Honey Poached Pears

So much like the debate of what is the difference between a muffin and a cupcake, the debate of whether fruit is dessert or not can stir up quite a bit of controversy. I would like to use this post as my way of taking an official position in this long and drawn-out conflict. 

Fruit is dessert. Yes, I said it. Fairly healthy and very yummy. Winter is the perfect time for warm fruit desserts like crisps and hot pies, but poached fruit is one of my favorites. As you may have figured out by now, I love soft, almost mushy, foods. Poached pears mean taking a delicious, soft fruit and infusing it with even more sweet, syrupy flavors and making it just the tiniest bit softer. With the addition of the cool and creamy mascarpone, this is perfect on a cold evening. Feel free to save the sauce to put in hot apple juice or cider, or to mix into warm milk. Honestly, I had the leftover pears and mascarpone for breakfast with a bowl of oatmeal (I mixed the sauce into the oatmeal to sweeten it). I love finding good uses for leftovers.

Also, this would be delicious sprinkled with almond slivers or some granola.

Honey Poached Pears
From Epicurious 

Serves 4 (one pear half each)

2 firm but ripe large Bosc pears, peeled, halved, cored

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1 cup water

1/2 cup dry white wine

6 tablespoons honey

1/2 vanilla bean, split lengthwise; or 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 cup mascarpone cheese

2 teaspoons sugar

2 teaspoons brandy or dark rum

Toss pears with lemon juice in large bowl. Set aside. Combine 1 cup water, wine and honey in medium saucepan. Scrape in seeds from vanilla bean; add bean. Stir over medium heat until honey dissolves. Add pears. Cover mixture with round piece of parchment paper. Reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer until pears are just tender when pierced, turning when half-way through cooking, about 15 minutes.

Using slotted spoon, transfer pears to large bowl. Boil poaching liquid until reduced to 3/4 cup, about 2 minutes. Cool syrup. Pour syrup over pears. Cover and refrigerate until cold, at least 8 hours or overnight. Remove vanilla bean.

Whisk mascarpone cheese, sugar and brandy in large bowl until smooth. Add 1/4 cup chilled poaching syrup and whisk until soft peaks form.

Thinly slice each pear half lengthwise, leaving slices attached at stem end. Using metal spatula, transfer pears to plates. Gently press on pears to fan slightly. Spoon some syrup over pears. Spoon mascarpone cream alongside each pear half and serve.

Italian Grits and Egg Breakfast For One

Just in case you didn't know before, I love breakfast. I love Mondays, I love Spring, I love mornings -pretty much anything that has to do with new beginnings, a fresh start, unexplored opportunities. I love to start my day by eating a banana, going to the gym or out to the country for a good workout at 5:30am, then coming home, showering, and taking my time while making myself a nutritious breakfast. Of course, I try to listen to Morning Edition (comes on at 7am here) white I make and eat breakfast. That kind of morning is perfect. I have all the time in the world to enjoy the sunrise and my eat my food slowly. I find that feel fuller and more satisfied when I can take the time to sit and really consider the flavors and qualities of the foods I am putting into my body. Just a thought. 

I hope you are a morning person too, otherwise the above paragraph just might make you want to hurt me... 0=).

Anyway, here's what I have been eating lately as my "I'm starving and need a 'real' meal right now" breakfast.

Make plain white grits (the instant kind is easiest).

Pour tomato sauce over grits.

Sprinkle with cheese because cheese makes everything better.

Fry an egg and put on top of cheese

(I fry the egg while I wait for the grits to cook).

Sprinkle with your favorite salt-free Italian seasoning (I use Tuscan Sunset from Penzey's).

Italian Grits and Egg Breakfast Bowl 

I'm not supposed to count calories per my nutritionist's instructions, but I kinda figured this one out 'cus it's so dang easy to calculate: less than 350 calories total and pretty much all food groups accounted for -grain=grits, veggie=sauce, calcium=cheese, protein=egg). Feel free to fry up a second egg for more protein though.

1/4 cup instant white grits

3/4 cup water
1/2 cup of your favorite red pasta sauce
1/4 cup shredded low-fat mozzarella cheese
1 egg

1/4 teaspoon salt-free Italian seasonings

Combine the instant grits and water in a bowl and microwave for 3-4 minutes (in other words, follow the directions on the box for 1/4 cup of dry grits). 

While the grits are in the microwave, crack your egg into a non-stick skillet without breaking the yolk, and cook over medium-low heat until the white is about half-way cooked. put about a tablespoon of water in the pan and cover for 2 minutes or until the white is completely cooked (I do this with a plate, since my small pan has no lid, but be careful, the plate can fall off and will get very hot). Turn off heat and remove lid/plate.

