…..and a sprinkle of love

I don’t know about you, but sometimes I get into a cooking rut! I just throw together the same 5-6 meals  over and over again. My family is very slow to complain about what they are eating, but you can just tell that there is no real excitement about the same meal they just ate 4 days ago. I have found that with a little extra effort you can put together a simple meal that will make your family or guests feel extra special!

To start, you are going to need 1 green pepper, 1 large onion, 1 package button mushrooms and 2 cloves of garlic.

I have about a 1 1/2- 2 pounds boneless pork chops that are about 1 1/2 inches thick, salt, pepper, garlic powder and turmeric.

Wash the green pepper and mushrooms. Thinly slice the green pepper, onion and mushrooms and finely chop the garlic. In a frying pan add 1 Tablespoon of olive oil and heat over med-high heat. When pan is hot add the green pepper, and onion. sautee’ for 4 minutes and then add the mushrooms.

Sautee’ for an addition 2-3 minutes or until the veggies are just tender. Add garlic. Remove veggies from pan and set aside. Add 2 Tablespoons of olive oil to the same frying pan and heat on med-high heat.

I sliced my pork chops in half because they were a little to thick for me and it greatly reduces the cooking time. Sprinkle both sides to your liking with salt, pepper, garlic powder and turmeric. Place in pan and let sear for 3-4 minutes and flip pork chops and turn your pan down to med or if browning too much down to med-low.

I like to serve my pork chops with real mashed potatoes. I peeled and washed about 8-9 medium sized potatoes. Cut them in small pieces so they will boil in no time. Place cut potatoes in a large pot and cover potatoes with water up to one inch over potatoes. Cover pot and heat on high heat until potatoes start to boil. Turn heat down to med-high and remove lid enough to let the steam escape. Continue to boil 10-12 minutes or until the potatoes are fork tender (fork easily pierces potato without force or effort).  Drain into a colander and immediately add your drained potatoes back into hot pot. This helps to dry up the excess water on the potatoes.

You want your pork chops to have this nice carmely color.

To the potatoes add 4-5 Tablespoons of butter, 1/2 Cup warm milk, 1/2 Cup sour cream, salt and pepper to taste.

Start mashing:) Yes, making homemade mashed potatoes is a little more work than instant, but oh so worth it! Keep mashing until the potatoes are mostly smooth and really creamy. Add more butter, milk or sour cream to get the desired consistency of your potatoes. I actually ended up adding an extra Tablespoon of butter and a few more splashes of milk. I like to put the lid on the potatoes put it back on the stove to keep it warm until you’re ready to serve.

Get several slices of thinly cut provolone cheese ready. Enough for each pork chop.

When pork chops are cooked through, about 12-15 minutes you are going to want to turn your pan down to low. Place a heaping serving of your sauteed vegetables on top of each pork chop.

Top each pork chop with a slice of provolone cheese. Cover and let the cheese melt and get all deliciously gooey.

Serve right away with your delicious creamy sour cream mashed potatoes. From ordinary to ‘fancy’ in no time!

I hope you and your family and friends enjoy this simple yet delicious dish! We have also enjoyed this dish with tri- colored bell peppers and when I am serving just the adults, I will sometimes substitute a little pepper jack cheese. Have fun with it and make it your own. This recipe was made to accommodate our family of 5 with enough left over for daddy to bring to work the next day.   What is one of your family favorite meals?  I would love to know!  Please leave a comment or a link to your favorite recipe. Thank you for taking the time to visit!

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