I love simple cooking. The kind of cooking that can be slung together in a moment. The secret to cooking in today’s busy world is prep. Dinner prep begins with bringing in the groceries. Using tonight’s dinner as an example when I bought the pork chops, I went for the big deal. You know the 12 chops in package for a discount. Once home, they were immediately broken down into freezer ready bags with 4 chops per bag complete with name of item and date written on the outside. So, even if I am running late one evening and walk in the door to hungry people, my normal serving size is already selected. Trust me, you can work miracles from frozen if you are not fighting that huge 12 pack.
For tonight, the new red potatoes got boiled, skinned, and chopped into nice sized chunks then tossed back in the pot to join the green beans (from frozen). Basically, once everything is nice and hot, this is ready to serve.
The pasta for the mac and cheese went on to boil at the same time as the potatoes and were ready to drain pretty close to the same time. I do cheat a bit on the mac and cheese by using shredded cheese blends. My way to do this is to dump the finished pasta into a colander just long enough to drain out most of the water. Then I pour the hot pasta back into the still hot pot. I set that down and start stirring in my cheese blend until everything is good and coated. This happens fast, so you do have to keep things moving. Once coated to your preference, cover and set aside. Check on green beans, if done, cover and set aside.
Frying pork chops is straight forward. I start with a dash or two of olive oil in the frying pan just to get the heat transferring quickly, I set my heat between medium and high, give the chops a good dusting of ground black pepper and garlic. (Use what ever seasonings you prefer. Make it a point to try something new from the last time you cooked pork chops.) Fry until done. A toothpick will provide resistance when poked into a cooked chop. Please make sure to cook all pork products completely.
That was really it, plate and serve. A simple standard dinner from the frig to table in under an hour (normally much faster) without stressing yourself out.
The Cooking Today Show 