Balsamic Pork Chops With Apples

Are you looking for a new recipe to help with the winter doldrums? This pork chop recipe really does feel like "comfort food" when pared up with some mashed potatoes and a favorite vegetable. Speaking of mashed potatoes, I recently found some "ready to heat and eat" mashed potatoes at the grocery store.

While I prefer to make them from actually peeling potatoes, this particular day I had some left over meat loaf but not enough potatoes to go around. I thought "hey! I can just heat these up when heating up the meat loaf and I have another great meal."

Well, as it turned out my family didn't even know they weren't the delicious potatoes I had served first time around! There were several different brands and I have tried both of them with equally good results. If you prefer not to mess with peeling, cooking, mashing ... give these a try!

Balsamic Pork Chops With Apples

8 (1/2 inch thick) boneless pork loin chops

1 tsp salt

1 tsp seasoned pepper

½ cup all-purpose flour

3 T. vegetables oil

4 large Granny Smith apples, peeled and diced

2 tsp. brown sugar

2/3 cups balsamic vinegar

½ cup chicken broth

SPRINKLE pork chops evenly with salt and seasoned pepper, dredge in flour.

COOK pork in hot oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat 4 minutes on each side or until lightly browned. Remove from skillet; keep warm.

ADD apples to skillet, and sauté’ for 5 minutes; add brown sugar, vinegar and broth, and cook, stirring often, 5 to 7 minutes, or until slightly thickened. Return pork to the apple filled skillet and keep warm until ready to eat.

Surprise your family with this fabulous meal!

Cherry Swirl Cheesecake on President's Day

It has been the snowiest winter in Tennessee since I moved here in 2004. We have a complete covering of ice and snow again this morning. It is President’s Day so many people are staying home today and that is probably good.

As we are making our way into the New Year 2010 we are also making our way into 2020 – a new decade! This is a great time to read Psalm 118, which is a beautiful love song celebrating God’s love for us. His love endures forever! Celebrate a new year and a new decade.

Their pretty color and sweet, tantalizing taste make cherries the perfect fruit for Valentine’s Day. In February we also celebrate President’s Day, and again, cherries add their bright red color to patriotic desserts.

Children are told the tale of young George Washington and how he could not lie to his father about chopping down a cherry tree. Although historians say the story is a myth, cherries and George Washington are forever tied together in this legend. Cherries have become a symbol of his birthday and Americans continue to celebrate Presidents’ Day on February 21st and Washington’s Birthday on February 22nd by eating cherry pie.

So in honor of our first President (and telling the truth) our recipe today will be Cherry Swirl Cheesecake.

Low-fat Cherry Swirl Cheesecake
• 1/4 cup graham cracker crumbs
• 1 can (20 oz.) cherry pie filling
• 2 pkgs. (8 oz. each) low-fat cream cheese, softened
• 1 can (14 oz.) low-fat sweetened condensed milk
• 1 egg
• 4 egg whites
• 1/3 cup lemon juice
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1/2 cup flour

Preparation -
Spray the bottom and sides of an 8" spring form pan with non-stick cooking spray.

Spread the graham cracker crumbs on the bottom of the pan; set aside. Puree the cherry pie filling in a food processor or blender until smooth.

In a mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese until fluffy. Gradually add the sweetened condensed milk, beating until smooth. Add the egg, egg whites, lemon juice and vanilla and mix well. Stir in the flour.

Pour half of the batter into the prepared pan. Spoon 1/2 cup of the pureed cherry pie filling over top. Top with the remaining batter.

Pour 1/2 cup of the pureed cherry pie filling over the batter. Use a table knife to very gently swirl the cherry puree through the batter. (Reserve the remaining puree.)

Bake in a preheated oven at 300º for 60 to 65 minutes or until the center of the cheesecake is set. Cool in the pan on a wire rack for about an hour then refrigerate for 3 to 4 hours before removing the sides of the spring form pan.

Refrigerate until serving. Before serving, top individual slices with the remaining cherry puree.

Happy Valentine's Day!

When Life Happens ...

It has been almost a month since I posted on my blog. I am stunned that the time has passed so quickly. Life “happened” and although I wished to blog each day it just wasn’t happening. I am hoping for a better track record the next month!

Since the last blog I made Buttermilk Pecan Pie (recipe posted on January 7). It makes a beautiful pie. It was better than I expected and as it aged it got better and better. We ate the last of it 3 days later and it was the best then. Definitely worth giving a try! I hope you enjoy the pictures!

In honor of Valentine’s Day I am posting a recipe for “made from scratch” Red Velvet Cake. I received the recipe from my husband’s Aunt Mattie, our first Valentine’s Day at Walnut Grove Bed and Breakfast. We made it each year for our guests who came to celebrate love!

Red Velvet Cake With Cream Cheese Frosting

• Vegetable oil for the pans
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon fine salt
• 1 teaspoon cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
• 1 cup buttermilk, at room temperature
• 2 large eggs, at room temperature
• 2 tablespoons red food coloring (1 ounce)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Cream Cheese Frosting, recipe follows
• Crushed pecans, for garnish

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly oil and flour 3 (9 by 1 1/2-inch round) cake pans.

In a large bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder. In another large bowl, whisk together the oil, buttermilk, eggs, food coloring, and vanilla.

Using a standing mixer, mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until just combined and a smooth batter is formed.

Divide the cake batter evenly among the prepared cake pans. Place the pans in the oven evenly spaced apart. Bake, rotating the pans halfway through the cooking, until the cake pulls away from the side of the pans, and a toothpick inserted in the center of the cakes comes out clean, about 30 minutes.

Remove the cakes from the oven and run a knife around the edges to loosen them from the sides of the pans. One at a time, invert the cakes onto a plate and then re-invert them onto a cooling rack, rounded-sides up. Let cool completely.

Frost the cake. Place 1 layer, rounded-side down, in the middle of a rotating cake stand. Using a palette knife or offset spatula spread some of the cream cheese frosting over the top of the cake. (Spread enough frosting to make a 1/4 to 1/2-inch layer.)

Carefully set another layer on top, rounded-side down, and repeat. Top with the remaining layer and cover the entire cake with the remaining frosting. Sprinkle the top with the pecans.

Cream Cheese Frosting

1 pound cream cheese, softened

4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar

2 sticks unsalted butter (1 cup), softened

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or with a hand-held electric mixer in a large bowl, mix the cream cheese, sugar, and butter on low speed until incorporated.

Increase the speed to high, and mix until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. (Occasionally turn the mixer off, and scrape the down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula.)

Reduce the speed of the mixer to low. Add the vanilla, raise the speed to high and mix briefly until fluffy (scrape down the bowl occasionally). Store in the refrigerator until somewhat stiff, before using. May be stored in the refrigerator for 3 days.

"You don't marry someone you can live with - you marry the person who you cannot live without."
-unknown

Happy Valentine’s Day!