Tonight's dinner - was the bomb! Here's what I did...

Diced 1 large Onion
Sliced 1 Yellow Pepper
Sliced 1 Green Pepper
Sliced 4 small Tomatoes
1 small can of sliced mushrooms
1 can cream of mushroom soup
Salt
Pepper
Tuscan Sunset Seasoning (Penzey's Spices)
Thick Pork Chops

Heat cast iron skillet in oven. Cure as needed. Spice the pork chops and sear in the cast iron skillet with olive oil. Turning to cook through most of the way. Set chops aside on plate. Add onions, spices and more olive oil, cook until translucent and browned on the edges. Add in peppers and cook until softened. Add in tomatoes and cook down slightly, adding more spices. Throw in the mushrooms and the cream of mushroom soup and let it all brew (medium heat by the way). Slice meat away from chops and cut into serving chunks and add back into the mixture. Cook until chops are done. Sprinkle mozzarella cheese over everything and serve with warm homemade bread with butter. Bon appetite!

What made this particular dinner even more successful, was the fat that I did it all without the benefit of any recipe or memorized one (at least not on purpose). I knew which order to put in the veggies and I was patient enough to let them cook through - something that I have been struggling with. The dinner ended up very rich, creamy and spicy (taste not heat) and very, very filling. 1 large pork chop and small pork chop fed all 3 of us and we had full plates.

4 potatoes, scrubbed and sliced 1/4 inch thick
12 oz mushrooms of choice (I used baby bella)
4 tablespoons of olive oil, divided
4 tablespoons of grated Parmesan cheese, divided
Garlic powder, rosemary, salt and pepper, Penzy's Tuscan Sunset (Italian Season blend) to taste
3 chicken hind quarters

Preheat oven to 425, Toss potatoes and mushrooms with 2 1/2 tablespoons oil, 2 tablespoons cheese, 2 teaspoons of garlic powder 2 teaspoons rosemary and 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Arrange mixture to form one layer on large baking dish. Bake 15 minutes or until potatoes are lightly browned, set aside.

Meanwhile, in large skillet (I used the old cast iron one), heat remaining oil and add chicken pieces. Season with salt, pepper, Tuscan Sunset and cook until browned on both sides.

Arrange chicken on layer of potatoes in baking dish, drizzle juices from skillet over everything, bake an addition 20-25 minutes until chicken is cooked through.

Serve chicken with salad if desired. I did this tonight with a Caesar salad and homemade croutons (see previous post).

This was a wonderful meal, as filling as any Italian dish I've made so far, but also "lighter". Tonight, I was my own sous chef and so used a couple instruments for the first time ever or for the first time in year. A mandolin and a grater. The fresh Parmesan cheese really had some great taste to it as well and contributed to the whole dish - I had grated some over the salad as well and tied the two dishes together very well IMO.

One of the things I've noticed on the competitive cooking shows is the use of small things for big flavor impact on normally simple dishes. So with this in mind, for dinner tonight, I will be serving a Caesar salad on the side. For the salad this afternoon, I've made homemade croutons.

Few slices of my wife's homemade artisan bread.

Melt 3 tablespoons of butter, mix in a heavy dose of Penzy's Tuscan Sunset (Italian Seasoning blend), garlic powder and basil. Bake at 300 degrees for 10 minutes take out of heat.

Sprinkle freshly grated Parmesan cheese over slices and drizzle a couple of tablespoons of virgin olive oil over everything. Put back in the oven for another 10-15 minutes until golden and crispy with the cheese melted well into the bread.

Let cool and then cut into crouton size pieces. Store for use in plastic bag in fridge.

Later tonight or tomorrow I'll report on the Chicken Tuscany I'm making for dinner tonight and how big (or not) a hit these croutons were.

In the rarest of times, I slept in this morning until my wife came home from work at lunch. In a near panic of what to fix her, I saw my virgin olive oil and tomatoes near the stove and got this great idea. Or at least for me it was a great idea.

In no time flat, I had the olive oil heating on the stove in the cast iron skillet and cut up some onions which went in. Then a yellow pepper was cut into strips and a lid was put over the veggies as I cut up the tomato. The diced tomato went into the pot and was recovered for a couple of minutes to soften the veggies up and then left over shredded roast beef was tossed in and stirred. Some basil, pepper and Penzy's Tuscan Sunset seasoning was tossed in and covered to heat up.

Served with some left over biscuits from the holiday, it was a quick, simple meal. The meal itself is not what makes me go "oh look what I did!" It was the fact that I came up with something that quickly and knew what I needed to do - such as which order the veggies needed to go in and cook to soften up. That the juices from the roast beef would make a light broth to simmer with veggies and along with the spices would give it flavor.

The only thing I forgot was to put salt into it. In my mind the roast beef would be salty and thus take care of itself, but I forgot that my wife doesn't usually use much if any salt in cooking as I tend to salt things heavier than she likes afterwards. Even so, I am still patting myself on the back for this one.

As a bonus, with my wife's advice (though I caught on and was able to translate the idea into flesh), the left overs provided a base for a Beef and Vegetable Stew tonight, by throwing the leftover lunch into the crock pot, along with a jar of Beef broth left over from when the roast was originally cooked! So two meals, same ingredients and using left overs. For me, this is momentous and kind of a green check mark on my internal grading system on how well I am picking up on this whole cooking thing.

