Toddler approved: Roast Pork Chops With Apples

Posted on by aurorameyer

Roast Pork Chops With Apples
Now that Miss A has started eating more and more table food and declared her toddler independence, we have started looking for recipes that will feed her and us for dinner. Many are just misses, but this one from the Baby Center was a hit with everyone. That said, being a “hit” with a one-year-old A means most of it didn’t get thrown to the floor.

Toddler approved: Roast Pork Chops With Apples

Print Recipe

Ingredients
  

  • 1 1/2 teaspoons olive oil
  • 2-3 apples such as Granny Smith, McIntosh, or your favorite variety, peeled, cored and thickly (the key word is thick!) sliced
  • 4 pork chops about 1/2-inch thick, boneless or bone-in
  • 1 tablespoon chopped fresh sage or 1 teaspoon dried
  • Salt and pepper
  • 1/2 cup apple cider without preservative

Instructions
 

  • Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. I boiled the apple cider to reduce it a bit. Grease the bottom of a medium-size roasting pan or an ovenproof skillet (like our favorite cast iron skillet!) with the olive oil.
  • Arrange the apples on the bottom of the pan, layered as needed.
  • Place the pork chops on top.
  • Then sprinkle with the sage, salt and pepper and pour the cider on top.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

My opinion:
We didn’t actually baste the meat once or twice as the directions indicate and it probably wouldn’t have made much of a difference. Since we were eating this as a family, I didn’t “season with authority” (as J is so fond of saying!), but we were able to add seasoning at the table for our liking. All in all we would eat this again.
Yum

Crock pot Applesauce

Posted on by aurorameyer

I love homemade applesauce. But I never make it because I always thought it was too time consuming. Then Pinterest alerted me to this surprisingly easy version in a crock pot! The most time consuming part was peeling and chopping the apples. With a few tweaks, it tasted just like Gramma’s!

Ingredients:
8 to 10 apples of any kind (you might need more or less depending on the size of your crock pot)
2 cinnamon sticks (if you don’t have sticks, just use a few dashes)
1 teaspoon lemon juice (we actually used about 2 teaspoons)
5 tablespoons brown sugar (we ended up just using a quarter cup of light, use your best judgement and taste!)

Directions:
Peel, core and chop the apples. Put them in the crock pot. Add the brown sugar, cinnamon sticks and lemon juice. Cover. Cook on low for 6 hours. We stirred every hour for a total of six time. When the apples are cooked through, use a potato masher to make chunky applesauce. If you prefer your applesauce thinner, put it through the blender or the food processor.

My opinion:
We left out the lemon peel and fresh lemon juice from the original recipe because we didn’t have any lemons on hand. I was a bit saddened by how little 10 apples made! There was really only enough for about 2 and a half servings. I guess I’ll need a bigger crock pot!