I've been thinking ...

I think about food ... a lot.

I usually start waking up long before Scott does - I make a point of lounging around in bed, reading and napping and thinking for a few hours until he wakes up. I swear, his ability to sleep is contagious - before he came into my life, napping was impossible, I was typically unable to sleep past 6am and I had never even heard of blackout curtains. In a mix of joy over being able to sleep so much better and happiness being around someone as wonderful as he is, I like to have a hot, fresh thermos of coffee waiting for when he opens his eyes.

Yesterday when Scott opened his eyes, I offered him coffee, snuggled up while he took a sip (and sighed "Mmmmmmmmm" at the taste of it!) and said, "So - I am already thinking about dinner - how does chicken dinner sound?" Scott makes me happy in a billion different ways, but one of my many favorite things about him is his enthusiasm for the food I make - his reaction to the words "Chicken Dinner" are about the same you would expect to the words "All epense paid month-long island getaway with $1 million in spending money." And this is one of the many reasons why I spend so much time thinking about dinner - I have an appreciative audience!

When I think of food, I am thinking of applying new techniques and flavors to make a delicious meal that is straightforward to put together and memorable. I am a girl on a budget - I need to make my meager ducats go as far as they can and make sure everything I spend is well worth it. I want to maximize my returns - I want to feel like I am making the most delicious use of every ingredient and that everyone who eats it feels like the million bucks I would love to lavish on them if only I could.

So what brought this on? I have been thinking of food again ... specifically pork schnitzel and some fat, gorgeous bone-in pork chops sitting in my freezer, waiting to be enjoyed. Schnitzel calls for boneless cuts pounded thin, not thick bone-end chops ... but I can't get the breading used in pork schnitzel out of my head! So, along with the numbers from my morning reports and fragments of e-mail conversations, pork cooking methods and breading ingredients have been dancing around in my head. And I think I have it!

Baked Schnitzel Chops

Preheat oven to 425
Bread thick, bone-in pork chops as in Schnitzel recipe
Pan fry on both sides until breading starts to get golden, then transfer to baking dish and finish in oven, about 15 minutes, give or take, depending on thickness. (Edit - I did it! I totally tried it and it worked! About 2.5 minutes of frying on each side and then into an oven at 425 for 20 minutes - could have probably been in less time!)

Now, I am sure that I am not the first person to think of this. In fact, I am not even sure I got it right - there could be a serious flaw in my thinking! But that is part of the fun - thinking about the food, anticipating cooking it, troubleshooting limitations with technique, space or ingredients!

I am thinking of making these, alongside some Yukon Gold oven fries with a some of the leftover onion confit as a garnish and some simple veggies to round out the plate. Always thinking ...