Pork Chops - Dinner in 30 minutes

I've had several friends ask me how to cook a meal so everything is ready at the same time. The simple answer is: practice.  And then there is the realization that's it's never really all ready at the same time. You just get it as close as you can.

Tonight I made an old standby: pork chops, rice and broccoli.



I started at 4:45 with the rice. 1 3/4 cups water in a pot with chicken bouillon. Once the water boiled I added 1 cup basmati rice and reduced to a simmer.

While the rice began to simmer I chopped the broccoli and put it in a small pot with an inch or two of water.  I know I should have a steamer... but I don't so I "boil-steam" my veggies.  

Up to this point, my daughter was happily pretending to cook in her play kitchen. However as soon as I turned the burner on under the broccoli she appeared in the kitchen and proudly announced "I pooped!" So off we went to change it.

After some diaper wrangling and washing of hands I was ready to start the pork chops. I put two tablespoons of olive oil in a large frying pan and turned the heat on high.  As soon as the oil was hot I reduced the heat to medium and placed the pork chops in the pan.  (I use thin cut boneless pork chops.  They are only about 1/8 -1/4 inch thick) I put a little garlic salt and pepper on each pork chop.  

I also added a few drops of Braggs Liquid Aminos to each pork chop.  I used to use Soy Sauce which in my opinion makes for great pork chops, but a few weeks ago I went gluten free, sugar free and a lot of other things free so the soy sauce is out for now. 

I cooked the pork chops for 2-3 minutes before turning them over. Once they have been flipped I add a few more drops of the Braggs Liquid Aminos to each chop and again cook for 2-3 minutes.  At this point it was 5:05 and the rice was just about done. Of course I had forgotten to set a timer so I had to keep checking the rice to see if the water had been absorbed. Once it had been I removed it from the heat.  I also turned the heat off the broccoli, drained, returned the pot and put a lid on it to keep it warm.

At this point the pork chops were probably done, but I like my meat well done so I flipped them a few more times until they were nicely browned.  While I was doing this my daughter came back to the kitchen let me know that she had found some of the beads that mommy and daddy said "were all gone" a few weeks ago.  As I am flipping pork chops I tried to convince her that the rest really are all gone (we threw them away weeks ago) and she insists they must be somewhere because she found these under the rocking chair in her bedroom.  I need a few more minutes to get dinner ready so I send her off on a hunt for more which I secretly hoped she wouldn't find.

It was then 5:10 and everything was cooked.  All that was left was to serve it up.  Here is a picture of my husband's plate. I ate some of the quinoa I made yesterday since I can't eat the bouillon in the rice... that gluten stuff hides in the weirdest things. 

I managed to corral my daughter to the table... along with those three miraculous beads that came back from the dead. 

She took one look at her plate and with a big smile said "Mommy what am I going to eat first??" Since she has been on a kick of frowning and saying "I don't want that" I counted this as a small victory.  I made a meal we all enjoyed and did it in 30 minutes.