Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies (Gluten Free)

     My wife has had gestational diabetes with each of our three children and these cookies made without flour and Splenda swapped for the sugar have made me a hero for the last two pregnancies. They are great for friends or family with gluten intolerance or Celiac's . . .  but most of all they are just awesome peanut butter cookies. Easy, fast, and with ingredients you likely have on hand right now.

     Small warning with a Splenda swap . . . they do get very delicate aka crumbly.

Ingredients:

1 large egg
1/2 C white sugar & 1/2 C brown sugar
1 t baking soda
1 C creamy peanut butter
1/2 t vanilla extract
1/3 cup chocolate chips (optional)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°F and if not using a good nonstick cookie sheet line your cookie sheet with parchment.

Beat together all the ingredients (except the chocolate) until well blended. The dough will be softer than you are likely used to- no worries.

Roll tablespoon sized balls and place onto prepared baking sheet, pressing lightly with the back of a fork twice at a ninety degree angle. Bake for 8-10 minutes, until lightly set. Remove from oven and allow to cool on the pan for 2 more minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling.

If desired place chocolate (I used milk chocolate) in a microwave safe bowl and heat in 30 second intervals stirring in between until smooth and melted (or use the double boiler method on your stove). Drizzle the cooled cookies with the chocolate and enjoy!

Roasted Cauliflower & Smoked Gouda Soup

It's cauliflower season!     

     Trust me, I know cauliflower is not glamorous, sexy, or exciting. It is plain old white and sort of mellow in flavor and even people who really like cauliflower never really LOVE cauliflower.

     But even a plain Jane like cauliflower can put on a little black dress and get noticed once in awhile and if you don't peg yourself in the the even like cauliflower category, try this out you may truly be surprised.

     So what transforms cauliflower? In short, a little heat- roasting to be more specific. It gives it color, makes it sweeter, yet more earthy. Just like plain old white sugar is transformed with heat into magical caramel full of color and complexity so too does heat transform this vegetable in a way that you can't really imagine until you try it. So try it, you may just love cauliflower after all . . .

 Ingredients:
2 heads of cauliflower, washed and chopped into florets
3 C beef stock (or vegetable if making vegetarian)
2 C milk, cream, or half and half (I use whole milk)
4 oz smoked Gouda, grated
1 medium white onion, diced
3-4 sprigs fresh thyme
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 t. nutmeg
ground black pepper
salt
olive oil

Directions: preheat your oven to 425F. Drizzle a little olive oil on a large (approx 11x17 or larger) cookie sheet and add cauliflower and garlic seasoning lightly with salt and pepper and toss lightly to coat. Spread out cauliflower evenly on the sheet and place in the oven for 12 min. Remove from oven and toss again checking in 10-12 min to see that cauliflower is generally golden and not getting too brown.

In a stock pot cook the onion in a little olive oil until the onion turns clear and starts to caramelize. Add the stock and leaves from the thyme sprigs. Bring to a low boil, then add the roasted cauliflower and turn off the heat. Using an immersion blender blend in the pot until fairly smooth or transfer in batches to a blender until all is well blended. Add the cheese and nutmeg and stir until the cheese has melted. Add the milk and stir, blend more until the consistency is to your liking. Serve with croutons or crackers and garnish with additional fresh ground pepper, thyme, and/or nutmeg. Enjoy!

Easy (Cheater) Pumpkin Pancakes

     So my favorite thing about fall? Pumpkin. Nothing makes me more excited than seeing pumpkin in almost everything, then I think why not all year? Then I realize pumpkin taking center stage for two months rather than twelve is why I get so excited about it and makes it such a treat. I could put a recipe I have to make these from scratch but in a spirit of honesty these capture all the magic and take 10 minutes. Truly just 10 minutes for 10 moist, slightly sweet, slightly spicy, golden pancakes that will win over anyone and bring pumpkin to center stage at your next breakfast. May want to double this . . . 10 go really fast.

      So when I am going for fast and easy I like Krusteaz Buttermilk pancake mix the best. To make the batter add 1 1/2 C mix, 3/4 C water, and 1C canned pumpkin or homemade puree and mix.
     Once somewhat mixed add 1/2 t pumpkin pie spice (or 1/4 t cinnamon, 1/8 t ground ginger, several grates of nutmeg or a healthy pinch of ground nutmeg and a healthy pinch of allspice. Then stir and adjust thickness of your batter if needed with additional water. I like mine about the consistency of yogurt.

     Heat your griddle to 350 degrees F or pan on medium and lightly oil or spray the surface. Then ladle out your batter.
     Never made pancakes before? Look for bubbles to form on the surface, when they pop they will form craters across the surface, when you have all craters and no bubbles, they're ready to flip. This picture if you click to enlarge it shows mostly bubbles with a few craters to give you and idea of what I'm talking about.

    
     Give them a couple minutes on the other side and they'll be ready to go, as will you. They smell like pumpkin pie and if you're like me there is almost nothing better.
     Serve with: butter and maple syrup, butter and powdered sugar, maple butter, sweetened ricotta, cream cheese glaze, or a personal favorite in my house is to slather them with chocolate hazlenut spread. Any way you do it these are sure to please and quick and easy.

"Sun" Dried Tomatoes

  I LOVE fall, it's my favorite season and favorite time of year. But often fall seems to come late and winter early, and I know then this smiling jar of summer now in my fridge will be oh so welcome when the ground has frozen hard and my garden is in its deep slumber.

