Potted Plants/Pork Chops/Pecan Sandies

The season for gardening has come to an end, unless you count taking care of potted plants indoors. I'm going to count it just to keep my column from turning into strictly recipes!

Most of my inside gardening consists of watering the way-too-many plants I brought inside for the winter.

Of course, there's also the disposing of leaves (and the occasional flowers) that dried up and turned brown from the shock of moving into the more constant warmth of the house.

There's also the bi-weekly turning of (most) of the pots one quarter turn. I hope to prevent another plant toppling from its perch on whatever stand it's on, as happened last year.

I say most, as a few are so large and have such stiff leaves, they resist the turning (I'm looking at you aloe and agave cactus).

Several of my plants decided to bloom in appreciation of being inside.

I've shared several photos on Facebook, but for those of you not privy to my page, I'm sending them in with the column. I appreciate that the Courier has settled upon a set place where I can be found each week, but the inside pages aren't able to be printed in color. I'm not sure how pretty the flowers will look in black and white, if they get printed at all.

Many more tomatoes have been roasted (usually with onions, shallots, herbs, and salt & pepper). Usually I purée them before canning. They don't always fit exactly into the pint jars I use, so the excess gets made into tomato soup with the addition of a bit of milk (cream would be better, but it's not compliant for me right now).

I did use several tomatoes with the pork chops I bought on sale. I'm sure I had more than the equivalent amount of canned this called for. And I used veggie-flavored Better than Bouillon in place of beef broth. The chops were tender enough they could have been used for pulled pork.

Pork Chops with Rice and Tomatoes

• 3/4 C raw rice

• 6 pork chops, 1/2" thick

• 2 Tbl EVOO

• 1 large onion, sliced into rings

• 1 (14.5 oz) can tomatoes

• 1/4 tsp thyme

• 1/4 tsp marjoram

• 1 tsp salt

• Dash pepper

• 1 1/2 C beef broth

Brown chops in oil in an oven-proof pot. Remove meat, spread rice evenly in the pot. Put meat back on top. Put onions and tomatoes over the meat, then sprinkle with herbs and seasonings. Pour broth over all. Cover & bake at 350 for 60-70 minutes.

As I'm still doing the Whole Life Challenge (2 weeks to go), here's a recipe I used to satisfy my sweet tooth. I used powdered erythritol (sugar substitute) in place of real sugar.

Almond Flour Pecan Sandies

• 2 C almond flour (slightly packed)

• 1/2 C unsalted butter

• 1/2 C finely chopped pecans

• 1/2 C powdered sugar

• 1/2 tsp salt

• 1/2 tsp baking powder

• 2 tsp vanilla

• 20 pecan halves

Oven at 350. Line sheet with parchment paper or silicone mat. Blend flour and butter. Add all except the pecan halves and blend well. Use a cookie scoop to form into balls. Space out on sheet, gently flatten by pressing a pecan half on each. Bake 10 minutes. Cool on sheet 10 minutes, then on a wire rack.