Southern Fried Comfort

After polishing off a breakfast of eggs, bacon, biscuits, and gravy on Sunday morning, my mother turned to me and said "What are you going to cook us for lunch?"

My dad has been forced to become the family cook and doesn't particularly care for the job. So there is a lot of Boston Market dinners and DiGiorno's pizza in the freezer. Also, hot dogs, corn dogs, etc. Anything easy. He can, when he wants to, prepare a simple protein and some veggies or a pot of soup. And he has perfected his cornbread.

But the simple truth is, these meals are rare. I always cook for them when I'm there and try to leave enough left-overs for another couple of meals.

I checked the freezer and pantry to see what was available. I made squash casserole, black-eyed peas, fried apples, and fried pork chops. It was a very silent meal...we too busy eating to talk. And there were no left-overs. None. Nope. All gone. I have to pat myself on the back on that one...it was as good as it gets.

I dredged the salted and peppered the chops before dredging them in flour. I dipped them in egg and then dredged them in Italian bread crumbs. Fried them to a golden brown. Oh my! The peas were cooked with pieces of Christmas ham I found in the freezer.

The squash was boiled with chopped onion and drained. I added about 1/2 a cup of mayo, and egg, 1/2 c of grated cheese and 1/2 c toasted pecans. Topped with crushed Ritz crackers and baked for 30 minutes @ 350. Yummy!

The apples were peeled and sliced and sauteed in butter for about 10 minutes. Then I added about 1-2 tsp cinnamon and about 1/4 cup of brown sugar and let the cook for about another 10 minutes. This meal, while a heart stopper, was perfect for a rainy, messy day.