by Jade Buchanan There's a little scene in Pridelands 4: Griffin's Joy that made me giggle every time I read it during edits because of a little inside joke I have with my sister. Joy Coleman had just arrived at her family's cabin and was about to hear what had been going on with the rest of her family.

Joy contemplated the lumpy sofa, deciding it was probably safer to sit on the floor. Glancing quickly at the big man still holding Spotty, she dropped to the floor, stretching her legs out in front of her. "I feel like we should have popcorn or something."

"I have cream of mushroom soup."

Wrinkling her nose at Mike's answer, she decided just to ignore him. Brothers shouldn't be encouraged. Really, it would just make him worse.

When we were growing up, it seemed like every time my sister or I would go downstairs to look for snacks, all we'd ever find was cans of cream of mushroom soup (or pea soup and don't even get me started on that!!). Seriously, what does one family need that many cans of mushroom soup for? It turns out there are a ton of recipes that use mushroom soup as an ingredient and I decided to showcase one for all of you!

Here you have it... Cream of Mushroom Soup Pork Chops.

Ingredients:

• 4 pork chops
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 pinch garlic salt, or to taste
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1/2 pound fresh mushrooms, sliced
• 1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of mushroom soup

Method:

1. Season pork chops with salt, pepper, and garlic salt to taste.
2. In a large skillet, brown the chops over medium-high heat.
3. Add the onion and mushrooms, and sauté for one minute. (Okay, so here's where I admit I hate the texture of onions and won't eat them. I decided not to put actual onions in the recipe, so I added a little bit of onion powder instead. It worked for me
4. Pour cream of mushroom soup over pork. Cover skillet, and reduce temperature to medium-low. Simmer 20 to 30 minutes, or until pork chops are cooked through.

The pork gets so tender you can just about flake it into little pieces with your fork. More importantly, this is a great dish for leftovers! Fantastic the next day. I serve mine with a little bit of minute rice because I'm lazy, but I know this is great with just about anything on the side.

My mom used to make a version of this when I was little and it was always a huge favourite at our house. Hey, maybe that's why she always stocked up on the cans!

So there you have it... a nice and easy recipe for those of us who are not-so-great in the kitchen!

Happy reading and happy cooking everyone!

Jade