Pork Chops and Brown Rice

Incumbent upon all parents is the responsibility to teach their children two very important things: 1) 1970's rock and roll classics and 2) timeless Saturday Night Live skits. Sometimes those lessons occur concurrent with meals, such as the time I taught my kids that if they don't eat their meat, they can't have any pudding.

Davis and Lawson groan when I remind them of the pudding risk attached to not cleaning their plates, but they're appreciative of other classic lessons, such as the one revolving their favorite vegetable.

Several years ago, as I cut up broccoli for dinner, I told them, "There's a famous comedian who used to be on Saturday Night Live, and he sang a song about me."

"No way," they replied.

"Way," I responded, invoking said comedian.

"What song was it?" they asked.

And I pounded out a few lyrics of Dana Carvey's "Chopping Broccoli." At first, they thought I was making the song up. But then I showed them a video of Carvey singing his famous vegetable ballad.



Once they believed the song existed, they came back with, "But he's not singing about you."

"Of course he is," I told them. "I'm the lady he didn't know."

They just love that story! And because of their affinity for Dana Carvey and the broccoli song, I make a point to prepare broccoli at least once a week.

I made broccoli tonight to go with a family favorite: pork chops and brown rice. This is a recipe you can teach your kids to make. It's a reason I always keep pork chops in the freezer. If I'm ever at a loss for a dinner idea, pork chops and brown rice (and broccoli) come to the rescue.

Ingredients:
1 pork chop per person in the family
salt and pepper to taste
1 can Campbell's consomme'
1 soup can of water
1 soup can of Uncle Ben's whole grain brown rice
2 four and a half ounce jars of whole button mushrooms (because Lawson loves 'em)

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Season the pork chops with the salt and pepper. Brown both sides of the chops in a skillet. Place them in a 9 1/2 x 13 casserole dish (Have you ever wondered why the dish is 9 1/2 inches? Couldn't the inventor of the casserole have made it an even ten inches? Just wondering). Add consomme. Add water. Add rice. Add mushrooms. Cover with a lid or Reynolds Release non-stick foil. Bake until the rice absorbs the water, which is usually about an hour.

Serve with broccoli.