Christine's Honey-Roasted Pears (Can Be Vegan)

These are so delicious it's hard to believe they're free of any processed sugars! It's more of a "procedure" than a recipe, but this is modified a bit from what I was able to get from my friend Christine, who first served these to us. Her take? "They're better the longer they sit." As in days. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

Ripe pears*

Cinnamon

Ginger

Walnuts and/or pecans, hand crumbled

Honey (and/or date syrup, pure maple syrup)

Vanilla

Rum (opt.)

Instructions:

1) Halve the pears lengthwise and slightly hollow out a small "bowl" in each, where the seeds are. Leave a good bit of the flesh inside the skin of the pear, but make room for a generous serving of nuts in each. (Reserve the stuff you scoop out for your morning smoothie!)

2) Sprinkle each pear half with cinnamon and ginger. ill each pear "bowl" with crumbled nuts.

3) Thin honey slightly with a little water, maple syrup, vanilla, and/or a splash of rum. You are going for a pourable but still kinda thick consistency. (Maybe 1/4 C. warm water total, and 1 Tbsp. honey per pear half or so. It's really going by feel here.)

4) Drizzle over the pears, keeping it mostly in the "bowls" with the nuts—and on the fruit itself—but not spilling out into the casserole dish. Be generous with this honey mix. Don't skimp!

5) Add a little bit of water in the bottom of the casserole dish to keep things moist and to increase the yummy syrupy sauce that will be created as the pears bake.

6) Bake uncovered at 350 degrees until pears are soft, which depends on their ripeness—maybe 20–30 minutes or so.

7) Let them sit for a good long time before serving. The "sauce" will thicken up the longer it sits. (I've been known to thicken it up with arrowroot powder in a saucepan if I'm desperate for it quickly, or if I've inadvertently added too much water during the cooking stage.)

*NOTE: The pears don't have to be super-soft ripe or anything, but if you would presume that firm, unripe pears might soften up with cooking like apples do, you would be mistaken. Ask me how I know...

Christine's Warm Salad of Pork and Black-Eyed Peas

10 ounces of black-eyed peas, cooked

1/3 C. Italian salad dressing

1/2 C. snow peas, coarsely chopped or halved

1/4 C. green onions, diced

1/4 C. fresh mushrooms, sliced

1/4 C. celery, sliced

1/4 C. red pepper, chopped

2 Tbsp. olives, sliced

drizzle of olive oil or non-stick cooking spray

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 pound pork tenderloin, cut into thin strips

fresh spinach, greens, and lettuces to line plate

1) Combine first 8 ingredients and set aside.

2) Drizzle olive oil in a large skillet and stir-fry garlic for 30 seconds.

3) Add pork. If uncooked, stir-fry for 2-3 minutes until no longer pink. If cooked, stir-fry just until warm.

4) Remove from heat.

5) Add vegetable mixture to pork in skillet and mix well.

6) Serve over greens.

Christine's BBQ Beans

Combine in large bowl:

1/2 C. chopped onion

1/3 C. sugar (I use real maple syrup instead)

1/3 C. brown sugar

1/2 C. BBQ sauce

1/4 C. ketchup

1/2 tsp. pepper

1/2 tsp. chili powder

2 Tbsp. molasses

2 tsp. Dijon mustard

Add 3 cans of any kinds of canned beans you like, drained and rinsed.

Original recipe calls for:

vegetarian baked beans (unrinsed)

kidney beans

butter beans

Christine uses white beans instead of butter beans.

Spoon in greased baking dish. Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 1 hour, stirring once.

Beef and Butternut Squash Chili

Again, I made a huge quantity. Feel free to cut it down:

2-3 lbs. ground beef
2 chopped peppers (I used all 4 colors, 1/2 pepper of each color)
2 chopped onions
5 minced garlic cloves
1 large can stewed tomatoes
1 can whole tomatoes
2 cans Rotel tomatoes
3 C. kidney beans (or cans - I used 1 each of light red, dark red, and white kidneys)
2 butternut squash, peeled and cubed
2-4 C. beef broth (or more, depending on desired liquid level of finished soup)
1-2 Tbsp. ground cumin
1-2 Tbsp. chili powder
2-3 C. frozen corn
other seasonings - I added SPG and garlic salt

Brown hamburger; drain well. Saute onion and peppers in olive oil. Add all ingredients except frozen corn. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer, stirring occasionally, 15 minutes or until squash is tender. Stir in corn and cook just until corn is tender (not even 5 minutes).

It was deliciously savory and offset nicely by slices of French baguette spread with Irish butter.

Thank you, Christine, for this delicious recipe!

One-Step Bean Guacamole

This was originally our friend Ms. Christine's recipe, but since I make it all the time now, my family calls it "O's dip."
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1 avocado
1(15-oz.) can kidney beans
1/2 c. red salsa
1 to 2 T. chopped cilantro (opt.)
Salt and pepper to taste

Coarsely mash together the avocado and beans. Stir in salsa. Season to taste.

Seven-Layer Cookie Bars

This was originally our friend Ms. Christine's recipe, but I have become famous for making it.
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NOTE from Laurie: This is a quick and easy recipe when you need a sweet treat to share, but they are very sweet (what my family calls "sicky sweet"!) and I can't really eat them if they're made according to the recipe. When I make them, I cut the quantity of both types of chips by half.

1 stick butter
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
1 C.  bittersweet chocolate chips (Sicky sweet—use significantly less!)
1 C.  butterscotch chips (Sicky sweet—use significantly less!)
1 cup coconut
1 cup chopped pecans
1 can sweetened condensed milk

In square metal pan, melt butter. Stir in graham cracker crumbs. Sprinkle with layers of the following: chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, coconut, and pecans. Pour the milk over this. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 to 40 minutes. Cool and then cut into small squares. (They are very rich!)