Fall is in the Air

The first week of school: Kids are already forgetting homework, lessons are waiting to be created, copiers have already crashed, and I'm halfway through my new teaching clothes after one week. But with all of the stress that the new school year brings, it also brings my most favorite season, autumn. If life could be lived as a revolving cycle of August through November, I would seriously consider it. There is nothing like warm sunny afternoons leading into cool, brisk evenings. The colors become more earthy and rust-colored and the food becomes more hearty and aromatic. I could go on and on and on... Needless to say, tonight I was inspired to make my first fall meal of the season. The house smelled like apple cider and cloves. Greg walked in the door and said "yumm!"

First I browned the pork chops on both sides.

I added onions, butter, and salt and pepper.

Then, I added apple cider and brought it to a boil. I turned the heat to low, covered the pot,  and set the time for two hours! While the pork chops were simmering, Camden and I went for a walk around the neighborhood. Pee-wee football was in full swing at the park next to our community and Camden and I both watched with interest as the tiny boys drowning in football pads, helmets, and maroon jerseys were tackling each other and having such a great time just being kids. It only added to my contentedness. What a perfect night.

Then, I started sauteing some mushrooms in butter. (One of my favorite things in the world)

Whoops! Almost forgot the shallots!

Then I added my fresh steamed green beans.

I boiled the orzo for 9 minutes.

After two hours, my pork chops are falling apart, literally! Note the big chunk in the middle.

After plating the pork chops, I dumped about a tablespoon of cornstarch in the leftover apple cider, turned it to high heat, let it boil, and whisked the hell out of it. It basically turned into apple gravy. Then I poured this over the meat and the Orzo. If you want to try this out, make sure you add salt to the pasta to balance out the super sweetness of the apple gravy. The combination is insanely good.





Dinner is served!

 

The green beans with mushrooms and shallots are from The Food You Crave. The rest was just kinda made up as I went, but all in all it was a satisfying dinner. Greg said he could taste the work I put into the food tonight, which is his sweetest comment about my food as of late. The only thing that could have made the night better was some pumpkin pie to finish it off...but I'm getting a little ahead of myself. So I just lit a spiced pumpkin candle instead. 

Thanks for reading my comments about food and fall tonight. I can't wait to post some more autumn recipes and meals in the coming months. I'm already thinking about the Turkey Roulade that I'm going to try out for Thanksgiving. It's like a cinnamon swirl, but made out of Thanksgiving food. You'll see... 

I'm going to try out this video thing, so we'll see what happens. The lens kept fogging up because of all of the hot food!

 

 I think this one is of mushrooms sauteing.  

  

And the green beans

And here's the pork simmering.