Sunday Best: French Onion Pork Chops

We had some pork chops, and I didn't know what to do with them, so I did this.  

Ingredients: 
4 Pork chops
2 cloves garlic (minced)
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 package french onion soup mix (one ounce per package)
2 tbsp dry red wine or sherry 
1 c (or the can that the soup came in) milk 
1 canister french fried onions 
Olive oil 
salt & pepper

Put 2 tbsp olive oil in a skillet big enough to hold 4 pork chops.  Heat oil on medium, and add garlic plus a pinch of salt.  Cook garlic just until you start to smell it and it gets soft.  Evacuate the garlic and whatever oil sticks to it into a small mixing bowl.  

Return the pan to medium heat.  There should be a small amount of oil coating the pan, and maybe a little garlic, which is fine.  Add pork chops and sear each side until brown on each side, about 5 minutes each side.  

Meanwhile, add sherry and french onion soup mix to the garlic/oil in the mixing bowl and whisk together.  Add mushroom soup mix and milk.  You can add some canned mushrooms at this point too, but it's not necessary.  Whisk everything together.  

When the pork chops are seared, add the soup mixture to the skillet, making sure everything is coated.  Heat on medium until it just starts to bubble, then turn to low and cook about 20 minutes, until pork chops are cooked through (no longer pink).  

Just before serving, top with french fried onions for a little crunch.  I served these with pork stuffing (just good old Stove-Top) and peas, with stovetop apple cobbler for dessert (I'll put that recipe on here eventually).  

Husband review: five stars.  Good enough for me! 

SPACE NAILS

I loved this idea, and tried/failed to make space nails after Neil Armstrong died.  They were awful so I tried again and succeeded.  This is how I did it:

1. Trim/file/clean nails, add a base coat (I used black nail polish so I wanted a barrier between my nails and the black to keep them from staining).

2.) Paint nails black.  Don't worry too much about being messy, you're going to have to clean it up later anyway.

3.  Pour a teeny bit of white nail polish onto a piece of paper.  Using a makeup sponge, dip the very corner in the polish and dab most of the excess off on the paper.  Dab the polish on your black nails in a random swirly pattern.

3. Repeat the process with two or three other colors, working quickly before the polish dries.    Start with the darker colors first and work your way up to lighter.  I used a) deep purple (blend in the edges of the white) b. light blue c. bright green (very sparingly).  Tap with clean part of the sponge to blend the colors.  Add small amounts of black the same way to blend the colors.  

  

 4.  Using a toothpick, make teensy dots randomly around the darker parts of your nail (in space, not in the nebula!)

When everything is dry, top with glitter topcoat (or just a regular topcoat if you don't have glitter).  Repeat for your toes! :-D

I fixed it!

My glove box latch was all messed up, and it meant my glove box was permanently open.  so I went online, did some research, and got the new part/installed it all by myself, saving about $40 on the part and labor.  Here it is:

New Latch

First, removed all the screws holding the interior panel of the glove box on.  There were four of them.

This is the broken latch.  The hook part had completely busted off.

Put on the new unit and screwed everything back together.  Now all I need to do is clean my damn car!

Using toothpaste to clean headlights

My headlights were all dull and oxidized so I gave them a quick spiffing up. Tools: old washcloth, cheap toothpaste (I used Colgate cavity control, just the travel size).

I think it worked just as well as one of those kits, and it cost me $.99 for the toothpaste and about five minutes of work. Sweet.

Results:

I refuse to buy a new car.

I have a 99 Chevy Cavalier.  Her name is THUNDERCOCK.  Yes, you have to spell it with all capital letters.  She was my first car, and I bought her for cash in 2007 for $5000.  She gets 28 MPG. She is very old, with 148,000 miles (most of which comes from a yearly or twice-yearly trip to Montana, 1000 miles one way).  Now, I absolutely refuse to buy a new car right now, mostly because I don't ever want a car payment.  I am of the opinion that even a hefty bill at the repair shop for a new A/C (which I got in 2010 for $900) or a new transmission is still cheaper than even an inexpensive car payment.  If I get a used $8000 car, with 6% APR and put down $1000, my payments will be about $200 per month.  That's $2400 that I'm obliged to pay for three years or more.  However, even if I have to pay $2000 for car repairs, it still i cheaper than having a car payment.


THUNDERCOCK is pretty sick, and I figure a few simple repairs will be able to extend her life a little longer.  I am slowly bringing the old girl back to life with some fixes.  Here is my list: 

1.) Sun visor:  a new visor is close to $130 new.  I found some on eBay for about $50, but it's still pricey for me at the moment for something purely cosmetic.  In the meantime, I got a cover/CD holder for $8.  It covers the parts that are shredded, and has a place to store my CDs and even has a slot for a pen.

2.) Glove box latch:  The glove box latch was always crappy, and would sometimes pop open if I would go over a big bump.  One day it just completely crapped out and broke, leaving the glove box permanently open and flinging my stuff out into my car.  I got a replacement latch on eBay for $15, which I will be able to install pretty easily.

3.) Tune-up:  The car likes to stall out at stop lights, and chug and thunk whenever I'm idling anywhere.  I did a bunch of research trying to figure out what's wrong with it.  I'm pretty cheap so I didn't want to pay for a repair that I didn't really need.  Luckily, I found that a lot of my problems can be solved with a general tune-up, which I had an estimate at around $150 for my car.  It's expensive, but hopefully it will take care of the engine problems.

That's all there is for right now.  I'm waiting to see if the tune up works in case I need to look into a fuel system cleaning or see what else they find.  I REFUSE TO BUY A NEW CAR!

Perfected Mac & Cheese Recipe

It's been a while. I've just been lazy maybe.

I thought I'd put my signature dish on here, because I've finally perfected the recipe. Here it is:

1 package short pasta (macaroni, shells, whatever you prefer).
3c shredded cheddar, Monterey or Colby cheese + 1/2 cup for top
1tbsp cornstarch
1/2 c milk
3-4 slices Swiss or Munster cheese
1 tbsp butter
1tsp salt
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp brown or yellow mustard
Pepper to taste
1/2 tube ritz crackers

1) cook pasta according to package directions, drain (don't rinse). Preheat oven to 350.

2) In a heavy saucepan, melt butter on very low heat. Add Worcestershire sauce and mustard and spices,
stir until totally mixed. Add milk.

3) Coat all but 1/2 c of the shredded cheese lightly in corn starch (it keeps the cheese from getting all gloppy).

4) add cheese 1/2 cup at a time, letting it melt completely before adding more.

5) turn off the heat and add pasta back into the pan. Add a bit at a time, so you know the pasta is evenly coated. Sometimes it will take all the pasta, sometimes not.

6) pour half the pasta into a dutch oven or casserole. Place cheese slices evenly on top, then add the remaining pasta (you don't have to do this, but I think it makes it better.).

7) fill the casserole evenly, then top with remaining cheese. Crunch up the ritz crackers roughly and sprinkle on top.

8) cover and bake 30 minutes. It is ll cooked, you just need to make sure the cheese is all melted. Take the lid off for the last five minutes to get the top nice and crunchy.

Let the whole thing rest for 10 minutes or so before serving for the best consistency.

I like to serve it with sliced ham on Sundays, or chicken strips during the week. It makes absolutely amazing leftovers too. Enjoy!

Watching the Oscars

It's boring but it gives me an excuse not to clean.