Have you ever gotten those chain emails that says if you don’t distribute to 10 people in the next 10 minutes, you will have bad luck for 10 years?  Or something like that?

Well, Amish Friendship Bread is like the chain emails, but without the consequences!  (Just so you know, I don’t think I’ve gotten bad luck because I didn’t forward those emails.  Just sayin’.)

My friend WifeMomKnitter gave me a starter 11 days ago.  I forgot to follow the instruction on Day 6, so ended up adding the ingredients on Day 7, hence the bake date of Day 11.  I’ve decided to split the two loaves up so I can make two different breads.

I followed the recipe that came with the starter (with only 1 box of instant pudding vanilla flavor), but didn’t add the cinnamon.  After I split the batter into two bowls, in one batter, I added the following:

• 1 teaspoon of cinnamon
• 1/2 cup of white chocolate chip

The other batter I added the following:

• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1 tablespoon of milk
• 1/3 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chip
• 1/4 cup of white chocolate chip

While baking, the house smelled divine!  The bread really “puffed” up.  I made the cinnamon white chocolate in a 8×4 loaf pan and the chocolate bread in a 9×5 loaf pan.  And they are both metal pans as I don’t have any glass or ceramic bread pans.  I also mixed my dough in the stainless steel KitchenAid mixing bowls, so I’m not exactly following the directions.  But seriously, does the Amish uses instant pudding mix in their cooking?  But maybe that’s why my breads are more puffy.  Who knows?

And if the yummy breads couldn’t convince you to be my friend, then how about a yummy stuffed pork chop recipe?

I made up this recipe trying to figure out what to make dinner tonight.  We went grocery shopping today and the giant pork loin was on sale and the nice butcher cut it for us, but I wasn’t in the mood for any of my stand by, so I went searching on the internet.  Although not finding what I wanted, but the name stuffed pork chop got me thinking.  And here is my version…  I hope you will try it and if you do, please let me know how you like it!

Jennsquared’s Stuffed Pork Chop

• 3 pork chops, about 1 in thick (could be thicker, but you may need to leave it in the oven longer)
• 1 apples, peeled and chopped in small chunks
• 1 small onions, diced
• Shredded chedder cheese (I used pre-shredded taco blend cheese, but you can use whatever you got)
• Olive Oil
• 1 tsp of dried thyme, or 1 tbsp of fresh thyme
• Salt
• Pepper

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Sautee the onions and apples with olive oil  in a sautee pan that can go into the oven.  Season them with thyme, salt and pepper.  When the mixture is soften, about 5 min, turned the heat all the way down so the cooking is minimal.
3. Butterfly the pork chops so you can fold it back in half.  Season both inside and out with salt and pepper.  Then put 1/3 of mixture to each pork chop.  Put a handful of shredded chedder cheese on top of the mixture, then fold the pork chop in half.  Make sure the pan where the mixture came out of has enough oil, then sear each side of the pork chop for 3 minutes. 
4. Put the whole pan into the oven for 10 minutes.  It may need to be longer if your pork chop is thicker.
5. When your timer beeps, take out the pork chops, let it rest for 5 minutes, and serve with any veggie and starch to your liking!

Oh. My. God.

These chicken were really good.

And I don’t usually like chicken breasts.

I had some chicken breasts defrosted in the fridge, and I was running out of ideas on what to make, since we just recently had a chicken cheese wrapped in bacon, which I cannot believe that I didn’t document this invention of mine…  Note to self:  Need to make it again and post the recipe!

I turned to few of my cookbooks for inspirations, but to no avil as I didn’t want to go out and buy more ingredients.  So I turned to my trusty friend:  Foodnetwork.com and started searching.  Couple of the recipes jumped out at me, but again, missing a few ingredients, until Ina’s Parmesan Chicken showed up.  I know, you are probably thinking:  What’s the big freaking deal?  It’s just a chicken parm recipe!

Well, let me assure you, this isn’t just any chicken parm.  The chicken itself is very close to a lot of chicken parm recipe, but it’s the pairing of the salad, with the lemon vinegrette dressing.  That itself, is amazing.

My lemons were super sour, so after following the recipe (although I didn’t measure, but use the juice of 2 lemons), I added about a teaspoon of simple syrup to tone down the sour-ness.  On top of that, I also zested the lemons and added into the dressing.  The dressing was really good, and I used some to dressed the pasta as well.  Pasta was not called for in the recipe, but I was feeding my brother and a friend, and not having starch for a meal just seems incomplete.   The dressing on the salad, then seeping into the hot chicken, along with a little bit of it on the pasta, it was just devine.

If I would to make this again, I think I will zest the lemons and put half of the zests in the bread crumb/cheese mixture.  I think that will give a refreshing take on the chicken.