Take the grits out of the microwave and top with pasta sauce and cheese, then take a spatula and place the egg on the very top. Sprinkle with Italian seasonings.

Take a spoon and mash together, or eat nicely in layers, whatever you feel like doing =).

Buffalo Chicken Mac N Cheese

I refuse to eat any more fast food for the rest of my life. Well, kind of.

If it weren't so impossible to avoid (especially when driving 13.5 hours from KY to FL), I would totally stick to that declaration. At any rate, I did not eat much fast food before, but after working in fast food for a mere 3 months, just for the summer, I am definitely no more inclined to become one of the millions of Americans who regularly consume pounds of deep fried potatoes and gallons of soda pop.

Ok, sorry to rant. The reason I brought fast food up is because the above picture is of the leftovers of buffalo chicken mac n cheese that I ate for lunch at work instead of eating the $7 worth of free fast food that is made available to me.

Green beans are a great side for this, by the way =).

Buffalo Chicken Mac N Cheese

Adapted from How Sweet Eats

serves 4-6

1 pound pasta (I used shell pasta from a local pasta company)

3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cooked and cut into chunks

1 tablespoon butter

1 tablespoon flour

11/2 cups milk

1/2 cup grated monterey jack cheese (half of an 8oz brick) + more for topping

1/3 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese (a third of an 8oz brick) + more for topping

2/3 cup buffalo wing sauce

1/2 cup panko bread crumbs

salt and pepper to taste

for garnish: ¾ cup chopped green onions, ½ cup fresh cilantro, ½ cup gorgonzola cheese, additional buffalo wing sauce

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Prepare water for pasta and cook according to directions.

While pasta is cooking, heat a medium or large saucepan over medium heat. Add the butter, and once it’s melted and bubbly add the flour. Whisk together to create a roux and cook for 1-2 minutes until mixture gets a bit golden in color. Add milk, stir and turn down heat to low. Continue stirring until milk thickens. Add in grated cheeses and continue to stir until mixture is smooth. Stir in buffalo wing sauce. Taste and season with salt and pepper if needed.

Grease a baking dish (9 x 13 is fine, ir even a 4-inch deep dish). Add pasta and chicken to the cheese sauce over and mix throughly until everything is coated. Spoon or pour into baking dish. Sprinkle with additional grated cheese and bread crumbs. Bake for 25 minutes or until cheese is golden brown. Remove from oven and immediately top with gorgonzola, green onions and/or cilantro. Drizzle with extra buffalo wing sauce, if desired.

Mac N Cheese

The last few days have been ones of change: packing up my belongings, starting a new job, and beginning a 3-week period of couch surfing. Overall, the new job has been surprisingly pleasant and couch surfing isn't all that bad with an air mattress and some good friends.

Because I am staying in other people's houses, my culinary adventures are going to be fairly limited over the next few weeks, but I am going to do my best to eat more than just scrambled eggs and peanut butter sandwiches. This week, the Tuesday night get-together was a potluck, so I decided to make the classic potluck entrée, mac n cheese. I bought all of the ingredients on the way there, showed up an hour early, and made the dish at my friends' house. Let's just say that there was none left at the end of the night =).

Baked Mac n' Cheese

Adapted from Southern Living

1 pound uncooked pasta -I used penne, the original recipe calls for cellentani

2 tablespoons butter

3 tablespoons flour

1 cup milk

1 (12-oz.) can evaporated milk

2 cups (8 oz.) shredded smoked Gouda cheese

1 (3-oz.) package cream cheese, softened

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground red pepper, divided

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1 (8-oz.) package chopped cooked, smoked ham

2 cups cornflakes cereal, crushed

2 tablespoons butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350°. Prepare cellentani pasta according to package directions. Transfer hot pasta to a large bowl.

Melt 2 Tbsp. butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Gradually whisk in flour until smooth; cook, whisking constantly, 1 minute. Gradually whisk in milk and evaporated milk; cook, whisking constantly, 3 to 5 minutes or until thickened. Whisk in Gouda, cream cheese, salt, and 1/4 tsp. ground red pepper, and nutmeg until smooth. Remove from heat, and stir in chopped ham.

Combine pasta and Gouda cheese mixture, and pour into a lightly greased 13- x 9-inch baking dish. Stir together 2 cups crushed cereal, 2 Tbsp. melted butter, and remaining 1/4 tsp. ground red pepper; sprinkle over pasta mixture.

