Just Right for Fall - Pears & Pork Chops

    This is a dish I'm including in this week's meal plan - it's very simple and has sweet & subtle flavors that go well with your sides. 

    I bought my chops from our local butcher - J & M Butcher Shop over on Jefferson. He always has a great selection of meats. 

    First, I seasoned the chops with salt, pepper, & apple pie spice. Then I browned both sides on the stovetop in order to give them a little color. Next, I transferred the chops to a baking dish. You can use fresh pears, but this time I used 2 cans of pears. I poured both cans with juice over the chops, set the oven to 350, and baked the chops for about an hour. After the hour, I check on them every 15 minutes until I feel they're done.

    This is a versatile main course, I served it with green beans and rice, but you could serve it with carrots, mashed potatoes, and many other side choices.

Atomic City Mom's Easy Cooking

I have a very busy household with 5 children, so it's good for me to have a couple of easy dinner options for those days that I'm just dragging. Here's a really easy meal to whip up when you're having one of those crazy days - Easy Chicken Fajitas!

Ingredients:

4 large chicken breasts

4 medium green bell peppers

1 large red bell pepper

1 large onion

1 clove garlic

salt

pepper

3 packs of fajita seasoning 

Tortillas

You can vary your ingredients to your taste and quantity. The chicken breasts were huge so this recipe fed 8 with leftovers at my house.

First, I cooked the chicken over a medium heat, with a little olive oil in the bottom of the skillet. While cooking season the meat with salt and pepper. Cook until the chicken is almost done, then remove the chicken and cut it into slices. Then dice your garlic into tiny pieces and sautée in skillet. Return chicken to your skillet and continue cooking on low. Next slice the bell peppers and onions into long strips and add to your skillet. Finally, add your fajita seasonings, and if it seems dry I like to add a little chicken broth to the mix. Cook until the bell peppers and onion soften. 

I like to serve this over warmed tortillas with a little shredded cheese & sour cream on top. Enjoy!

Variations: 

You can use steak instead of chicken, add salsa, or even put a little cooked Spanish rice inside.

Meal Planning - Save Time & Spend Less

Meal planning is a concept that isn't just for large families like mine. It can also actually benefit seniors, home bound individuals, and folks with extremely busy weekly schedules who either may have very limited time to do regular shopping trips or may not have the physical ability to get out on a regular basis to grocery shop. Once you get the general idea, meal planning can actually be fun!

For most people, I recommend planning your meals out on a weekly basis. This requires taking a little time out on one designated day of the week so you can plan your meals for the entire week. This way you can see exactly what you need to pick up from the grocery store in order to be able to prepare your meals for that week. By doing this, you can actually minimize your shopping trips to once a week. I like to do my planning for the upcoming week on Sunday mornings. This is so that I can look over the Sunday paper to see what products are on sale for that week. Then I can coordinate my coupons with grocery store deals to maximize my savings. With a little practice, meal planning is not only a time saver, but also a money saver.

For me, my biggest headache is doing dinners everyday for a family of seven. I started out only planning my dinner menus. Your meals can be as simple or as creative as you like. There are a lot of great websites out there where you can find sample menus or quick and easy recipes. I personally recommend www.allrecipes.com and http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com - these are great resources for recipe ideas and meal planning advice. 

Here's a sample weekly dinner menu I've used:

Monday:

Personal Meatloaves made in muffin cups

Baked Potatoes

Green Beans

Tuesday

Garlic Whole Baked Chicken stuffed with carrots, celery, and onion

Brown Rice

Veggie Medley - Cauliflower & Carrots

Wednesday 

Apple Cider Pork Chops & Baked Apples

Macaroni & Cheese

Mixed Veggies of Choice

Thursday 

Taco Bar with all the fixings

Friday

Chicken Quesadillas

Fried Bananas

Southwestern style Sweet Corn

Saturday 

Pizza Night - either delivery or frozen

Side Salad

Sunday

Chicken and Dumplings

Glazed carrots 

This is just one example of many. You can get more gourmet or go as simple as you like... We might have breakfast for dinner one night, or pigs in a blanket, or a leftovers night to make room in the fridge. 

Once you get the hang of it, the possibilities are endless. If live in the Oak Ridge, TN area, and you are a senior, home bound, or too busy to fool with it- check out my personal lifestyle maintenance services -www.Facebook.com/TheAtomiccitymomConcierge