More of a technique than a recipe a good friend asked me about making sun dried tomatoes- so I thought I'd share what I know. I learned from some of the best pasta mamas in Italy, but adapted the technique for a more consistent, and sanitary, method using a dehydrator rather than the sun; hence the quotation marks in the title. First you simply cut the tomatoes in halves and trim out the cores. Any ripe tomatoes will do and while some like to seed and core I like the more rustic look and the sweeter taste of just the simple halves. They do take longer to dry this way, but the results are worth it.

Lightly salt the cut sides and place them cut side up on your racks for the dehydrator or if going old school place them on a large screen or parchment lined cookie sheets and place them in the sun EARLY as it will often take more than a day and then bring them in at night and repeat. In a dehydrator set the temperature for 140 degrees F and check them at 12 hrs and vary your time from there. Depending on the size of the tomatoes they will take approx. 14-18 hours. Once dried they should have a slightly crisp to a sort of leathery feel, they should not feel wet if they are fully done. Heat about 1C of olive oil and add 1 clove chopped garlic. (I like to use a tea ball for this so I don't have garlic pieces in my oil. Once the garlic turns lightly golden remove the oil from the heat and remove the garlic from the oil.

Cut the tomatoes with kitchen shears into strips or leave in halves if you prefer. then cover them with the garlic infused oil. I then like to add vegetable oil (enough to cover all the tomatoes) as it will keep the olive oil from clouding so badly in the refrigerator although you can use straight olive oil if you prefer. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use- although if you can wait a few weeks the garlic and tomatoes will blend in the oil and give you a two for one- sun dried tomatoes like you have never tasted and sun dried tomato garlic oil for dipping bread or drizzling on salad or mixing with goat cheese and topping crackers with both the cheese spread and the tomatoes . . . it'll take the chill right out of winter, I promise.

Heirloom Tomato Panzanella





     As summer dwindles into fall with its still hot, although shorter days, followed by crisp nights- my garden follows the cues of the season and transitions from abundant growth to abundant harvest.

     Perhaps you're lucky enough to share my "problem", a sudden bumper crop of tomatoes, if not- I must say it's the one curse I gladly will on anyone. At first when you walk out and see your bushes and vines loaded down with sun ripened fruit and glorious vegetables you feel so blessed  . . . but then you suddenly realize you have fifteen pounds of ripe tomatoes that need used now and another fifteen in the next day or so. It's a problem I long for in February so I try to just smile and enjoy it now in September.

So what to do with all those beautiful tomatoes?



    

     Might I suggest something from my Italian repertoire: Panzanella.

     Essentially it's a "bread salad" and there are a lot of variations. If a bread salad has you doubting just know my variation reminds me of everything wonderful about tomato bruschetta.

     First things first, you do not have to have heirloom tomatoes, the variety just looks prettier and the variance in tastes makes the salad more interesting. But it's not a deal breaker.

For the croutons:
6 cups day-old bread, crust removed, cubed
1/4 cup butter
2 teaspoons chopped garlic
2 teaspoons thyme
Preheat oven to 400°F. Melt the butter in a large skillet over moderate heat and cook until it just starts to brown, then add the garlic, thyme, and bread cubes. Toss to coat. Transfer the bread to a baking sheet and bake stirring once or twice,about 10 to 15 minutes until the croutons are crisp and lightly golden then set aside and cool.

For the salad:

3T balsamic vinegar

4T olive oil

6 cups diced, halved, or sliced tomatoes depending on size and preference
1T oregano
1/2 cup fresh small basil leaves, or chiffonade larger leaves
basil blossoms if available (for garnish)

     In a large bowl combine the oil and vinegar and whisk. Add the tomatoes and herbs and toss. Add the croutons and toss again. Taste and adjust the seasoning. Garnish with basil blossoms and serve immediately.

Carmelized Pear Pancakes

 

     It seemed appropriate that given my blog's title the first recipe include pear . . . and I just so happen (as I mentioned prior) to have a LOT of pears in my kitchen right now. It also seemed appropriate to start with something simple. So here's Saturday's breakfast:

     Peel and halve your pears, then core with a knife or melon baller. Slice the pear lengthwise into several thick slices and then drop into a bowl of water 4C and lemon juice 1/4 C. (This will keep them from browning.) pour about a 1/2 C of sugar on a plate and make your favorite pancake batter.

     Once your skillet or griddle is hot, grab a pear slice allowing the excess liquid to drip back into the bowl, then press it gently into the plate of sugar on both sides of the slice and repeat with the same number of pear slices as you can fit pancakes in your pan or griddle. Then place the pears on the griddle spaced as you would center them in your pancakes. 

     Then the magic happens. The pear will make a syrup with the sugar that will then make a sort of caramel halo, once it looks nice and caramelized, flip the pears to their other side and then pour your batter over each pear slice leaving the pear slice roughly in the center of the pancake. Flip when ready and then when done, brush with butter and dust with powdered sugar.

     I promise you will not be disappointed.

Welcome!

With a lot of encouragement I decided why not have a cooking blog . . . it combines three of my interests (cooking, photography, and writing) in one. In case the title has you fooled, this will not be a blog devoted to pears (although with two large boxes sitting in my kitchen I do have them on the brain) it really has more to do with me. I have always been a little atypical as seen quite readily during football season at our house when my wife watches the game and I whip together some snacks or game food for half time. Or that for my birthday last year I bought books regarding my somewhat new obsession with canning and preserving, or that my favorite gifts have been my Le Creuset dutch oven or Microplane grater. I have other interests too . . . but I LOVE to cook and to cook for others. I think my years in Italy taught me an appreciation for simple, but quality ingredients and an appreciation for what a good meal can both do and mean. I hope you'll find some joy in what I share and  try some new things with me.