No-Sugar No-Cider All-Pure Pear Butter

This recipe I modified for ease of preparation is lovingly dedicated to the greatest cook I have ever known - my Tita Ching who celebrates her birthday today. I thought of doing something special for her, something she would be proud of. Something I would not normally do - Pear butter.

Deanna’s No-Sugar No-Cider All-Pure Pear Butter Recipe

3 bartless pears, unpeeled, chopped and cored
½ teaspoon olive oil
Pinch of cinnamon
Pinch of ginger powder

Toss the ingredients together and cook in the slow cooker for 2 hours on High.
Mash the pears using a fork. Cook on Low for about 45 minutes to one hour until the pear butter liquefies. Place in jars and leave out to cool.

Pear Butter De-mystified

Unlike most jams and jellies, pear butter doesn’t require pectin. Instead, most fruit butters are simply allowed to cook down until they resemble fruit sauce. The next step is to blend or process the fruit or run it through a sieve so the texture becomes smooth and velvety. Once the fruit mixture is pureed or sieved, it is cooked more with the addition of sugar and sweet spices like cinnamon and nutmeg. Pear butter can be used in lots of ways. It’s excellent spread on toast or biscuits. Dollops of it can be added to yogurt, cottage cheese or to hot cereals like oatmeal. A quick pear sauce can be made by reheating the butter, and this can be used to top things like vanilla ice cream. Numerous uses exist for this fruit butter, and it certainly solves the problem of left over pears.

My pear butter photos will be coming soon in this same post.

Ref: Photo courtesy of http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/pear_butter/

Game 2 Pork Chops

2 center cut boneless pork chops
hint of avocado oil with chili
hint of balsamic vinegar
teriyaki sauce
everyday spice

Coat the bottom of the slow cooker with olive oil.
Mix the marinade in a bowl.
Season the pork chops with the everyday spice.
Place the pork chops in the slow cooker.
Pour the marinade on the pork chops.
Pray for good weather so that Game 2 will push through.

Serve with steamed white rice with peas.

Slow Cook Chicken in Mushroom Wine Sauce

INGREDIENTS
* 1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of mushroom soup
* 1 teaspoon dried minced onion
* 1 teaspoon dried parsley
* 1/4 cup white wine
* 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
* 1 tablespoon milk
* 1 (4 ounce) can mushroom pieces, drained
* salt and pepper to taste
* 4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves

What to Drink? Wine Chardonnay

DIRECTIONS

1. In a slow cooker, mix together the soup, onion, parsley, wine, garlic powder, milk, and mushroom pieces. Season with salt and pepper. Place chicken in the slow cooker, covering with the soup mixture.
2. Cook on Low setting for 5 to 6 hours, or on High setting for 3 to 4 hours.

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Slow-Cooker-Chicken-with-Mushroom-Wine-Sauce/Detail.aspx

Alcohol Cooking Substitutions

Click HERE when you run out of cooking wine and other alcohol substitutes. For COOKING, that is!

Artic Char

En papillote

Oil a sheet of aluminum foil; place on it some julienned vegetables that have been sweated for a few minutes in a little olive oil. Place 2 fillets of Arctic char on top, one on top of the other, with a branch of thyme, some salt, pepper and 2 tbsp. white wine. Cook in a 200° C (400° F) oven for about 12 minutes.

http://www.theworldwidegourmet.com/products/fish/arctic-char/

Unexpected Pairings: Tuna, Pasta and String beans

Coming from an intense conversation with our Pilates instructor regarding health, weight loss and nutrition, I was determined to try and meet our health goals, one of them being weight reduction.

I decided not to serve my meatloaf (even if we had an exhausting workout) and decided to try and go veggie. Here is the unprotected pairing:

Sauteed string beans (see previous recipe)
Egg noodles
Tuna flakes - one packet only

Warm everything and combine. That's it!
Verdict: Light, delicious and healthy!

Light and Fabulous Stringsbeans in Sesame Oil

String beans
sesame oil
chopped white onion
chopped tomatoes
everyday seasoning

Combine in a slow cooker and cook on High for 1.5 hrs or until string beans are ready.
Light and Fabulous!

Slow Cook Beef in Oyster Sauce

1 lb sirloin
oyster sauce
soy sauce
sesame oil
bok choy

Combine in slow cooker and cook for 2 hours on High.

Mean Sinigang na Pork Belly

1 lb pork belly
2 medium sized tomatoes, diced
1 medium sized onion, sliced
1 yellow squash, sliced
a few string beans
Sinigang Mix
3 cups of water

Combine all ingredients in the slow cooker. Cook for 4 hours.
Serve with warm white rice.

In our case, no need for fish sauce. We'll take it as it is, thank you!

Rainy Saturday Special: Tilapia in Rose

1 lb tilapia
1/4 c rose wine (for the dish, not to imbibe)
basil
provence herbs
everyday seasoning
lemon juice and olive oil

Slow cook until fish is ready. A mixture of flavors with a lovely infusion of lemon and rose.