Tonight, I made a gourmet meal. My new husband had been complaining how I never made him one when I was on vacation all last week. Hopefully he shuts up  and doesn’t ask for awhile now.

I’ve been trying a lot of recipes from the Pioneer Woman lately. So far, I’ve made Homemade Ranch dressing, Sour Cream Noodle Bake, Twice Baked Potatoes, Perfect Pot Roast and now Pork Chops and Apples. All of which can be found on her website or Food Network’s website. It would be really neat to be able to come up with your own recipes like she does and land a show on the Food Network. I have troubles trying to come up with a recipe of my very own.

This pork chop dish screamed Fall to me. We still had a couple of apples to get rid of. We gave a lot away this year to the neighbors and to some friends.  It says to serve this dish with creamy grits, but we had acorn squash with it instead. It is my new goal each week to have some kind of vegetable with a meal. I’m terrible at getting vegetables. My attempt at taking pictures isn’t nearly as good as the ones on her website. I’m trying though. It’s also a goal of mine to take more pictures of the process of making a dish too. Trying to get my bounce rate down and I thought that posting more pictures would make people stay longer. Hope it’s helping.

Melt some butter and olive oil in a cast iron pan.

Salt and pepper some pork chops on both sides.

Brown the pork chops in the pan until golden. Recipe says about 2 minutes per side.

Take the pork chops out and start cooking the apples. Add in the last 3 ingredients.

This isn’t the greatest picture of the dish, but it works for me.

Served some pork chops with acorn squash. I only buy that when it’s on sale.

Ingredients Pioneer Woman

6 whole Boneless Pork Chops, About 1/2-inch Thick
2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
2 Tablespoons Butter
2 whole Gala Apples, Diced
1/2 cup Dry White Wine
2 teaspoons Apple Cider Vinegar
3/4 cups Pure Maple Syrup
1 dash Salt
Freshly Ground Black Pepper
Creamy Bacon-Cheese Grits (see My Tasty Kitchen Recipe)

Preparation Instructions

Note: See my TastyKitchen recipe box for my Creamy Bacon Cheese Grits recipe.

Heat a large, heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Add olive oil and butter and heat until butter in melted.

Salt and pepper both sides of pork chops. Brown them on both sides until nice and golden. Remove pork chops from the skillet and set on a separate plate.

Reduce heat to medium. Add apples and stir to combine them with the oil, and butter that remains in the pan. Pour in wine and vinegar, then whisk along the bottom of the pan to deglaze it. Cook until liquid is reduced by half, about 5 minutes. Pour in the maple syrup, then add a dash of salt and pepper. Stir, then return pork chops to the pan. Cover the pan and simmer on low for 20 minutes.

Serve pork chops on top of a generous helping of Creamy Cheese Grits (mashed potatoes are good, too) and spoon the apple-maple sauce over the top, allowing the liquid to drip over the grits.

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Here is my interpretation of Fall. Some of these pictures turned out better than the ones I took of the pork chops and apples. Doesn’t that dish sound lovely on a Fall day?