Pork & Pear Saute with Lemon Vodka Sauce-WWW

Here is a quick dinner highlighting in-season pears that I picked up at the farmers' market this weekend. I was able to whip this together and have a delicious dinner on the table in 30 minutes. The recipe from the book, "Two's Company", calls for Anjou pears, but I had Bosc on hand and they were just fine. My pears were still pretty firm, but they softened up nicely when cooked. Since this is a properly proportioned meal and full of flavor, do yourself a favor and use the best ingredients you can get, especially the cut of pork. If you are serving more that 2, try this with a tenderloin. Just sprinkle with s&p, brown in the pan and finish off in the oven while the pears saute. What a great fall, cool weather meal, enjoy!

Be sure to stop by Weight Watcher Wednesday to see what else is cookin' this week.








Pork & Pear Saute with Lemon Vodka Sauce
serves 2
Points value: 9

2 (4oz) boned center-cut loin pork chops ( about 3/4 inch thick)
1/2 tsp salt, divided
1/2 tsp cracked pepper, divided
2 tsp olive oil, divided
2 Anjou pears (about 1 pound), peeled, cored and cut in half
1/4 cup vodka or dry white wine
1 tbl chopped fresh chives
2 tsp grated lemon rind
1 tbl fresh lemon juice

Sprinkle chops with 1/4 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper. Heat 1 tsp oil in a large non-stick skillet over medium heat. Add chops; saute 3 minutes on each side or until almost done. Remove from skillet and keep warm (remember, the meat will continue to cook).

Heat remaining 1 tsp oil in skillet over medium heat. Place pear halves in skillet: cook 2 minutes on each side or until golden. Remove pears from skillet and keep warm. Add vodka to skillet, scraping to loosen brown bits. Add remaining 1/4 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp pepper, chives, lemon rind, and lemon juice; cook 1 minute, stirring occasionally.

Serve each chop with 2 pear halves and sauce drizzled over all.

I'm back!

After a very long week of illness, I am glad to report that I am back up and running. I can't believe how long it has been since I have felt like sitting at the computer or cooking in the kitchen. Yea to feeling up to both!

So, what is new? Not much. I was able to get ALOT of knitting and reading done. I am working on finishing those socks of mine (one down, one to go) and have several top-secret Christmas gifts in the works. As for the reading, I am halfway through, "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle", by Barbara Kingsolver and just started, "My life in France", by Julia Child and Paul Prud'homme. Both so far, are good reads. I was feeling better this last weekend and was able to get out to the farmers' market for some wonderful fall produce, and on Sunday we went to Burnham Orchards to pick apples. We came home with a huge 1/2 bushel bag of beautiful Jonagold apples. We had applesauce that night for dinner. I plan on freezing many of them in the next day or so for baking or sauce in the months ahead. Any suggestion are welcome.

Here is a recipe for a yummy White Bean Chard Soup that I made just before I was out for the count. You could use a variety of beans; cannellini, chickpeas, lentils just to name a few. Thanks again El, for the beautiful rainbow chard!

White Bean Rainbow Chard Soup

2 tbl olive oil
1 cup diced red onion (1 medium)
1 cup diced carrot
1 bunch of rainbow chard (about 8-9 stalks), leaves and stems separated, stalks chopped in about 1/4" pieces and leaves roughly chopped
1/2 tsp kosher flake salt
1/4 tsp ground pepper
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
8 cups of vegetable stock
15.5 oz can of cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
14.5 oz can of diced tomatoes or 1 cup chopped fresh tomato
1/2 tsp finely chopped fresh rosemary
Parmesan cheese (optional)

Heat the oil over medium high heat in a large pot. Saute the onion and carrot until the onion is translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the chard stalks, salt, pepper, and crushed pepper and saute another 4-5 minutes.

When the veggies have cooked down a bit, add the stock, beans, tomatoes and rosemary. Bring up to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer about 20 minutes. When the bean have softened a bit, add the chard leaves and cook about 5-8 minutes. Serve nice and hot with a few shavings of good parmesano reggiano on top.


