Celebrating National Cherry Month

Did you know that February is National Cherry Month?  Yeah...neither did I until I checked a calendar of holidays.  I really wonder why it's in February because try as I might, I couldn't find any fresh cherries in the grocery store.  Could it be that we celebrate President's Day in February...which makes us think of George Washington...who couldn't tell a lie...and confessed he chopped down the cherry tree...so someone thought, "Hey, let's celebrate cherries this month!" Or could it be that Valentine's Day is in February...and hearts are red...and cherries are red...and people eat cherry cheesecake on Valentine's Day because they need a red dessert?

Well, whatever the reason, I decided to celebrate National Cherry Month by fixing an entire day's menu revolving around cherries.  For breakfast, I chose Autumn Apple Salad II and cut it down to one serving.  It was a very filling breakfast with mainly apples and vanilla yogurt and just a touch of dried cranberries and cherries. I had never had dried cherries before but discovered they pack a lot of flavor. It only took a few to really taste them in the dish.

For lunch, I fixed California Cherry and Walnut Salad.  It was delicious! Again, I loved the cherries in this salad.  I also used the last of my Ken's Steak House Fat Free Raspberry Pecan Dressing.  It is the best raspberry dressing I have found, but lately, I haven't been able to find it at any of the grocery stores in my area! It is so good, I may be willing to order it and pay for shipping and handling just to get some! I saw a recipe this last week for Red Raspberry Vinaigrette.  I plan to make it later this week using Smucker's Simply Fruit.  When I do, I'll be sure to review it.

For dinner, I put Cherry Pork Chops in the slow cooker early this morning. I used pork steaks instead of pork chops.  It's a very easy recipe...just the cherry pie filling in the bottom with the pork chops on top.  I decided to layer, though, thinking the meat would have more opportunity to soak up all that cherry flavor. Odd thing is I couldn't taste any cherry flavor. The best thing about this recipe is that the meat is super tender.

I also fixed Strawberry Romaine Salad II.  I really liked the salad but didn't care for the dressing.  The dressing is mayo based, sweetened with honey and maraschino cherry juice. It just didn't suit my tastes. I prefer a thinner dressing and probably should have thinned it considerably with some mandarin orange juice.

The last dish I fixed was Rice Stuffing with Apples, Herbs, and Bacon.  The reviews on this recipe range from hate to love.  After reading all of them, I decided to decrease the dried fruits and am glad I did. While I liked the flavor of this dish, I didn't like the fact that it was sticky and mushy.  You can read my review to see all the problems with this dish and how they might be solved.  I doubt I'll ever fix it again since my husband didn't care for it.

I cannot tell a lie...I didn't discover any great recipes today, but I did discover a delicious new dried fruit which I will buy very often now - cherries!