Sweet and Savory Slow Cooker Apple Pork Chops

One of the things I love about my Monthly Freezer Meal Club is the introduction to a bunch of awesome new recipes. Something that makes these recipes awesome is 1) they are new, 2) they are freezable and 3) many of them are slow cooker recipes.

So, like, the Trifecta of Awesome.

A few months ago, my friend Kate prepped us each a freezer bag of Apple Pie Pork Chops. To be honest, the idea sounded gross (literally plopping apple pie filling on top of pork chops in the slow cooker). Surprisingly, it was very good. And the girls loved it (which, let's be honest, is rare). Although it was good, it needed…tweaking. It was a bit too sweet for my taste.

So I went to work remaking this recipe into something a little less sweet and a little more savory.

And friends?

I hit the jackpot.

This recipe for Sweet and Savory Slow Cooker Apple Pork Chops is easy, freezable, and made in the slow cooker. Also? It's delicious. And perfect for Autumn.  It is the perfect blend of sweet (thanks, apples and cinnamon!) and savory (thanks, thyme and onions!). I can't wait to add this to my regular Meal Rotation.

• 4-6 center cut boneless pork chops
• 1 onion, diced.
• 6 medium/large apples, peeled and diced
• 2 TBS sugar (or sugar substitute)
• 2 TBS flour (white or whole wheat)
• 1/2 tsp of ground cinnamon
• Dash of ground cloves (optional)
• 1 tsp of dried thyme
• 1 cup of water

Spray slow cooker insert with cooking spray. Arrange pork chops on bottom of slow cooker. In a small bowl, combine diced apples, diced onions, flour, sugar, cinnamon and thyme (and, if you use it, dash of cloves). Top pork chops with apple/onion mixture. Pour 1 cup of water over everything. Cook on low for 4-6 hours or until pork chops are cooked through and mixture is bubbling.

*****

The left over pork tastes AWESOME shredded with some of the apple mixture on grilled pizza. 

Now, INSPIRE ME. 

Give me new ideas to add to my Back-to-School Meal Rotation! Comment below with your favorite recipes.

Steph's Stovetop Chili {RECIPE}

It's been a while since I've posted a recipe, hasn't it?

This past week, the weather dipped into official Autumn territory:  brisk nights and not terribly warm days. I LOVED IT. I loved wearing jeans and long-sleeved shirts and not sweating profusely. After an unfortunate central air condition malfunction (where malfunction means total breakdown), I really sleeping with the windows closed and still needing to nestle under the covers to stay warm.

So delicious.

Also delicious was the amazing chili recipe I concocted in celebrating of the festive weather.  I've been happy with my go-to Chili recipe, but I was in the mood to try something new. I did a lot of research (I seriously pored over tons of chili recipes online and in cookbooks), and compiled common ingredients or ingredients I found intriguing.  And after an afternoon of cooking, a new Chili recipe was born.

Yup - this recipe is a STEPH ORIGINAL.  I do have another Chili recipe (which is also quite tasty), but it is developed for the slow cooker. This new recipe has a few more steps, a few more ingredients, but the pay-off is monumental.

Yes.  MONUMENTAL.

Using 3 different kinds of meat, a variety of chills and the right conglomerate of spices really makes this dish.  Many good recipes I found called for "smoked" or "chipotle" spices (such as chipotle chile powder or smoked paprika). I don't have those on hand - so I modified my spice list not to include them. I also wanted to use 1 bottle of lager beer, but did not get a chance to grab any before cooking.  So there is a lot of room in this recipe to try different things for different flavors.

After years of struggling to find a GOOD Chili recipe, I am humbled to finally have the piece de resistance. 

• 1.25 lbs of ground beef (I used 85/25)
• 1.25 lbs of ground pork
• 6 sliced of bacon, chopped
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 green pepper, seeded and chopped (red or yellow would be a great substitute)
• 1 poblano chili pepper, seeded and chopped (handle with care)
• 1 jalapeño chili pepper, seeded and chopped (handle with care)
• 3 14.5 oz cans of petite diced tomatoes, UNDRAINED
• 1 14.5 oz can of diced tomatoes with zesty and mild chiles, UNDRAINED
• 3 cans of beans, drained and rinsed (I used 1 pinto, 1 dark red kidney, 1 light red kidney)
• 4 TBS chili powder
• 2 TBS ground cumin
• 1 TBS paprika
• 2 tsp oregano
• salt and pepper to taste

1) Heat a large dutch oven or stock pot over medium heat.  Spray with non-stick cooking spray.  Add bacon bits and cook until bacon is crispy, stirring occasionally.

