Back to Blogging: A Title We Are Particularly Proud Of - "The ghost sister returns with a new recipe!!!"

NOTE: This was originally posted on December 15, 2009. It was posted by my sister, who has done ALL the creative post titles on our blogs. She's awesome! Hope you enjoy her recipe.

Yes, ghost sister has returned and with her a new recipe! I was at a loss for supper last night. I had a pair of very tasty looking boneless pork chops just WAITING for me to make something splendid out of them. I peeked in my pantry, and voila my muse, my inspiration, peeked over a can of kidney beans. How could a girl resist that sweet golden goodness that is just MADE to be paired up with pork. It is like peanut butter to chocolate....cornbread to honey....orange yogurt to saltine crackers (this MAY or may not be to everyone's liking). Inspiration hit and I started to busily clang around pots and pans. I was feeling like my old self again, my "dinner block" had been tossed to the curb. I am BACK and raring to dust off my hot pads and don my apron again. This is what became of the beautiful pork chops and the lowly can of crushed pineapple. My son really liked the rice especially.


One Skillet Jamaican Baked Pork Chops with Sticky Pineapple Rice

Click here for Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
1-2 tbsp olive oil
2 Lean Boneless Pork Chops marinated in Lawrys Jamaican Jerk Marinade Sauce
1 cup white rice
1 medium onion chopped
2 cloves garlic minced
1 cup chicken broth or water
1 small can crushed pineapple
1/4 cup brown sugar + 2 tbsp
1 tbsp Jamaican Jerk seasoning (I used Spice Islands brand)
1 tsp salt
pepper to your tastes

Directions:

Heat olive oil in oven proof skillet. Sear Pork Chops on both sides for a minute or so. Remove pork chops and set aside. To skillet add onion, rice and garlic. Stir frequently until rice is toasted. Add broth or water, crushed pineapple, brown sugar, Jamaican seasoning, salt and pepper. Stir and bring to a boil. Place pork chops on top of rice mixture and cover tightly. Place in a preheated 350°F oven for 45 minutes. Remove and sprinkle the remaining brown sugar over the skillet. Serve with your choice of vegetable but broccoli is AWESOME! You can easily add 2 more pork chops to this and not alter anything else!

Hope that you enjoy this like my family did!!!

Jennifer The OTHER sister :)

Back to Blogging: A Post I Wish More People Had Read - "Homemade Tomato Soup"

NOTE: This was originally posted January 26, 2010. I've reposted it as part of SITS Back to Blogging event. This was probably one of my favorite recipes. It tasted so delicious! Soup season is nearly upon us again, and I'm excited to try this again soon. I hope you enjoy it, too.

A couple weeks ago, we had a "Soup and Swap" for a church activity. It's always so fun to gather together and share some delicious soup and browse through *new* treasures. This is one of my favorite activities each year. I signed up to bring a soup. I was really hankering for some tomato soup, so I found this recipe at FoodNetwork.com and decided to try it out. My husband loved it, and I got so many compliments and requests for the recipe. :-) A couple people did their very best to clean the serving spoon and crockpot - not one drop to be missed!

Ok...so this picture of the finished product doesn't really do it justice, but trust me, this is the BEST tomato soup recipe!!

Click here for Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

1 (14-ounce) can chopped tomatoes
3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 stalk celery, diced
1 small carrot, diced
1 yellow onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup chicken broth
1 bay leaf
2 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil leaves
1/2 cup heavy cream, optional

Directions:
Preheat oven to 450°F.
Strain the chopped canned tomatoes, reserving the juices. I used Hunt's® Diced tomatoes with basil, garlic, and oregano.

Spread onto a baking sheet, season with salt and pepper, to taste, drizzle with 1/4 cup of the olive oil and roast until caramelized, about 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a saucepan, heat remaining olive oil (I actually ran out of olive oil with the tomatoes, so I used canola oil) over medium-low heat. Add the celery, carrot, onion and garlic, cook until softened, about 10 minutes.

Add the roasted chopped canned tomatoes, reserved tomato juices, chicken broth, bay leaf and butter. Simmer until vegetables are very tender, about 15 to 20 minutes.

Add basil and cream, if using. (I left out the cream. The basil I used was some I had frozen last summer.)
Puree with a hand held immersion blender until smooth.

I, of course, don't have an immersion blender or a full-size blender, so I had to blend it in batches in my Magic Bullet®.

Voila! Super, yummy tomato soup!

ENJOY!!

Sorry about the poor final product pictures. :-(

Back to Blogging: The First Post We Ever Wrote - "Welcome to our blog!"

As part of SITS Back to Blogging event, I am re-posting my very first blog entry for the the Tale of Two Sisters and their Kitchens! This was originally posted on October 21, 2009.

Wow! We're coming up on our first year. We better get something fabulous planned. :-) We were really ambitious with our blog in the beginning. Here's to jumping right back on that bandwagon. Wish us luck!

This morning, I thought, "Hey! I should totally create a recipe/cooking/baking/kitchen blog. I'll call it Clarinda's Kitchen."

Then I was chatting with my sister on Facebook, and she got really excited about it. She thought it sounded like fun, so I told her I could make her an author, too, so she could share her favorite recipes.

Well, Clarinda's Kitchen, just wouldn't cut it if we both contribute our favorite recipes, so...

Tale of Two Sisters and Their Kitchens was born.

We're both very excited to begin sharing with the world our favorite recipes and our adventures in our kitchens.

Please stay tuned for exciting recipes that we hope you'll just love.