Pear Tarte Tatin

Okay, so when I post I've noticed I like to do desserts; probably because I try new desserts whenever I find one that is interesting! This dessert is one of my favorite of all time that I have found. My pictures didn't turn out so I just stole the one from the website where I got the recipe, http://www.delish.com/recipefinder/pear-tarte-tatin-recipe.

Pastry

1 1/2 cup(s) all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon(s) salt

1/2 cup(s) (1 stick) cold butter (no substitutions), cut up

2 tablespoon(s) trans-fat free vegetable shortening

1 teaspoon(s) freshly grated lemon peel

2 tablespoon(s) (up to 4 tablespoons) ice water

Filling

1 cup(s) sugar

6 tablespoon(s) butter (no substitutions)

1 tablespoon(s) fresh lemon juice

3 3/4 pound(s) firm-ripe Bosc and Bartlett pears, peeled, cored, and each cut lengthwise in half

Directions

Prepare pastry: In food processor, with knife blade attached, blend flour and salt. Add butter and shortening and pulse until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Pulse in lemon peel. Sprinkle in ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time, pulsing after each addition, until large, moist crumbs just begin to form. Gather dough into ball; flatten into disk. Wrap disk in plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm enough to roll, 1 hour or up to overnight. (If refrigerated overnight, let dough stand at room temperature 30 minutes before rolling.)

Line cookie sheet with waxed paper. On lightly floured surface, with floured rolling pin, roll dough to a 12-inch round. Transfer to prepared cookie sheet and refrigerate until ready to use.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Prepare filling: In heavy 12-inch skillet with oven-safe handle (or with handle wrapped in double thickness of foil), heat sugar, butter, and lemon juice on medium-high, stirring occasionally, until butter melts and mixture begins to boil.

Add pears to skillet, rounded side down. Cook 5 minutes. Turn rounded side up and cook 5 minutes longer. Turn pears over so rounded side is down and cook 5 minutes longer, or until syrup is caramelized and thickened. (Reduce heat slightly if syrup browns too quickly before thickening.)

Remove skillet from heat. Carefully invert dough (still on waxed paper) onto pears in skillet; remove and discard paper. Fold edge of dough under to fit dough into skillet and form rim around edge. Cut six 1/4-inch-long slits in dough to allow steam to escape during baking. Bake 25 to 30 minutes, or until crust is golden brown. Cool in pan on wire rack 5 minutes.

Tips: I didn't have a food processor, so I made the pastry by hand. If you have a pastry blender is works really well, otherwise use two knives. It will take longer with the pastry blender and the knives, but works really well.

From the kitchen of Megan.

Asian Chicken Salad

1 bag spinach
12 oz cooked bowtie pasta
3 cups cooked shredded chicken
1 bunch green onions
1/4 cup roasted and salted sunflower seeds

Dressing:
1/2 cup olive oil
1/3 cup soy sauce
1/3 cup white vinegar
4 T sugar
1/4 tsp pepper

Prepare ingredients and dressing. Combine pasta, chicken, and green onions. Let it soak all day (at least 3 hours). Then add sunflower seeds and spinach. Toss and serve.

Shrimp Alfredo

(adapted from Secret Recipes)

I love Olive Garden's Alfredo sauce, so I looked up the recipe online.  I added a few changes to make it my own, so here is my version

Ingredients:

1 pint half and half

1 stick plus 2 tablespoons butter

2 TB cream cheese (I was out of cream cheese, but a good substitute for cream cheese is blended up cottage cheese, which I have used in a pinch many times)

1 cup grated Parmesan cheese

2-3 cloves minced garlic

shrimp - optional

In a pan melt one stick of butter.  Add shrimp.  I use frozen cooked shrimp, which is easy to overcook so I just make sure it's warmed through.  Remove shrimp from the pan and add extra butter. (If you are not adding shrimp, skip that step and don't use the extra butter)  Add garlic and cook for one about 30 seconds to one minute.  Add half and half, cream cheese, and parmesan cheese and stir until all is melted. Simmer for a few minutes.  If the sauce is still too runny, mix in a separate cup a little cornstarch and water and add to sauce to thicken.  Add the shrimp back in until all is combined and warmed.  Pour over pasta.

Teriyaki Shredded Pork

Ingredients:
¾ cups soy sauce
2 cups water
1 cup white sugar
1 tbsp. cornstarch
1 clove garlic (pressed or chopped finely)
½ tbsp. ginger (fresh or powdered)
1-3 lbs. pork loin/roast

Directions:
Bring the soy sauce, water, sugar, cornstarch, garlic, and ginger to a boil in a sauce pan. Take ½ of the sauce and put it in with the pork in a crock pot for 4-5 hours on high heat (turn down to low heat half way through cooking). Set the other ½ of the sauce aside for later. Cook the pork until fork tender. Drain the sauce from the crock pot, take any excess fat off the pork loin and shred. Add remaining sauce back into the crock pot and warm the sauce with the pork for about 15-30 minutes. Serve over rice (omit salt when cooking rice).




Tips:
This makes a TON of sauce. So use as much meat as you think is necessary for your family. For my small family of 4 I usually do just 1 lb. of pork (and I use pork loin chops) and there are PLENTY of leftovers. It doesn't look like it will make a lot, but trust me, it goes a long way over rice. But you could easily do up to 3 lbs. of meat with the sauce you have.

I also trim the excess fat off BEFORE I cook the meat. I find that if I don't the fat will just flake off into the sauce and then stick to the meat when I shred it and it is kind of gross. But on the other hand, the fat makes it more tender, so do it to your preference.

As noted in the recipe above, I never cook the rice with salt because the soy sauce is so salty that it is a bit too much if you cook the rice with salt. You can also omitt the butter to cut down on calories (it will make the rice stickier).

I love this recipe because it so easy! You do have to plan to start it around 1:00 to get it ready for dinner time, but that's the only tricky part. It is delicious too - one of my husband's favorites.

From the kitchen of Tannie Datwyler