in water for a crisp salad, but not for this, since it is just going to get cooked. However, my husband was insistent.

This is minced. I couldn't even tell I was eating  it.

I know it looks gross, but it is good. This was before the meat was added.

And...The result. Like I said, a little watery, but it was pretty good. Definitely better than the can.