Pear Sauce

Last time I was in OR I went to Harry & David with my father-in-law. He was nice enough to buy me a huge box of their Comice Pears -which are the best pears you'll ever eat. And I did eat them. A lot of them. But, I could only get through so many before they started to get too ripe and not so good anymore so I decided to make pear butter out of the rest of them. Long story short pear butter takes a long time and you have to watch it and I have small children who I would rather watch so I made pear sauce instead. AMAZING! Here's what I did, super easy and delicious:

20lbs pears, peeled, cored and quartered
1/2 tsp nutmeg
3 cups sugar

Pile as many pears as you can into your crockpot, sprinkle with nutmeg and put on the lid. Set to cook for 8 hours on low. Go run some errands, come back and put in the sugar, stirring it all up. Put the lid back on and walk away until your 8 hours is up. If you have an immersion blender now is the perfect time to use it (I keep telling John this is a necessity for me in hopes that he gets the hint) Everyone else pour as much as will fit into your blender (I did mine in two batches) and blend it all up. I didn't go crazy with blending because I wanted a few chunks still.

Enjoy the deliciousness and ease of your crockpot, unless you are Wendi.

Oh and I also processed mine into 12 8-ounce jelly jars. Yum.

Roasted Garlic and Butternut Squash Lasagna

I found this recipe on another food blog, and that blog got it from a different blog - that's how you know it's good. I only made a half batch, since the 4 of us can't eat a 9x13 of lasagna and john is no dad when it comes to leftovers. I absolutely loved this. It smells amazing, it tastes amazing - doesn't look so amazing, but you could improve that. John (who is not the biggest fan of squash) thought it was good, but he wasn't salivating over it like I was. For those of you who are not lovers of squash, it would be excellent as a filling for ravioli (that way you have more pasta than squash). Don't be intimidated by this recipe! You can do it! And let me tell you-IT IS WORTH IT
I just checked the original blog to give you the link and she made it again and changed it up -a girl after my own heart - so I gave you the older version and follow this link to get the newer version:
Proud Italian Cooks Recipe for a Full Batch of Butternut Squash Lasagna

Notes: I used the lesser amount of butter suggested and 2 percent milk. Plus I added some fresh thyme because I had some.

FULL BATCH INGREDIENTS:

About 3lbs. of peeled, seeded, squash in 1/2 in. slices
2 Heads of Roasted Garlic
1 Box of No-Boil Lasagna
Parmesan Cheese
1 1/2 cupsBechemal Sauce


First, you need to roast your squash and garlic in a hot oven at 425* till tender. Make sure you drizzle it with olive oil, salt and pepper. It will probably take about 25 mins. For the garlic: Take both heads and chop off tops so most of the cloves are exposed. Drizzle with olive oil and wrap in parchment paper and foil. Place in oven next to baking sheet. Roast the garlic for an additional 45 minutes after you pull out the sheet of squash.

In the meantime make a pot of bechemel by melting 1/4 to 1/2 cup of butter and then mixing in 1/4 to 1/2 cup of flour, keep whisking, then squeeze in your roasted garlic, add salt and black pepper. Pour about 5 cups of milk in and whisk till thick.

When squash is cooked, stir it into the sauce along with the rosemary ( about 1 tbl.) and half of the Parmesan cheese.

Reduce oven temp to 375.

Layer it like you would any lasagna (noodles, sauce, cheese; repeat) Spray your baking dish, layer the noodles, and spread the sauce mixture all over, and sprinkle with cheese. Continue layering till done. Sprinkle more cheese on top. Cover with foil. Bake around 35 to 40 mins. Uncover and cook till golden brown.

**I made my half-batch in a bread pan -perfect size for the no boil noodles.

Chicken Dumpling Soup

My mom used to make us Chicken Dumpling Soup, she even made her own stock. Which is pretty impressive all on its own but now is more so because she thinks Ragu tastes good. It was one of my favorite soups growing up. I loved the dumplings but hated the celery. The secret is chopping the celery really small so you still get all the flavor but skip that nasty crunch. It's not really a secret but I just now figured it out, so apparently it was a secret to me. To make my soup I used a combination of three different recipes. I used a little from my mom, Ina Garten, and Better Homes and Garden. Here's what I did:


2 chicken breasts
kosher salt
cracked pepper
8 cups of water
8 tsp chicken granules
2 stalks medium celery diced
3 medium carrots diced
1 cup flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup milk
2 Tbsp canola oil

Soup:
Generously salt and pepper chicken and broil chicken on hi until no longer pink, about 6-8 minutes.
Bring water and chicken granules to a boil. Add celery and carrots and simmer for 10 min. Shred chicken and add to soup.

