Pork-chaaaps and applsaaaace

So I picked up a Basil plant instead of just a package of Basil when I went shopping for NYE.  Lets try this, not killing the plant thing, again.  I can't justify paying 3 bucks for like 5 basil leaves and throwing the rest out cause it went bad before I used it again.  Yea, you've been there too, I know.  Having two kids, or any for that matter makes you take a good hard look at your spending.

So I have this plant for 5 days, I managed to get it IN a little pot on my counter [day 1] but suddenly realized it looked wilty [day 5] and I had forgotten to water it since.  Buuut I was so efficient to get it in a pot right away....   I used the leaves for my tomato, basil & mozz egg creations and promptly forgot about it.




I had planned on making some boneless pork chops for dinner and decided maybe I should see if I can do something with this basil before I've wasted my $3.  I stumbled upon this little list of ingredients and thought, I have all those in my kitchen... Let's try it. I wouldn't have put these together on my own but it sounds tasty.

Basil Pork Chops
Makes about 4-5 average sized thin boneless chops

1 TBS  Chopped Basil [next time I might at 1 1/2 tbs]
1/2 Cup Brown Sugar
1/2 Tsp Salt
1/2 Tsp Chili Powder
1 TBS Extra Virgin Olive Oil [plus extra for pan]

This mixture creates like a rub that you have to spread with your fingers. Don't put coated chops on a paper plate like I did before adding them to the pan, the rub soaks into the paper like instantly and un-coats your chops! Doh!
Combine all ingredients in a bowl, it appears crumbly.  Rub on both sides of chops as evenly as you can and immediately add them to an already hot frying pan that you added enough olive oil to coat bottom of.  Cook uncovered on medium heat for 5-7 minutes a side. [depending on how thick your chops are]  I spooned the 'sauce' over the chops as they cooked but I'm not sure if it was necessary but it made me feel better about standing in the kitchen staring at them.

Not the kind of thing you can put on the stove and walk away from with 2 kids around.  I'd end up forgetting about them and burning them to a crisp.
It's been done before.

Delicious! The toddler was not a fan so she had the no-fail chicken nuggets. We never did eat the applesauce but Pops did bring some apple pie over. Twisssst my arm.
I ended up cooking them a little too long so the chops were on the dry side but I just spooned some of the extra sauce on the cut up pieces.  It's pretty sweet.  It was a great dinner for me coming down from my holiday dessert/ sugar high.  I have one more Espresso Cheesecake Brownie batch to make today for tomorrows last holiday celebration then I'm DONE baking!

At least for a little while....