Most of the time, you order take-out when you don’t feel like cooking or are famished and need food PRONTO! That was me, until I moved onto a small South Philly street that cars couldn’t drive down. I’d order a pizza and salad, and begin explaining to the person on the phone that the delivery guy needed to park on such and such a street, walk ten feet down the street, hang a left, walk another ten feet and take a right. He’d “Yeah, yeah” me, swear on a stack of bibles that they were all too familiar with my block, and two hours later, no pizza, no salad. Eventually, I gave up on ordering take-out and instead had microwavables stashed in the freezer or quick meals that could be made in a half hour, rather than starve to death.
Chicken or pork chops coated with Shake ‘n Bake were one of my quickie meals. Throw some meat into a bag of flavored bread crumbs, shake, and toss it in the oven. What could be easier? Making your own coating mix to have on hand is even better, besides saving money, you can actually pronounce all of the ingredients that went into making it. It’s a big hit with the fellas, and the mix is handy when making meatballs!
- 2 cups Italian bread crumbs
- 1 tablespoon garlic powder
- 2 teaspoons onion powder
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 2 teaspoons paprika
- 1 teaspoon oregano
- 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- Mix all ingredients together and store in an airtight container.
- Preheat oven to 425º. Line a baking sheet with foil.
- Measure out 1/2 cup of mix into a plastic bag for 4 pork chops. Coat pork chops, place on foil lined pan and bake for 20 minutes for boneless chops and 30 minutes for bone in chops. Do not turn during baking.
