Sister Cecilia Landis’ Simply Heavenly Pork Chops

I am the chief cook and bottle washer,” says the Sister of Christian Charity. “I do all that has to do at with the house.”



A native of Reading, Pennsylvania, Sister Marie Cecilia Landis of the Assumption College for Sisters leads a busy life, describing herself as the “chief cook and bottle washer” for the sisters. But she is definitely a happy person, apparently fulfilling a life dream.

Raised in a Catholic household, she noted that her mother was devout, and her father converted to the faith when she took him to Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament at St. Catherine of Siena Parish in Mount Penn, Reading. “Not only did he become a convert,” she said, “but he said he would still have been a Catholic even if they had not married.”


In grade school at St. Catherine of Siena, she was part of a group of students who took down laundry for the Sisters at St. Catherine’s Convent and would then clean the convent, the chapel, the dining room and the parlor in the afternoon. In the summer before her high school, the principal came into the school office while the girls were checking envelopes in books, and said that the Sisters in the parish had lost their cook.

“My friend and I said, ‘We will cook for you,’” she said. “Yes, we can cook, and the Sister said ‘You are hired at $5 a day. And then it dawned on us — she was not kidding. The first week, we struggled. The second week we got it down. Then months into it, my friend left, and I got the job. I love cooking.”

Continued below.
Sister Cecilia Landis’ Simply Heavenly Pork Chops

Recipe: Simply Heavenly Pork Chops

These are Sister Cecilia’s pork chops that everyone loves! (No fancy buying. Just use what you have.)

Ingredients:

• Pork Chops — You can use any cut of pork chops in this recipe
• Large Sweet White Onions — Or use whatever is your favorite onion to cook with
• Salt and Pepper
• Garlic — Powder/chopped fresh/minced … whatever you have and as much as you like
• Parsley — Chopped fresh/dry/whatever you have and as much as you like
• Cold water — amount as needed

Directions:

1. Pan pork chops on a foil covered baking sheet.
2. Salt and pepper all chops on top side. Either broil (on high) or bake (at 400 degrees) until browned on top side; take out, turn over and salt and pepper on second side.
3. Brown off that side under broiler or on bake (same as above). Important: Save the pork chop drippings from the foil paper and put in saucepan. Set aside.
4. Place pork chops in a baking dish, staggering them.
5. Clean and slice onion(s) and place one slice of onion on each pork chop.
6. Take the saucepan with the pork chop drippings and add enough water to make about 1or 2 cups of liquid, (depending on how many pork chops you have … you want there to be at least an inch to an inch and a half of liquid on the bottom of the pan
7. Put the garlic in the drippings and bring to a rolling boil.
8. Pour the sauce drippings over the pork chops and sprinkle the parsley over the entire thing.
9. Cover tightly with aluminum foil, making sure it is well sealed all the way around the pan.
10. Put in the oven, on 325 degrees for 1 hour
11. Enjoy the simple heavenly taste!

I have never heard of that??