Recipe: Basil Pork Chops

I don't like pork chops. I had a bad experience with some in the early 80's and haven't eaten them since. But they were on sale this week at King Soopers, and Hubby likes them, so I did this recipe for him, in the crockpot as usual. HE said it tasted pretty good.

Ingredients:
4 pork chops
1 cup water
1 tablespoon whole cloves
1/2 medium onion, chopped
2 tablespoons minced dried basil
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 bell/sweet pepper, sliced into strips

Directions:
Spray or oil the bottom of the crockpot. Sprinkle the cloves on the bottom of the crockpot. Place the porkchops and onion in the crockpot. Add water. Mix basil and olive oil to a paste and spread across the top of the chops. Cook on low for 6-8 hours. Add pepper about an hour before serving. (At this time I also added about a large handful of whole mushrooms because Hubby loves mushrooms.)

The porkchops came off the bone so be careful when serving. I'm sure this could be modified to pan frying or baking.

I modified a holiday ham recipe from a scandanavian cookbook.

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I also made baked potatoes last night, and a pot-roast (I sure do love my double-crockpot!). The Kid ate a baked potato with lots of sour cream, carrots, pumpkin seeds, and GF butter-bread. I'm makig taco meat tonight to serve with corn tortillas (for Hubby and me) and for the Kid, who can't have corn and doesn't like beef, he'll get baked beans with an organic hot dog cut up in them. For tomorrow's breakfast, I'll place some GF oats and amaranth in a crockpot with water, which will cook overnight. Yum!

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We've named our quail: Ella is the one with the bad eye (which is getting better) because she loves to sing (after Ella Fitzgerald - named by Hubby). Pecka is the other female, named by the Kid because she likes to peck at the blue plastic of their cage. I named who we think is the boy ... Nervous Ned, because he likes to pace. He spent most of yesterday trying to fly up to the perchs/poles towards the top of the cage, and by late afternoon and about 40 tries, he's succeeded twice. Odd quail.

No eggs last night or this morning. Could be because we moved the cages from the living room to the garage. They are right across from the Angora Rabbit so they can keep each other company. Also, so we don't track hay and birdseed into the apartment. Quail don't like to be moved much so they must be settling down. Blanca, the bunny, was a bit wary about her noisy neighbors but this morning seemed to be better about it.

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We bought an imitation Wii for Christmas... 2 actually, called "Wireless Sport Plus" and "Wireless Fit". Finally got them hooked up yesterday, and had some fun last night. Hubby and the Kid played horseshoes, and then while the Kid got ready for bed, Hubby and I played bean-bag toss. It was great fun, but we really shouldn't play them so late at night. Took forever to get the Kid calmed down to get to bed. Wonder if he slept last night? He just got up so I'll ask him when he's coherent. (He says "good".)

Hopefully, we can use these "games" during the day to help the Kid get rid of some of his extra energy, and help Hubby and I get healthy.

I've been sticking with being gluten-free, although I crave pizza and burgers pretty often. Found a great GF sub for wheat pizza crusts, but not thrilled with the GF burger buns. Still working on it. Meanwhile, I've considerably cut back on cow's milk products. Still love my swiss, provolone and mozzarella cheese tho! My weight loss seems to have stopped; probably because I'm sucking on cough drops all day. My mouth still hurts from my oral surgery last week; wonder of my cough-drop sucking is contributing to that?

Guess that's it for now. Enjoy the pork chops! Vikki