Le Creuset Giveaway + Fall Pork Chop Casserole Recipe

Who wants a recipe for a delicious Fall Pork Chop Casserole? Who wants to win a Le Creuset 4qt. Heritage Casserole dish to bake it in? Well, then, it's your lucky day because you get BOTH!

I'm sure you've noticed by now that the weather is finally starting to change. Leaves are turning colors and beginning to fall and mornings and evenings are cool and comfortable. Fall is here! Finally! My favorite season of all!! I love all the fall flavors and scents, I love that my house feels warmer and cozier and smells like cinnamon, clove and nutmeg and I love that when I walk my daughter home from school we feel a cool breeze and can get home without breaking a sweat! Yes! I love Fall. 

 Want to know my favorite thing about Fall? The cooking, the baking and all the deliciousness that can be made in Fall! Casseroles are one of my favorite things ever and I want to introduce you to my new favorite baking dish. See that pretty red beauty above? That's Le Creuset's Heritage Casserole. Isn't she lovely? Isn't she perfect for Fall?? I love that this dish is not only beautiful, but also extremely sturdy and roomy! I used her to create a tasty Honey Glazed Pork Chop & Apple Casserole with Pecan Stuffing. That name just screams Fall food, doesn't it? Would you like the recipe? Well, then, here you go...

Honey Glazed Pork Chop & Apple Casserole w/ Pecan Stuffing: 

{Print Recipe}

Ingredients:

• 6 Bone-in Pork Sirloin Chops
• 2 tablespoons dijon mustard
• Honey (about 1/4 cup)
• 1 fuji apple, thinly sliced
• 2 tablespoons chopped pecans
• Salt & pepper
• 2 tablespoons oil

Pecan Stuffing:

• 10 cups dry bread cubes (I used wheat)
• 1 large onion, diced
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) salted butter, melted
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 2 tablespoons dried thyme
• 2 tablespoons rubbed sage
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans
• 2 tablespoons oil

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. 

In a medium skillet, saute onion until soft and translucent (about 4-5 minutes). Remove from heat and allow to cool. In a large bowl, toss bread cubes, thyme, sage, salt, pepper and pecans together. Add onions and slowly mix in melted butter and chicken broth while stirring. Make sure stuffing is evenly coated and spread in the bottom of your 4 quart casserole dish.

Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Coat each pork chop with 1 teaspoon dijon mustard and season with salt and pepper. Fry pork chops for 4 minutes on each side, remove and set aside. 

To assemble casserole:

Brush pork chop with honey and place on top of stuffing. Place 2 slices of apple on top of pork chop and brush with honey. Repeat with all 6 pork chops and apple slices. Sprinkle pecans over the top of the pork chops and apples and bake in a preheated oven for about 35-45 minutes, or until pork chops are cooked through and tender.

Makes 6 Servings

Stuffing is one of my favorite Fall foods and one of my favorite bases for yummy, comforting casseroles! This dish is nice and deep and has lots of room for delicious stuffing! Yummm.

Layered pork chops and apples are so much prettier in a Le Creuset Casserole dish! Everything is, really...

 If you love Fall flavors then you're going to love this warm, comforting casserole that's packed with all the best flavors of Fall! 

If you want to Win the amazing Le Creuset Casserole dish to bake it in... Then you should probably fill out the Rafflecopter form below! GOOD LUCK! 

Contest ends @ Midnight on October 7th!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Congratulations to "Rust Hawk" aka Sharon Goudeau!!! I know you're going to love your new Le Creuset Casserole Dish! 

**This giveaway is sponsored by Le Creuset. I was given a free product from Le Creuset to review. All views and opinions are 100% my own.**

101 Cozy Casseroles {Gooseberry Patch} Book Review

A while back, I was lucky enough to get my hands on the 101 Cozy Casseroles book from Gooseberry Patch! I absolutely adore Gooseberry Patch and own a ton of their books already! They are always on my anniversary, Christmas and Birthday wishlists ;)! I skimmed through my new book and "ooh"ed and "ahh"ed over all of the recipes it contained. There were seriously so many I knew I would be making for my family! The first one that really caught my eye was the "Pizza Potato Puff Casserole!" I'm a sucker for tater tot casseroles, in any form! Yum. My hubby immediately fell in love with the "Reuben Casserole," so I know I will be testing that one out in the next few weeks! But, when it finally came down to picking a recipe to make for dinner, I asked my hubby to help me pick the first recipe to try and he immediately said "Apple-Pork Chop Casserole." So, that's what I made!

