In Which I Make My Peace With Cornbread Dressing

21 January 2009 by

Some of y’all might remember that I swore off cornbread dressing after our
unfortunate stomach virus incident this past Thanksgiving. In fact, I was so deeply opposed to cornbread dressing that I made pizzas for Christmas dinner, and I’ve thought more than once that cornbread dressing and I were done forever.

FOREVER.

But 2009 brought new resolve to be faithful in the small things, and one of those small things is to plan and prepare meals for my family without wrecking our grocery budget. Since cornbread dressing is inexpensive to make, I figured it was just a matter of time before it showed up again at our dinner table.

*shudder*

So last week I bought a family pack of pork chops for cheap dollars and thrifty cents, and I decided to make pork chops and dressing. I knew a big batch would stretch for several meals, and I figured that if the dressing bothered me that much I could just load up on butterbeans and deal with it.

When it came time to make the dressing I realized that I wasn’t quite ready to deal with my mama’s recipe again. I didn’t want diced pieces of onion or celery within a five-mile radius of my person, and I double-dog dared raw eggs to enter the picture. So I improvised.

And I have to say: the dressing? IT WAS TASTY.

So I thought I’d share.

*****

Pork Chops & Dressing

6-8 pork chops (I used bone-in)
one batch of delicious tasty cornbread (I left out the creamed corn this time)
1/2 cup butter
16 oz. beef broth (chicken broth would work fine – beef broth was all I had)
1 can cream of chicken soup

Make cornbread according to directions. When it comes out of the oven, flip it into a large mixing bowl. Add the butter, and break apart the cornbread until it’s well-combined with the butter. Add broth, soup, and then taste. Add salt and pepper if necessary.

Heat skillet (medium high-ish), then pour in a couple of tablespoons of your favorite oil. Season pork chops with salt and pepper, then brown on each side for 3-4 minutes.

Spray a baking dish with non-stick spray, and place browned pork chops along the bottom of the dish. Spread dressing mixture on top of the pork chops, then cover the baking dish with aluminum foil.

Bake (covered) on 350 for about 45 minutes. Then remove foil and bake another 15 minutes.

*****

Oh, it’s good, y’all. The pork chops stay nice and tender, the dressing doesn’t get dry, and your family will love it.

Happy dressing, everybody!

Filed Under: Cooking

Linky Interwebby Awesomeness 1.21.09

21 January 2009 by

– I’ve been working behind-the-scenes with the people at Praise Baby on their new blog, basically just helping to round up contributors and organize giveaways and whathaveyou. I’m going to be writing there every once in awhile, too, as are many of our sweet bloggy friends.

Well.

The new Praise Baby blog launched yesterday, and guess what? There’s already a giveaway. And if you’d like to win, click on over.

– I know I mentioned it last week. I know I did. But Chris Harrison’s blog about “The Bachelor” is a DELIGHT if you’re a “Bachelor” fan.

– I saw a link to this article on Brant’s blog last week. So I read it. And then I cried.

Filed Under: Daily Awesome

American Idol Watch Party

20 January 2009 by

All righty, internets –American Idol was in San Franciso tonight, and I’m talking about it over at Culture11.

See you there.

(Hopefully.)

(Because it won’t be the same without you.)

(I’m not even kidding.)

Filed Under: Other Places

Because I’ll Remember It Better If I Document It

19 January 2009 by

Oh, why not: some real-time thoughts on The Bachelor.

And I’m doing this as I watch, so it may not be terribly coherent. Or, you know, good.

We found out right off the bat that there’s one group date, two one-on-one dates. And not everybody gets dates, which does seem to be quite the disadvantage. Since the premise of the show is sort of dependent on getting to know someone and all.

The first date went to Stephanie, a darling Alabama girl who’s never met an accessory she didn’t like. She left the house in a printed t-shirt and a scarf and a bottle cap belt and a fab Lucky bag and some big earrings and a hoodie with some sort of design on it. Plus a necklace. And a watch. And rings.

And I’m not gonna lie, y’all. When her little girl ran out from behind those rocks, I totally teared up. She is a doll. The three of them seemed to have a big time at Legoland, and may I just say: NICE KLASSY TOUCH on the Lego rose. I so appreciate consistency with a theme.

The second date was a group date with Melissa (MY FAVORITE), Megan, Shannon (who needs to DIAL IT DOWN a little bit in my opinion), Nikki, Jillian and some other girls whose names I don’t remember. The plan was for them to make busts of, well, their busts to benefit breast cancer research, and DON’T EVEN GET ME STARTED about what my reaction would be if I was expected to do such a thing on a date. Granted, it was all for a good cause, but, um, NO MA’AM. Because at this stage in my life some things just don’t need to be permanently cast in plaster. Just sayin’.

I especially enjoyed Jillian’s dress, by the way. The white embroidery on the royal blue background was cute and playful and I was a fan. Also, my heart really went out to Nikki because I’ve been that girl who felt left out, like, SEVENTY MILLION TIMES. In fact, I was that girl from about 19-26. And it’s an icky feeling.

