Page 53 of 81

Spiced Pear Bread

January 16, 2015 / Dragonfly Home Recipes / 14 Comments

It is an ongoing goal and challenge to use food wisely. When I see a piece of fruit in the fruit bowl getting a little too ripe, I feel like I need to do something with it. Of course, this is a good problem to have–too much food–much better than the opposite problem–but I want to continually learn to use the food I have in ways that taste delicious and give us good energy. Sometimes it is hard to plan or predict how much food to buy at a time–who knew my kids would go through a big bag of pretzels in two days, yet ignore the pears? I guess I should have known! Anyway, this spiced pear bread is a tasty way to use a very ripe pear–the juicier the pear, the moister the bread. And it is a more nourishing snack than a plate full of pretzels! (Pretzels have their place too, but variety is a good thing). The cinnamon, cloves, and orange rind add to this bread’s subtle, sweet flavor, and it tastes great just sliced on its own or with a little butter or cream cheese on it. Add a steaming cup of tea, coffee, or hot chocolate, and it’s even better. I based this recipe on one I found in my Dr. Cookie Cookbook by Marvin Wayne and Stephen Yarnall, though I made some changes. Isn’t that the beauty of recipes, that they are always evolving with the years and with the people who use them. I am taking this bread over to Angie’s blog at The Novice Gardener for the Fiesta Friday link party. I always find inspiring ideas there! Hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

Spiced Pear Bread

Servings: 1 loaf, or 12 slices
Time: 15 minutes preparation, plus 40-50 minutes baking time
Print

Ingredients:

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/4 cup honey
2-3 tablespoons unsweetened applesauce–if your pear is very juicy, lean towards 2 tablespoons, if not so juicy, use 3
1 teaspoon orange rind (you may also you lemon rind)
1 cup finely chopped unpeeled pear (about one pear)

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Lightly grease a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan. In a mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, cloves, and salt, and set aside. In another mixing bowl, vigorously stir the eggs, brown sugar, and oil until smooth. (You can use an electric mixer if you want, but I did not find it necessary as long as I stirred it really well). Add the honey, applesauce, orange or lemon rind, and stir well again. Then, gently stir the flour mixture and the pear into the batter until just combined. Scrape the combined batter into the prepared loaf pan. Bake in your oven for 40-50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean. It’s okay if the crust cracks a little. Cool the bread in the loaf pan on a wire rack for about 10 minutes, then turn out of the pan onto the wire rack and cool completely. Enjoy!

Slow-Cooked Chicken and Tomato Sauce with Rice

January 13, 2015 / Dragonfly Home Recipes / 4 Comments

Chicken and rice are great comfort foods, especially when cooked slowly with rich, saucy tomatoes. This is a meal that my husband and son enjoy very much on a cold, snowy evening. And we are definitely having some cold, snowy evenings these days. Right now we have enough snow to cross country ski, so I was very grateful and excited to get the chance to get out on my skis yesterday afternoon. The snow was piled up on every little branch, and I was the first person on the trail since the previous night’s snowfall, so the only tracks in sight were from rabbits. Fresh snow is so pristine and cleansing. Breathing in all that cold air and looking at the clean, white snow and the white-blue sky soothed my overactive mind. There is something so silent about snow. The woods were hushed, as the snow absorbed all sounds, including the internal sounds from my mind. It is easy to get overstimulated and stressed out in the this world we live in, but I left the woods a more peaceful person than I was when I entered them. Simple, nourishing food is also good for the mind, body, and soul. With the help of a crock pot, this meal cooks and builds flavors for a few hours on its own, once the prep work is done. One of the many things I like about this recipe is that it is intentionally simple. I made it as basic as I could, because sometimes that I what I have time for, or what my kids like best. You can cook the rice while you are preparing the chicken and sauce, or cook it a few minutes before mealtime, whichever works best. Add a green salad or a green vegetable, and you’ve got a healthy, complete meal that tastes good and warms up those you love. And that too is good for the soul.

