Pork Chops and Mushroom Gravy

Cost: $6

Prep: 30 minutes

While I was cooking this meal, I was on the phone to my dad talking about how this is total comfort food. I make it because my grandma makes it. My dad likes it because his mom used to make it. It is a real meal from mom.

It is also inexpensive and fairly easy. We bought a large pack of tiny fast-fry pork chops. There were 10 in the package. I had intended to use it all, but when I started, I realized it was just going to be too much, so I only used half the package, which was only $4.50 in entirety. The servings of meat we had were small, but it was still enough, each little piece being close to a full serving of protein each (a serving being estimated at the size of a deck of cards).

The gravy is easy to make. After I browned the chops, I added a can of mushroom soup and a can of mushrooms. It simmers and I stir until it looks done.

Gravy not done

Gravy done: much darker

This is my main problem with this meal: the salt content of using canned goods. Did you know that 1 serving of condensed mushroom soup has 35% of the recommended daily salt intake? (13% for mushrooms.) That is just way too high. I really should look up how to make this from scratch, since I would then be able to control the amount of salt, but this is how I always saw my gram make it, so it is hard to make a switch. Also, Matt doesn't like real mushrooms, but he will eat canned mushrooms. Charlie, it turns out, loved the gravy, especially the mushrooms, so much so that he would not eat ANYTHING else--although we did get a Greek yoghurt into him before bed.

As out side-dishes, I steamed up some green beans (much better this time, not tough at all) and "baked" (see "microwaved") a couple potatoes. The gravy goes great on top a potato, baked and mashed.

In the end, this is a classic. Charlie gave it his head-stamp of approval.