More poke chops, please!

So today the girls and I headed to Target to pick up a *few* groceries. Why Target instead of the grocery store? Well, mostly because they have a mini Pizza Hut for their food choice and we ALL wanted us some pizza and bread sticks. Score one for Target... our $6.50 lunch in their Pizza Hut cost me $75 in their store! (Somehow I manage to split 1 personal pan, 3 bread sticks, 1 soda, and 1 water between the 3 of us. Times are tight, friends, times are tight!) :)

Anyway, so I spent $75 on groceries. (Well, technically... $68. I did SCORE two pairs of jeans for the girls for the next school year... at 3.75 a pair!! It was my lucky day that the 75% off rack wasn't yet picked over. Deals like that make me *heart* Target even more.)

Two hours later, we made it home with our haul. And then, in angst, I tried to figure out what to fix for dinner. So I ask you...

*How in the WORLD do I buy an entire cart load of groceries... and then feel like I have NOTHING to fix for dinner?!*

Crazy.

While looking through my cook books, I realized I was missing at least one ingredient here and there. Poor planning on my part, I know. I am the worst about planning ahead for a menu.

After much deliberation, I finally settled on a baked pork chop recipe I had never tried. (Or as the girls would call them, POKE chops.) I was hesitant, as we haven't had much luck with baking them in the past. We normally grill them outside... or even yummier... FRY them!! But since I skipped working out this morning, I decided to go a little healthier route. Okay, now back to the pork chops. They were YUM-MY!

And the funny thing is... not one single ingredient was used from our shopping trip today. Not the chops, nor the ingredients I added, nor the sides. Amazing. Still wondering what all I bought for $68.

And this is all I did for the yummy dinner: I first browned them in the pan with some salt and pepper on them. In a little saucepan, I heated some A1 sauce, brown sugar, Worcestershire sauce, and lemon juice. I poured that over the chops and baked for 40 minutes. Sounds like a crazy combo, but it worked. Even Jeff, who usually has a critique or two (usually along the lines of "something's missing") went on and on about them. And the girls? Ate up every bite on their plate. Now THAT'S when I know I've found a dinner worth repeating!

And all those groceries I bought today? I'm still at a loss as to what we're having for our 3 meals tomorrow... seriously!! How ridiculous is that?! Oh well, at least I got a fun little Target adventure out of the deal. And some really yummy poke chops.