Pear pop over

Have you ever had a week where everything seemed to be going great?  You get to the weekend and it looks like all will be well for another week...then you wake up and your life plan has stopped in its tracks and you are left wondering, "where did it go wrong?" That was my last week. One thing that helps me calm down and get a hold of myself is food. I'm guessing food helps a lot of us get through some of those tougher moments in life.

 To help me I ate a PEAR POP OVER.
To make a pear pop over it is so simple. Peel and slice around three or four pears. Then saute them in a sugar mixture, similar to an apple pie filling. Really coat the pears so they have some color to them and are nice and soft. Then get puff pastry and line a pie tin with it. Make sure you cut off any extra pastry dough. Then line the inside with the pears. I added some sliced almonds and sugar on the bottom .                                                                  

 I also added the almond sugar mix to the top after I stuffed all my pears in the tin. Then just take the puff pastry that is hanging over and nicely fold it on top. Make sure you leave an opening on top so you can see the pear.

If you don't want to slice the pear you can always just give it a nice rough chop and make it look more rustic. What you want to make sure about is that the pieces no matter how you slice them are roughly the same size. This will insure that the pears all cook evenly. If your pieces differ too much then some might be really mushy and some might still be hard. That is the main thing you want to avoid.

Also if you don't like using puff pastry feel free to substitute it for a simple pie crust.

After about twenty-five minutes at 375 I pulled it out of the oven. You want to make sure your crust is that nice golden brown. If you pull it out to soon the bottom won't cook. You don't want raw puff pastry. You can see the middle hole has opened up some that is fine. Its so flaky and sweet when you eat it hot. Though eating it cold taste just as good.

If you want to pair it with a vanilla bean ice cream I think that would be heaven.

A picture says a thousand words

 These are a compilation of some food I have made in the past that I may not have given any attention too.
These two up top are one and the same. On the Left is a whole veggie pie. This is made with a simple pie crust and then thinly sliced carrots and zucchini. I then covered in an egg wash and added seasoning. This is a good way to eat your veggies and not feel like you're eating veggies. On the right is the same thing just individual. This could be a side dish to a meal or a meal itself.

 I may have posted on this item before. On the left is a dessert chimichanga. This means I stuffed a tortilla with cream cheese and a few other items rolled it up and deep fried it. I then rolled it in brown sugar and topped it off with fresh strawberries. If you cut it up it makes perfect bite sized dessert to share. Or you can go on the tart side and do something like what is on the right. This little tart is tart due to the raspberry mousse that is used as a filling.

 On the left is a blueberry crumb loaf. Just like New York  crumb cake this one is stuffed with blueberries. Giving it a moist taste to pair with he sweat crumb topping. If you just want sweat try what is on the right, a chocolate bread. Instead of making this bread in a loaf pan I did individual breads in soufflé dishes. This way no one fights over who gets what piece.

 Here we have old fashion donuts. For those of you who have a hard time working with yeast these are perfect. No yeast is involved. Plus for every donut you make you get a donut whole. Or you can do what I did and just make donut holes. After frying these bad boys up you give them a simple glaze. To jazz up any donut you can add different sauces or toppings.

 Here I have a couple types of cookies. On the left is a nice creamy peanut butter cookie. I know there is a lot of ways to make a peanut butter cookie but these little guys were a hit so I'm sticking with them. On the right I have what is called an Italian wedding knot. I'm Italian and I have never seen these at a wedding, and I have been to my share. Also as you can tell there not in a knot. Thats because its dough which means it can be shaped into any thing you like.

 What I have here are a few items for 4 of July. I am not a jello fan and I feel like the 4 of July is when all the jello comes out of hiding. On the left is a simple chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. Then as you can see I added some fresh summer fruit and turned it into a flag. It's patriotic and semi healthy. On the right I have my take on a s'more. Instead of chocolate and gram crackers I mixed coco puffs and golden grams together into a rice crispy treat. I then topped each one off with a roasted marshmallow. This crunchy treat travels well and makes for great for large groups. Plus no fire is needed so its safe for kids.

 Getting into some breakfast foodI have two simple items to choose from. On the left is play on a quiche. Have you ever had left over bread but no sandwich items? Well, know you just slice that up and let it soak in an egg and milk mixture. Once the bread has absorbed most the liquid you pour it into a pan. Then add what ever toppings you want. I did sautéed spinach with mushroom. The I covered it in feta, parmesan, and mozzarella. Bake it until it is nicely browned for a perfect breakfast dish. On the right is an eggs Benedict. This simple poached egg is laying on a bed of spinach and bacon. The bacon gives it a nice meaty crunch which pairs well with he creamy hollandaise sauce.

The last items for today. This gets you through dinner and dessert. On the left is a casserole. That is pasta, shredded chicken, in a cream sauce. I added diced asparagus to give it some color and crunch. Then on the right is an easy ice cream. I froze banana (make sure you peel it first, I learned the hard way). So take the frozen banana and blend it. Thats it, you can add other things if you like. I added melted chocolate to give it a sort of chocolate shavings feel. Its healthy and really taste like ice cream.

"C" is it for cake or cookie?