2) To the bacon, add onions, garlic, peppers and spices (chili powder, cumin, paprika, oregano, salt and pepper).   Cook until vegetables are tender and the spices are fragrant.  

3) Add the beef, breaking it up with a spoon. Once the beef is browned, add the pork, breaking it up with a spoon. Cook until the pork is cooked through and no longer pink.

4) Stir in beans and tomatoes, tossing to incorporate.

5) Lower heat and simmer for 2+ hours.

6) Taste test, and adjust seasonings as needed.  Serve with your favorite toppings/garnishes: sour cream, shredded cheddar cheese, scallions, hot sauce or Fritos!

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Do NOT be intimidated by the AMOUNT of ingredients on the list.  It looks overwhelming, but they all come together quickly, and many ingredients involved opening cans and dumping them in the pot.  I am the Queen of Simple Suppers, and always aim to keep prep and process simple in the kitchen. This recipe definitely fits the qualifications!

Notes:

1) If you want to use beer (1 bottle or can), add it when you add the beans (see Step 4).  All recipes I researched suggested a lager, such as Budweiser.  My friend, Jen, swears by Sam Adams Octoberfest.  And I'd be interested to use Dogfish Head Punkin Ale (as we are HUGE Dogfish Head fans in this house)

2) If you want hotter chili, leave some of the poblano and jalapeño seeds in. If you can't stand the heat, make sure you remove ALL pepper seeds.

3) I did not know this until recently, but apparently Fritos and chili were made to be lovers.  Serve chili over a handful of Fritos, and you'll never be the same.


What are your favorite chili toppings?  How would you modify this recipe to suit your tastes?

Have a great week!

Simple Supper Monday, Vol. 69: Crockpot BBQ Pulled Pork Sandwiches

I can confirm today's recipe is awesome. Because I just tried it today. And it was awesome.


I'm not sure how I came across it. I believe I was perusing the internet for new recipes, and somehow I ended up on Food.com.  And wouldn't you know it, I had a pork roast in the freezer that I needed to use.  Perfect!  


A few weeks ago I shared how we only just started cooking pork again.  We've mainly been sticking to pork chops, but when these pork roasts were on sale not long ago, I decided to pick one up.  I had no recipes indexed for this cut of meat, and coming across this recipe was providential.


Really.


Other things I love about this recipe:

• Easy
• Healthy 
• Crock Pot
• Few ingredients
• A caveman could do it
• Feeds a bunch of people
• Easy

If that's not enough encouragement to try this recipe, I'm not sure what is.


Yum!

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Simple Supper Monday

Crock Pot BBQ Pulled Pork

(from food.com)

4 lbs pork roast (shoulder or butt)

2 large onions

1 cup ginger ale

1 (18 ounce) bottle favorite barbecue sauce (I like Sweet Baby Ray's)

barbecue sauce, for serving (optional)

1) Slice one onion and place in crock pot.



2) Put in the roast and cover with the other onion, sliced. Pour over the ginger ale. Cover and cook on LOW for about 12 hours.

3) Remove the meat, strain and save the onions, discard all liquid. With two forks, shred the meat, discarding any remaining fat, bones or skin. Most of the fat will have melted away.

4) Return the shredded meat and the onions to the crock pot, stir in the barbecue sauce. Continue to cook for another 4 to 6 hours on LOW.

5) Serve with hamburger buns or rolls and additional barbecue sauce. Any leftovers freeze very well.

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Notes:

1)  As many of you may know, my Crock Pot has a vendetta against me, and has recently begun cooking things more quickly (ie: overcooking or burning).  So my cooking time was a quarter of what was shared above (the author of this recipe did say they have a very old crock pot, so if you have a newer one, I'd encourage you to try a shorter time as well).  I cooked the pork roast for 4 hours with the onions and ginger ale and about 2 hours with the sauce.

