Thanks Real Mom Kitchen

For quite some time I have followed Real Mom Kitchen, a food blog.  Her recipes tend to be the type of food I cook, but usually with a little more flair and flavor.  I made her stuffed pork chops today for dinner and they were amazing.  She has a great index where I have found several specific ideas and recipes.  Enjoy.

Stuffed Pork Chops

 Ingredients

• 4 -5 bone in pork chops (about 1½ lbs total weight)
• salt and pepper
• 1 Tbsp canola oil
• 4 cups sandwich bread, cut into ½ inch cubes
• ¼ tsp dried sage
• 2 Tbsp chopped onion
• ¼ cup water
• ¼ cup melted butter
• 1 (10 3.4 oz) can cream of mushroom soup
• ⅓ cup water
• 1 Tbsp. soy sauce

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Season pork chops with salt and pepper and place in a hot skillet coated with the 1 Tbsp canola oil. Cook pork chops just until both sides are brown on the outside.
3. Place pork chops in a 9 x 13 baking dish lined with foil.
4. In a bowl, toss the bread cubes with the sage. Then fold in the onion, butter, and ¼ cup water. Place a mound of the bread mixture on top of each pork chop.
5. In another bowl, combine the mushroom soup, ⅓ cup water, and soy sauce together. Pour mixture over stuffing/chops.
6. Bake at 350 degrees for 1½ hours or until pork chops are tender.

Notes

This can be prepared ahead of time and baked later. Just prepare and place in the fridge. Remove from fridge 2 hours before baking and prepare as above.  

I added some broth to the bread crumb mixture to make it a little more moist. 

Zion National Park

For President's Day weekend, Tim and I decided to run away from the cold and smog of Utah County and wound up in St. George.  We came with no plans and a lot of free time.  One I took care of the required TJ Maxx shopping trip, the real fun could begin.  Tim has never been to Zion National Park and it has been a long time since I have.  The weather was perfect so off we went.  We had Luke's jogging stroller which worked great for the trail we decided to "hike", but next time we will bring a pack so that we can do some of the more challenging trails.  I am a Utah girl, spent my life in the state, and am still amazed by the beauty and grandeur that surrounds me.

Ten Months

"Making the decision to have a child is momentous.  It is to decide to have your heart go walking around outside your body."  Elizabeth Stone

The ten month photo shoot was a little rough, we left out of town and are out of our element.  We finally made time today - when he was hungry and ready for a nap so I am happy we got the shots we did.  This boy continues to amaze me and has me completely obsessed, it's hard to imagine our life without him.  So here are the highlights of the month:

*He finally got his first tooth.  No fever, no fussing, just appeared one morning.  Sorry, no pics, he barely even lets us look.
*He's up to 23 pounds and has almost grown out of his infant car seat.  It will be sad to have him transition into a big kid seat.
*Started giving his mama kisses - talk about melt your heart - they are the perfect, baby, slobbery kind.
*Had his first ear infection - definitely a low light but the sweet boy still slept through the night and was even a little snuggly.
*Has turned into a total flirt - when we are in public he spends most of his time trying to catch the eye of whoever is near so that he can smile and laugh and generally entertain anyone in sight.  We get so many comments on how cute and funny he is.  Definitely a ham!
*The perfect boy does have a flaw, he has started to throw fits - he definitely has a mind of his own and when he doesn't get what he wants, he is quick to let us know.
*He is totally obsessed with my phone, see above, some of his best fits are when I take the phone away.
*Not too interested in crawling, he will get up on all fours and rock, and does a lot of downward dog, but mostly he can roll wherever he wants.
*This boy loves his daddy - when I get him up in the morning the first thing he does is look for Tim and needs a hello from him before we can go on with his day.  They are total partners and there couldn't be anything more sweet to watch than my two best boys together.

Beauty

Luke - Valentines

I really can't say enough about how amazing Jami is.  We had the most fun at this shoot and I absolutely love how the photos turned out.  He is becoming a total ham and I love that she caught so much of his personality.