Pork Chops with Apple and Mushrooms

I'm going to do this super quick (not really) survey I saw over at Alex's blog yesterday. Then I promise I'll get into the good stuff. I'm just doing A-J this time, as this post is already too long!

A is for age: 

19. Ok, so not technically 19 for two more weeks. But almost!

B is for breakfast today:

Bircher muesli, topped with leftover apple and strawberry. Was amazing.

C is for currently craving: 

Chocolate. Definitely.

D is for dinner tonight:

I had a really simple, easy dinner. Brown rice with salmon, sweet potato, pumpkin, mushrooms, spinach and cheese. Was so amazing.

E is for favorite type of exercise: 

I think we all know this answer - tennis.

F is for an irrational fear:

Birds. I'm not even joking - I am truly terrified of them. You can't run away from them. What if they catch you? You can't outrun something that can fly.

G is for gross food: 

Green vegetables. I hate them. I pretty much have to force myself to eat them. I can eat zucchini if cooked, spinach and asparagus. Everything else is a struggle. I used to tell people I was allergic to them.

H is for hometown: !

I'm from a very small town so it would be easy to stalk me if I put the name up. Sooo, I'll say I'm from the Tablelands in Far North Queensland. It's pretty much the name for several towns in my area. It's a great area.

I is for something important:

My family. I miss them terribly, but get to see my Mum tomorrow (for a day) and then I'm home in two weeks!

J is for current favorite jam: 

Apricot. I live for that stuff! Buuutttt, when I'm sick, strawberry jam and cheese on toast with tea is the way to go.

(will be continued...)

I wasn't going to post this recipe for a while, but as it is a great Autumn/Fall dish and most of you guys live overseas, I figured I'd post it now. So this for Jessie, who asked for it the other day (hi Jessie!).

This is the perfect Autumn/Fall dish. Pork is such a great, soft meat, so if you don't like red meat it's a great substitute. I also love the combination of tart apples and tangy mushrooms. The spinach adds a great, healthy kick to the dish. If you serve this with sweet potato, the dish tastes like Autumn.

Be sure to cook the pork well, so it is soft and easy to cut. The mushroom and apple mix will be very soft and you want a soft meat to match it. You can use any apples you chose, or any mushrooms you chose. I used gala apples, because that is what we have and I am on a serious gala apple kick at the moment. But tarty green apples would also be amazing for this dish.

I am having real difficulties describing this dish to you all. I think it's best to say, just go and make it and see how amazing it is for yourselves. It is definitely something worth making!

Level of Difficulty: This is such an easy dinner. It does take a bit of time, and there is a bit of cutting and slicing to do, but nothing too complex. An easy weeknight dinner.

Average Cost: Pretty cheap in the Autumn; apples and mushrooms are in season.

Main Ingredients: Apples, pork chops, mushrooms and spinach.

Occasion: Definitely a weeknight dinner meal.

Menu Options: You could probably replace the apple with pear, though I haven’t tried. You could add more spices and herbs if you please, or more sugar to the apple mix. I find however that the apple mix is sweet enough as is.

Adapted from: Fannetastic Food. I saw the idea for this on Anne’s blog, which was actually a McCormick dinner. We don’t have those here, but I wanted to do a similar dinner. I kind of looked at the recipe on Anne’s blog and then made changes to healthify it.

Serves 4

What you need:

4 pork chops

1 tbsp flour

1 tsp oregano

1 tsp basil

1.2 tsp paprika

2 tbsp olive oil

3 garlic cloves, crushed

1 large brown onion, sliced thinly

2-3 apples, sliced thinly

1 ½ cups mushrooms, sliced

1 cup spinach, chopped

What to do:

In a small bowl, combine the flour, oregano, basil and paprika. Mix well.

Over medium heat, heat the olive oil and the crushed garlic cloves in a large frypan.

While the garlic is heating up, spread 1 teaspoon of the flour mix on each side of the four pork chops. Therefore you should have enough mixture for 8 teaspoons – 1 per side of a pork chop. Reserve any leftover flour mixture.

When the garlic is golden, add the pork chops to the frypan and brown both sides of the chops.

Remove the chops from the pan. Add more oil if necessary and add the onion to the pan. Cook the onion until tender, usually takes around 3 minutes.

When the onion is tender, add the apple and cook for around five minutes. The apple and onion mixture should be very soft by this time.

Return the pork to the pan. This time add the mushrooms and the reserved flour mix. Cook for at least 10 more minutes, until the pork is cooked through. Check this by cutting the pork, making sure the meat is very white and soft to cut.

Once cooked, add the spinach to the pan and stir into the mixture so it is soft and warm.

Serve the chops and apple mixture immediately, while warm, with mashed sweet potato (the sweet potato makes this the perfect Fall weeknight dish). The pictures are of roasted sweet potato because I forgot I wanted mashed potato.