2) Make sure you shred it well, so more of the meat picks up the BBQ sauce.

3) Cook the roast long enough so it is tender, so it will be easier to shred!

We shared the Pulled Pork with my in-laws, and everyone had good things to say.  Even for 4 adults (and 1 picky preschooler), there was plenty of leftover. And I used a 2.5 lb roast!

Have a good week!  If you have recipes worth trying and sharing with the rest of the community, email me!  moderndaydonnareed@gmail.com

Simple Supper Monday, Vol 66: Rosemary Grilled Pork Chops

Several years ago, when we were first married, my husband read a book by Jonathan Safran Foer called, Eating Animals. You can imagine the content.  After finishing the book, my husband declared that he wanted to eat a vegetarian diet.  Enter newly married wife who is mainly in charge of the cooking.  I had no idea how to cut meat out of our weekly menu, nor did I want to.  But I complied, and the phase lasted about a week.  Thank goodness. Despite returning to meat, Hubby still felt strongly that he no longer wanted to eat pork products. I was fine with this initially because I did not cook with pork that often anyway.


Fast forward about 3 years.  My mom gifts Hubby a grilling cookbook for Christmas.  Now, I love my mom dearly, but she is a bargain shopper.  The woman cannot turn down a good deal, a red tag, a bottom line price.  So, when I see the red clearance sticker on the book, I have to refrain from rolling my eyes.  Because I know that she was probably at TJ Maxx or Marshalls a few days before Christmas doing last minute shopping, saw the discounted price, saw it was a cookbook suitable for a guy because it was about grilling, and needed to get my husband a gift.  I was all ready to give her to faked smiled and thank-you, when I saw Hubby's very different reaction.


He was quite enthusiastic about the cookbook.  Like genuinely enthusiastic. What was I missing?


"Are you kidding? It's the Barbeque Bible by Steve Raichlen!" he informed me when I asked him about it.


"Steve who?"


"Raichlan.  RAICHLAN. He's, like a Grilling GOD." Hubby could not hide his disdain for my ignorance.  (I will also note here that my husband is a bit of a bibliophile, and worked for several years at our local independent book store, where he gained a vast knowledge of valuable books and worthwhile authors).


To make a long story short, Hubby was very excited to try the recipes from said bible, including a few of the pork meals (which I was happy to oblige).  So, we recently tried a grilled pork chop recipe from the book, and it was FANTASTIC.  So fantastic we made it twice in 2 weeks.


So, of course, I want to share it with you!

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Simple Supper Monday

Rosemary- Grilled Pork Chops

(adapted from Steve Raichlan's recipe, Rosemary-Grilled Pork Loin, in The Barbeque Bible)

• 4-6 Center Cut Pork Chops
• 3-4 tsp minced garlic (or 6 cloves of garlic peeled)
• 1 TBS dried rosemary (or 1 bunch of fresh rosemary, stemmed)
• 1 TBS course salt (kosher)
• 1 TBS ground black pepper
• 2 TBS extra virgin olive oil

1, Combine garlic, rosemary, salt and pepper in a mortar and pound to a smooth paste with a pestle (if using minced garlic, grind until a smooth paste). Work in the oil until it is combined.  If you don't have a mortar and pestle, combine ingredients in a blender or food processor until smooth.

2.  Spread paste over both sides of each pork chop. Place the pork chops in a pan, covered in plastic wrap, in the refrigerator to marinate for 2-4 hours.

3. Heat grill and cook each pork chop roughly 5 minutes on each side (2-4 minutes for thin chops, 4-6 minutes for thick).

4. Enjoy!

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We served these pork chops with potatoes (roasted on the grill in foil packets - recipe to come!  So check back!) and grilled asparagus.  It was so so tasty, and I felt good that it was a reasonably well-balanced and healthy meal.  The chops come out super flavorful (but be sure to use COARSE salt. I used regular salt the first time, and the chops came out terribly salty!)

We are looking forward to more pork meals, and are hoping to try a grilled pork loin some time this summer.  I'll be sure to share how it goes!

If you try this recipe, let me know how it turns out for you!  And, as always, I'd love for you to share your recipes, so drop me an email - moderndaydonnareed@gmail.com