Balsamic and Blue Cheese Pork Chop with Caramelized Pears and Onions

We are getting ready to leave for our Big Birthday Vacation on Saturday so I am trying to cook with as many ingredients I have on hand to use everything up before we leave.  You are probably wondering what the Big Birthday Vacation is? My birthday and my husband's birthday are a day apart, so this year we decided we would go on vacation to celebrate since I am turning the Big 3-5! We are going to San Francisco for a night and then off to Napa for 3 nights.  I am excited about our trip however I am having heart palpitations about not seeing S for 5 days/4 nights or approximately 108 hours.  I have only been apart from her for about 18 hours since she was born so I think I am having separation anxiety.  She is staying with her grandparents so at least she will be in good hands while we are gone.  Getting back to tonight's meal.

Menu
Balsamic and Blue Cheese Center Cut Pork Chop
Caramelized Pears and Onions
Roasted Cremini Mushrooms and Summer Squash

Making the Pork Chops
Take two boneless center cut pork chops and place them in a shallow baking dish.  Pour about 1/4 cup of White Balsamic Vinegar over the top of the pork  chops.  Season with salt and pepper. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 350 degrees. The cooking time will depend on the thickness of the pork chop however the internal temperature should be between 160 degrees (medium) to 170 degrees (well done).  Once the pork chop is done you will take it out of the oven and add some Point Reyes Blue Cheese crumbles to the top of the pork chop. Place under the broiler for a couple minutes just long enough to melt the cheese and get a slight crust on the top.  Be sure that your pork chop is not in there too long or it will get overcooked and become tough.

Pears and Caramelized Onions
Peel and slice 1 medium large or 2 small sweet onions
Core and slice 2 Bartlett Pears (Sliced into strips)
In a saute pan, heat 1 tablespoon of olive and 1 tablespoon of butter.  Add the pears and onions and cooking on a medium-low heat.  Stir occasionally. Season with kosher salt, fresh cracked pepper and a little thyme. Add a little more butter if needed.

Summer Squash and Cremini Mushrooms
In another shallow baking dish, add slices of summer squash and cleaned cremini mushrooms.  Drizzle with olive oil and season with Montreal Steak Seasoning and some minced garlic.  Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 20-30 minutes at 350 degrees

Serve the pork chop over a bed of the caramelized pears and onions.  The blue cheese really compliments the pears and onions so be sure to get a bite with both the chop and pears/onions.

This meal was rated 4 asparagus spears

Chilled Cream of Celery Soup with a Roasted Beet and Chive garnish

I had a bunch of vegetables that I needed to use up so I decided to make a nice summer soup.  This was the first time I made this, in fact I made the recipe up as I was cooking. It turned out surprisingly well.
 

Cream of Celery Soup

In a Dutch oven sauté the following ingredients until the vegetables are softened

1 tablespoon of butter

1 tablespoon of olive oil

1 ½ cups of diced celery

¼ cup of chopped celery leaves

1 cup of diced carrot

1 cup of diced onion

1 cup of diced red potato

Salt and Pepper

Once the vegetables are cooked, add 2 ½ cups of organic chicken broth.  Place the top of the Dutch oven and reduce the temperature to a low heat. Let the veggies simmer in the broth for approximately 30 minutes.  Using a hand blender mix the veggies and broth and slowly add 1 ½ cups of skim milk. Blend until the soup is smooth.


Let the soup cool and bring to room temperature.


Roasted Beets

Prepare the beets by washing and trimining off the ends off.

Place the trimmed beets in a roasting pan with a little water. Cover with aluminum foil and cook on 425 degrees for approximately 45 minutes.  Let the beets cool a bit and then you can easily remove the skin.

To serve the soup, place some slices of beets sprinkled with chopped chives in a low bowl. Pour the soup around the beets. Season with a dash of salt if you choose and its ready to go.

The nice thing about this soup is it can be served warm too.  You can eat it as is or garnish with a small amount of shredded cheddar cheese and chopped chives.

Chicken Vegetable Meatloaf Muffins

I have been looking for some new foods to try with S since we've been having a difficult time getting her to eat meat. Trader Joes sells something called Turkey Meatloaf Muffins which are mini ground turkey meatloafs topped with sautéed spinach and parmesan mashed potatoes. The first time S tried these I had to hide the meat in the potatoes in order for her to eat it but on the second try she gobbled up every morsel. Because the muffin tin is the perfect portion size for Stella I starting this about what else I could make in a muffin pan.

