Lamb chops!

This was the first time I ever made lamb in any form. This was also the first time that The Man has ever eaten lamb. I assume he liked it as he ate 2 chops.

I took a couple of different recipes I found online and mixed them together to come up with tonight's dinner: pan-fried lamb chops, smashed red potatoes, and peas.

I need to learn to measure when I am cooking; measurements below are approximate.

I love eating this way - I was sick/bloated/generally nasty-feeling after eating every day of my life for the last 10 years. It's still a revalation to me when I can eat a healthy portion of dinner and feel NORMAL. I forgot what that felt like.

Pan-fried Lamb Chops with Smashed Red Potatoes

For the lamb chops:

4 lamb chops

Roasted red pepper olive oil (I found this one, along with the roasted garlic and basil oils, at my local store. According to their website, they are GF, but they are manufactured in a plant that uses wheat. I haven't had any problems...yet.)

1/2 tsp dried oregano

1 lemon

1/2 tsp onion powder

1/2 tsp garlic powder

For the potatoes:

Baby red potatoes - enough to feed your particular army; I chopped up about 25 or so

Shredded cheese of your choice

Milk

Butter

Salt

Create a marinade for the chops by combining 1/4 cup roasted pepper olive oil, oregano, garlic and onion powders, and the juice of a lemon. Plop the chops, coating all sides well, and put into the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

While the chops are marinating, clean and chop your potatoes in half (quarters if the potatoes are fairly large) so they cook quickly. Put them in a pot with water and 1/4 kosher salt. Start cooking them and bring them to boiling; they're done when you can stick a fork into the biggest piece you can fish out with a fork.

After the potatoes come to a boil, heat a big frying pan. Take the chops out of the fridge and let sit on the counter for a few minutes. When the pan is hot, put the chops in the pan (be careful of splatters that HURT...OW!). Cook on moderate to high heat for 4 minutes and then flip them over. Fry until they're at the desired rareness/shoeleatherness, turning them as seldom as possible.

Drain the potatoes well. I usually put mine back in the pan on low heat for a few minutes to get any residual water out of them. Pour them into a bowl you don't mind scraping up with a potato masher (I won't do that in my cookware). Start the mashing process without any additions so you get a feel for moisture BEFORE you add any milk. Slowly add milk in small doses until you get the consistency you're looking for. When I do smashed potatoes (with the skins on), I want them to be kinda lumpy. When you get them where you want them, add the cheese and butter. Stir it up to get the cheese distributed before it starts to melt.

Blow any cat hair off the dinner plates and serve it up!

And while I was typing this up, I realized that one of the fish, which I hadn't seen all day, had gotten stuck in one of the water "features" we have in the tank. I just had to stick my hand in the tank (not an easy task for a 5-foot-1-inch runt to do with a 75-gallon tank) and rescue the dumbass.