Coming this week: WWW- Pork & Pear Saute with Vodka Lemon Sauce and BB- Ina's Butternut Squash Risotto. Don't forget to visit the Pier 1 Site to vote for my room: gardengalkim@yahoo.com The voting ends October 9th!

How exciting is this?

You must go and check out The Martha Blog, especially all you fellow bloggers. She recently featured several bloggers on her show, and now is opening up her blog to all of us. If you leave a comment and a link back, she will choose several of your posts to be featured on hers. How cool is this? Well, it is for me. I am a huge fan of hers, have been for quite awhile, so I would be oh so happy to have some of my posts out there for other Martha blog readers to view. Plus, I would love to read posts of other fellow bloggers.

If you are not currently blogging, but are thinking about getting in to it, she has a great tutorial on getting started. Lots of good info for the beginner (like I was).

Here's hoping to see my posts on her site, fingers crossed kids!

Great idea and "Thanks" Martha!

Ina's Cream of Wild Mushroom Soup-BB

Barefoot Bloggers time has snuck up on me! I can't believe it, this month is flying by. Our recipe for this week was chosen by Chelle of Brown Eyed Baker. She chose Ina's Cream of Wild Mushroom Soup from the episode: Mystery Guest. It can also be found in, "Barefoot Contessa at Home", pg.48. The mystery guest episode is one of my favorites because Mel Brooks is the mystery. Who wouldn't like that? Sadly, we had no such luck at dinner last night :) but we did enjoy the lovely soup on the patio with a nice little fire going. Ahhh fall, don't cha just love it!



As for the recipe, I only made a few changes. I read in the musings of fellow BB's that it was possible to change the dairy ratio in the dish. Ina calls for 1 cup of half & half and 1 cup of heavy cream. Now, as yummy as that sounds, I wanted to attempt to lighten it up. So, I took the advice of another BB and used 1/2 cup heavy cream and 1 1/2 cups of milk. The soup was still very creamy. I had to adjust the mushroom quantities a little, due to grocery supplies and at the end I added a splash of golden sherry, just to give it a bit more depth. One word of warning: if your only relationship to creamy soups is with canned condensed glop, you should be nicely surprised to find out what a cream soup sans chemicals tastes and feels like. I served it with a crusty whole grain bread which we toasted on the grill and some creamy, room temp Camembert cheese.

Ina's Cream of Wild Mushroom Soup
serves 5-6

3.5 oz fresh shitake mushrooms
6 oz fresh portobella mushrooms
6 oz fresh cremini mushrooms
1 tbl good olive oil
1/4 pound (1 stick) plus 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, divided
1 cup chopped yellow onion
1 carrot, chopped
1 sprig fresh thyme plus 1 teaspoon minced thyme leaves, divided
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
2 cups chopped leeks, white and light green parts (2 leeks)
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup dry white wine
1 1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup heavy cream
splash of golden sherry
1/2 cup minced fresh flat-leaf parsley

Clean the mushrooms by wiping them with a dry paper towel. Don't wash them! Separate the stems, trim off any bad parts, and coarsely chop the stems. Slice the mushroom caps 1/4-inch thick and, if they are big, cut them into bite-sized pieces. Set aside.

To make the stock, heat the olive oil and 1 tablespoon of the butter in a large pot. Add the chopped mushroom stems, the onion, carrot, the sprig of thyme, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper and cook over medium-low heat for 10 to 15 minutes, until the vegetables are soft. Add 6 cups water, bring to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer uncovered for 30 minutes. Strain, reserving the liquid. You should have about 4 1/2 cups of stock. If not, add some water.

This is a lovely mushroom stock, and would be a nice base for other soups as well.

A note regarding leeks if they are new to you. They can be very sandy, so, after chopping them up be sure to rinse them thoroughly, separating the slices under running water. This will allow you to rid them of any sand or dirt.

