Pattycake's Ramblings

Growing up on a farm definitely had its advantages. My family lived off the land from our garden to the livestock that fed us. I've mentioned before that I had the opportunity to help out with the dairy portion of the farm plus I got to drive a tractor off and on during my years growing up but I haven't mentioned the tree orchard next to our house. There were pear trees, apple trees, cherry trees, walnut trees and filbert trees. There was a neighbor down the road that grew strawberries, green beans and of course cane-berries so we had an abundance of fruit. Now I'm not a fruit person, but the rest of my family is and so for them having fruit for supper was a treat.

You'd often find my dad having berries and fresh raw cream for supper. Did I mention that I started picking berries and green beans when I was probably only 8 or 9 years old? Since our neighbor had strawberries, my brother, sister and I would walk up to their farm and pick berries all day and then come home in the afternoon.

The trees next to the farmhouse gave us some amazing apples during the fall and the walnuts and filberts I picked gave me the needed money for Christmas presents for our family. As a sidebar...My mother was ingenious when it came to drying nuts and would use old panty hose, fill them with nuts and then hang them in the furnace room where it was warm and dry. The nuts would eventually dry out providing us with nuts all year round.

A friend of one of my daughters posted a picture on facebook the other day of a pork chop covered in peaches with green beans and coucous. The picture reminded me of growing up on the farm and also of a similar dish using apples, pork stuffing mix and cinnamon. Thanks for bringing back the memories....dear friend...

Apple Pork Chops with stuffing

4 pork chops
1 box Stove Top Stuffing (pork)
salt and pepper to taste
4 cups of chopped apples
1/4 cup butter plus 1/4 cup butter for the apples
1 cup hot water
1 Tablespoon cinnamon
1/2 cup sugar

Put the chopped applies in a saucepan and add the sugar, cinnamon, and butter, simmer until the apples are semi-tender. Place the apples in a 9x13 pan that has been buttered.

In a food processor, pulse the stove top stuffing until it is like bread crumbs. In the first half, melt the 1/4 cup butter and heat the water until its hot. Sprinkle this on top of the apple/cinnamon mixture.

Use the other half of the stove top stuffing and dredge the port chops in this. Brown the pork chops on both sides and place on top of the apple/cinnamon mixture.

Bake the dish in a pre-heated oven at 350 until the apples are heated through and the pork chops are still tender. This will take about 30 minutes.

Serves 4. Serve with a salad and vegetable and you've got this incredible apple/pork chop dish.