Pigging Out | From Cupcakes To Caviar

I’ve mentioned before that my husband and I are trying to buy a house. To be specific, this house right here *points down to photo*

Housing prices in this part of the country are pretty darn good especially if you consider that this has ten acres of land along with the house and pool. We’re slowly working through the process and have gotten to the point where they have it listed as “pending” now when one tries to find it online. I love seeing that word. Pending. Such a lovely word 😀

I have a ton of plans for the land when we get it (I refuse to say “if”). I want a huge garden; big enough that we can share with family as well as let local churches and food banks have some. I plan on planting a lot of fruit trees and fruit bushes & vines and nut trees with the same goal in mind though I know that will take longer before they produce. We also want to have chickens, sheep and some pigs to use for meat and in the case of the chickens, eggs. I also love the idea of my youngest being able to grow up learning to care for the land and animals. The garden tub, nice kitchen and pool have no bearing on the decision to get this house. Nope, none at all *cough cough*

I have joked more than once that I can see us getting these animals and instead of them being food, they will take over the household. I will get up in the mornings to see a Sheep wearing my fluffy pink robe and pink slippers. The chickens will use up all my tea bags and steal my chocolate stash. And the pigs will hoard the remote for the TV and I’ll be forced to watch the movie Charlottes Web 17 times a day.

But assuming we can ever find the heart to have the animules slaughtered (I have extreme doubts and see all our future meat still being wrapped in plastic and on styrofoam trays while the animules get fat as houses) one of the things I will be makingÂ frequently is the dinner I made tonight. (Was that a smooth segue into the recipe or WHAT?! *grins and moves along knowing that yes, I AM a dolt 😛 )

I had 4 bone in extra thick pork chops I had gotten on special and I didn’t want to just fry them up and serve them. B…o…r…i…n…ggggg. My husband suggested stuffing them but as much as I don’t go by the certain foods for certain seasons thing, even I have to say that something about stuffed pork chops screams Autumn to me. So I played. If I do say so myself, it turned out pretty darn good. The pork chops are fork tender and the sauce is awesome. It’s sweet, fruity, spicy and fragrant and has a nice curry flavor without tasting like it is just a curry dish. It has much more flavor than that and this is coming from a woman who loves curry. The sauce was stupendous on the coconut rice I made. So if you like pork, like fruity sauces, like a bit of heat, you’ll probably love this. Give it a try. 🙂

Bone In Pork Chops With A

Spicy & Sweet Curried Apricot Sauce

4 large bone in pork chops
SAUCE-
2 20 ounce cans apricot halves (either syrup or juice; syrup= sweeter sauce, juice= not so much so. I used one of each)
1 large jalapeno (seeded if desired. I kinda liked the heat and really, it isn’t too intense 😀 )
1/3 cup Thai sweet chili sauce
3 heaping tablespoons red curry paste
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
salt to taste

Spray a large fry pan with cooking spray. Let pan heat over medium high heat for about 2 minutes
Add pork chops (two at a time; never crowd your pan) and sear on both sides.
In bowl of food processor or blender, mix all sauce ingredients while chops are browning.
When all the chops are browned, add them back to the pan. Pour the sauce over them and cover the pan. Turn the heat to medium low and let simmer until fork tender, about 90 minutes to 2 hours, depending on the size of the chops.Â Adjust the heat if the sauce seems to be sticking.
Serve the chops with extra sauce; perfectly with some Basmati rice to soak up a few gazillion spoonsful more of the sauce. I made coconut rice to go with it and the flavors melded so so well.