The air conditioning went Tango Uniform Thursday (it seemed to know that I have four days off and it's going to be warm) With temps in the upper 80's and high humidity, it was pretty hard to keep the house cool. Barkley, fortunately, loves all the interesting sights and smells in the basement. The cool floor down there is just a place for him to hang out or snooze on his bed while while the two legged family members putter around until it cools down in the evenings. Plus temps at night down in the 60's and clouds forecast for the weekend will help.
Midwest Chick and Mr. B. did invite us over to sleep at their house.
I had to ponder the invite, having a mental picture of
their cement floor. And Mr. B. just got a new chain saw and they're only an hour or so away. Boy, that was hard to say no to.
But I need to be here while the AC can be repaired, replaced or blown up and replaced with the Cabana Boy Fan System (STILL on back order?)
But what to do for dinner? With friends helping troubleshoot the AC problem, I should be a grateful pal and make supper (oh look - cold Beer!)
Heating up the oven was out of the question.
It's crock pot time. With a few odds and ends in the cupboard (a smash and dent sale at a local wholesaler netted some cans and jars of various products) and a couple extra thick (like two inches thick) pork chops the size of plates, this will be easy.
Zesty Pork in a Crock Pot2 pounds extra thick cut pork chops (or pork steak)
1 cup Salsa (medium heat)
1 cup Zesty Italian Salad Dressing
1 medium sized can niblet corn
1 cup of Black Beans(canned or leftover cooked from dried, drained)
The juice of one whole lemon
1 packet McCormick Taco Seasoning
A heaping 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
Throw everything in the crock pot and stir around, making sure the meat is covered with liquid. Cook on low 5-7 hours until meat shreds with a fork. Remove bones and serve. It will serve six, plenty for friends or leftovers to be microwaved another day.
click on photos to enlarge
Serve with rice and whole wheat tortillas (use a slotted spoon for burritoes as it is pretty juicy) or serve with the sauce over bowls of rice or crushed tortilla/corn chips with cheese and sour cream.
You can add, cheese, lettuce and sour cream and wrap it all up for about $3 per serving.
It looks like it's the pressure switch on the air conditioner. The circa 1970's part is no longer made. Looks like a little more time with my fans as a local AC company gives a quote for a comparable system. But home, warm or not, is always the best place to be.
There's no gust spread Skipper, but that's more than 45 knots, abort the start!!
