{Super Easy Dinner Menu} Pork Chops, Roasted Apples + Onions, Arugula Salad with Toasted Pine Nuts and Lemon Dressing

I snapped this instagram photo last weekend as the sun was setting – I absolutely love being able to see the rays of light. As you can see, I’m trying out the vintage apothecary jars in the laundry room/pantry area filled with buttons and ribbons. I’m starting to think I’d like for them to be a bit more useful, (its not like I am sewing on buttons everyday) so I am considering replacing the buttons with a spool of colorful bakers twine.Last weekend, we had a delicious dinner at home on Friday night. Our side dish was the star of the show. Preheat your oven to 425 degrees. Get out a large rectangular cake pan or Pyrex baking dish and slice up the vegetables, or in this case fruit. You need a refresher on roasting vegetables, you say? Click here. I roasted apples – 2 large Pink Lady and 3 small Granny Smith – 1/2 an onion, 1 Tablespoon of minced garlic, a pinch of red pepper and Kosher salt – I may have used a teaspoon of salt. I simply made sure I sprinkled a bit over the entire cookie sheet. Drizzle enough extra virgin olive oil over the top to coat the vegetables and place into the oven for about 35 minutes.Once the roasted apples were in the oven, I started Niman Ranch pork chops on the stovetop. If you plan carefully – use a skillet whose handle is oven safe. You won’t have to transfer pans this way, saving you dish duty on the other end. I simply sprinkled the pork chops with garlic salt and browned them on both sides. Once they were golden, I finished them off in a 425 degree oven until the chops were 145 degrees in the center. I served the pork chops on top of the apples, and we had an arugula salad on the side. The salad was super tasty in spite of it’s simplicity. It was topped with a heavy dose of stove-top toasted pine nuts and the famous dressing recipe that my mom gave me. Take note on the dressing recipe: instead of using red wine vinegar or balsamic as my acid in the dressing I used fresh squeezed lemon juice for a zingy Springtime flavor.We lit my favorite beeswax candles – et voilà! There you have one of the most simple dinners and delicious dinners a girl could ask to prepare.