Bake at 350° for 30 minutes or until golden and bubbly. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

Grilled Cheese with Style

Every time I buy onions, I end up buying way too many and either leave them in the fridge to turn black (I know, I know, that takes forever to happen. I am that bad). But I refused to just sit by while my onions' potential wasted away this time.

I happened to have some Gruyère in my fridge, left-over from a few weeks ago when I was feeling over-confident in my groceries' budget and splurged on an $8 piece of cheese, and the idea of caramelized onions and Gruyère was just too much to pass up. Now, for those of you who think that buying a small, $8 piece of cheese is crazy, let me assure you, a little bit of Gruyère goes a long way. Like most things of good quality, you use much less of it compared to how much you use of the cheap stuff, so it usually ends up being only minimally more expensive to get the incomparably better-tasting stuff. The key is to learn how to tell through context clues which recipes originally used the cheap stuff and which ones used the good stuff, so that you know when to scale up or down.

Caramelizing onions. Mmmm, can you smell that delicious-ness?

Grilled Cheese with Style

Note: I am about to explain this as if you are in kindergarten, so be forewarned.

2 slices of whole grain bread (I used Panera's, but the OMS bread would also be delicious)

3-4 thing slices of Gruyère cheese

1/3 of a medium onion, sliced into thin, long strips

1/2 teaspoon of butter for spreading onto the bread

Place onions and the tiniest but of oil or butter in a pan over medium heat. Caramelize onions (cook for about 20-30 minutes, stirring occasionally).

Butter the outside faces of your sandwich bread.

Layer Gruyère cheese on the inside (un-buttered side) of one piece of bread, then top with caramelized onions. Place bread slice, cheese and onion side up, in a skillet over medium heat. Top with remaining piece of bread, butter side up. Cook for 2-3 minutes, depending on how browned you like your grilled cheeses.

Flip, and cook for another 2-3 minutes on other side.

Congratulations, you have made yourself a simple, but very sophisticated and gratifying grilled cheese.

Mmmmm, just look at those onions and that melted cheese...

Mushy Foods for Sore Mouths

The surgery went well, thank goodness. I have plenty of ice packs to wrap around my head and a heaping prescription of Vicodin. My mother came home and made me favorite smooth, a Velvet Elvis (Peanut butter, banana, and chocolate) with uncooked oats and wheat germ for some complex carbohbydrates to give me a long lasting fullness.

For dinner, since I am not yet ready to chew, a friend came over and we made cheesy polenta with spinach (recipe below). It's such a good comfort food and it requires no chewing =). I am nowsitting on the couch with my mom and my friend watching No Reservations. Feeling inspired to make chicken in a saffron cream sauce, maybe next week.

Cheesy Polenta with Spinach

When I am able to chew properly, I think some rotisserie chicken would taste fantastic with it.

Serves 2-3, depending on how hungry you are.

Adapted from a recipe by Jeanne Lemlin

Ingredients

1/2 tablespoon olive oil

1/2 teaspoon wet garlic

3 cups baby spinach, washed

Butter for greasing dish plus 1 tablespoon butter

1 cup low fat milk

3/4 cups water

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup yellow cornmeal

2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

1 cup part skim grated mozzarella cheese

3 tablespoons plain yogurt (I used Dannon's Activia)

Directions

1. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook 30 seconds, then stir in the spinach. Pour in a few tablespoons of water and cover the pan. Cook about 4 minutes, until wilted. Cover the pan again and cook until the leaves wilt, about 3 minutes. Toss occasionally. Remove the pan from the heat and let cool, uncovered.

2. To make the polenta preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Butter a 1.5 quart baking dish and set it nearby. Combine the milk, water, and salt in a medium size saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low and slowly drizzle in the cornmeal, whisking all the while with a wire whisk. Continue to cook and whisk the polenta until it is the consistency of mashed potatoes and tears away from the sides of the pan, about 5 minutes. Whisk in the Parmesan cheese, the 1 tablespoon of butter, and the mozzarella cheese.

3. Spread half the polenta in the baking dish. Spoon on the spinach and distribute it evenly. Drop on small spoonfuls of the sour cream and spread it with the back of a spoon. Spoon on the remaining polenta and spread it out. (The casserole may be prepared to this point and refrigerated up to 24 hours in advance. Bring to room temperature before baking.)

4. Bake the polenta for 15 to 20 minutes, or until golden on top and sizzling. Do not overcook it because you want to retain its creamy interior.