Pears have not been the go to fruit throughout my life, I’ve always preferred a crunchy crisp apple over the soft and often times gritty texture of a pear. It wasn’t until I tested positive as allergic to Apples, that I started to appreciate the pear, at first because I really had no choice, now because they are so diverse in species and amazing to cook with.

Through my  out that they can be awesome in maintaining a healthy lifestyle. They have many health benefits and you can check some of them out here.

Although I have not completely kicked the apple out of my life ( I will cook with them once in a blue moon), the pear has made a wonderful substitute, and has won a special place in the soul of my belly!

Now when I need to grab a quick snack to go instead of the trusty apple I’m picking for Pears! Which also means we have tons of pears around and sometimes they start to get ugly and then I no longer want them….here’s where it gets fun. Instead of throwing them away, I make pear puree which is really easy and you don’t need to cook them first being that pears are already soft.

Click here for my “technique”, if you want to call it that….it’s really too easy to refer to it as a technique!

Let’s not forget about pear bread tho……here’s what you need……..

Pear Bread

1 cup flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon nutmeg

4 Tablespoons unsalted butter

3/4 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 1/2 cup pear puree (I used a Williams pear but fell free to substitute)

1  tbs vanilla extract

Topping

1/3 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup crushed pecan

2 Tablespoons unsalted butter

Pre heat oven to 350°

Grease a small bread pan.

In a small bowl mix together the flour, salt, baking powder, and nutmeg. Make sure it is all well incorporated.

With an electric mixer mix softened butter and sugar.

Add in eggs one at a time beating well after each. Add pear puree mixing on high-speed well for about 2 minutes.

Now mix together dry and wet ingredients being careful not to over mix add vanilla extract and place in greased bread pan.

In small bowl mix butter, brown sugar, and crushed pecans. Press the butter into the sugar and pecan until you’ve reached a crumbly texture.

Sprinkle sugar pecan mix on top of batter in the bread pan.

Now bake for 40-45 minutes…….

Voila! You will be amazed at how the pear taste is so abundant in this bread. It’s simply delicious!

Our house is pretty compact, and when we turn on the oven you feel it, so to avoid turning it on all together I have come up with some tried and true dinners that are sure to fill you up and cure your cravings. The first one is this easy-peasy sandwich all you will need…………

Rotisserie Chicken

1 oz. Taco Seasoning

1 cup Miracle Whip

Cilantro

Lettuce

Tomato

Pepper Jack Cheese

6 Hoagie Rolls

Tear meat off of rotisserie bones.

Mix Taco Seasoning and miracle whip.

Slather the sauce over the hoagie rolls.

Layer meat, cilantro, cheese, tomato, lettuce, and tomato into the hoagie roll.

 So here’s the easy directions……

Tear meat off of rotisserie bones.

Mix Taco Seasoning and miracle whip.

Slather the sauce over the hoagie rolls.

Layer meat, cilantro, cheese, tomato, lettuce, and tomato into the hoagie roll.

When it comes to bread pudding it is a country staple, it’s all about using what you have and avoiding waste at all cost, because wasting does cost! Now growing up I enjoyed my daddy’s bread pudding with some raisins and peaches, that’s my traditional bread pudding.

 Now I like to make all different kinds of variations of this soulful dessert but the one I am in love with making at the moment is my peachy- craisin bread pudding. So I basically just swiped out the raisins for craisins, which are dehydrated cranberries as raisins are dehydrated grapes, can you say YUM?! I can, this dessert is absolutely delicious. I also love the red color the craisins add to the dish.

I’m all about color in my food, and when I first tasted these little craisins I knew they would have to share the spotlight with my raisin included dishes, they make a great twist to the tradition. With all that said here’s what you need….

About 5 cups bread cubed.

I used some Italian hoagie rolls from the bakery they were sitting in my freezer from some left over sliders I made weeks ago but as you may already know fresh bakery bread can get molded pretty fast so I just threw it in my freezer, this is great way to preserve and reuse leftover and day old bread put it in the freezer and save it for when you need it, you can make bread crumbs for dessert or casserole toppings, croutons, dressing(stuffing whatever you call it) and of course bread pudding, don’t let it go to waste cause all those little waste equals big dollars.

1 Cup canned peaches cut-up

(I had a big can, drained the excess juice and scooped out my peaches into a measuring cup. You don’t want to get too much of the liquid from the can.

Handful Craisins

(I fortunately and not so fortunately I  have relatively big hands for a woman, which is why you will probably rarely see them in my pictures, they can make the food look sort of small.. :)! Just eyeball it, plus you know how much you like!)

1½ cup milk

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

½ teaspoon nutmeg

3 eggs

1 Tablespoon butter

A Sprinkle of Cinnamon for the top

 Pre Heat oven to 350ᴼ

In a 9ₓ9 in pan melt your tablespoon of butter in the oven just till melted and then spread across pan, you could also just spray with some Pam, either way you like.   

Chop your bread into cubes, if you don’t have time to let them sit out just put them in the oven and let them toast a bit don’t over-do it, you just want a stiff texture which only takes about 3 minutes on 350ᴼ place on cookie sheet in one even layer, and toast for 3-5 minutes.

In a bowl whisk eggs, milk, nutmeg, vanilla, sugar.

Mix Craisins and peaches in a bowl along with bread. Now pour your wet mixture over the bread let sit for a few in bowl, place in buttered baking dish and add pudding. Press down into dish and sprinkle a little cinnamon on top let sit for another 10 minutes and bake in oven for about 45 minutes.

Spring to me is all about blooming flowers, light and fresh meals and of course pretty colors, like my “half of the time” favorite color yellow,( the other half green). This recipe is all of those things, well…almost.

I’m not a big fan of cauliflower although I will tolerate it….. in the right seasoning conditions of course, but when I first saw these pretty yellow cauliflower in the produce section of a casual shopping trip, I was…well…bedazzled! I’m sure it being the start of a not so warm but certainly sun shining spring had a little something to do with my enthusiasm for those pretty little veggies. Immediately I began to devise a plan that would make them taste as pretty as they looked.

My first thought? I guess they have to taste good with bacon…and with some extra thought….a little sweetness never hurt(honey)….and with some more thought how about I roast them…being that I love to roast my veggies so much.

Well? looka here looka here! What I was left with was a delightful and tasteful bowl of goodness and it’s all a veggie…..never mind the bacon……this thing is a healthy treat….right? Warning! I am not an expert in anything but taste…..and eating…..and a few other things that have to do with baby bottoms and diapers…but let me not get off track in letting you know that this thang right here, is the TRUTH! And by that I mean gosh darn it good! And with all of those long sentences here is a recipe you better try.

                                                                                                                                                          4 thick slices of bacon

                                                                                                                                                                   1 Garlic clove          

1 heaping Tablespoon of honey

2 Tablespoon butte

Salt & Pepper to taste

 Cook your bacon and set aside on paper lined plate. Add butter to rendered bacon grease in pan. Add chopped and washed cauliflower and toss together. I like to press a small garlic clove over the cauliflower at this point. *optional* Salt and pepper to taste. Add Heaping tablespoons of Honey and toss to incorporate everything, let cook while watching carefully for about 5 minutes. The cauliflower will start to caramelize. Place under broiler for about 5-7 more minutes. Crumble cooked bacon on top and garnish with a little fresh parsley. Voila! It’s such a aesthetically pretty dish and it tastes really good.