Hi everyone,

I hope that everyone is doing ok since the last time I posted.

My sympathy goes to Nancy Shaw and family. I was notified yesterday that EK Shaw had passed away on Friday night. I haven't heard any funeral arrangements but when I do I will let you know. Nancy's address is Nancy Shaw, 6 Larchwood Court, Newton IA 50208.

Tomorrow I go to Park Rapids and have the varicose veins done on my right leg. My left leg is doing so good that I decided to have the other one done.

Deer hunting hasn't been too good at our place. Finally last night they got 3 for 7 hunters. Rochelle (granddaughter) who's 11 got her second deer last night. She was really proud. Randy (son - in-law) and Adam (grandson) each got a doe. Someone called me last week and wondered if I was mad at the son-in-law because I always wrote the son-in-law so from now on he's going by Randy. He's a good son-in-law.

I know I've been really busy but tonight when I'm sitting here trying to write something it's like I haven't done anything.

I did make a new recipe tonight. It was porkchops with apples. It turned out pretty good. I'm not much on mixing fruit with my meat.

Pork Chops with Apples

Prep: 10 min
Cook: 13 min. Serves:4

4 - 1/2" thick bone-in pork chops
Salt
1/4 cup all purpose flour
3 tbsp. vegetable oil
1 shallot, finely chopped
2 large Granny Smith Apples, peeled, cored, and diced
1/2 cup apricot jam
1/4 cup cider vinegar
1/4 cup low-sodium chicken broth

1. Sprinkle pork chops with salt. Place flour in a shallow bowl and dredge chops on both sides.

2. Warm 2 tablespoons oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Cook chops until browned, 3 to 4 minutes on each side. Transfer to a plate and loosely cover with foil to keep warm.

3. Add remaining 1 tablespoon oil, shallots, and apples to skillet. Cook, stirring, until softened, 2 to 3 minutes. Add jam, vinegar and broth, cook, stirring and scraping up any browned bits on bottom of skillet, until sauce has thickened, 1 to 2 minutes. Season sauce with salt and pour over chops and serve.

Ok, so I can't make a recipe just the way it's wrote so here are my changes. I used garlic salt and added a little pepper to the chops. My chops were thicker so they took longer to cook. Then I didn't have any apricot jam so I used plum jelly and I don't have shallots so I used finely diced onion. I used Braeburn apples instead of Granny Smith. It took longer than the 1 or 2 minutes for my sauce to become thick.

All in all I would give it a 7 on a 1 to 10 scale. The chops were really good and moist, it's just that I usually don't eat too much fruit and usually only by itself. It did look nice on the plate. I served them with baked sweet potatoe and brussel sprouts. The only one that complained was me, the others thought they were good.

We started making wreaths this weekend. The orders aren't as large as last year but I'm glad as I've got alot to get done and I have a couple of craft sales coming up. Too bad I have to work because it sure interfers in what I'd like to be doing.

Hard to believe that it is only 47 days til Christmas. I'm going to have hernia surgery on the 10th of December so that will slow me down for a while. Hopefully by the first of the year I will be back to doing everything I want to do.

Hope all is well with all of you.

Julie