The Anti-Chicken Fingers Movement - Cinnamon Apple Pork Chops

Flavorful!  Autumny!  Comforting! 

I stumbled upon this recipe last week just one day before our grocery run.  I was actually going to try my parmesan-dijon chicken recipe with pork chops (recipe found in the book Betty Crocker's Cooking Basics: Learning to Cook with Confidence).  Luckily, the pork chops and apples recipe jumped out at me!  I had apples (it's fall, after all) and I had just bought brown sugar for an appetizer I made for a Halloween bash.  It was as easy and delightful as I could've hoped for.  On this rainy and chilly evening, we paired it with stuffing, green beans and mashed potatoes for that wholesome, all-American comfort food meal. 

Cinnamon Apple Pork Chops

2 medium apples (we used Gala)
3 T packed brown sugar
1/2 t ground cinnamon
4 pork chops
cooking spray

Directions

1. Heat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Cut the apple into fourths, and remove the seeds.  Cut each fourth into 3 or 4 wedges. Place apple wedges in the casserole dish.  Sprinkle the brown sugar and cinnamon over the apples.
3. Cut and discard most of teh fast from the pork chops. Spray the skillet with cooking spray, and heat over medium heat 1 to 2 minutes.  Cook pork chops in hot skillet about 5 minutes, turning once, until light brown.
4. Place the pork chops in a single layer on the apple wedges. Cover with lid or aluminum foil and bake about 45 minutes or until pork is slightly pink when you cut into the center and apples are tender when pierced with a fork.

Buon appetito!

The Anti-Chicken Fingers Movement - Polynesian Pork Chops

Polynesian Pork Chops

I’m rollin’ the dice here…another slow cooker meal.  If you read my first Anti-Chicken Fingers Movement recipe, you may remember that my husband usually responds to slow cooked meals as though I warmed a can of pork and beans and a hot dog over a camp fire and said “welcome home honey, dinner is served” …until he tasted the divine lime cilantro tacos from last week’s bit.  So, yeah, I thought I’d try again.

This week’s meal from my favorite recipe site is Polynesian Pork Chops.  After browsing enticing photos and skimming ingredients, I found a dish that I was excited about.  I feel duped though.  What I thought was a meal suggested by a hard-working mama experimenting with dishes that were sure to please her whole family, was actually from Campbell’s.  Aha!  That’s why they were so direct about me getting Campbell’s Golden Mushroom Soup.  I figured that out after I made the meal.  Nice!

What I love about this dish:  It was so fantastically easy!  I made it more difficult at first by using a fresh pineapple.  With the medley of tastes, canned pineapple would've sufficed.  But, now we have a few days worth of fresh pineapple.

What the hubs loved about this dish:  The familiar taste of the soy sauce (check out a quick story at the bottom of this blog post regarding said husband and soy sauce) blended with the sweetness of the honey and pineapple made a typically boring dish-pork chops-well, fun!

What I served with this dish:  Brown rice instead of the white; peas (my boys love them some peas) and warm fluffy biscuits.  I’m still not eating carbs and those biscuits were killing me!

Bon appetite!

J Leah

Polynesian Pork Chops

• 4 boneless pork chops, 3/4-inch thick
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 (10.75 ounce) can Campbell's® Condensed Golden Mushroom Soup
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 (8 ounce) can pineapple chunks
• 3 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 2 cups cooked regular long-grain white rice
• Sliced green onion

Directions

1. Season chops with garlic powder.
2. Heat oil in skillet. Cook chops until browned. Add onion.
3. Add soup, water, pineapple with juice, soy and honey. Heat to a boil. Cook over low heat 10 minutes or until done.
4. Serve with rice and sprinkle with green onions.

Soy Sauce Anecdote - We had only been dating a month or two, Zac and I. We had scored a free breakfast brunch at one of the nicest bayfront hotels in San Diego. The one I actually worked at. They had everything...cinnamon french toast, baked goods galore, an omelet bar, fresh fruit you wouldn't believe, I almost think I saw ham, and then there was the sushi table. The glorious sushi table! Mid-conversation, Zac's eyes start to grow distant and I'm getting the idea he's not listening to me. Men! Then they start to tear up. He had obviously mixed way too much wasabi into his soy sauce. I think it took him a half hour to recover!