The recipe in the book was so easy to follow and there were only 3 ingredients! Can you believe that? Pork chops, stuffing and apple pie filling is all it took! It was so simple, but I knew the outcome was going to be more than amazing! My hubby is a huge fan of pork chop dishes and he especially loves pork chops with fruit! I, myself, am a stuffing lover! So, really, this recipe was the perfect combination for us both! 

After the casserole came out of the oven and I brought it over to my family, I knew we were in for a real treat! It smelled amazing, it looked amazing, and I could tell it was going to taste amazing! After tasting it, my darling husband declared that it was one of his favorite meals, ever. He adored it and he insisted that I make it again very, very soon. My 6-year-old daughter also gave it two thumbs up and even finished her whole plate (she never does that.) As for me, it's honestly one of my new favorite things! I can easily see myself craving it often. The combination of the apples pie filling with the stuffing is absolutely mouth-watering. The pork chops go so nicely with it and give it just that perfect amount of salty goodness that pork chops do so wonderfully. All in all, this recipe is a keeper and the 101 Cozy Casseroles book has moved it's way to the top of my "Favorite Cookbooks" list! I can't wait to try out more recipes from it!

Apple-Pork Chop Casserole Recipe: {Print Recipe}

Ingredients:
1 T. oil
8 boneless pork chops
2 (6 ounce) packages herb-flavored stuffing mix
2 (21 ounce) cans apple pie filling

Heat oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Cook pork chops in oil until both sides are browned. Meanwhile, prepare stuffing according to package directions. Pour pie filling into a lightly greased 9"x13" baking pan; lay pork chops on top. Cover with stuffing. Bake, uncovered, at 325 degrees for 45 minutes to one hour, until pork chops are cooked through. Serves 8.



 

Pineapple Pork Chops

You know what my favorite nights are? The nights where my hubby and I decide to sit down and we brainstorm ideas for new recipes! I love that he loves to help me think of new ideas and help me taste test those ideas! One thing about him, though, is that he will always start off by saying "make something with pork chops!" 9 out of 10 times I choose to ignore his request, but then there's that one time that I will humor him and give him exactly what he wants. Last night was one of those nights. Let me just say that I am not the biggest pork chop fan... I like them, but I'm not in like with them... I will eat them, usually just one of them, I will be satisfied and life will go on. But these pork chops... These magical pork chops.... They have changed my mind for life. I'm not going to lie, I ate two of them. Yes, two. And I enjoyed every single bite. 

This recipe was one of those recipes where I just looked in my fridge and pantry to see what we had and put in a little of this, a little of that and a whole lot of love. Yes, that did sound a little cheesy, but it's the truth. I strongly encourage you to try these little beauties even if you aren't the biggest pork chop fan. I feel like they are good enough to convert you. I really do.

Pineapple Pork Chop Recipe:  {Print Recipe}

Ingredients:

8 bone-in pork chops 

Marinade:

4 tbsp soy sauce

2 tbsp white vinegar

2 tbsp honey

1/2 tsp pepper

Sauce:

1 can pineapple chunks with juice

1 cup chicken broth

4 tbsp rice vinegar

3 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp honey

1 tbsp ketchup

1/4 cup brown sugar (not packed!)

1/4 tsp ground ginger

1 tbsp cornstarch

1 tbsp cold water

Place pork chops in a large ziploc bag or a medium bowl. Combine marinade ingredients and pour over pork chops. Allow pork chops sit out and marinate for 15 minutes. 

Heat a skillet over medium high heat and add 2 tbsp oil. Fry pork chops for 5-6 minutes, flip and fry for additional 5 minutes, or until juices run clear and pork is cooked through. Set pork chops aside. 

In a medium saucepan, combine all sauce ingredients except cornstarch and water. In a separate bowl, combine cornstarch and water and pour into saucepan. Over medium heat, cook sauce until it bubbles and thickens (about 5-6 minutes)

Serve pork chops on a bed of white rice and smother pork chops in sauce and pineapples.

