Almond Champagne Poached Pears

Adapted from this recipe:

1 bottle of almond champagne
1 cup water
1 vanilla bean, sliced & scraped
3/4 cup sugar
3 pears, cored and halved

Pour champagne into a 4 quart sauce pan with water, sugar, vanilla bean pieces and pulp over medium high heat to bring to a boil.

Decrease the heat to medium low and place the pears into the liquid, cover and cook for 30 minutes or until the pears are tender but not falling apart. Remove pears, and move to the fridge.

Remove the vanilla bean from the saucepan, increase the heat to high and reduce the syrup to approximately 1 cup of liquid, about 20 to 25 minutes - do not burn the syrup. Place the syrup in a heatproof container and place in the refrigerator until cool, approximately 1 hour.

Remove the pears from the refrigerator, spoon the sauce over the pears and serve.

The results:

Holy jesus. I've never had poached pears before, and I'm not really a pear fan, but dayum. Day-um. These were tasty. And that sauce. Oh the sauce. So sweet and almondy. And I'm definitely a huge fan of using vanilla beans, the taste is just doesn't compared to the extract. I feel like the extract is a sham compared to using the real thing. 

Quinoa and Hot Sauage Stuff Bell Peppers

Zucchini, peppers, tomato & shishito peppers 

1 sm can corn, drained
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 large tomato, diced
1 zucchini, diced
4 peppers, halved, deveined and deseeded
4 shishito peppers, diced
1 pkg hot sausage
1/2 cup shredded parm
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp ground rosemary

Combine all ingredients except for the green peppers. Stuff mixture into peppers, pop onto a baking dish - put about an inch of water at the bottom & cover with foil. Toss into the oven 350F for 45mins to 1 hour.

The results?
Amazeballs. Definitely keeping this recipe handy. Also had leftover stuffing and made more the next day. Plus, the recipe is super easy to throw together and these little pods are super portable. Definitely a winner in my book.

Honey-Poached Pear with Greek Yogurt and Toasted Walnuts

INGREDIENTS

¼ cup plus 4 teaspoons honey, divided

2 cups of sugar

½ slice lemon

3 black peppercorns

½ vanilla bean, split lengthwise

2 large Bartlett pears

½ lemon

½ cup Greek yoghurt

½ cup toasted walnut pieces

½ teaspoon melted butter

Sea Salt

1.     Combine 4 cups water, ½ cup of the honey, the sugar, lemon slice and peppercorns in a large saucepan. Using a knife, scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean and add to the mixture. Bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer 10 minutes to blend the flavors.

2.     Add the pears and simmer until they are tender, about 15 to 20 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and lift pears into a glass bowl, then pour over the juices. Let cool to warm. Refrigerate at least 1 hour, or up to overnight.

3.     When you are ready to serve, remove the peel and stem from the pears. Halve each pear lengthwise and remove any seeds, if necessary. Cut each pear half into 4 wedges (I sliced it).

4.     Arrange pear on a plate and squeeze a few drops of lemon juice over them. Spoon some yogurt on the pears or the plate. Drizzle 1 teaspoon of the honey over the yogurt and around the pears on the plate. Repeat with the three remaining plates. Toss the toasted walnuts with the melted butter and light sprinkling of sea salt, and then scatter the walnuts evenly over the plates. Serve immediately.

Chili

My produce items: Assorted Tomatoes, Shishito Peppers, Sweet Peppers

4 tomatoes
4 small shishito peppers
2 sweet peppers
1/2 yellow onion
2 ears of corn
1 can of kidney beans
1 can of campbell's condensed tomato soup
1 clove of garlic
2 tablespoons of chili powder
2 lbs of lean hamburger meat

Mince garlic and shishito peppers.  Dice tomatoes, onion and sweet peppers.  Add all to a large pot.  Cook on medium heat for 15 minutes.

Boil ears of corn in water until cooked.  Shave off corn from the cob with a knife and add to the pot.  Remove kidney beans from the can and rinse thoroughly.  Add to the pot.  Add condensed tomato soup and chili powder.  Mix well.  Continue to cook on medium heat for another 10 minutes stirring occasionally.

Brown 2 pounds of lean hamburger meat in a skillet.  Drain and add to the pot.  Continue to cook all covered with a lid on low heat for another 20 minutes stirring occasionally.

Serve hot.  Top with cheddar cheese (and/or crackers) if desired.

Serves 8-10

Final Verdict: Delicious!

