Pork and Apples are happily married.

So  my cousin, Deidra, got on me about how she is disappointed that I haven't been writing on my blog. Made me feel really bad :( But honestly, the creative juices have left the building. I think they are on the way back soon though. Just the other day I was thinking about adding new foods to my life and one of the foods that I rarely eat, other than bacon (delicious!!!!!!!!) is pork. So I thought I'd give it another try today.

Now-a-days most chefs will say that pork is a lean meat and now can be eaten when cooked to medium. I'm not quite sure about the lean part and I definitely don't suggest or recommend anyone to eat their pork under well done #ImJustSayin. Despite all that I bought some thin pork chops and decided to cook them today, and since pork and apples make a good combo, I tried a version of my own. Here's what I did.....

4 Thin Cut Pork Chops
1 tsp Black Pepper
1 tsp Onion Powder
1 tsp Garlic Salt
1 tsp Seasoning Salt
1 tsp Paprika
1 1/3 T Cinnamon
1 T Sugar
2 large apples peeled and cubed
1/2 cup Water
2 T Olive Oil

Firstly, make sure the pork is clean and patted dry. Heat a large skillet to medium-high heat with 1 T OliveOil. Mix together 1 tsp of all the spices except the sugar. (Save the rest of the cinnamon and sugar for the apples) Sprinkle both sides of the pork with the mixture.

While waiting on the pork to marinate a little bit, in a small pot, add the apples, water, sugar and cinnamon. Turn on high heat and cook until apples are tender. Very careful add the mixture to a blender and blend until you have apple sauce. (Word of caution, hot mixtures and blenders don't usually mix, but make sure you have a towel over the top of the blender so the top doesn't come popping off from the steam.) Set to the side. (Also if you don't have a blender, you can serve the apples as a thick, syrupy, chunky sauce. Might be even better :) Just add less water to create a thicker consistency.

When the pan is hot enough, add the pork and cook for 5 mins on one side. Drizzle the other 1 T of Olive Oil over the top of the pork when you are ready to flip. Flip and cook for another 4 mins.

When plating you can either spoon the apples sauce on top of the pork or on the side is a dipping sauce. Good either way :)

Homemade Strawberry Vinaigrette

So I woke up one morning and had the strangest craving for a strawberry salad with walnuts and blue cheese crumbles, but I didn't have any dressing to top it off with so my creative juices got to flowing.

I decided to try my hand at making a vinaigrette. Here;s what I did:

1/4 cup  Sliced Strawberry
1/4 cup Olive Oil
1/4 cup Canola Oil
2 T Balsamic Glaze
1 tsp Pepper
1 tsp Sugar
1 T Apple Cider Vinegar

Simply blend in a blender until smooth and just a little runny. You may need to add more or less oil for the perfect consistency, and there you have it, Your own Strawberry Dressing!!! Yummy :)