Next up was an individual date with Natalie, who totally should have been ready on time. I mean, you’re in a house with absolutely no distractions except for a pool, and seeing as how you don’t have to work or go to the grocery store or anything, BE PROMPT. Anyway, Natalie got to wear some expensive jewelry, and then she found out that they were taking a private jet to Vegas.

Attention, Natalie: THAT’S NOT REAL LIFE. Because as Big Mama so wisely pointed out earlier today, real life with Jason will at some point require the winning bachelorette to clean up after a small child battles a stomach virus. GOOD TO REMEMBER THAT.

At dinner Jason asked Natalie if there was anything he needed to know about her, and she answered by saying “I love bears.” While her answer didn’t really indicate that she’s a person of great depth, OH, it did make for some mighty fine television. The look on Jason’s face was priceless. Even better was the fact that he followed up her bold statement with “Like koala bears? Panda bears?”

“Nope. All bears,” Natalie replied.

She went on to say that her favorite part of the date was “seeing all those things created by nature.”

THERE’S TV GOLD IN THEM THAR HILLS.

In the end Natalie didn’t get the rose because Jason didn’t think that they had enough in common, and when he tried to explain that to her she demonstrated an incredible amount of maturity by replying, “WHATEVER.” Then she said that she would be ready to be a mother “tomorrow” and proceeded to unleash a string of expletives. So I’m thinking maybe it was time for Natalie to go.

Next up was the party before the rose ceremony, and Jason was quick to point out that he loved Nikki’s dress. I’m going to leave it at that and trust that Big Mama will leave a comment saying all the stuff I’m avoiding. But what I will say is that the kiss between Jason and Nikki was THE MOST AWKWARD IN ALL BACHELOR HISTORY, OH BLESS THEIR HEARTS, and that is saying something, my friends.

Megan spent most of the evening on the defensive, and she seems to feel like the other girls in the house aren’t as mature and deep as she is. It seems like she’s a drama magnet (I’m one of those people who thinks drama is a CHOICE, and I know that because I CHOSE IT for a chunk of my 20s), but that could definitely be some unfavorable editing. However, it was a fine reality television moment when Chris Harrison attempted to combat all the drama by opening the floor for an airing of grievances.

Which naturally led to even more drama. Which led to Stephanie locking herself in the bathroom.

So obviously Chris Harrison’s strategy really calmed things down.

When we finally made it to the rose ceremony, Jason didn’t give roses to Kari or Erica. I was surprised that Megan got a rose after all the drama, but maybe Jason wants to get to know her a little better instead of relying on secondhand information.

All righty. There you have it.

And in conclusion, I love bears.

All bears.

The end.

Filed Under: TV Is My Friend

Linky Interwebby Awesomeness 01.19.09

19 January 2009 by

– Angie has a great idea for how we can all pray for sweet baby Harper.

– The part of me that loves James Bond movies was absolutely fascinated by something I saw on Brody’s blog. Because I’m here to tell you: the President-elect’s new car is FAYN-CEE.

– There’s a great giveaway going on at AllAccess – you can win two free tickets to a Priscilla Shirer event. And that would be a very good thing. Because she is awesome.

– I know that I cannot commit to one more activity or my head will explode. And I would really rather avoid that. But if time permitted, I would totally jump on board with this:

Lisa and Missy are hosting, and it looks like it’s gonna be great.

Filed Under: Daily Awesome

The (Maroon) Ties That Bind

18 January 2009 by

Last night my beloved Bulldogs played the Vanderbilt Commodores, and right before the game started I asked Alex if he wanted to watch, too. He was all about it. At five he’s still not completely familiar with basketball terminology, but he’s big-time competitive and would probably watch a candle-making contest if there was going to be a clear-cut winner at the end.

Plus, in his mind the Bulldogs are always “the good guys,” and like most little boys, he lives to see a good guys vs. bad guys showdown. The only thing that would make said showdown any better is if the police walked on the court and took the “bad guys” to jail at the end of regulation.

For the first ten minutes of the game Alex subscribed to my “alternate activity” basketball-watching philosophy. While I wiped down the kitchen counters, he played with one of his Star Wars toys. Before long, however, the game captured our undivided attention, and we decided to go sit in front of a bigger TV and watch. No cleaning, no toys – just basketball.

It was divine.

When Alex was almost a year old my sister and I took him to the State / ‘Bama game. He wasn’t walking, was just barely talking, and if not for the bright lights and loud noises, he probably would have fallen asleep. But we had a blast.

Saturday night we sat in our very own house, watched every single play and cheered like crazy. At one point Alex even asked, “Mama? Can the players hear us through the TV when we yell for them?”

“No, baby, they can’t,” I answered. “But I like to think they can.”

“Me, too,” he replied.

And so we screamed.

Back in 2004 Alex sat in Sister’s lap and drank a bottle and, if memory serves, lost a shoe somewhere around row eight.

Saturday night he screamed “DEFENSE” and high fived and read Sister’s text messages over my shoulder.

img00132

He’s growing up, that boy. And the older he gets, the more he seems to understand his mama’s unique brand of basketball crazy. I can’t help but think that we have big Bulldog fun in store in the days and weeks and years to come.

By the way, the “good guys” won last night. 73-66. We could not be more delighted.

Go ‘Dogs.

Filed Under: Rambling
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