First day of work = treating myself to pork chops

Monday morning I put on my favorite sensible pumps and went into the office for the first time. It was both exciting and nerve-wracking...and then back to exciting. Most of the day was spent in training, but I still got a feel of the office - the feeling was good. I was so excited that on my way home I decided to ditch my leftover spaghetti and swing by the grocery store and pick up whatever looked the most yummy.

After wandering the aisles for a while, I settled on pork chops with brussel sprouts and a baked potato. I had an alternative motive for making these sprouts - on new years Ian actually liked the brussel sprouts we had El Arbol  and I wanted to try and replicate them while he was still out of town. Things I knew about the infamous sprouts: they were buttery and lemony and slightly crunchy. Here's what I did:

5 brussel sprouts, cut in half
1 TBS butter, melted and poured on top
salt, lemon pepper and onion powder
Pop in the oven for 30 minutes @ 325 on the top shelf and eat.

3.5 out of 5 on the Yum scale

I didn't quite get there, but it wasn't bad for a first attempt. It was crunchy in the right way, but I didn't quite get the lemony-ness. I think next time I'll try adding some lemon juice as well.

Next up was the pork.  I didn't have time to marinate since it was an impulse dinner, so I just dropped it into the pan sans seasoning to brown (3.5 mins on each side). Then I took it out sprionkled it with salt and pepper, then cooked up garlic in the pork juice with a TBS of thyme. The pork then went back in pan and into the oven at 325 for 20 mins, flipping it at 10 mins. It was not as good as MC's [Ms. Child's] 24 hour marinade plus wine sauce pork chops...but it took a quarter of the time.

Right before I put it in the oven
4 out of 5 on Yum scale

The last piece to the puzzle was a baked potato. I love everything potatoes and I LOVE baked potatoes. I had a baked potato on Friday and I was ready for another one Monday. I like them that much. All I did was microwave it for 3 minutes and then toss it in with the BS for the 30 minutes. Then I stuffed it with some cheddar cheese, salt and pepper then ate it all up. YUM

5 out of 5 on Yum scale - but I'm biased

It was a pretty great dinner, even for one, and i only took me about 45 minutes with prep and puttering around my kitchen with a glass of wine (a major element of most of my cooking). Hopefully I will get excited at work more often and make more yummy improvised dinners!