Single Servings: The misadventures of an almost domestically competent single woman

All the single ladies! Yes I know, there are only two of you left in the tri-state area, but, this blog's for you. I'm calling it “Single Servings,” and it's intended to document the attempts of a single woman with just enough domestic knowledge to be dangerous in the kitchen. I tried an experiment recently, and it involved food. Even though I rarely get home from work before 11 p.m., it typically takes me an hour or three to wind down before I can fall asleep. I even more rarely feel like doing housework, though I do, for whatever reason, always have the urge to vacuum...but I tell myself this would be un-neighborly. One particular night, I had the munchies, and I just happened to have a bag of chips – but I was fresh out of Mom's homemade salsa. Not wanting to go to the store, I took a self-guided tour through what my mother once described as Mother Hubbard's cupboards, and wondered what I could throw together for chip dip. If there's one thing I have in abundance, it's cream of mushroom soup. I don't know why, but if the world were to run out tomorrow, well, just give me a call. I think I used to have a favorite recipe that used it and I was perpetually running out, so I got in the habit of buying a can every time it was on sale. I've since forgotten that recipe, and cooking for one is downright obnoxious, so I do not tend to have a well-stocked kitchen. But old habits die hard, and the cream of mushroom soup crop is doing well. I also grabbed a can of refried beans, and a few other odds and ends, thinking, “I wonder what this would do.” I've always been intrigued by weird food combinations – fries and vanilla ice cream, corn dogs and ranch, pickles deep fried in batter – so this seemed like an opportunity. While the flavor wasn't bad, it was too heavy for chip dip. I also should probably add that during my “let's keep the mushroom soup companies in business” phase, I would sometimes buy different variations, basically because I get bored with repetition. That's fine and dandy, except when you accidentally grab a can of mushroom soup with roasted garlic when the situation would be much more suited to plain, old mushroom soup. Really, it should be called "scent of roasted garlic with a mushroom garnish" for as strong as it smelled. I learned something about myself: I apparently do not like overwhelming garlic smell. It ruined the chances of it working as chip dip, but, really, isn't self discovery what it's all about? Despite being underwhelmed with my invention, throwing out that much “food” would have given me nightmares full of reprimands from starving children in third-world countries, so, I had to come up with an alternative. I thought, maybe use it with some kind of meat? I'm not that imaginative, so I found some pork chops, thought, “Yeah, OK, that works,” and went with that. I bought a couple pork chops, and smothered one in the experimental goop in a baking pan. As a contingency plan, I smothered the other one in barbecue sauce, because you can't really screw that up. The result? Delicious. Pork chops dry out pretty easily if you don't use some sort of sauce or marinade, and the creaminess of the mushroom soup worked perfectly to keep the meat tender. The little hint of refried beans and tomato added flavor to what can sometimes be a bland cut, and you don't have to spend 20 minutes measuring out 18 different spices just to get some flavor into it. The whole process gave me renewed respect for people who create recipes, because it's way more involved than you'd think, even for something as basic as this. I didn't have a book to tell me how long to cook the food/at what temperature, so I called my Holly Homemaker oldest sister and we think tank-ed our way to a logical solution. And, best of all, the recipe makes almost the perfect amount of sauce for two pork chops. For a single person like myself, handling two chops is much more manageable than something like a rump roast or even a package of bacon. I paired them with a can of green beans, and had what passes for a pretty balanced meal in my world. I actually got two meals out of it. So, basically, I'm ruling this experiment as a success. If I keep experimenting, I might find a home for all the rest of these mushroom soup cans. Ingredients: 2 pork chops 1 8 oz. can of refried beans 1 8 oz. can of cream of mushroom soup Either 1 can of tomatoes or 1 large fresh tomato Directions: Open the cans. Mix together the beans, cream of mushroom soup. Chop up the tomato(s) and add to the mixture. Put the pork chops into a small baking pan, and cover with the sauce. Cover with aluminum foil, and bake at 325 for 45 minutes.* Makes 2 servings. *If you don't own a meat thermometer, use a knife and a fork to cut into the pork chop. If it's still pink, put it back in the oven. If it's white, it's ready to eat. (This would be why they call pork "the other white meat.")