Serves 5-6

6 chicken thighs de-boned and cut into full bite sizes
1 large tomato diced (will want to make this 2 instead of 1)
5 baby carrots shredded
1 large onion diced
Salr, Pepper, Tuscan Sunset Italian Seasoning (Penzy's), Paprika, Basil
1/4 cup chicken broth
3/4 cup whipping cream
1 tablespoon of butter

1) After preparations made from Sous Chef, bring 3 cups of water to boil with some saffron threads. Add 1 1/2 cup rice and cook. Put chicken pieces into heated Cast Iron Skillet (14") over medium heat with virgin olive oil. Spice as desired, cover turning once. Remove chicken pieces to separate plate to rest.

2) Drain juices, leaving a thin layer on bottom of skillet. Add onions, cook until beginning to become translucent. Add in shredded carrots, cover and let soften. Add in tomato and spice as desired. Cover and cook until everything is tender and cooked through.

3) Add 1/4 coup chicken broth and 3/4 cup whipping cream, pouring slowly and mixing well with vegetables. Add in tablespoon of butter, cover for 3 minutes, mixing once and adding any spices as desired. Replace chicken pieces and cook for additional 4 minutes. Serve over rice.

The biggest thing about this meal was that I get it. At least in this case. My middle son, Caleb is here for Christmas week and I was able to make one of my country Italian meals I know for him, Jordan, his girlfriend and my wife. Until this time, only my wife has tasted my cooking fresh, with Jordan getting leftovers in the microwave due to work schedules. So it was a neat experience sitting down to eat with everyone today and most everyone having never tasted my cooking before.

I have to say, as with the first time I made this, I did very well. It was better than I have had in many a restaurant and I had nothing to be ashamed of. Rather I was pretty proud of what I had done and felt the warm fuzzies for the first time of having made a wonderful meal for the people that I love. It was obvious they all enjoyed it as well and tonight there is no left overs. For anyone. Including me. I'm so sad. Not.

For the first time, cooking gave me an experience that made me feel important to the role in our family as patriarch. For the first time, cooking wasn't a chore but pleasant as I cooked and spent time with my family talking and joking together. The prep, the cooking, the meal itself was very reminiscent of what you hear what country Italian cooking is all about. Like I said earlier, I got it. And it was awesome.

Where my Cacciatore bombed the other night, this dish rocked it. It was the second time I've cooked this particular dish and this time I didn't do it strictly by the recipe in the book, making it more "mine". With the changes to the original recipe I only did things that I have learned so far so as not to complicate things too much.

1 small onion, chopped
1 red pepper, sliced
1 yellow pepper, sliced
1 pkg mushrooms, sliced
1 can crushed tomatoes
1 can tomato sauce
1 tablespoon flour
small, boneless pork chops (I used 6 in this application)
salt
pepper
Penzy's Tuscan Sunset
Penzy's Spanish Sunrise
paprika
Crisco oil
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 cup rice

In a separate pot, boil 2 cups of water. When boiling throw in 1 cup of rice. Cook as you work on rest of dinner.

In a large cast iron skillet, melt 1 tablespoon of Crisco, brown your pork chops, seasoning to taste each side as you turn once. After browning, take chops out of skillet and set aside on plate. Add in a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil, scrape up giblets left behind by chops and throw in onions and peppers. Stir occasionally until onions are translucent. Toss in mushrooms, crushed tomatoes and tomato sauce. Season to taste as with the meat. Cover and simmer, allowing the sauce to reduce slightly. Put in some flour (1 tablespoon should be plenty) and stir, and put the chops back in the skillet. Cover and simmer for about 10 minutes. Server over rice and with hot crusty bread and butter. Enjoy!

McCormick produces these pre-measured spices and recipe cards for a buck or two a pop. I'm using one tonight to make Chicken Cacciatore and Rice. Recipe below is from the back of the card and I included the pre-measured spices and amount.

1/2 teaspoon Coarse ground black pepper
1 teaspoon Minced garlic
1 teaspoon Marjoram leaves
1/2 teaspoon Oregano Leaves
1/2 teaspoon Crushed Rosemary Leaves
1/2 teaspoon Thyme leaves
^ all included in the McCormick spice card

1/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 lb chicken cut it into 1" cubes
3 tablespoons of olive oil, divided
8 oz. sliced mushrooms
1 medium onion, chopped
1 medium green bell pepper cut into strips
1 can diced tomatoes (substituting a can of stewed tomatoes)
8 oz. tomato sauce

1) Bring 2 cups of water to boil. Add 1 cup rice. Keep eye on it and take off heat when done.
2) Mix flour, salt and pepper in dish. Coat chicken evenly with mixture.
3) Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in large skillet on med-high heat. Add chicken; cook and stir for 5 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove chicken from skillet. Heat remaining tablespoon of oil in skillet and add mushrooms, onions, bell peppers; cook and stir for 5 minutes on med-high heat or until tender.
4) Stir in remaining ingredients and spices. Bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Return chicken to skillet, Reduce heat to low; cover and simmer for 5 minutes or until chicken is heated through. Serve over cooked pasta or rice as desired.

After Dinner report:

The presentation looked beautiful. Unfortunately, while still edible and tasted ok, the cacciatore suffered. In my amateur eagerness, I didn't let things settle and cook long enough, so the onions were still crunchy and sharp, the pepper raw and snappish. While the chicken was done, I breaded it while wet, so the texture wasn't quite right, though it at least was cooked through. I am a little disappointed in my efforts tonight, because cacciatore is one of my favorite Italian meals. Again, while it was edible and tasty, I didn't come close to capturing the goo tastes it deserved.

However, with every low, there is a high. I've had two great dishes, 1 average dish and now this one, since I've been on this discovery of Italian cooking and the odds are still on my side. So, I'll chalk this up as a lesson learned and try again either tomorrow night or the night after.