Pork Chops, Potatoes & Gravy

I’ve been trying to use things that I already have on hand to cook with lately. I guess you could say I’ve entered myself in my own pantry challenge. The thought of running to the store to grab something new (or possibly unneeded) is astounding to me since the price of gas and groceries continues to climb. I might feel a little differently if I lived closer to town and had easy access to a grocery store.
Yesterday morning as I stumbled through the kitchen, pilfering through every cabinet, I came across some fresh veggies, a packet of chicken gravy and frozen pork chops. I knew I had dinner. Not just dinner, but a complete dinner that would require nothing more from me than putting it all together in the crock pot. So that’s exactly what I did. This is how my crock pot pork chop one pot wonder dinner (which is a mouthful to say) came to be. It was DELICIOUS! Here is how I did it:

• enough pork chops to feed your family (I had four, and they were boneless-you could use bone-in if you wanted to)
• enough potatoes and carrots, washed peeled and cut to similar sizes for even cooking (I used 5 medium sized red potatoes and 8 ounces of baby carrots)
• 1 – 2 onions, peeled and largely sliced
• 1 packet of dry gravy or soup mix (I used chicken gravy, but turkey gravy, mushroom gravy or onion soup mix would work)
• salt & pepper to taste
• 1 – 2 Tablespoons worcestershire sauce

Add the potatoes, carrots and onions to the crock pot.
Mix the gravy packet with the amount of water specified on the package.
Place the pork chops on top of the veggies and season liberally with salt and pepper. Pour the gravy mix over the top of the pork chops and veggies. Add the worcestershire sauce to the crock pot too. Cook on low for 7 – 8 hours or on low for 4 – 5 hours.
As soon as I lifted the lid off of this and started making my daughter’s plate the whole household decended like vultures to the kitchen. It didn’t allow for me to take pictures of the finished meal, but it did give me the quietest dinner I’ve had in a long time.

*NOTE* Because of the extra liquid that crock pot cooking entails this gravy will not be a thick gravy. It is actually very brothy (but a very flavorful broth). If you want a thicker gravy you can make a cornstarch slurry with equal amounts cornstarch and water until cornstarch is completely dissolved and add it to the crock pot 30 minutes – 1 hour before serving.