The Other White Meat

On Sundays we tend to have dinner earlier since it's the first "school night" of the week, and that way we can ease into the evening. This past Sunday, Scott had quite a few projects to tie up so I started dinner on this:


This is the first time we've had pork chops in the two years we've been married. For some reason it's just never appealed to me to purchase. Pork tenderloin-yes. Something about those chops made me stray. While in Trader Joe's last week I smelled change in the air and threw them in my basket.

I researched a few rubs online and found a simple one that required under 5 ingredients, which is usually my cut off point: rosemary (one of the two remaining herbs in our failed herb garden), sea salt, and peppercorns. Grind together in a spice mill (or food processor, if you don't own every gadget under the sun) and rub. Then Scott bbq'd them. They were great!

But the real star (besides my overcooked garlic-roasted asparagus) were the tomato stacks. Granted it's just a caprese salad tower, but they are is a company-kind of tomato. Directions, if interested:

Reduce 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar with a dash of salt and pepper for 7 minutes. Meanwhile, slice the bottom of the tomato so it stands upright, then into even sections. Drizzle each section with the reduced balsamic, salt and pepper then layer with slice of buffalo mozzarella and a basil leaf. Repeat with each layer. Artfully (or not so artfully) drizzle remaining balsamic over entire stack. Voila. You might even be asked to host Thanksgiving with that tomato stack.

(Tomato stack adapted from the Bride & Groom's First Cookbook-my favorite.)