It has come to my attention that I could be perceived as, how can I say this nicely... a fatty, no a pig, naw nicer than those. I got nothing. Either way I'm not a junk food eating fanatic. If I haven't mentioned before, which I may have I honestly can't remember. Okay stopping the ranting and getting to the point. I work in a kitchen, hence all the desserts. I myself do not gorge on these fine foods alone. I get to share them with a handful of people. So to clear up that rant I do not eat all my food alone.

If your still with me then let's talk food. I made a cake. I know, I know I always make cake. This one is a little out of the box. I found it on a Swedish sight and thankfully they had an English translation. It is a ginger bread cake. I had a bad ginger experience once. Okay you twisted my arm, I was in Peru living abroad and I got sick. My host mother being sweet made me tea. The only thing about this tea was it contained pure ginger. That was it, just shaved ginger. It was so spicy I could not drink it and I garnish with ghost pepper. So the fact that I made cake with ginger was shocking even to me. But my boss asked for it, and you know the rule. If your boss asks for ginger cake you make ginger cake. So I set out to make the best, which is easy since I have never made it before making it the best at least in my repertoire. We all have had a bad food experience if it be food poisoning or you just don't like the taste. What I want you to know is you have to keep trying. Food taste different every time you make it. I don't like ginger tea but ginger cake I found to be nice in flavor. Unless you are allergic I would urge you to keep trying food even if the first time around it wasn't your favorite. I was once told you have to eat something 11 times before your taste buds like it. So like your mother told you when you were a child if at first you don't succeed, eat and eat again.

Okay I promise not to show you another cake for at least a month. As you know the holiday season is upon us. No, I don't mean Halloween. I am a thanksgiving fan but not for the reasons some might think. It's not the turkey, it's not the stuffing, no it's not even the pumpkin pie. It's the kitchen. Thanksgiving is the holiday everyone becomes a cook. The kitchen is the place people are, it's where the party is at. This may be different in your house but in my family the kitchen is it. Thanksgiving starts and ends in our kitchen. Every family member brings a little of who they are into our thanksgiving. Knowing that you could guess what the item I bring to this table is. That's right dessert. I try to make a new item every year. This year I'm considering a healthy-ish alternative. I have made an oatmeal, cranberry cookie. I have dipped half my batch in chocolate and garnished with crushed pecans. Simple oatmeal cookies and add cranberries making turning simple into succulent.

I realize some of you are intimidated by the kitchen. I know, some dishes still scare me. But I try and keep trying because I don't want to end up eating Ramen the rest of my life. If you the reader ever want to leave me a comment of a food your nervous to try I will try my best and making it for you. Then I'll tell you how hard it was and even give you the recipe I used. It will be my way of making sure I cook what you like not just what I like.

Carb or cashew?

This week I have been busy, but I made a promise to myself that I would blog once a week. Just a few non food related things on the agenda. My husband told me in confidence to inform my readers that he realizes that my grammar is horrible (I made him promise to always tell me when I need improvement). This means most of you probably realize I have really bad grammar. Well, I apologize for that, it has been that way for a while. I have what the doctors call, visual motor integration convergence and visual processing. No, I did not just string some big words together. I assume no one has heard of this because it's rare or at least rarely diagnosed. Anyway to sum up I pretty much read everything like it's an upside down word search. So you can see why my grammar is sometimes bad, okay most the time it is bad. No excuses, this is me trying. Okay onto better things. First off this is not a grammar blog this blog is about the love we all share of food. So we power through my bad grammar and onto the food.

I totally blanked on taking pictures of my chocolate chip muffins this week. As I was going through the rest of the week I had to think of what to do. I remembered I had a can of mixed nuts. Sitting down I start to pick through the mixed nuts and pull out all the cashews. Side note I hate when you have any type of  mix if it be nuts, Chex, or trail when someone picks out one item only, I want to hit their hand out of the bowl. It's just rude, personally. Okay back to these cashews. I pick out all the cashews put them on a pan and bake them five minutes. I then tossed the warmed cashews in Rosemary, ghost pepper, butter, and maple syrup. This was not the recipe but you have to substitute flavor when you don't have an item. Don't be afraid to change up a recipe if you don't have an item on the ingredients list. Be adventures with your food. These little cashews pack so much flavor at first you are all there nice but then like any medley you just keep eating.

I have been contemplating getting a Dutch oven for almost a year. I love artisan bread plus it's so versatile you can make anything from bread to breaded chicken in a dutch oven. But the better brands are pricey so I hemmed and I hawed. Well, I finally was persuaded by my husband to just get one. I am SO glad I listen to that man. I broke my new toy in with artisan bread. I'm Italian so it explains the love of bread I have. I remember listening to stories about my great grandmother with her big Italian arms mixing fresh bread every day. So to follow in great grandmas footsteps I set out to make bread. This is nice since this recipe has one of the smallest ingredient list which is a plus. Bread usually takes an hour to twenty-four hours just to let the dough rise. Not with artisan bread, thirty minutes to rise and forty minutes to cook. This means you can start the bread at the beginning of dinner prep and have fresh, warm, homemade bread at dinner. Yum! I personally love any carb you can add butter to. Plus this recipe can be flavored. Add cheese, fresh herbs, or jalapeños and you have a fun new twist to a simple bread. I was planning on eating dinner but I think I might just eat the bread. Until next week try to be adventures and make your own ingredients list. You never know what the end product will be until you try it.

