Pork Tenderloin with Pears and Cider

I still have pears left from the huge basket Jocelyne gave me from her garden.
These pears are quite firm and really cook well, they don’t end up mushy or falling apart.
Continuing to search for a savory dish to make with them, I found this recipe is by Laraine Perri from Fine Cooking. It’s quite quick to make and also a delicious fall dish.


Ingredients

1 pork tenderloin
1 teaspoon olive oil
salt and pepper
2 tablespoons butter
3 firm Anjou pears, peeled, cored and cut into 8 wedges
3 shallots chopped
2 tablespoons sherry vinegar (I used champagne vinegar)
2/3 cup apple cider
3 tablespoons heavy cream
1 1/2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 cup sliced cooked mushrooms (optional)

Directions

Position a rack in the center of the oven and heat the oven to 500 degrees Fahrenheit.

Pat the pork dry with a paper towel, rub it with olive oil and season generously with salt and pepper. Heat a heavy-duty skillet over medium-high heat until very hot, then sear the pork on all sides until golden brown, about 6 minutes total. Transfer to a small rimmed baking sheet and roast until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part registers 140 degrees Fahrenheit, 10 -15 minutes (I checked after 10 minutes and next time, I would roast for 13 minutes). Transfer the pork to a cutting board, tent with foil, and let rest for 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, melt 1 tablespoon butter in the skillet over medium-high heat. Add the pears in a single layer and cook, flipping once, until just tender and lightly browned, about 3 minutes per side. Transfer to a plate and keep warm.

Collard Greens with Spiced Pears

This weekend, I was given a beautiful

basket of very large home grown pears. They were quite firm - I thought they would be perfect for cooking. So I made a batch of butternut squash and pear soup.
There were still many pears left over and I began searching around for a savory way to use the pears.  I found this recipe by Mary Ellen Driscoll, posted on Fine Cooking. She uses slivered almonds, lightly toasted to
sprinkle on afterwards, but I chose not to use almonds. The pears are a pleasant addition to collard greens. Mostly when I’ve tried making collards, they seem a bit bitter, but the spiced pears gave the greens just the right balance of not too sweet and not too bitter.

Ingredients

1 bunch of collard greens - trimmed, center stalk removed and cut crosswise into strips
4 pears, peeled, seeded and cut lengthwise into 12 slices
3 shallots
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
pinch of cayenne
pinch of ground cloves
salt and pepper
2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup slivered almonds toasted (optional)

Directions

Melt 3 tablespoons unsalted butter in a skillet and stir in cinnamon, cayenne and cloves. In a medium bowl, gently toss the pears with the spiced butter mixture and add 1/4 teaspoon salt and a shake of pepper.

Place the pears in a layer in the skillet and add 2 shallots chopped. Cook undisturbed over medium-low heat until the pears are golden on one side (about 3 minutes) then gently turn the pears over and cook until pears are golden brown. Transfer the pears and shallots to a plate. Add the remaining chopped shallots to the pan and saute till golden brown, add 1/3 cups water to the pan and stir scraping the bottom of the pan. Transfer the shallots and any liquid to a small bowl. Wipe the skillet clean.

Heat the oil in the skillet over medium heat until shimmering hot. Add half of the collard greens (which you have trimmed, removed the center stalk, and cut the leaves into strips crosswise.)quickly stirring and turning. Once the greens have begun to wilt, after about 30 seconds, add the remaining greens, turning and stirring briefly. Pour the shallots and liquid over the greens. Reduce the heat to a gently simmer and cover with a tight-fitting lid. Braise until the collards are tender, about 5 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper and stir in the pears.
Serve with almonds scattered on top (optional)

Amazing Paleo Chocolate Cupcakes (gluten-free, dairy-free)

While searching for a gluten free dairy/ free cake to make at Thanksgiving for our cousin. My daughter found this recipe for me. It was originally a cake recipe, but my granddaughters and I decided to experiment with cupcakes and see how they would taste. We were very doubtful they would be any good.
We had great fun making them and they were indeed amazing. Moist, rich, and delicious. We have decided to stick with cupcakes rather than a cake . . . easier to pick up . . .
The blog we found this recipe on is downshiftology.com by Lisa Bryan. She says she suffered with 4 different autoimmune diseases in her mid thirties and, by changing her diet, especially eliminating gluten, she is pain free and healthy. She has several other recipes, it’s worth visiting this site, her amazing chocolate cake batter is excellent.

Ingredients
Dry Ingredients

3 cups almond flour
1 cup tapioca flour
1/4 cup coconut flour
2 cups coconut sugar
1 1/2 cups raw cacao
(I used cacao powder)
2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon expresso powder
(I used instant ground expresso)
1 teaspoon salt

Wet Ingredients
4 large eggs (I used egg replacer powder)
1 1/2 cups coconut milk
1 cup water
1/2 cup coconut oil
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
Line mini cupcake baking dishes with mini liners
(Or if making a cake, grease three 8 inch cake pans and line the bottom with parchment paper)
Add all of the dry ingredients to a very large mixing bowl and whisk together (note the bowl must be large as it is indeed quite a mountain of dry ingredients!)
In a separate mixing bowl, add all of the wet ingredients and mix well together. Then pour the wet ingredients into the dry and whisk together for one to two minutes to make the batter.
Spoon the batter into the cupcakes and bake in the oven till a toothpick comes out clean. Depending on your oven, 15 - 20 minutes.
If making a cake, bake for 28-30 minutes. If using 2 9-inch pans, bake for 35 minutes.
Let the cupcakes cool frost the cupcakes. I used a store bought vegan organic frosting.
This blog does have a recipe for vegan chocolate buttercream frosting, but I haven’t tried it yet.