Apricot_Rosemary Glazed Pork

The recipe is courtesy of Betty Crocker.

2¼ hours 10 min prep SERVES 10
3 lbs pork loin roast
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 cup apricot preserves
1/4 cup dry sherry or cooking sherry or apple juice
2 teaspoons dried rosemary leaves, crumbled
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Remove any excess fat from the roast.
Place roast in a 13 x 9 inch baking dish that has been sprayed with non-stick cooking spary.
Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
In a small saucepan, heat the preserves, sherry, rosemary and garlic over medium heat, stirring frequently.
When thickened, spoon 1/4 cup mixture onto pork reserving remainder.
Insert meat thermometer so tip is in center of thickest part of pork.
Bake uncovered 1 hour 15 minutes to 1 hour 30 minutes or until the therometer reads 155 degrees.
Cover pork with foil and allow to stand 15 to 20 minutes or until thermometer reads 160 degrees.
Cut roast into slices.
Heat the reserved apricot mixture and serve with roast.

This was very good so good in fact; that we forgot to take a picture after we took it out the oven, the smell while cooking was to die for. We were a little leery as we are not great fans of apricots but thought we would give it a try and boy are we glad we did. We used apple juice instead of the cooking sherry. This was a great way to cook a pork loin roast, we will make again, and next time take a picture. Try this one it was very tasty.

Blackberry-Glazed Pork chops

Well the weather is a little cool again but it makes for being in the kitchen a lot better. Saturday we had a pear salad, roasted potatoes and a blackberry-glazed pork chop. The glaze made a good bit and we did not want it to go to waste so the next night we got some country ribs and cooked them out on the grill. We were surprised that the flavor was not as strong on the ribs as on the chops the night before.We are not sure what we did wrong but they still tasted good. We may try this again on the grill with chicken or something else.
Blackberry Glaze
1 tsp butter
4 boneless pork chops ¾ to 1 ¼ thick
½ cup blackberry jam
1/3 cup blackberry or balsamic vinegar (we used the vinegar)
¼ cup Dijon mustard
1 tsp grated orange peel
1 ½ tsp chopped fresh thyme leaves(we did not have fresh so we used dry)

Heat butter in large skillet on med high heat. Cook chops on both sides about 5 to 7 minutes or till browned.
Mix remaining ingredients; add to skillet, simmer uncovered, until sauce is reduced to a glaze consistency and chops are tender about 5 to 8 min. Turn chops frequently.

Baked Apples and Cream

The last few days have been unseasonably warm here, we feel for every one up north with all the cold weather and snow. Nevertheless, we have been thinking of ice cream already, with temps in the 80’s its hard not to. We had some granny smith apples we needed to cook so I found this one-called apples and cream of course at the zarr. Of course my hubby wanted some ice cream to go with it.
This was very easy to make.
3-4 granny smith (we might try with Fuji next time) cut and peeled in 1/8 slices
About ¼ to ½ cup sugar(depends on size of apples)
Generous amount of cinnamon
Place in baking dish and dot with butter.
Bake in microwave on high for around 10 min till a fork inserts easily
Set aside
In sauce pan add
1 ½ tablespoon flour
¼ cup sugar
½ cup milk
Bring to a boil stirring constantly over a medium heat
The sauce will thicken, remove from heat and add
1 teaspoon vanilla
Pour over apples and sprinkle with cinnamon and you can add nutmeg if you like
We add it to ice cream.

Cabbage Beef Soup

This a a good one from Family Oven
We did kick it up with some ped pepper flakes.

/2 large onion, chopped
4 beef bouillon cubes
24 ounces tomato sauce
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon salt
1 pound ground beef
2 (16 ounce) cans red kidney beans, drained
2 cups water 2 cups water
1 teaspoon pepper 1 teaspoon pepper
5 cups chopped cabbage

Heat oil in a large stockpot over medium high heat. Add ground beef and onion, and cook until beef is well browned and crumbled. Drain fat, and transfer beef to a slow cooker. Add cabbage, kidney beans, water, tomato sauce, bouillon, cumin, salt, and pepper. Stir to dissolve bouillon, and cover.
Cook on high setting for 4 hours, or on low setting for 6 to 8 hours.