My granddaughter Chloie came home with us after dinner.  We were not even out of the restaurant parking lot when she started suggesting things to make when we got home.  I was looking forward to no cooking today since our son took us out for a Fathers Day dinner.  Of course I can not say no to my little Princess, so we ended up baking Blondies.   She decided to add white chocolate chips and coconut.  She wanted a “surprise” in them for grandpa.  I have to admit, the combination worked great.

So here my friends is my granddaughters White Chocolate Chip Blondies.  I know y’all will definitely love them.

• 1 cup unsalted butter, melted
• 1 cup light brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1 cup plain flour
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup white chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup coconut

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 8×8 inch baking dish.

Using a stand mixer, beat the butter and sugar together until the mix is smooth and lightens slightly. Do not overbeat. Add the egg beating well.

Combine the flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda in bowl.  Slowly add the flour mixture a few spoonful’s at a time to the sugar mixture, and beat on a low speed until just combined.

Add the vanilla, white chocolate chips and coconut and mix until incorporated.

Spread in prepared baking dish and back for 20-25 minutes.

As most of you know, I love combining new spice and herb blends in my recipes.  I love taking chances and seeing just what a new flavor combination will produce.  Sometimes I like to just go pick a handful of herbs out of the garden and mix with some flavored oils or spices to set my taste buds to spinning.

There are times though when I don’t like to mess with the true tastes of my food.  For instance, when I can hand pick a green bean or pea out of the garden and pop it into my mouth I want to taste the fresh natural sweetness of these garden gems.  Picked fresh out of the garden they are full of natural sweetness before the sugars have begun to turn to starch.  There is no amount of seasoning that can bring back that beautiful taste once they have lost their just picked freshness.

I feel the same way about my proteins as well.  Most of the time it is only a bit of salt and pepper that is needed to help coax out the natural flavors of the meat.  I don’t know how many times I have sat down at a restaurant to have a steak and the wait staff asked me if I wanted steak sauce.   Of course the first thing out of my mouth is usually, “if it needs a steak sauce, it can’t be good enough for me to want to eat”.  Now don’t get me wrong, sometimes I love a mushroom wine sauce or finishing butter to top my steak, but I more enjoy the delicious taste of a perfectly prepared and salted steak.

So tonight I decided to add very little to a beautiful pork roast I found in the butchers case.  Now looking back,  I always loved the fried apples mom used to make with our pork dinners.  The sweetness of the apples and brown sugar always perfectly complimented the pork.  That’s how I came up with the recipe for my pork roast tonight.  Just a bit of salt, a bunch of pepper, and a bit of flavor from molasses.  I am telling you.  This roast was so flavorful on the outside from this combination and moist and naturally delicious on the inside.  Y’all have to give this recipe a try, and also try some minimal spices and sauces on your meats.  A good piece of meat needs very little to shine.

Ingredients:

• 1  boneless pork loin roast (4-5 lb.)
• 2 1/2 teaspoons fresh ground black pepper
• Salt (to taste)
• 1/2  teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon ginger
• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 1/3 cup molasses

Directions:

1. Combine pepper, salt, garlic powder and ginger in small bowl.
2. Rub seasoning mixture all over the pork roast.
3. Heat the olive oil in a large ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat (cast iron skillet is my choice). Place roast in pan and brown, turning every 2 to 3 minutes, until browned on all sides.  Remove pan from heat and  pour the molasses over the roast and turn roast to coat in molasses. I like to surround with halved fingerling potatoes and onions to cook in the juices from the pork.
4. Place skillet in a 350°F oven and cook until center of roast registers 140°F on an instant read thermometer.  This should take about 40 to 50 minutes, while basting with pan juices once or twice during roasting.
5. Transfer roast to a cutting board and tent with foil and let rest for 10-15 minutes. 

Growing up I can remember some of my favorite meals mom or my grandma’s would make.  One of my favorites had to be when mom made fried pork chops, fried potatoes, fresh green beans out of the garden and apple sauce.  Of course the potatoes were out of our garden too and the apple sauce was always what she had put up the previous fall.   I doubt there was ever a store bought can of applesauce in our house.  Of course there never needed to be because there were shelves of her home made to get us through the winter and summer months.

Mom didn’t bread her pork chops with a thick batter.  Just enough flour and seasonings to form a bit of a crust on parts of the chops, mainly around the outside.  This is still my favorite way of frying them to this day.  I know it is not the healthiest way of eating them, but it’s not like I have them every day of the week.  Mostly about once a month or so.  It’s a special treat to bring my memories back to my childhood.  Of course now a days, I like them with the fried potatoes, a big bowl of pinto beans, and cornbread.  Now that is a true southern meal.  How many of you remember this from growing up in the south.  Oh, sorry to those of you who didn’t.  You sure missed out.

So here is my moms quite simple recipe for fried pork chops.  I think y’all are gonna love them as much as I do.

Ingredients

• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 -1 1/2 cup flour
• oil or lard (enough for about 1/2 in frying pan)
• 4 -10  pork chops

Directions:
 
Put the flour, salt, pepper and garlic powder in a paper bag or zip top bag and shake up to mix.

 
Put a couple of pork chops at a time in the bag and shake the well, remove and set aside. Do the same with remaining chops.

Heat the oil in a skillet when the oil is hot (about 300-350 degrees) put the chops in and fry about 5 to 10 minutes on each side, turning them every 2 to 3 minutes.

Once cooked, remove to a paper towel to drain.    You can keep them in a warm oven of 200 degrees to keep warm while finishing all chops.

Y’all, there is nobody I know that can bake pies like my mom.  She makes the best fruit pies, and her recipes are so easy.  I can’t even bring myself to make any changes at all. 

Ingredients

• 4 c. raspberries
• 1 c. sugar
• 1/4 c. flour
• 1/4 c. margarine (melted)
• pinch of salt
• sprinkle of cinnamon
• 2 home made pie crusts

Place your home made (frozen, store bought if you must) pie shell in bottom of pie pan.

Mix raspberries, sugar, flour, margarine, salt and cinnamon together.

Place one pie shell in your pie pan and fill with the above mixture.

Top the berry mixture with the second pie crust.  You can crimp the edges and make bird scratches with a knife, or do like I did and just lay on top of the berries and let the berry mixture bubble up.  I like the rustic look of the pie this way.

Bake at 350 degrees for 50-60 minutes.

Enjoy!