Pork Chops with Caramelized Garlic Wine Sauce

Last month I, Devi, was the lucky winner of a giveaway over at The Hungry Housewives. The giveaway was for a jar of this stuff called GarLic it! I had never heard of it before and I wasn't even completely sure what it was, but I knew I wanted it!

I sat the bottle of "Caramelized Garlic" in my kitchen so I could look at it and get an idea of what exactly I wanted to make with it. Then one day it just came to me... it was one of those "Aha!" moments that I love so much. You get them a lot when you sit around thinking about recipes all day... especially on an empty stomach ;) I decided to make pan seared pork chops and make a "sauce" to pour over the top. With mushrooms! There had to be mushrooms... 

When I first opened the jar, the smell was seriously amazing. I'm not even kidding when I say that that smell is one of my top 5 smells. Ever. The taste was... even better. I made my husband come over and try some and he, too, couldn't stop talking about how utterly delicious it was. I can say that, by far, this is some of the tastiest and most addicting stuff I have ever encountered and I seriously need to get my hands on some more!

Thank you so much to The Hungry Housewives for hosting the giveaway and to GarLic it! for having such an amazing product!!

If you'd like the chance to try some of this DELICIOUS Garlic you can enter my giveaway HERE! There will be 3 winners!

Pan Seared Pork Chops with Caramelized Garlic Wine Sauce:   |Print Recipe|

6 Bone-in pork chops

2 tablespoons oil

5 tablespoons butter (divided)

1 package (12 ounces) sliced mushrooms

1 jar Caramelized sliced garlic (GarLic it!)

1 cup white wine (I used chardonnay)

Salt & pepper

Season pork chops with salt and pepper. Place 2 tablespoons butter and 2 tablespoons of oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Sear and cook pork chop for about 5-6 minutes, flip, then sear and cook for another 4-5 minutes (or until juices are clear). 

When pork chops are cooked, set aside. 

In the same pan, over medium heat, add 2 tablespoons butter, the whole jar of GarLic it! and mushrooms. Stir often and sautee for 3-5 minutes. Add wine. Allow the mixture to cook until most (but not all!) of the wine has cooked out. Turn off heat and stir in 1 more tablespoon butter.

Place your pork chops on your serving plate and pour garlic mushroom mixture over the top. 

Eat. Have life changing experience. Eat more. Cry when it's all gone.

Pork Chops with Brandied Peaches and Apricot Glaze

This name of this recipe may take a very long time to say but it doesn't take a long time to devour! Okay, that was a little cheesy. But, seriously... this is an amazingly tasty dinner and I'm not even a huge fan of pork chops! I can't remember where, but I found this recipe a while back for my husband because he could eat pork chops every single night and I personally would rather have a huge bowl of Chicken Fettuccine! I ended up changing some of the ingredients around in the recipe, but after I tried it I changed my whole outlook on pork chops.  I now treat pork chops with a little more respect. Try this recipe and you too will respect the chops (if you don't already).

Pork Chops with Brandied Peaches and Apricot Glaze Recipe:   |Print Recipe|

6 (bone-in) loin pork chops
1 onion (thinly sliced)
3 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon thyme
1/4 cup brandy
1 bag frozen peaches (thawed)
1/3 cup apricot preserves
Oil
Salt
Pepper


Place a small amount of oil in a frying pan over medium-high heat. Season pork chops with salt and pepper. Depending on the thickness of your pork chops, cook them for about 4-6 minutes on the first side and another 4 on the other side. Once cooked through, place pork chops aside.


Lower pan heat to medium and add in 3 tablespoons of butter. Throw in the sliced onions and thyme and sautee until translucent (about 4-5 minutes). Turn off the flame and add in the brandy. Turn the flame back on (still over medium heat) and use a a long match, candle or lighter to set the brandy/onion mixture on fire. Cook until there are no more flames. Once the flames are gone, add in the peaches and apricot preserves along with salt and pepper to taste. Cook for about 5-6 minutes, or until peaches are getting nice and soft.


Pour the onion/peach mixture over the pork chops and serve.


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