Cooking with the backseat chef

On the menu today: Jerk Pork Chops with instant rice, another recipe from Better Homes and Gardens' "Anyone Can Cook."

If I do say so myself, this was the best thing I've made so far. Sure, the pork was overcooked. Sure, I didn't really make the effort I should have to cut off the fat BEFORE cooking, or to scrape the "drippings" into the pan. Sure, I may have used every kitchen tool I have in the process. But I think it came out really well and I think Sean liked it.

This, despite the fact he is a backseat chef. I don't know if you all have encountered this before. By "this," I mean someone who has less experience cooking and is an infinitely pickier eater and yet insists you are doing whatever you're doing wrong. Now, I love Sean, and in many cases, he's right: I am doing it wrong. But today that was not the case.

After I finished cooking the pork, the directions called for stirring dijon mustard into the skillet drippings, then whisking in marmalade and orange juice. No sooner had I dropped a dollop of dijon in the center of the skillet than Sean said, "Um...I don't think you were supposed to do that in the same skillet."

I, being a defensive Latina, was like, "Yuh huh! What do you know?" And then he tried to convince me that, despite the fact the instructions didn't mention it, I was supposed to transfer all the ingredients to a sauce pan. Needless to say, I ignored him and the sauce came out perfect, as evidenced below. Sean, I'm sorry to rat you out to the Internets.

I'd like to take a moment to sing the praises of Uncle Ben's Instant Rice. It cooks perfectly and the only step is "Open bag. Microwave bag. Remove rice." It was ridiculously easy. My Backseat Chef, however, made sure to tell me that I shouldn't have bought the butter-flavored rice, so next time, we'll be cooking the plain white.