Oh what a night! [Pork Chops with Broccoli, Penne and Cheese Sauce]

Last night was a busy night for me. A volleyball night, three matches. I got home about 6, had to be to the park for a 6:30 game. I changed my clothes, grabbed a cheese stick and a bunch of ice water, hopped on my bike and got there with plenty of time. We had 6:30, 7:15 and 8:00 matches, three games each. And it was HOT! Like upper 90's with 100% humidity, no clouds and no breeze. The sand was almost too hot to stand on, all the way down and really dusty, we haven't had rain in about two weeks. I had fun though and we did okay. No heat exhaustion. And luckily the last games had a little shade from trees. But boy, was I glad I rode my bike. It created a breeze on the way home that felt awesome...though I forgot I live uphill from the park!

But this isn't about volleyball, this is about food! I got home about 9:15 and by 10:10 I had made dinner, eaten dinner and showered, it was awesome. I'm not going to give a real recipe for this, because it's just too easy. This one will just be a narrative. And I was too tired to remember a picture. But believe me, it was very good, and pretty!

Pork Chops with Broccoli, Penne and Cheese Sauce

• 2 pork chops
• 1 1/2 cups cream
• 1/2 t black pepper
• 1/2 t ground mustard
• 2 c shredded cheese
• 2 servings frozen broccoli
• 2 servings penne

I put a pot of water on with the lid to boil quickly. Then I got out to pork chops that had thawed in the fridge. I heated my cast iron skillet with a little bacon grease. Then I just sprinkled salt and pepper on the pork chops, both sides, and put them in the skillet. I have a meat press and used that on the pork chops. By this time the water was boiling. I put in some Dreamfields Low-Carb Penne* and frozen broccoli and put the lid back on. (Then I went upstairs and got a change of clothes).

After a few minutes, I flipped the pork chops and the water was back to a boil. I set the timer for 4 minutes and instructed my husband to turn the pork chops off when the timer went off and to turn the noodles/broccoli off 4 minutes after that. Then I took a quick shower!

When I got out of the shower, I drained the noodles and broccoli, drained the liquid off of the pork chops that had accumulated and poured it in the saucepan and turned that back on to heat through again. Into the pot I put the cream, pepper and mustard. I mixed it up well and heated it. You don't want to let it get to a rolling boil, just barely a simmer. Once that heated, I added the cheese and stirred it until it was melted. Then I just added the noodles and broccoli back in and mix to combine. I didn't really measure when I was making this, so you may have to play around with the quantities for what you want. Add cream, or more cheese or even more spices. Err on the side of not enough, you can always add more if you need it, but it's hard to take it out if you've put too much in.

That's it! I loved it. I don't think my Hubby was too impressed with the cheese sauce. I used a couple of awesome cheeses I got from Whole Foods, though I can't remember off the top of my head what they were. He's not a fan of "stinky" cheese, so that may have had something to do with it. But one that I used just smelled like macaroni and cheese, I had to use it!

It was good, very good. I will definitely make it again, but probably just for myself. I think it will warm up great for lunch.

*I know this isn't really a real food, but I am really trying to be low-carb still, I have about 20 lbs. to lose, at least! Eating just real food isn't doing it for me. Thanks to this pasta, this meal is very low-carb. (And, this is an associate link, just so you know!) I have been able to occasionally find this in the store, and it's becoming more common to find it, but Amazon is usually the best deal.