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.
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
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.
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.
Thursday, November 5, 2009
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.
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.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
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.
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.
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