Porkchops and Applesauce....and ruined pudding

For those of you who don't know, Josh and I attend church at the night service. Our church is massive, so it's nice to be able to worship in an intimate (well, as intimate as you can get for a mega church) setting. That being said, I always have this need to cook after church, and I like to cook meals that take forever. We normally end up eating around 10 PM. I understand the folly in this, but when I have a bag of grits calling my name, I will cook them. Even if it takes an hour and a half.

Oh, the Humanity! Grits simmered for a few hours with bacon and onions, and then a pile of cheese dunked in! And the picture is blurry because of the steam. It was oh so tasty!

Then, I made pork chops (because I knew that they are one of Josh's favorites) with an apple concoction. I cooked the apples in apple cider vinegar and white wine until it reduced, then I poured in maple syrup, then threw the pork chops back in with the apples and let it simmer for 20 minutes. The pork didn't need a knife! I got both of these recipes from thepioneerwoman.com, and I honestly haven't had a bad dish yet from her. And now that she has a Food Network Show, I am ecstatic!

This is my plate halfway through the meal. Now normally I hate hate hate my food touching, but I actually kept dunking my grits in that maple/apple sauce! Josh thought I was being a dork, but talk about a mixture of sweet and savory! Plus, I put a ton of tabasco in the cheese grits.... and Josh never said a word....

Now comes to the part of the tale that is sad. I also attempted a banana pudding dish that I saw on the diet section of the Kraft recipe website. Since I ate my weight in cheese grits, I thought I should at least top it with fat free Cool Whip. I sacrifice so much. I followed that darn recipe to a tee, and it turned out awful. Well, not awful, necessarily. The top pudding layer never became pudding. It remained a liquid. I put it in the fridge for 3 hours. And then I gave up and left it in there overnight, thinking it could be breakfast! (don't judge. I love pudding.)

Here is what I woke up to this morning:

(sob!) It is still liquid. Still. And now the bananas are floating in the sad pudding liquid. But, if you turn your attention to the bottom right corner. I still have leftover grits! Yippee!