Pan Fried Pork Chops

I hope everyone had a great Christmas!! Now that Christmas is over, everything is beginning to settle back down. The last of the gatherings are finishing up, the Christmas lights are coming down, the returning of gifts have begun and there's just one last party on New Year's Eve. Oh, we can't forget the sales that are still going on at department stores. They really want us to spend our money now don't they?

After eating my weight in delicious fancy party food, let's bring things back down to earth with something simple and comforting like Pan fried pork chops! Pan fried pork chops are so easy to prepare that you can cook these in your sleep without a recipe. Season, flour and fry...that's it. This is a method everyone should have in their back pocket to make delicious food on the fly. In the words of Ina Garten, "How easy is that?"

AJ's Secret

• For this particular recipe, I used thin pork chops because they cook quickly.
• I find some people suggest seasoning the flour instead of the meat. "WHY?" I say! Seasoning the meat ensures the MEAT IS SEASONED. Sure, you can season the flour but is the main star the flour? I think not. I chose not to season the flour for this recipe because the coating is so thin that seasoning the pork chop was good enough.

Pan Fried Pork Chops

Recipe by Me

Ingredients
6-8 Pork loin chops (thin)
1 cup all-purpose flour
~2 tsp salt
~1 tsp pepper
~2 tsp garlic powder
Extra salt, pepper and garlic powder
1/4 to 1/2 cup Vegetable/Canola oil

Directions
Season both sides of the pork loin chops evenly with the salt, pepper and garlic powder. Proceed to dredge each pork chop in the flour and set aside.

Heat the vegetable oil/canola oil in a large skillet on medium heat. Once the oil is heated, add in 2 to 3 pork chops depending on the size of the skillet. Cook the pork chops for about 3 to 4 minutes on each side until golden brown and no red/pink juice is seen on the pork chop. Set aside the cooked pork chops on a plate and repeat with the remaining pork chops.

-Aaron John

The BLT Sandwich

Sandwiches are some of the simplest and easiest way to have a great meal. No recipe? No problem. You practically don't need any recipes. Just take two slices of bread and put whatever you want in between.  Have you seen the commercial where the kids were in the kitchen with their mom, making sandwiches using ketchup, peanut butter, and whatever they found? I guess, to each its own. But, one of the tastiest and simplest of sandwiches is the BLT.

What's not to love with a BLT? A sandwich made out of bacon? Sign me up. Put as much bacon as you want, as much mayo as you like. Hey, I didn't say this is a health food. But, there is lettuce and tomato for you health gurus. It's your sandwich, make it your way.

In other news, today I found out that I was nominated in a local contest for Evening Magazine's "The Best of Western Washington" in the food blog category!!  Because I just found out today I'm still in the process of claiming the nomination but I'm behind in the votes and need your help!

Please go over and vote!! :) Here's the link! http://best.king5.com/aj-s-cooking-secrets/biz/652307

The BLT Sandwich

"Recipe" by Me

(For 1 sandwich)

Ingredients

5 slices of Bacon, cooked and drained

2 leaves from a head of Iceberg Lettuce

2 slices of Vine Ripen Tomatoes

2 slices of of Bread (White, sourdough, etc)

1 to 2 tbsp Mayo

Directions

Prepare all the ingredients. Wash the lettuce and tomatoes. Dry and tear the lettuce so that it fits the bread, the larger the pieces, the better. Slice the tomatoes about 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick and set aside. Finally, I found when using white bread, if you slice the cooked bacon in half, it fits perfectly on the bread. 

To assemble the sandwich, toast the bread until golden brown. Spread mayo on both slices of bread. Layer 4 of the halved slices of bacon horizontally across one slice of the mayo covered bread. Next, layer another 4 bacon halves vertically over the layer of bacon. Finish it off with 2 more halves of bacon in any direction. Next layer on the lettuce to fit and add the tomatoes on top. Top with the other slice of mayo covered bread. Simple, simple, simple.

-Aaron John