Jill (& Joe) Can Cook: Pork Chops With Cinnamon Apples & Butternut Squash

You all know how picky I am. I probably tell you about it every time I blog about food. But here I go again: I'm picky. I don't like too many cooked veggies. I love raw veggies in salads and I like potatoes, but I don't like too many options beyond that.

I worry that my pickiness will get picked up by my kids and turn them into pickier eaters than they already are. So, I've been trying to add more cooked veggies to my diet. A few months ago, I started buying/cooking/serving/eating green beans at dinner. I'm of the mindset that I don't have a taste for whatever food, so I'll have to just keep tasting it until I develop a taste for it. I don't love green beans yet, but I enjoy eating them with dinner.

Greens beans are now crossed off my list of foods to hate and has made it's way over to foods I will eat. Good job, Jill! So, I've got to try to add something else to the mix. This week I chose butternut squash.

I've never tried it before. I don't think my mom ever made it while I was growing up. And if she did, I never had so much as a baby bite of it. Joe has eaten it for dinner here and there, but it was the frozen variety. So, I have no idea how it's supposed to taste or how it's supposed to be cooked or anything. I employed Joe to help me make this dinner because he's eaten it and kind of knows how to make it. He was glad to help, especially because I was willing to try something new.. Here we go!!

Pork Chops With Cinnamon Apples & Butternut Squash

Adapted from: 

I Heart Eating

Ingredients:

Sorry for the poor quality. 

• 2 T. butter

• 1 medium butternut squash

• 2 medium baking apples (Honeycrisp, Granny Smith, Jonagold, Braeburn, and Gala are all good choices)

• 1-2 T. brown sugar, depending on desired sweetness

• 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

• Pinch or two of salt

• 4 bone-in pork loin chops

• 1/2 tsp. dried rosemary

• 1/2 tsp. dried thyme

• Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. In a large skillet, heat butter over medium-low heat.
2. Meanwhile, peel butternut squash and apples.
3. Cut squash and apples into 1/2-inch cubes.
4. Place in pan, and stir to coat with butter.
5. Cook for 3-4 minutes.
6. Turn heat to medium.
7. Add brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt. Stir to combine.
8. Cook for another 10 minutes or so, stirring regularly, until vegetables are tender.
9. Remove to plate.
10. Add pork chops, and season with rosemary, thyme, and salt and pepper to taste.
11. Cook about 10 minutes on each side, or until a thermometer reads 145 F.
12. Return apples and squash to pan and toss to warm.

Joe was in heaven. There we were, cooking together. And not the normal cooking together we normally do. Ya know, he goes and grills something on the deck and I stir the macaroni and cheese. This time we were working on the same thing at the same time. Even though I was relegated to sous chef while Joe was head chef.

Anyway, I peeled and cut the butternut squash and apples:

I never did this before. I think I did a pretty decent job.

The pieces are roughly the same size, too! I've got knife skills, baby!

I may have cut the apple pieces too small. Maybe my knife skills are lacking, Yo!

While I was chopping or whatever it's called, Joe was dealing with the pork chops:

We didn't have any rosemary like the recipe called for, so Joe put on some additional seasoning. It worked just as well.

Then our jobs combined:

The apples, butternut squash, and all the seasonings it needed.

Finishing the pork chops in the pan.

This recipe called for a lot of putting food in the pan and taking food out of the pan and putting food aside and putting food back in the pan. I think it might've been easier to just cook both components at the same time but in separate pans and then just serve together. It would really streamline the process.

And our finished dinner:

It sure does look appealing!

Our dinner was not only fun to make, but it came out tasting a lot better than I thought. I mean, I didn't have high hopes that I'd love the butternut squash the first time I ate it, but I was pleasantly surprised to find out that I do, in fact, love it!

This is not the best angle of it, but it still looks like yummy food!

I could really kick myself for not trying this sooner! Why, oh why, did I deny myself all these years!?

Joe was ecstatic! Now we can add butternut squash to our dinner options, and not just the frozen variety! 

The kids were not as enthusiastic about the squash, but(I already told you about my mindset) we'll just keep trying until they develop a taste for it. 

So, I'll probably try to make it a couple of more times in the next two weeks to really drive home that I like it and to give the kids more chances to try it. And then what?! Maybe I'll try spaghetti squash. Fingers crossed that that dinner goes as swimmingly as this one!