Hey guys. Sorry to my email subscribers who randomly got notified of this post last night. I was having some issues with scheduling my post, and I accidentally posted to real time instead of pre-scheduling for 7:00am this morning.
Anyways! Something I’ve been wanting to do on the blog for a while is to go back and recreate some of my recipes that I posted during my early years. I remember I used to post almost every single meal that Tim and I cooked together, even if the meal wasn’t even necessarily that blog-worthy. I just wanted to build up my recipe page as fast as possible. For any newbie bloggers out there, please avoid my rookie mistake. Just like I recommend with a fitness strategy, try to go for quality of recipes (or even blog posts in general) over quantity.
I also want to redo some of my earlier recipes because my own food choices have changed since I started blogging three years ago. Back then, I was just starting to get into clean eating. I had never heard of coconut or almond flour, I had no idea what the implications of eating organic versus non-organic were, and it was a gamble on how to pronounce the word quinoa. Blogging actually helped me change a LOT of my eating habits, if you can believe that.
That being said, today I’m here with my first recipe redo. I want you guys to check out my original post for these apple topped pork chops. Note that we prepared them with butter and brown sugar. There’s nothing WRONG with cooking with those ingredients, but now I know how to get a little more creative when healthifying. So here you go. The new and improved version!
Recipe Redo: Roasted Pork with Caramelized Apples
Serves 4-6
Ingredients
- 1.5 pounds of pork roast
- 1/4 cup coconut sugar
- 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil + 3 extra tbsp
- 5 apples, peeled, cored, and sliced
- 2 tbsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp nutmeg
- 3 tbsp pecans (optional)
- salt and pepper
Directions
- Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
- Place the pork roast on a plate, and brush with 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil. Season with salt and pepper.
- Heat an oven safe skillet over medium heat. Add the other 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, and brown the pork roast on all sides, about 3-5 minutes per side.
- Once done, remove the roast from heat, and set aside. Leave all the drippings in the pan. Add the 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil along with the cinnamon, nutmeg, and coconut sugar.
- Cook, stirring about two minutes, and then add the sliced apples to the pan. Mix until all of the apples are coated with the liquid, and cook until tender, about 5 minutes. Make sure to stir occasionally.
- Remove skillet from heat, add the pork roast back to the dish. Re-arrange the sliced apples so that the pork is covered, and spoon the liquid on top.
- Put the skillet with the entire pork and apple mixture in the oven, and cook for 45-55 minutes or until the pork’s internal temperature is around 160 degrees F. While the pork is roasting, spoon the liquid back on top of the pork about every 10-15 minutes.
- Once cooked through, sprinkle with the pecans if using them, and enjoy!
Now let me just say that I couldn’t really tell the difference between these caramelized apples and the old version. Also, there’s just something about combining the flavors of pork and apples, don’t you think? The flavors really complement each other. The freshness of the apples highlights the heavier choice of meat, and it all comes together for a perfect fall meal. This dish is a great way to use up apples from apple picking!
If you are using pork chops instead of the pork roast, you can follow the same recipe, just note that the amount of time you cook for will actually decrease. My recommendation is to just keep an eye on your thermometer. You will still want to cook to the 160 degree point.
Hope you guys like this. I’m going to replace the original post with this link on my recipes page, but I won’t delete it completely. I don’t want to compromise the integrity of my posts over the years.
–Let’s chat–
Are you guys making anything fun with apples you picked while apple picking? How have your eating habits changed for the better over the past couple of years? Bloggers, has blogging helped you become healthier or more knowledgeable about things you were unfamiliar with before?
For other pork recipes on F&F, check out a crock pot version of pork and apples or this maple peach glazed pork tenderloin.