Sexy Pork Chops

Valentine's Day is coming up!

While I do feel like Valentine's Day is a fairly insignificant holiday I will say I don't mind being treated special on February 14th!  I don't feel like Valentine's Day is the only day to show loved ones they matter, it also doesn't hurt to have the day set aside and make a little extra effort, right?

Early on in my marriage (and mind you it's only been 7 years), I expected flowers and chocolates, a card and a dinner out on the town.  I think our culture built that expectation up for me.  As the years have gone by I put less and less importance on the predictable chocolates, flowers, dinners out and truly enjoy just feeling special!

This brings up a great point-LOVE LANGUAGES.

We all show love and receive love in different unique ways.  It can be different for everyone, and so I think it's a fun and valid topic to bring up.

Real quickly, the 5 LOVE LANGUAGES are:

  • Words of Affirmation
  • Quality Time
  • Physical Touch
  • Acts of Service
  • Receiving Gifts

You can take your own quiz to find out your primary love language here

At our house, going out for dinner on Valentines Day isn’t very practical.  Pretty busy night for babysitters. Not too excited about the wait times and hustle at a fancy restaurant.  Also, not too excited about dropping lots of cash for a dinner where I’m paying for the experience and atmosphere versus the quality of the food.

Most restaurants aren’t going to be serving organically fed, non-GMO, pastured Pork Chops finished on acorns!

So this year we are having a special Valentines Dinner at HOME with this tasty Pork Chop Recipe!

It’s so delicious and simple!

You won’t have a gut ache afterward and you don’t have to compromise your clean eating!

If you do choose to hit the town on Feb 14th, you can cook these chops up easily on another day too!

No hard feelings if you LOVE to go out on Valentines Day, go for it!

Just the name makes them special for the month of February!

SEXY PORK CHOPS

Ingredients:

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  •  4 Nourished With Nature Acorn Finished Pork Chops
  • Redmond salt and fresh ground pepper, to taste
  • 1 Tbsp organic extra virgin olive oil, divided
  • 3 Cloves garlic, minced
  • 1/3 cup white wine
  • ½ cup chicken broth
  • zest of one lemon (Can substitute Lemon Essential Oil by Young Living)
  • 1 Tbsp lemon juice
  • 1 Tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
  • 1 tsp fresh rosemary, chopped

Directions:

1.     Pull the pork chops out of the freezer about 12 hours before you plan to cook and let thaw at room temperature.  In a pinch, you can submerge them in hot water but NEVER microwave them.

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2.     Sprinkle pork chops with salt and pepper to taste, on both sides

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3.     Heat 1 Tbsp of the oil in a large cast iron skillet over medium/high heat.  Cook chops for 3-5 minutes each side until nicely browned and cooked through.

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4.     Transfer to serving platter and cover to keep warm

5.     Add garlic to the fat left over from cooking the chops and cook stirring constantly until garlic is fragrant about 30 seconds.

6.     Add wine and broth. Increase heat to high.  Cook scraping the browned bits from the bottom until the liquid is reduced by two-thirds, about 5 minutes.

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7.     Remove the pan from heat, stir in the lemon zest or oil, lemon juice, and herbs.  Test the sauce, add a little more salt and pepper if needed.

8.     I put my sauce in a gravy boat and poured over the chops while everything was hot!

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I served my sexy pork chops alongside steamed green beans and sweet potato fries but you could do mashed potatoes or wild rice too!

Stop by our farm store before Valentine’s Day to get your Pastured Pork Chops!

Make sure to serve this delightful dinner at home with a twist of your spouse’s preferred LOVE LANGUAGE!

Yours Naturally,

Julia

PS-Comment below and tell me what is your primary love language?  Is it the same as your spouse’s?

FOOD IS LOVE

December 7, 2017

Thank you so much for being part of our farm community!

I want to share a personal story with you that motivates me to keep farming and feeding my family nutrient dense, grass fed meats.

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I was shopping at Costco right before Thanksgiving a few weeks ago and you know how it just happens...I try really hard not to do it... but it just happens that you glance into other people's shopping carts as they pass you, and you notice what they are buying?

I passed this one cart that was full of pies!  Four huge pecans and four huge pumpkins pies!  Right before the holidays life can be a little hectic and for a moment I thought, "I should just buy pies too instead of make them from scratch".

I have three little boys under the age of 5 that keep me on my toes from sun up to sun down EVERY SINGLE DAY.

It’s crazy sometimes!

You know how it is too, or maybe you can remember back to the days as a mom with toddlers.  It might look something like this-

Swim lessons, story time at the library, naps, meals, baths, bedtime stories, several rounds of kisses then as you lay down next to their sweet heads to persuade them to fall asleep you nod off first.

An hour later you drag yourself to your own bed only to be awoken couple times through the night to nurse the baby.

You can see why I so desperately wanted to just buy pies!

Then I caught myself!  Crisco-gross.  High fructose corn syrup-no way!  Additives, thickeners, GMOs, white refined sugar-I don't think so!

So I headed home to use my pastured pork lard for the crust and homegrown pumpkin puree.    

As a disclaimer I just want to say that I am not above buying a frozen lasagna from time to time for those evenings when it's just not going to happen to make a homemade meal from scratch before your children turn into monsters and you pull your hair out.  But when I have my wits about me, I plan ahead like you, and use ingredients I can trust.

I had this ah-ha! moment where I realized I have a PERSONAL CONNECTION to my food.  

Like you, I know my farmer (he sleeps by me at night though).  I feel responsible to not overeat and not throw anything away when I know where my food comes from.

I also feel like I'm giving my family a gift each time I make a nutritious dinner, therefore…

FOOD IS LOVE!

Homemade meals take some time, lets face it, cooking from scratch can be time consuming.   But this is the time you can gather your kids and let them help, tell them stories about how their grandmother made homemade biscuits and pork gravy.  It’s time you can spend growing closer together as a family.

GOOD FOOD TAKES TIME!

Our animals are raised SLOW, without growth hormones or steroids, and that takes time, but that to me means LOVE.  Most meat you buy in the grocery store is raised in concentrated fed lots or hoop houses with their heads stuck in a feed bunker and very little room to move about.

Our animals live a wonderfully natural life, on pasture, in the open space and fresh air.

The chickens and turkeys scratch for grubs and peck at fresh grass.

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The pigs free range in a 5 acre oak forest and root for bugs or acorns.

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The cows and sheep graze on fresh green grass their whole lives.

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They live a delightful life, then give us the opportunity to show LOVE by the time we spend preparing meals.  They bring our families together around the dinner table creating lasting relationships, NOURISHING our bodies and souls.

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I love being a farmer and sharing our pastured meats and eggs with you.

Since we are still getting to know you I wanted to make sure you know what Farm Products we have available.

This way you can plan your year to buy in bulk and save some money or buy a few individual cuts to sample.

I'd love to hear from you, leave a comment below and tell me your take on why Food is Love.

Yours Naturally,
Julia

PS- Click HERE to see our Farm Products raised with love.

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