Slow-Cooked Chicken and Tomato Sauce with Rice

Servings: about 4
Time: about 15 minutes preparation, and 5 hours cooking time
Print

Ingredients:

1 to 1 1/2 pounds chicken breast halves
1 tablespoon canola oil
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1/3 cup chicken broth
1 14.5 ounce can of tomatoes (I really like organic San Marzano tomatoes because they have a great flavor)
1-2 teaspoons salt
1-2 teaspoons honey
about 2 cups cooked rice (I start out with 1 cup of uncooked rice, but it expands to about 2 cups when cooked)

Directions:

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Swirl the oil to coat the pan, and add the chicken. Cook chicken for 5-7 minutes, turning occasionally, until lightly browned. Place chicken in your crock pot. Add the chopped onion and minced garlic to the pan. Saute for about 2 minutes. Add the chicken broth, scraping the brown bits from the pan, and stirring. Add the tomatoes, breaking the tomatoes into small pieces with your spoon. Turn off the heat and pour the tomato mixture over the chicken in the crock pot. Cover and cook on low for about 5 hours. When you are about to serve the meal, test and season to taste with salt. Add 1 to 2 teaspoons of honey to taste, and stir to combine. Serve the chicken and tomato sauce over cooked rice. You may add the cooked rice to the crock pot before serving if you wish. Enjoy!

Blackberry Apple Crumble

January 9, 2015 / Dragonfly Home Recipes / 19 Comments

This delicious jumble of a crumble came about by luck this week. I don’t usually eat blackberries this time of year, but the grocery store I usually go to had organic ones on sale for a price I simply could not resist. And blackberries just sounded so juicy and luxurious, a way to brighten up the body and soul in this bleak, bitter cold weather we are having. The recipe below is a conglomeration of my favorite fruit crisp/crumble recipes, based on what I had on hand and what I thought my family would enjoy. I cannot tell you how good, sweet and juicy these blackberries taste when baked with a bit of apples and topped with the brown sugar, cinnamon, oats, almonds and pepita (shelled pumpkin seeds) mixture. The rich,velvety fruit contrasts with the crunchy, hearty topping. And of course with their deep, indigo color, the blackberries are loaded with antioxidants. After the excesses of the holiday season, it is refreshing to eat a fruity dessert. It is quite a breeze to prepare, since the blackberries require no chopping, and while it’s baking away in the oven, making your kitchen smell wonderful, you can do other things. My kids were home both yesterday and today because their schools were closed due to the extreme cold and blowing snow. I was so happy to be able to throw this blackberry apple crumble together yesterday morning and have it turn out so well, though it was an adventure to find enough natural light to photograph this dish, because of the faint winter morning light. Luckily, I have a porch, and out on the porch I went in the sub-zero temperatures with the steaming blackberry apple crumble to photograph. The deep purple of the blackberries looked so pretty against the cold, white snow and the morning sky. The sugar I had sprinkled on the blackberries before adding the topping looked just like snow. The contrast made me think about how beautiful the light and dark look together, and how our lives are defined by all types of contrasts. And that treating ourselves now and then to blackberries in the winter is good for us. I have put this recipe in the category of desserts because it is sweet, but it is substantial enough to have with breakfast, as we did this morning. Today I am going to be joining the Fiesta Friday gathering at Angie’s blog, The Novice Gardener, and will be taking this recipe over to share with the lovely bloggers there.

Blackberry Apple Crumble

Servings: 4-6
Time: 15 minutes preparation and about 25 minutes baking time
Print

Ingredients:

3 cups blackberries
1 cup apples, peeled and thinly sliced (about 1 medium-sized apple)
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1/4 cup butter
3/4 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 cup slivered almonds
2 tablespoons roasted and salted pepitas (shelled pumpkin seeds)

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Melt the butter in a small pan. In a mixing bowl, combine the oats, flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, almonds, and pepitas. Place the blackberries and apple slices in a 1.5 quart baking dish (or a baking dish of a similar size). Sprinkle the granulated sugar and cornstarch over the fruit and mix gently. Stir the melted butter into the oat/flour topping mixture and then gently spoon the topping mixture over the fruit, distributing it as evenly as possible. Bake for about 25 minutes. This dish is delicious on its own, but also tastes good with vanilla ice cream. Enjoy!