Dumplings:
In a medium bowl add flour, baking powder, salt and whisk together. Combine milk and oil and add to dry ingredients. Stir until moistened. Drop Tablespoon sizes of dough into soup. Cover, return to a boil reduce heat and cook 12-15min.

Baked Chicken Pasta

After the weekend of chili, potato soup, scones, and candy I decided to make something not so heavy. I made roast chicken last night so I used one of the breasts and didn't have to cook my chicken. I found this recipe from the Hot Italian on food network (Giada De Laurentiis). Of course I made some changes though to go with what I had. Here's the original recipe. It was so good, I love baked pastas. Here's what I did:

1/2 box of any short pasta (I used bow ties)
2 Tbsp olilve oil
1 chicken breast, diced
1/2 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, pressed
1 can diced tomatoes with juice
1 cup shredded mozzarella (i used provolone)
1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley (italian parsley)
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 cup bread crumbs
1/4 cup grated parmesan

Preheat oven to 400*.

Bring a medium pot of salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook until just tender, about 5-6 minutes. Drain pasta and reserve about 1/4 cup of the pasta water. Put pasta and water back into the pot.

Meanwhile, put olive oil into a medium saute pan over medium heat. Add the chicken and cook for 3 minutes. Add the onions and garlic, stirring to combine and cook until onions are soft and chicken is cooked through, about 5 minutes more. (I only sauteed onions and garlic for 5 minutes then tossed in my already cooked chicken breast). Put the chicken mixture into the bowl of pasta. Add the canned tomatoes, mozzarella, parsley, salt and pepper. Stir to combine. Dump into a 9x13 baking dish. Mix together the bread crumbs and parmesan and sprinkle over pasta. Bake until top is golden brown, about 20 minutes.

Roasted Vegetable Pasta

This was seriously good. The veggies are awesome. It's really hard not to just eat them straight off the pan, which of course I was doing and actually so was John. If just veggies would have filled us all up then I would have eaten them alone, but we all still would have been hungry. Also I am upping the amounts of veggies because it wasn't enough. So this would be a great side with no pasta.

I cut all the veggies to be roughly the same size so they cooked evenly - I'll do my best to explain.

1 head cauliflower, chopped into smaller florets
3 sweet potatoes, about 1-inch dice
1 onion - halved, then each half cut into 6 and pulled apart
4 carrots, peeled, cut on the bias into disks about 1/2"-inch thick(carrots take the longest to cook, so make sure they are not too thick)
2 yellow squash (or zucchini), cut into 1-inch pieces
2 cloves garlic, smashed
1/2 box pasta (I used whole grain rotini)
parmesan cheese, shredded

Preheat oven to 425* (400* convection)
Cut up all your veggies and mix together on a baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and season generously with salt and pepper. Roast for 25-30 minutes.

Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook according to time on box. Drain and reserve of the pasta water.

Return pasta to pot; add roasted veggies, parmesan cheese and a little pasta water.

Pumpkin Cookies with Brown Butter Icing

These are the cookies I made for the pumpkin party. It is the same recipe I put in the cookbook, but I did half butter-half shortening this time and added the icing.

makes 3 dozen

1/4 cup shortening
1/4 cup butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup chocolate chips

Cream butter/shortening and sugar. In a separate bowl whisk together dry ingredients. Add to the sugar mixture. Add egg, pumpkin, and vanilla; mix to combine.
Using a medium scoop, drop onto cookie sheets. Bake for 10 minutes at 375*.

Brown Butter Icing:
2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
5 Tbsp unsalted butter
2 1/2 Tbsp evaporated milk
1 tsp vanilla

Melt butter in a small saucepan, swirling occasionally to brown evenly, about 3 minutes. Immediately add sugar, milk and vanilla; stir until smooth.