Appetizer or just appetizing?

So if you read my blog last week you can remember the cake competition. Well, I lost. I was coordinating the event (no I didn't cheat) but I do know I made second place for best taste. Yay me. Anyways I am on to bigger and better food. To be specific it is smaller and better food. That is because cake is large. I have moved on from cake and am trying my hand at appetizers. 


Everyone enjoys a chocolate chip cookie or two. Everyone also loves pretzels. That salty goodness with the soft pretzel bread. Both of these items are so delicious separate. I know these are not technically appetizers. Well pretzels are appetizers in restaurants now a days which is new on the food scene. But combined cookies and pretzels are a sweet and salty treat. You just have to stuff that pretzel really good with cookie dough. Also you have to remember to add the salt, which I may have not done first time around. But don't let that deter you since the pretzel is filled with so much buttery goodness it still taste amazing. Now if you are like me you have stood in front of that pretzel stand watching them take the dough and just kind of twist it in the air and BAM it lands on the table looking like a pretzel. Well I'm an amateur and when I tried doing what they did it landed on the table, BAM a rope. So I just made knotts. Then was instructed other wise on how to make pretzel shapes on the table. Take the rope, twist the ends together three times, fold under the whole, and flip over and BAM pretzel. 

Next on the menu muffins. Lemon poppy seed to be exact. Side bar if anyone out there has seen Seinfeld poppy seeds derive from  a type of flower. This is the opium flower, that is my name for it. The seeds of this flower is where we get poppy seeds. These are totally edible and unlike Seinfeld you can only test positive for drugs after eating poppy seeds if you intake a lot. Most recipes call for less than a table spoon so unless your planning on eating the whole batch of muffins then you should be good. Though don't take my word for it or blame me if you test my theory. Anyways back to the food. Lemons and poppy seeds tend to go together and they compliment one another perfectly. I added a cream cheese frosting just for that touch of sweet. 

I know, I know muffins aren't really appetizers just like pretzels aren't really appetizers either. I may not be the best with deciding what food goes into what food group. Appetizer, entree, dessert. Really does it matter if your making the food your making the rules and you can eat whatever you want.   

Cake Off

 Our church had a cake off to celebrate the leaves falling. With that we decided a blind tasting of cakes would be the best way to commemorate, well cakes. Since cake is good but multiple cakes is better. So our church came together and brought the best cakes they had. All that to say Sunday is tomorrow and I have no idea what cakes where there. These two cakes are mine. I couldn't decide which one I wanted to enter so I made both. I then proceeded to eat one of them which made my decision a lot easier. What cake did I eat, you ask? That is a good question on our right we have a vanilla cake with chocolate frosting. Simple yet it has the best ingredients, one vanilla cake and two chocolate. This little ditty is called a baby cake because it can be cut into four pieces and is perfect for a small family. It can also be eaten with a fork alone on the couch while watching a chick flick alone in the dark.

In other news we have the option on our left. This cake has a blondie brownie as a crust. Then is topped with a caramel cheesecake, which is garnished with an apple pie filling. It is then decorated with a cinnamon whipped cream. (Side note cinnamon in whipped cream genius) I didn't think of it but I am liking whoever did. I am not a huge brownie fan but blonde brownies are so good. Because they substitute chocolate for brown sugar. I suggest you always make your own whipped cream. Everyone tends to just buy the canned stuff but whipped cream is so easy to make. Just put heavy cream in a blender and whip it. If you add a little powder sugar it taste so much better than anything from a can. Like I said before add a dash of cinnamon it makes it taste like pie.

Anyways back to which cake did I eat. I know you are all sitting at the edge of your seats in anticipation. I ate the right one. So that means tomorrow I am entering the cheesecake cake. Maybe next time I blog I will let you know if I won. And remember one cake is good to share, but if you make two you can eat one all by yourself.

Holler for some challah

 I happened upon this challah recipe  and I thought to myself why wouldn't I try it. First off challah may be one of my favorite types of bread. Though I promise never to list my likes of bread from greatest to least because even I don't want to hear that. Second braids in bread just make everything prettier. It looks like it should be served at a fancy restaurant. With that I set out to make me some challah.

I am pretty happy with the end product. For those of you who have had challah you know what it taste likes. For those of you who have never had challah it taste kinda like egg bread. Probably because it is made up with mostly eggs.

Few heads up for those of you who are adventuras  enough to try challah for yourself. One I learned the more egg yokes you brush on the top the darker the bread will get. I learned that in the process of making this loaf. Also learned that braiding dough is harder than braiding hair.

I am still learning the technic of breading. Is that what it is called to be one who makes bread? If not then I think it should be. You meet someone new and you ask them what they do and they respond "I am a breader" Yep it has a nice ring to it. With that I am no expert in making bread but I am trying to broaden my kitchen skills.

Hope you feel like trying something new in your kitchen.