Beauty is a good meal

So I was flipping through the channels yesterday and ended up stopping on Food Network. The Barefoot Contessa was on, and she was cooking a special meal for her husband who was due home soon from a long day of work... Talk about a guilt trip!! I love to cook, but I hardly ever do. Between my tiny kitchen and busy schedule, fast food or a quick sandwich is our normal dinner. Hopefully soon our house will sell and we'll get to move to a bigger house with a luxurious kitchen, but until then I'll just have to make do with what I have.

Well anyway, I decided this morning that I was going to make a yummy, gourmet meal for my wonderful hubbie for dinner tonight. I wanted to try something new but fairly easy, so I checked out footnetwork.com and came across a recipe for Oven-Barbecued Pork Chops.

Here's the link: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/eating-well/oven-barbecued-pork-chops-recipe/index.html

It called for an ovenproof skillet, which I didn't have, so after work I stopped by Bed, Bath & Beyond and picked up one. Emeril Lagasse no less... :) 

 I also picked up my first fancy knife. This one was Rachel Ray. I chopped an onion with it and felt like a professional chef! :D Another first was my first minced garlic clove (even though I had to look up how much of the garlic bulb equaled a "clove"). Don't judge me...

But anyway, here's a picture of the finished product. I thought it tasted pretty good, if I do say so myself. I thought it could have used a little bit more flavor... maybe some more seasonings or a different barbecue sauce. I used just a basic Kraft.

I paired my porkchops with some cream corn, sweet peas, and cornbread.

Yummy, yummy! Matt seemed to enjoy it. He even ate the onion-filled sauce, which surprised me. He's not usually a big onion fan. All in all, I'd say my first "gourmet" meal was a success. I hope to continue adding to my fancy cookware collection, so maybe more food posts are to come.