Dixie Pork Chops

Several years ago, I ate a chicken dish that was cooked in apple juice, and it was so amazing, that I have been pining for the recipe. So when my husband and I attended a dinner at Sundance, and they served this AMAZING pork that was cooked with apples and sweet potatoes, I knew I had to find a recipe to replicate it, at least to some degree. Thanks to allrecipes.com's ability to do a recipe search with certain ingredients, I found this pork chop recipe called "Dixie Pork Chops":


       1 tablespoon vegetable oil
       4 pork chops, 1 1/2 to 2-inches thick
       1/2 teaspoon salt
       *1/2 teaspoon sage (optional)
       *2 tart apples, cored and sliced
       1/4 cup brown sugar
       2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
       1 cup hot water
       1 tablespoon white vinegar
       *1/2 cup raisins


Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Fry pork chops on each side until browned, about 3 minutes per side. Transfer to a baking dish, reserving the drippings in the skillet. Cover pork chops with apple slices and sprinkle with sugar.

Stir the flour into the fat in the skillet until smooth. Whisk in the water and vinegar. Simmer over medium-high heat, stirring constantly, until thick. Add raisins and pour over the pork chops. Cover the baking dish with a lid or aluminum foil.

Bake for 1 hour in the preheated oven. Remove the aluminum foil for the last 20 minutes of cooking.

*I made these with the sage and without the raisins, since we hate raisins. We really liked these chops--including my three-year-old who rarely eats meat. The sweetness of the apples really compliment the pork. However, it seemed to be missing a little something. (Maybe the raisins? Ha ha.) Next time I make these, I will probably add a little more sage. We may even try craisins in place of the raisins, but all in all, it is a very good starting point if you're feeling like having something that tastes a little gourmet without a lot of work.

Egg Rolls

We haven't figured out quite what to do with all our pork yet, but we really like this egg roll recipe. It uses sausage and is super easy, and it's really good.

Egg Rolls

1 lb sausage

1 bag cole slaw (14 oz.)

1 pkg. egg roll wrappers

2 T soy sauce

2 T sweet and sour sauce

Cooking oil

In large frying pan brown sausage until done. Stir in cole slaw, soy sauce, and sweet and sour sauce. Cook for about a minute, then remove from heat. Heat oil on med-high heat. In center of each egg roll wrapper use about 3 tablespoons mixture and fold sides in and roll up. Using tongs, place in oil and cook 1-2 minutes on each side until golden brown. Drain on paper towels.

*Egg roll wrappers can be found in the same cooler as the cabbage mix usually.

We usually don't end up using all of this because it makes a lot. We tried freezing the filling and the wrappers (separately) this time. I'll have to remember to let you know how it turns out.


We also love this sweet and sour sauce recipe to go with it:

Sweet and Sour Sauce

1/3 cup white or rice vinegar

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 T ketchup

1 tsp soy sauce

2 tsp cornstarch mixed with 4 tsp water

Mix the vinegar, brown sugar, ketchup, and soy sauce together and bring to a boil in a small pot. Mix together the cornstarch and water and add to the other ingredients. Stir to thicken.

Teriyaki Pork

1 Cup Water
1/4 Cup Brown Sugar
3/4 Cup Soy Sauce
1/4 Cup Lemon Juice
1/4 Cup Oil
1 tsp Pepper
1 tsp Garlic (I like to use minced garlic that you can find in the refrigerated produce section)

Mix ingredients together.  Separate in half.  Put half on top of about a pound pork to marinade.  I like to put it in a Ziploc bag so I can turn it over several times throughout the day.  After you cook the pork boil the other half to use as a sauce to top rice, peas or other veggies, the pork, pretty much your whole meal.  YUMMINESS!

This recipe can also be used for chicken, beef, whatever.

Welcome

Welcome to our recipe blog! For as long as I can remember, my family has raised our own pork. My parents would buy baby pigs in the spring, raise them over the summer, and then butcher them in the fall. The pigs would come back from the butcher in little white packages, and we would feast on them throughout the next year. This past summer, my husband and I decided to buy half a pig--the left side--and we've been excited to have our freezer loaded up with pork chops, bacon, ham, pork roasts, sausage, and spare ribs. But, this also presented a problem. How many different ways can a person cook pork chops? I figured that my sisters probably are wondering the same thing, so I started this blog as a way to share our pork recipes--and other recipes too, of course! Enjoy and please leave us comments, especially if you suggestions!