Healthy Fall Fare

Fall season really ignites my cravings for so many delicious foods! If I’m not careful, I can easily lose control. So, lately I’ve been experimenting with recipes that offer some much-anticipated flavors of fall, but with the health benefits my family needs going into cold and flu season!

I love apples with pork chops and have made them in the oven, but wanted a healthy recipe that would work in the crockpot while we were at church, and then be ready to serve when we got home. I found several on the internet so I combined ideas of each of them.

Crockpot Apple Pork Chops

Ingredients:

~6 bone-in pork chops, rinsed, patted dry, and lightly salted

~4 large apples of any kind (depending on how tart you want it), sliced into thick slices

~Cinnamon

~1/2 cup honey or maple syrup

In the bottom of the crockpot, layer 1/3 of the apples, a sprinkling of cinnamon, and 1/3 of honey or syrup. Place 3 pork chops on top, and again layer another 1/3 of the apples, followed by the sprinkling of cinnamon and 1/3 of the honey or syrup. Place the last 3 pork chops on top again, and repeat once more with the remaining apples, cinnamon, and honey or syrup. Cook on high for 4 hours.

These were great just like this, but, because I’m always tweaking and experimenting with my recipes, I might add some butter next time just to see how that adds to the flavor.

I served these chops with baked sweet potatoes, mustard vinaigrette green beans, and a brown rice bake. It was all healthy and filling!

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We spent some time last Saturday visiting all of the grandparents. Due to my dad’s continued heart issues, we are being very careful with visits so that we don’t expose him or my mom to any illnesses. They have a beautiful deck and backyard which are perfect for socially distanced visits in the fresh open air. So, we took breakfast to enjoy with each other while the morning temperatures were pleasant. And oh wow! It was soooo refreshingly cool that morning!

There is very little that my dad can eat these days (bless him!), but oatmeal is one food he can enjoy to his “heart’s” content, and, fortunately, he has always loved oatmeal! So, I decided to take an oatmeal buffet!

Orange Oatmeal with Blackberries and Nuts

I cooked steel cut oats according to the directions on the canister for the number of servings I wanted. Instead of using water for the called for liquid, I used half water and half 2% milk. As it was almost finished cooking, I stirred in some vanilla extract, cinnamon, and orange marmalade for a mildly sweet orange flavor.

For toppings, I had pecans, walnuts, honey, maple syrup, fresh blackberries, and dried cranberries for anyone who didn’t want blackberries. Oh, those blackberries were so good with the orange flavored ostmeal! And it made such a pretty bowl of fall oats!

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We later visited my mother-in-law and took a lunch of BBQ pulled pork which we finished off with these Flourless Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies! These cookies were thick, chewy, tasty, and satisfied our cookie cravings! I will definitely be making these again!!

Ok, so please tell me if you have any tried and true healthy fall recipes that don’t leave you feeling like you’re being cheated out of the season’s cozy comfort foods!