You can spread the icing on your cookies or you can thin it down a little with a bit more evaporated milk and just dip the tops of your cookies into the icing then place on a rack to let set.

Sloppy Joes

I am putting this recipe up here at Lindsay's request. This is the one I use for sloppy joes every time. It is an Ellie Krieger recipe (the nutritionist on food network). The only change I make is that I don't use ground beef, I use venison because I have it and it's super lean. Oh and I leave out the jalapeno.

1 pound lean or extra-lean (90% or higher) ground beef
1 medium onion, dices (about 1 1/2 cups)
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced - use gloves :)
1 medium red bell pepper, seeded and diced
1 can (15.5 oz) low-sodium pinto beans, drained and rinsed
1 1/2 cups no-salt-added tomato sauce (which is about one 15oz can, so i use the whole thing)
2 Tbsp tomato paste
1 Tbsp red wine vinegar
1 Tbsp unsulfured molasses
1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp dry mustard
3/4 tsp salt
freshly ground black pepper to taste

Brown the meat and onion in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat for 5 minutes, breaking up the meat into crumbles as it cooks. Pour the drippings out of the pan and discard. Add the garlic, jalapeno and red pepper and cook 5 minutes more, stirring occasionally. Stir in the rest of the ingredients, reduce the heat to low, and simmer for another 5 minutes. Serve with buns.

If you care to know the nutrition facts:
I sandwich with a whole-wheat bun: 265 calories

Butternut Squash Risotto

I got this recipe from Martha's people. I decided I am no longer going to give her sole credit for recipes/ideas that were actually developed by her creative staff and not her. Ina has a butternut squash risotto that I also want to try and I think that I will probably do a combination of the 2 recipes to get it the way I want it. I 'll post that when I do it. But for now here's the one from Martha's people. I made it for dinner last night and it was good, but could be better. Also as usual I made a few changes to go with what I had.

Serves 4

1 Tbsp butter
1 1/2 pounds butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cut into 1/2" chunks
(that is about 1/2 of the standard sized squash you get in the store)
coarse salt and ground pepper
1 cup Arborio rice
1/2 cup dry white wine (subbed chicken stock)
2 cans (14.5 oz each) chicken stock
1/2 cup water
1/3 cup parmesan cheese
1 Tbsp chopped fresh sage (I used thyme)

1. In a medium heavy-bottom saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Add squash; season with salt and pepper. Cook stirring often, until edges soften, 6-8 minutes.
2. In a separate pot heat 2 cans of the stock and 1/2 cup water together and bring to a simmer
3. Add rice to squash; stir to coat. Add wine, cook until almost all liquid has evaporated, 1-2 minutes.
4. Reduce heat to medium-low; add 1/2 cup of the hot broth mixture. Cook, stirring until almost all liquid is absorbed. Add remaining broth mixture, 1/2 cup at a time, stirring until liquid is absorbed before adding more, 35-40 minutes total.
5. stir in parmesan, sage, and 1 1/2 tsp salt. Serve immediately.

Chicken Roll-ups

Super easy, super good and people are impressed by it. It's the triple threat dinner. And you can make it in 15 minutes. Love it. Also you can switch up what you put in it.

4 chicken breasts, pounded thin
2 Tbsp dijon mustard
1-2 handfuls fresh spinach
4 oz roasted garlic cheese, sliced thin
salt and pepper

Pound chicken to even thickness between 2 paper towels. Salt and pepper each side and spread one side of each breast with mustard. Top mustard with spinach leaves and slices of cheese.
Starting at short end, roll up chicken tightly, and arrange, seam side down on a rimmed baking sheet lined with aluminum foil. Season tops with salt and pepper.
Broil, without turning, until tops are lightly browned and chicken is cooked through, about 8-10 minutes.

Jane's Blonde Brownies

This is Jane Dunlap's recipe for Blondies. She always makes them and they are so good and every time I made them they were crap. It was very frustrating, then I figured out why. She always doubles the original recipe she gave me and bakes it in an 8x8 pan for less time than she told me. So I was essentially using a halved recipe as the whole and baking it in a bigger pan for a longer amount of time - this = not good blondies. Here's the goods:

1/2 cup butter
1 1/2 cup flour
2 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Melt butter over low heat. Remove from heat and add brown sugar, stir until well blended. Cool. Add eggs and mix well. Stir in dry ingredients. Add vanilla and nuts. Bake at 350* for 18-20 minutes.

