Pear Chicken

4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
2 firm pears, quartered
3/4 cup white wine
1 T sugar
1 T lemon juice
1 t tarragon
2 T butter
1/2 cup chicken broth


Place pears in saucepan. Mix wine, sugar, lemon juice and tarragon; pour over pears.  Boil covered until tender - ~20 min.  Meanwhile melt butter in skillet.  Season breasts with salt and pepper and brown on both sides.  Add broth and cook on low for 20 min.  Add pears and cooking liquid and cook until chicken reaches internal temperature of 160 degrees.  Serve each breast with 2 pear quarters and spoon sauce over.

This is a recipe that is in my current rotation; I originally tried it years ago, when almost all of my recipes in my box were untested.  My roommate Rob and I would go shopping on Sunday and get the ingredients for something new to try.  We were very skeptical about this combination, but had decided we would try everything once.  It is very tasty, and is also the first thing I ever cooked for my hubby, Ian.

BBQ Sauce

2 cups ketchup
1 cup water
1/2 cup cider vinegar
5 T brown sugar
5 T sugar
1/2 T pepper
1/2 T onion powder
1/2 T ground mustard
1 T lemon juice
1 T worcestershire


Combine all ingredients in a medium saucepan.  Bring to a boil, then simmer uncovered 1 hour and 15 minutes, stirring frequently.


Simple enough.  When it was done though it really just tasted like spicy ketchup.  It made about a pint and a half.  Currently it's sitting in my fridge, and I'll see if I can come up with something to do with it, like maybe mix it in a meatloaf or something, but really I foresee it being thrown out.

In the beginning...

I used to try new recipes all the time.  I have a recipe box, and at one time there were more recipes that I hadn't made than ones I'd tried.  Life changes some and things get away from you, but now I'd like to get back to trying new things.