Cucumber and Chops

My neighbor just started growing a vegetable garden and since my father-in-law has been watering and watching his house, we were fortunate enough to partake in the fruits (veggies) of the garden. We had some fresh cucumbers and I decided to make a cucumber salad. To go with the cucumber salad, I decided I wanted to make pork chops. I came across this wonderful recipe from Adventures in Home Cooking blog for onion baked pork chops. Father-in-law and Mr. Bear happily devoured the yummy dinner.





Rumbly Tumbly Cucumber Salad



Ingredients
1 large cucumber, thinly sliced
1/2 small red onion, thinly sliced
1 cup white vinegar
3/4 cup water
1/2 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon dried dill, or to taste
Salt and pepper

Toss together the cucumbers and onion in a large bowl. Combine the vinegar, water, and sugar until sugar dissolves. Stir in dill, salt, and pepper, cover, and refrigerate until cold. Be sure to allow the cucumbers to marinate for at least 1 hour.

Note: Recipe measurements are all approximations.


Onion Baked Pork Chops
From: Adventures in Home Cooking



Ingredients
4 pork chops
1 pkg. Lipton onion soup mix
1 egg, well beaten
2/3 cup bread crumbs
2 T. olive oil
Salt
Pepper

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Season pork chops with salt and pepper.

Combine soup mix and bread crumbs. Dip chops in egg and then in bread crumb/onion mixture, coating well. Place in a shallow pan.

Drizzle olive oil onto pork chops. Bake 30 minutes, turning once.

Notes:

• The original recipe called for 2 eggs but I didn't need 2, instead I beat a little bit of milk in with the egg.
• The original recipe also called for butter but I omitted the butter (we don't need the extra calories and it turned out just fine without it).
• Also, i didn't have to bake for as long since they were thin pieces of pork.
  

A different spin on cornbread

My gourmet club met this past weekend. The theme was summer/BBQ. We had great food and wonderful company. Tons of fun!!

I made a salad recipe that I had never ever heard of let alone made, a cornbread salad. You never know how things will turn out when you try a new recipe, especially when you are not quite sure how it should taste. This recipe was definitely a keeper. It is always a good sign when others ask for the recipe. I made a few adjustments to the original recipe: I halved the recipe, used black beans instead of pinto beans, excluded the bacon, and used pre-made ranch dressing.



Cornbread salad
from Allrecipes.com

Ingredients
1 (16 ounce) package cornbread mix
1/2 bottle of ranch dressing
1 (15 ounce) cans black beans, drained
2 tomatoes, chopped
1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper
1/2 cup chopped green onion
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
1 (11 ounce) cans whole kernel corn, drained

Prepare corn bread according to package directions. Cool, crumble, and set aside. (I crumbled about 1/2 of the prepared cornbread)

Place half the crumbled cornbread in the bottom of a large serving dish. Top with half the beans. Layer the beans with half of the tomatoes, green bell pepper, and green onions. Sprinkle with half the cheese, corn, and the salad dressing mixture. Repeat the layers. Cover, and chill at least 2 hours before serving.

Other dishes from the Gourmet Club:

Some appetizers




Bean dip


Beet salad


Gazpacho Soup


BBQ Chicken (with a very good dog watching closely).



We also had some delicious ribs (not pictured). I also forgot to take pictures of the yummy desserts. Next month's theme is Spanish.