Pumpkin Pancakes

I made these up Sunday morning to use up the pumpkin I had. They were yummy. I use a pancake mix that I mix up myself and store in an airtight container in my pantry.

Pancake Mix:
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbsp sugar
1 cup milk
1 egg

Whisk dry ingredients together in a medium bowl. In a small bowl whisk together milk and eggs. (I use a 2 cup liquid measuring cup and pour the milk in first to the 1 cup line then crack the egg straight into it and whisk them together.) Add the wet ingredients to the dry and gently combine. Let sit while your pan heats up.

Note: I add flax seed or wheat germ to the dry mix and mix it all up and you can't taste it and no one notices.

I times the basic resipe by six and store it. Here it is all figured out for you:
3 cups AP flour
3 cups WW flour
4 Tbsp or 1/4 cup baking powder
3 Tbsp salt
6 Tbsp or 1/4 cup + 2 Tbsp sugar

Pumpkin Pancakes:
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup milk
1/2 cup pumpkin
1 tsp vanilla
1 Tbsp oil
1 1/2 Tbsp pumpkin pie spice

Add the pumpkin pie spice to the dry ingredients and whisk to combine. In a medium bowl beat eggs. Add milk, pumpkin and vanilla and whisk together. Add wet ingredients to the dry and gently mix together. Let sit while the pan heats up.

Note: If you have buttermilk you want to use up or you just like buttermilk pancakes you can use it in replace of the milk, just add 1/2 tsp baking soda.

Fiesta Steak Salad

I made this up and it's good. Really good.

1 pound petite sirloin steaks
1 head romaine lettuce
2 cups corn (fresh or frozen)
1/2 onion, sliced thinly
1 red bell pepper, cut into strips
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp cumin
1 avocado, diced
2 tomatoes, diced
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
tortilla chips, crumbled

Bring steak to room temperature. Season generously with salt and pepper - lots. Rub some garlic olive oil over it and throw it on a hot grill. 3 minutes each side. Let rest 10 minutes, covered with foil.

In a skillet over medium heat, add onion and saute for 3 minutes, add bell pepper and corn and season with salt and pepper and other spices. Let cook for 3 minutes. Turn off heat and add chopped tomatoes and avocadoes, mixing it all together.

Chop lettuce and add to bowl. Pour skillet corn mixture over lettuce. Add sliced steak to taste. Add shredded cheese and crumbled chips then serve with choice of dressing - I used ranch, but not very much of it as you get a lot of juices from the skillet.

Slow Cooker Peach Marmalade Chicken

This chicken is so good. I didn't make it in the slow-cooker because I didn't have time. So I baked it in the oven at 350* for 45 minutes instead. I served it with Walnut Rice Pilaf and a salad. The kids all liked it too.

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp flour
1/2 cup orange marmalade or peach preserves or apricot jelly
1/4 cup dijon mustard
1 Tbsp worcestershire sauce
2 peaches, peeled and sliced or 1 1/2 cups frozen

Pour olive oil into crock pot. Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper and flour. Combine remaining ingredients in crockpot. Cook on high for 3-4 hours or on low for 6-8 hours.

This is what I did:
Heat pot and add oil. Season chicken with salt and pepper and dredge in flour. Add to hot oil and brown chicken on both sides. Combine marmalade, mustard and worcestershire in separate bowl. Pour over chicken; mix in sliced peaches. Cover and cook for 35-45 minutes in 350* oven.

Creamy Vegetable Pasta

This is actually a Pampered Chef recipe that I have changed to make my own. Usually I add turkey bacon, but I didn't have any tonight and it was still really good. You can use whatever vegetables you have, but I always use mushrooms plus something else.

4 slices turkey bacon, cooked and crumbled
6 oz uncooked pasta - I use egg noodles or bow-tie and I've used linguine before
3/4 cup sour cream
1/4 cup flour
1 can (14.5 oz) chicken broth
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
8 oz mushrooms, sliced
1/2 onion, chopped
2-3 chicken breasts, cut into strips
1 clove garlic, pressed
2 Tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
1/2 bag frozen peas - or whatever other veggie you want


1. Cook bacon until crisp. Remove from pan; drain and crumble

2. Cook pasta according to directions on box; drain and set aside. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, whisk together sour cream and flour until well blended. Gradually whisk in chicken broth until mixture is smooth. Stir in salt and pepper; set aside.