This chili was sooo yummy.  I don't really like spicy foods and the shishito peppers were very mild as was the chili powder I used.  It had a very tiny kick to it but overall very mild.  You can use non-mild chili powder or add some crushed red peppers to it if you want a spicier chili.  I added cheddar cheese to my chili to help counter act some of the spiciness.  It turned out really delicious.  If you are wanting a vegetarian chili, you could probably just skip the step of adding the ground beef.

Quinoa and Squash Stuffed Chard

This weeks lineup:

Chard, patty squash and jalapeno.

Adapted from here.

1 bunch of chard

3-4 medium patty squash, diced

1 cup cooked quinoa

1lb hot pork sausage

1 medium shallot, diced

3 cloves of garlic, minced

3 vine ripe tomates, sliced thick

2 cups stock (I used beef - it was either that or chicken)

1/4 cup shredded parmigiano-reggiano

1 jalapeno pepper, diced

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

1/2 tsp ground rosemary

1/2 tsp oregano

Combine cooked quinoa, raw sausage, squash, shallot, garlic, parm, jalapeno and spices in a bowl. Scoop filling on to chard leaves, roll up and set into a baking tin. Top with tomato slices. Pour broth into the bottom of the pan. Cook at 375 for 45 minutes or so.

The results: Delicious. Definitely a keeper, and definitely good for a dinner party. Quick easy recipe - and I honestly didn't expect much from it. Yay for simple recipes!

Curried Eggplant with Tomatoes and Basil

My produce items: Assorted Eggplant, Tomatoes, Basil

1 tablespoon of olive oil
1/4 cup of chopped onion
1 and 1/2 cup of cherry tomatoes
1 big eggplant, or in my case several small assorted eggplants
1 and 1/2 teaspoons of curry powder (Penzey's Maharajah Curry Powder)
1 teaspoon of salt
1/4 teaspoon of pepper
1 handful of fresh basil leaves
1 cup of basmati rice

Dice up onion and put in a skillet with olive oil.  Cook on medium heat until softened, about 4 minutes.  Stir in chopped eggplant, halved tomatoes, curry powder, basil, salt and pepper.  Mix well.  Add 2 cups of water and bring to a boil.  Cook until eggplant is tender stirring occasionally, 12-15 minutes.

For rice, rinse 1 cup of basmati rice.  Place in saucepan and add 1 and 1/4 cups of water.  Bring to a boil.  Cover and reduce heat to a simmer until water is absorbed into rice, 15-20 minutes.

Serves: 4-6

Final Verdict: Really good.

I got this recipe off of RealSimple.com.  I felt like two cups of water was a bit much and the skillet was very watery.  I thought it would end up more sauce like but it wasn't thick at all.  Still, I poured some of the watery broth on top to douse the rice and it was delicious.

Summer Lunch - with one BIG tomato

It was a hot weekend and a hot oven or a warm meal was not in my mind.

The big tomato gave me a lot of possibilities and I bought some additional summer vegetables: corn, green onion, small zucchinis, green pepper and a small cucumber.

I diced the onions and peppers and cooked them in olive oil with the corn until everything was soft. I only added a small amount of salt and left it cool down.

Zucchinis, cucumbers and green part of the onions stayed uncooked.

I mixed all vegetables together, added some apple vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper, filled the tomato and was able to take it to work for lunch.

Eggplant Naan Bread Pizza

My produce Items: Eggplant, Tomatoes

2 small eggplants
6 small tomatoes
1 clove of garlic
2 pieces of naan bread
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1 tablespoon of parmesan cheese
1/4 cup of mozzarella cheese

Chop up eggplant into desirable pieces.  You can slice them if you like but I diced them.  Mince clove of garlic.  Coat eggplant pieces in olive oil and mix well with garlic.  Broil in toaster oven for 15 minutes (eggplant will be soft and slightly browned).

Chop up tomatoes into desirable pieces.  If you have a large tomato you can slice it but I had smaller tomatoes and decided to dice them.

Place naan bread on baking sheet and cover with tomato evenly.  Spoon cooked eggplant evenly over naan.

Sprinkle parmesan cheese on top.  Cover with mozzarella.

Bake at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes until cheese is melted and naan is toasted.

Serves: 2

Final Verdict: Delicious!

I first sampled this recipe over at Meli's, so it's really her recipe but it was sooo good I really wanted to make it and share.  It's a recipe she originally got from thepioneerwoman.com but she used Trader Joe's Naan Bread instead of pizza dough.  It works excellently.  I put my own little spin on this recipe with how I decided to chop and portion off the tomato and eggplant.  Whereas she sliced it, I diced it.  I absolutely love this pizza.  From now on, it's naan bread pizza for me.