Meanwhile, in another large pot, heat the remaining 1/4 pound of butter and add the leeks. Cook over low heat for 15 to 20 minutes, until the leeks begin to brown. Add the sliced mushroom caps and cook for 10 minutes, or until they are browned and tender. Add the flour and cook for 1 minute. Add the white wine and stir for another minute, scraping the bottom of the pot.



Add the mushroom stock, minced thyme leaves, 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, and 1 teaspoon pepper and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Add the half-and-half, cream, sherry, and parsley, season with salt and pepper, to taste, and heat through but do not boil. Serve hot.











Dinner is served.....

Roasted Vegetable Lasagna-WWW

So, I must first apologize to Em for not getting a post in last week for Weight Watcher Wednesday! I have no idea where the week went. I almost missed the day this week. I must start planning these posts ahead of time. Anyway, after a visit back to Columbus over the weekend, a gift of garden fresh veggies helped to inspire this week's recipe. My dear friend Ellen would not let me get out of town without taking a bag of goodies from her garden. In the bag were these beautiful eggplants, as well as a huge bunch of rainbow chard. Thank you El! After searching the Internet, I found this yummy lasagna which called for eggplant. The rest of the veggies I had in my garden, and the noodles I found stashed away in the pantry, so no trip to the store was needed, what a bonus! I have a few recipes in line for the chard, will have that up in the future.

This recipe is on the Weight Watchers site. It is easy to make, but a bit time consuming, and is a dish from the series, "Cook Once, Eat All Week". The dish came out alright for the first go, I would give it about a B-. I will definitely make adjustments the next time around.

On the positive side, it was very tasty and low in points/calories, since there is no ricotta and egg filling. If you are looking for a comforting vegetarian dish, this fits the bill. It can also be made ahead of time. Another plus, I use the no-boil noodles, which saves so much time. You can definitely use a different assortment of veggies in this recipe, nice if you have an abundance in the garden or need to empty the fridge. I roasted the vegetables and then let them cool completely before processing. You could do this step a day ahead. I like the way the pureed veggies are used instead of a traditional sauce. Gives the dish more flavor and depth.

Adjustment that I will make next time, I will use more veggies, don't be stingy. The eggplants were probably a bit small and I should have use a few more. I did not have any Roma tomatoes on hand, so I used an assortment of heirlooms from my garden which were just fine. I think it needed a bit of herbs added, basil or oregano would have been nice. I would even add a splash of dry red wine to the puree. Lastly, I would suggest covering the dish with foil for the first 30 minutes of the baking time and them uncover the last 10 minutes to let the cheese brown. I tried baking it according to the recipe, and had to cover it because the cheese would have burned to a crisp, and the top layer of pasta was a bit too dry. All in all though, this is a very nice recipe to make when you have a hankering for lasagna.

Roasted Vegetable Lasagna
serves 6
Points value: 5

3 medium raw eggplant, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
3 medium sweet red pepper(s), chopped
4 small tomato(es), plum, seeded and chopped
4 medium garlic clove(s), peeled and chopped
2 tsp olive oil
1 tsp table salt, or more to taste
1/4 tsp black pepper, or more to taste
9 serving dry no-boil lasagna noodles, 9 noodles,
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
3/4 cup part-skim mozzarella cheese, shredded

Preheat oven to 425°F.


In roasting pan, combine vegetables and garlic with olive oil. Bake until vegetables are tender, stirring occasionally, about 20 to 25 minutes.
























Place half of vegetables, salt and pepper, and 1/2 cup water in food processor and process until smooth.

Spoon 1/2 cup of vegetable purée into bottom of a 9 X 13-inch baking dish.


Place three noodles over purée. Top with 1/2 cup of purée, 1/2 of remaining vegetables, 2 tablespoons of Parmesan cheese and 1/4 cup of mozzarella cheese. Repeat layers and then top with remaining 3 noodles, purée and cheese.



Bake until bubbly, about 40 to 45 minutes.I would suggest covering with foil for the first 30 minutes and then uncover the last 10 so the cheese will brown a bit. Slice into 6 pieces and serve.