3. Slice mushrooms, chop onions, press garlic and slice chicken. Add olive oil to skillet and heat over medium high heat. Add chicken; cook and stir 5 minutes until no longer pink. Remove from skillet and keep warm.

4. Reduce heat to medium. Add more oil if necessary. Add mushrooms, onion and garlic. Cook until onions are softened and mushrooms have browned. Add peas and return chicken, and reserved bacon to skillet. Stir in sour cream mixture; bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Add noodles and stir until it is all mixed together. Sprinkle parsley over the top.

Peanut Butter Toffee Cookies

These are pretty good. Of course I didn't have and toffee candy bars so I used chocolate chips and butterscotch chips instead. Pull them out right as they just barely begin to brown, so they stay soft.

3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
4 Tbsp unsalted butter, room temp
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup smooth peanut butter
1 large egg
2 chocolate-covered toffee candy bars, chopped

1. Preheat oven to 350*. In a small bowl whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt.

2. In a medium bowl, with an electric mixer on high speed, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add peanut butter and egg; beat until smooth. With mixer on low, gradually add flour mixture. Stir in toffee pieces.

3. Drop by the tablespoonful onto baking sheets. Flatten slightly with fork. Bake until edges are just golden brown, 12-14 minutes, rotating sheets halfway through. Transfer cookies immediately to a wire rack to cool completely.

Chicken Enchiladas with Creamy Green Sauce

These are way yummy - I made them tonight. Of course they were too spicy, because for some reason I can't make enchiladas without making them too spicy. But, if you use mild green salsa instead of spicy like me, then they would be amazing! Here's the exact recipe, then I'll tell you the changes I made for various reasons.



3 pounds bone-in, skin-on chicken breast halves
5 garlic cloves, unpeeled
2 jars (16 oz each) green salsa
3/4 cup heavy cream
12 corn tortillas
12 oz Monterey Jack cheese, coarsely shredded (3 cups)
1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped



1. Preheat oven to 450*. Season chicken with salt and pepper; place with garlic on a rimmed baking sheet. Bake until an instant-read thermometer inserted in thickest part of breast (avoiding bone) registers 165*, 25 to 30 minutes. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, combine salsa and cream.

2. Reduce oven temperature to 350*. Once chicken is cool enough to handle, shred meat, discarding skin and bones. Peel and chop garlic. In a large bowl, combine chicken, garlic, and 1/2 cup salsa mixture.

3. Stack tortillas flat, and wrap in damp paper towels; microwave on high for 1 minute to soften. Working with one tortilla at a time, dip in salsa mixture, lay flat, and fill with 1/3 cup chicken mixture. Roll up and arrange, seam side down, 8 enchiladas lengthwise and 4 crosswise in a 9x13 baking dish. Top with remaining salsa mixture, then cheese.

4. Bake until cheese is browned and salsa is bubbling, 40 to 45 minutes; let rest 10 minutes. Serve, sprinkled with cilantro.


Ok here's the changes I made:

1. I didn't have corn tortillas, but I had flour so I used those -they were soft taco size.
2. I halved the recipe and got 4 enchiladas, using the flour tortillas.
3. I didn't have monterey jack cheese, so i used 1/2 cup of cheddar that I shredded and put over the top - they weren't insanely cheesy, but they were cheesy enough.
4. I added chopped and sauteed mushrooms because I needed to use them up.

Lemon-Zucchini Cornmeal Cookies

1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temp
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp packed finely grated lemon zest
1 tsp coarse salt
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup fine cornmeal
1 cup grated zucchini


1. Preheat oven to 325*. In a large bowl, mix butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Stir in vanilla, lemon zest and salt. Add flour and cornmeal and mix until mixture is crumbly. Add zucchini and stir until a thick dough forms.

2. Drop by rounded tablespoons, 2-inches apart, onto two parchment-lined baking sheets. Bake until cookies are light golden brown at edges, 25-30 minutes, rotating sheets halfway through. Let cool completely on wire racks.

Makes 25 cookies