There's a chill in the air

Which usually means soup for me, but the bf talked me into buying some pork chops at the supermarket last week and his cousin gave us a ton of apples this past weekend (which needed to be eaten). The picture shows what I made for dinner..

Before I state the obvious (that I make smothered pork chops with apples and garlic parmesan mashed potatoes), I have a confession - I'm an Aldi shopper and I love it. So what nothing in my pantry is name brand, who cares, the quality is excellent and the prices are low. Aldi is where I purchased the pork chops, I got a large package for $3.99 and they were great. Now that I've shared my love of Aldi onto the recipe.


Smothered Pork Chops

Pork Chop Marinade
1/4 cup balsamic vinaigrette
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon bbq sauce
1 tablespoon each: steak seasoning, sage, pepper, chili powder
1 teaspoon each: cayenne pepper, salt
1 package pork chops (any kind you like)

Mix all of the ingredients together. Add the pork chops to the marinade. Keep in the refrigerator for an hour or two before cooking.

Sauce
4 medium size apples chopped
1 onion chopped
3 ribs of celery chopped
1 hard apple cider (like Woodchuck)
1 tablespoon flour
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon each -- sage, salt, pepper, Italian seasoning
2 tablespoons honey
1/4 cup evaporated milk
flour for dredging

Preheat oven to 300. In a large skillet heat some olive oil. Remove the pork chops from the marinade allowing excess to drip off. Dredge the pork chops in some flour and cook in the olive oil 1 minute per side so that the outsides have browned. Remove from pan. Add some more olive oil and 1 tablespoon of the butter. Add the celery, onions and apples. Cook until the onions are soft. Add the flour and the last tablespoon of the butter. Stir well. Add the hard cider and stir well. Add the pork chops back to the pan. Cover with the apple mixture. Cook for another minute on the stove top. Cover the skillet and transfer to the oven for an hour, stirring once.

Garlic Parmesan Mashed Potatoes

1 lb red potatoes cut into big pieces

1 tablespoon salt and pepper

2 cloves garlic minced

1 tablespoon granulated garlic

1 handful fresh parsley minced

1/4 cup parmesan cheese

splash evaporated milk

2 tablespoons butter

Boil the potatoes until fork tender. Drain and return to pot. Add the salt, pepper, garlic, granulated garlic, 1 tablespoon butter and milk. Mash using either a hand mixer or a masher. Taste to check seasonings.

Enjoy!