Martha's Brownies

This is a fantastic recipe for Brownies! It is found in Martha's "Favorite Comfort Food" book. I have made this one quite a few times, and this time I made a few "enhancements". I watch Ina when I can, and decided to add a few of her touches. One is adding a bit of coffee, I used cold coffee, leftover from breakfast ( I think she uses powdered coffee) and the other is to rap the pan against the oven shelf halfway through baking to allow the air to escape and I assume, keep the brownies from getting too cakey. This is a fudgy brownie recipe, but you can adjust them to a cakier consistency by adding an additional egg. Use the best chocolate you can find, the brand in the photo below was what was available to me.

I had to adjust the cooking time because I do not have a true 9"x13" pan. My pan was a bit smaller, so the brownies took an additional 10 minutes to bake. Whatever pan you use, just be sure to check on them so they do not over bake.

After cooling, I wrapped them individually in wax paper and took some to our family that is recuperating. I did keep a few for us, which as you can see in the photo, I served with a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream and a squiggle of chocolate syrup. Believe me, they are so rich and chocolaty that one was enough for us to split.


Martha's Brownies
make about twelve 3-inch squares

12 tbl (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut in pieces, plus more for the pan ( I never cut my butter up, oops)
8 oz best-quality bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, roughly chopped
4 large eggs
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed dark-brown sugar
1 tbl pure vanilla extract
3 tbl cold coffee
1 1/3 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9" x 13" baking pan with butter, and set aside












In the top of a double boiler or in a heat-proof bowl over simmering water, melt the butter and chocolate until smooth; stir occasionally. Remove from the heat. Allow to cool to room temperature.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the eggs, granulated and brown sugars, vanilla and coffee, and beat well with a wire whisk. In a separate bowl, combine the sifted flour and salt.

Add the cooled chocolate mixture to the egg mixture and, using a wooden spoon, stir until well combined. Gradually add the flour mixture and beat until thoroughly combined. Pour the batter into the prepared pan.


Bake until a tester inserted into the center of the brownie comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Do not over bake. Let stand on a rack in the pan until cool. Cut into 3" squares and serve or store in an airtight container, at room temperature, up to 2 days. I found that if wrapped individually in wax paper, they kept fine in the fridge.

The voting begins today!

So, the Pier 1 design contest voting starts today and ends the 9th of October. If you can, please take a few minutes and vote for me! Just click on the Pier 1 widget in my sidebar, that will take you to the site. I think you enter an email to get started. When you get to the gallery, just look up, gardengalkim@yahoo.com to find my room, "Livin' in Dreamland", and then vote "yes". I think that you can only vote 1 time, but they give you 2 chances to win a $25.00 gift certificate. My room design came out pretty well, I was limited to what I could use. Hey, you have to give it a go to win and I appreciate anyone taking the time to vote.

Other news: Hello Kitty turns 6 today! Who would have guessed that she would be doing so well after being so sick a year ago? No doubt this is how she will spend her day.


As a treat, I think I will spend an hour this morning knitting with her on my lap (her other favorite place to sleep). I am working on my first pair of socks, and so far so good. Getting ready to turn the heal. I found this really cool "Online Supersocke Circle" striped wool sock yarn (see color #1059) that puts out a fun pattern, who knew? I may post up a pic when they are done. Next Thursday I am signed up for a one-on-one finishing class to get some help with a lightweight cotton sweater I just finished. I can't seem to get the shoulder seaming right?

On the blog front, I have had nothing new to post for awhile. I think I have been a bit burned out, and have been working more, leaving less time for cookin' and bloggin'.We have a family member who has just had surgery that we will visit tomorrow, so I will be cooking for him today. I plan to get photos and write up posts in the next few days. On the menu, Martha's Mac and Cheese (which I will prepare with whole grains), a yummy Tomato Lentil Soup from the "New Basics" cookbook that I have made a bizillion times (vegetarian) and Martha's brownies (I think I will make the fudgey version). Hopefully these comfort foods will help him along with his recovery.

So, have a great day everyone! I'll have more great food yummies up soon!