Very Easy Pork Chops

We haven't been cooking much at our house because of a certain wedding, but the other night I made pork chops. When I say these are easy, I mean these are cheating-easy. But the reason I'm posting this here is to let you know that not all delicious food has to be fiddly or difficult or even terribly original. The only thing about this recipe is that you have to have time to marinate.

• Pork chops. Bone-in, boneless, thin or thick, whatever you like, whatever's on sale. I tend to get the big packs that are discounted, so the other day I made nine boneless, medium-thick.
• a bottle of Lawry's marinade (garlic & herb is my personal preference) [I told you this is cheating-easy]. You can also use an 8-oz bottle of store-brand Italian salad dressing. If you are only doing 4-6 chops, you can just use half the bottle.
• a zippered plastic bag large enough to hold your chops (like a gallon)

It almost seems absurd to write this out.

Place all your chops in the zippered bag, pour in the bottled marinade or dressing, close the bag (really do; I didn't double-check the seal, and ended up wearing a good-sized portion of marinade), give it a good shake or otherwise massage your chops around so they're all covered liberally, and put it in the fridge. It needs at least 30 minutes, but you could leave it in there for several days. Really. Because that's what happened here. I set this up to cook on Thursday, no one came home for dinner, so they waited until MONDAY. And they were still good, and still delicious.

After you finish marinading, spray a baking dish with Pam and pour your chops and marinade in. Arrange the chops to lay flat. (I got nine into a 9x13 casserole dish with no problem.) Bake 20-30 minutes in a pre-heated 350 degree F oven, until the chops are AT LEAST 165 degrees F inside. (I recommend getting the best meat thermometer you can afford. You won't be sorry.) They can be hotter than that, but they should not be cooler. (Note: you can grill the chops, but you should throw away the marinade and not use it to baste. Basting is kind of a pointless exercise unless we're talking about barbecue sauce, and that's a different matter altogether.) Do not over-cook your chops. They'll taste great, but they'll be really tough. (I know, I know--how long is too long? Frankly, I don't know. It's taken me years to get enough of a feel for pork chops that I don't massively overcook them. I just know that for medium-thick chops, 20-30 minutes is long enough.)

Let your chops rest 5 minutes, and serve with mashed potatoes, a big salad, and cinnamon apple sauce.