This little piggy had...pork chops

With longer work hours and a firm commitment to eight hours of sleep a night, it's difficult to take the time to prepare a home cooked meal every night (well, I'm lazy, too, which doesn't help). It's much easier to pick something up on the way home, or graze through whatever is in the pantry.

However, I had the foresight to take a pork chop out of the freezer and throw it in the refrigerator to thaw this morning. Here's how to get dinner on the table in a little under forty-five minutes:

Take out toaster oven and put it on the counter. Test 9  x 9 pan to be sure it fits (it's ceramic and has built in handles). Turn oven on to 375 to preheat. Spray pan with nonstick spray.

Season pork chop with salt and pepper; place in a corner of the pan. Chop a couple of carrots and a potato into roughly the same size pieces (1 1/2" dice). Toss with olive oil to coat and add a hearty shake of Arizona Dreaming spice mix from Penzeys. Place in pan with pork chop; put the pan in the toaster oven.

Get ipod from purse and plug it into the dock; chose something peppy. Wander upstairs, change into workout clothes and sit on the bed, waiting for the heat to turn off so the room will return to a non-saunalike temperature. Climb on elliptical and start torture walking. When timer dings, fall climb down and stagger stroll to the computer to check e-mail.

Wander back downstairs into the kitchen. Use a fork to test a carrot to see if it is done. Remember (too late) that said carrot is hot. It's ready.

Put everything on a plate and chow down.

The carrots and potatoes should have a nice crispness to the outside, but be softish on the inside. Check the chop to be sure it is cooked to whatever the current "safe" temperature for pork is this week (I kid; the new correct temperature is 145 degrees, revised from 160 by the FDA back in March 2011).

The unfortunate side effect of this uber-efficient dinner making is that I now have plenty of time tonight to go balance the checkbook, which is long overdue. I'll say this much, though - pork chops will be on the next grocery list for sure.