Today I made a chicken veggie meatloaf. I literally just started adding ingredients and was keeping my fingers crossed that it would turn out ok.  The recipe is below.

In a sauté pan, cook the following ingredients on low to medium heat:

1 tablespoon of olive oil
2/3 cup diced onion
2 tablespoons diced garlic
3 tablespoons grated carrot
3/4 cup grated zucchini
2 tablespoons diced red pepper
3 tablespoons chopped celery leaves
Salt & pepper

Cook until the vegetables are soft.   In a large mixing bowl combine sautéed vegetables with 1 pound of lean ground chicken thigh and 1/2 pound of ground chicken breast. Add 1 1/2 teaspoons of Montreal Steak Seasoning, 1 tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce, 2 tablespoons of ketchup. Stir well to combine all ingredients.

In a separate bowl, dice 2 pieces of firm white bread (it should yield 2 cups once it is diced). Add 1/3 cup of milk and let it soak into the bread. I used skim milk. Once the bread has soaked up all of the milk combine it with the meat mixture. Stir well.

Prepare the muffin pan by spraying each section with cooking spray. Add approximately 1/4 cup of the mixture to each section of the muffin pan. Cook on 350 degrees for approximately 50 minutes. Be sure the internal temperature is 170 degrees so that the chicken is cooked thoroughly.

S tried my meatloaf muffins this afternoon and really seemed to enjoy them.  Tomorrow I am going to saute baby chard and make some of my famous mashed potatoes to top the meatloaf. Hopefully S with still like it once I add the additonal toppings.

Gilbert's Ouisconsin Sausage

We were a bit short on time last night for cooking, partially due to the fact that we had no power for 5 hours yesterday.  We are really unlucky when it comes to power these days. That was the third time in a month we have been without power due to weather related issues.  Thankfully the outage was short this time, because the temperature was quickly rising in our house with it being so hot outside.  As a result of the time crunch we completely forgot to “foodograph” our meal, sorry folks.

Menu

Gilbert's Ouisconsin - Beef Smoked Sausage with Bleu Cheese

Macaroni Salad with a Twist

My husband has been talking about this sausage from Costco that he heard about called Gilbert’s Sausages.  I made the trek over to Costco last Saturday; surprisingly it wasn’t as big of a zoo as it normally is on the weekend.  Chris was quite excited when I informed him they had the sausage in stock; however our Costco only had the Ouisconsin.  There are three other kinds available: The Shebeegan - Beer Bratwurst, The Froman - Uncured Beef Franks and The Catalana –Smoked Sausage made with Pork, Mozzarella Cheese, Chipotle Peppers and Lime.  I wish they sold a variety pack, hopefully on the next trip they will have the Catalana.

I think it’s absolutely hysterical that they named their hot dog, “the Froman” and have a crown on the packaging.  I can only assume they are referencing Abe Froman, the sausage king of Chicago, from the movie Ferris Bueller’s Day off.

 I did find out that you can order the sausage on-line and there are other stores outside of Costco that carry their product.  You can locate a store near you on their website, http://gilbertssausages.com/buy/storefinder.  Not only was the sausage delicious, I enjoy the fact that each sausage comes individually wrapped so you don’t have to worry about opening an entire package and having to freeze what you don’t use.

We garnished our Ouisconsin with grilled onions and Dijon mustard.

As far as the macaroni salad goes, it’s another quick and easy side dish.  I remember growing up, on hot days like yesterday my mom would always make dishes that were light or something that didn’t require an oven.  The hot weather reminded me of the macaroni salad she would often make with one of these meals.  I had some orzo pasta made from the other night so I decided to use up those noodles which was my “twist.”  Normally I would make this salad with macaroni noodles, but really you could use any pasta noodle.  The ingredients are very simple:

Cooked pasta noodles, drained and cooled

Mayonnaise

Chopped Celery

Chopped white onion

Grated Carrot

Salt and Pepper

I added another twist, a couple dashes of Old Bay Seasoning

Mix all ingredients above in a bowl and serve cold.

This meal was rated 4 asparagus spears