Easy Summer Fruit and Nut Salad

First of all, I have to say that this picture doesn't do this salad justice.  I was partway through tearing into it when I thought that you ladies might like the recipe, and oh, I guess I should photograph it.

This one is an easy one to modify with summer fruit that you like best.  You can also swap out the nuts and change or omit the cheese.

Ingredients:

1 package bagged lettuce (I like the butter lettuce mix best, but any kind will do).
1 large or 2 small peaches, cubed
1/4 cup blueberries
3 Tbsp toasted, sliced almonds
Crumbled Feta cheese to taste
Balsamic vinagrette

Toss all the ingredients together and dig in!  I love this salad for a warm summer night with grilled chicken and a glass of white wine.

Pear and Prosciutto Pizza

  

  

 

 Hi girls!

So, this recipe is SUPER easy.  The thing that takes the longest here are the onions (but caramelized onions are SO worth the effort!).  

I've adapted the recipe slightly from the original.  The red wine vinegar with the prosciutto sounds really weird, but try it.  It makes the prosciutto SO good (melt-in-your-mouth, snarf-it-up, lucky-if-any-gets-on-the-pizza-good).  I also used a Pillsbury crust (the kind in the tube) and baked it off before I put all the toppings on.  Either kind of crust will work fine.  (This was great the next day, too.  Just remove the arugula from the pizza before you put it in the fridge and make new greens the next day.)

Enjoy!

  

  
Pear and Prosciutto Pizza

Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 2 wedges)

Ingredients

• 3  teaspoons  olive oil
• 2  cups  vertically sliced Oso Sweet or other sweet onion
• 1  (12-ounce) prebaked pizza crust (such as Mama Mary's)
• 1/2  cup (2 ounces) shredded provolone cheese
• 1  medium pear, thinly sliced
• 2  ounces prosciutto, cut into thin strips
• Dash of freshly ground black pepper
• 2  tablespoons chopped walnuts, toasted
• 1 1/2  cups baby arugula leaves
• 1  teaspoon sherry vinegar
• 1  teaspoon red wine vinegar

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 450°.
2. Heat 1 teaspoon oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat.  Add prosciutto and cook until slightly crisp.  Add the red wine vinegar to the pan.  When vinegar is cooked off, remove prosciutto.
3. In the same pan, heat 2 teaspoons oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-low heat. Add onion to pan; cover and cook for 3 minutes. Uncover and cook 20-30 minutes or until translucent and golden brown, stirring occasionally.
4. Place pizza crust on a baking sheet. Top evenly with onion mixture; sprinkle with cheese. Top evenly with pear and prosciutto. Sprinkle with pepper. Bake at 450° for 12 minutes or until cheese melts. Sprinkle with nuts. Place arugula in a medium bowl. Drizzle sherry vinegar over greens; toss gently to coat. Top pizza evenly with arugula mixture. Cut pizza into 8 wedges.

Butternut Squash Soup

This is one of my husband and I's FAVORITE soup recipes. If you like butternut squash you will LOVE THIS!! I typically serve it with cubed french or sourdough bread for dipping. The sweetness of the cream and squash with a little bit of a spicy "kick" really makes this soup unbelievable! :)

NOTE: I would recommend adjusting the amount of cream according to your taste (I like a velvety texture) as well as the jalapeno pepper depending on whether or not you like it hot! Re-season with S&P before serving to your taste...

Ingredients

1 Butternut squash, about 2 pounds

2 tablespoons peanut oil

1 cup chopped onion

1 1/2 teaspoons chopped garlic

1/2 cup thinly sliced carrot

1/2 teaspoons ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1 tablespoon finely minced jalapeno pepper

2 cups chicken stock

1/4 cup heavy cream

Salt & Pepper (to taste)

Directions

Cut the squash in half and scoop out the seeds. Peel the squash and cut into 1 inch pieces. In a large pot, heat oil over medium heat. Add onion and garlic and cook, stirring often, until they begin to brown, about 5 minutes. Add the carrot, cumin, salt, and pepper. Cook for 1 minute, and then add squash, jalapeno pepper, and chicken stock. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 15- 20 minutes, or until the vegetables are tender. Remove from the heat and puree the soup using an immersion blender, or transfer to a blender or food processor. Puree until smooth. Return to the heat, add the cream and adjust the seasonings.

Pie In A Jar

I have to start with saying that I'm a huge pie fan. I don't really like cake but I never say no to pies or fruit tarts. So when I saw this blog feature about pie in a jar I just about flipped. After reading the post myself and several friends bought the mini mason jars so we could do this ourselves. Its been a while and the mini mason jars have been hanging out in my room for months but this past weekend I finally made pie in a jar!!

My mom helped me and we used her apple pie recipe but you can use just about any pie recipe you want, fruit, pumpkin, chocolate, whatever. For the pie crust we have always taken the easy route and bought the pie crust mix you just add water to. You could probably buy the frozen kind to make it even easier. What is nice is that you do not have to roll out the dough. Just take little chunks and press them into the jars. You will only have to roll the dough if you want to put a top layer of crust on.

We decided to do half with a crust on top and the other half with streusel. The streusel ones ended up being my favorite because I loved that little bit of crunch.We baked one of each and I was in heaven!

After you assembled the pies you can freeze them and use as needed. Just put the lids on tight! They make a great hostess gift, party favor, Valentine's treat or emotional breakdown intervention.

When you are ready to cook them preheat oven to 375 degrees. I haven't cooked them frozen but you can put them in the oven while its preheating to defrost them a bit. Bake them for 50-60 minutes until the crust is slightly browned or the fruit pie is bubbling.

Hope you enjoyed!

Thank you to ourbestbites.com for sharing this great idea!

The full feature is found here:

http://www.ourbestbites.com/2009/09/single-serving-pie-in-jar.html

Here is the link to buy the jars:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0000BYD0F