Roasted Pear Salad

One of my favorite running/eating blogs belongs to Megan of MegaNerdRuns. She lives local so she is my go to for possible races to run in Florida and restaurants to frequent. One of her favorite lunch stops features a roasted pear salad and I have been wanting to try it for a long time.

Photo credit: MegaNerd

Today I figured why wait? I bet I can make it at home.

From what I can tell, the salad contains, baby greens, gorgonzola cheese, red onion, pecans, and roasted pears.

I am a "use what you have" cook so my salad contains spring mix, strawberries (I like color and additional fruit), red onion, and blue cheese (in the form of the dressing).

I found out that you should roast pears one at a time on the stove top in a really hot pan. This did not work for me as I had three pears about to go bad and no time to watch the pears cook and pray they wouldn't burn.

Instead I chopped my pears into big bite sized chunks and combined them with 1 Tbs. of butter and 2 Tbs. of brown sugar.

At first I planned to use 1/4c. of sugar, but ended up only need half of what I planned.

(Live and learn).

I put the pears in a 9x13 pan and placed them in my 450 degree oven for 10 minutes.

They smell delicious when you take them out and they are squishy and brown.

I added them to my salad did a quick toss with the blue cheese dressing.

And served it in my favorite bowls. (Thanks Cubbage Family!)

I am not sure if this is the same salad that MegaNerd raves about, but it is GOOD!

It just might be my new favorite fruity salad.

Steppin' Out Sunday

So today Mr. R made it outside of the house. Praise the Lord!

He is not the nicest when he is sick... although neither am I, so I am grateful he is feeling better and that we could get fresh air, see and talk to other people, and run a few errands.

We made a successful trip to Costco and the bill was under $100!

Our loot should last us at least 2 weeks (with grocery store supplements). I really am trying to be better about my meal planning and making sure the food we buy does not go to waste.

Our Costco haul contained: Seafood chowder, salmon burgers, crabcakes, mango salsa, red potatoes, demi baguettes, butternut squash, strawberries, cherries, asparagus, vitamins, and taziki sauce.

This afternoon the crock-pot made a second appearance with butternut squash soup.

Ingredients:

2 pounds butternut squash cubed, 1.5 T of butter, one green apple, one red onion, 2 teaspoons of ginger, 1/4t cayenne, 1/8t all spice, 1/8t cumin, 3 cups chicken broth.

Saute your diced onion and diced green apple in the butter.

In the meantime place the cubed squash, chicken broth, and spices in your crock-pot.

Add your onion, apple, butter mixture to crock, stir, cover, and cook on low for 8 hours or on high for 5 hours.

In batches blend your soup. (I also added a 1/2 a cup of fat free half and half)

Serve in pretty bowls with a chunk of bread, a tablespoon of crumbled bacon, and salad.

FYI: You could totally make this your veggie meal of the week by omitting the bacon crumbles and subbing vegetable broth for chicken broth.

Sunday Scavenger Hunt

1. This is me

28 years old, 5 months pregnant, 4th day of the New Year

2. Resolution

Run three days a week, lift twice a week, eat more fruits and veggies

3. Treasured

Iced coffee made at home, but enjoyed via the Starbucks cold cup. I am not be affording Starbucks right now...but I can love their cup.

4. Innocence

This puppy is always claiming hers and passing all guilt to her twin brother.

5. Primitive

Easiest Mexican dinner ever. Simple, delicious, and crock-pot friendly.

Stay In Saturday: Week 2/52

One of my January goals was to have a real date with Mr. R. once a week. He is still feeling cruddy so we are staying in tonight.

I have two new recipes I wanted to try, a few TV shows I want to catch up on, and a dining room table that hadn't been used all week. On the menu, Jenna's Enchiladas and rice.

You start by sauteing a red onion and opening two cans of enchilada sauce.

Then add one pound of chicken, green chiles (from the can), 1.5 cans of enchilada sauce, and the onions to your crockpot.

Turn your crockpot to low and cook for 6 hours.

Then shred your chicken, (this is always Mr. R's job).

Place two spoonfuls of chicken in each tortilla.

Roll up your tortillas to make enchiladas, You will make about 6.

Next shred your cheese, you can do this by hand or in your food processor.

(I always choose food processor.)

Top your stuffed tortillas with the remaining enchilada sauce and 1.5 cups of cheese.

Bake for 20 minutes at 350. (I also broil mine at the end for 5 minutes).

And a word of advice.... if you don't read/subscribe to EAT, LIVE, RUN you are missing out. Jenna may just beat out Pioneer Woman in my book.

Not the day I had planned.

Mr. R is still sick. I am trying to be an awesome and sympathetic wife, but to be honest his cold/flu symptoms are cramping my style. I had fun plans to attend the Art Walk tonight and stuff myself with Mexican food from Acapulco. However, Mr. R's body had plans to hack, sneeze, and be otherwise gross and odiferous.

So... I am making lemonade (figuratively) and making the most of my marriage mandated stay-in night (literally). Panera catered chicken noodle soup and salad. Redbox gave me two hours of high school hilarity, heartbreak, and sheer craziness in the form of Easy A. (Dear God, please do not let Mr. R and I be those parents).

And now I am in my jam-jams (name that TV show!) and will be fast asleep by 11 PM.

And because I love quotes and this once was my 17 year old dream too... I leave you with an amazing one from Olive Pendergast.

"Whatever happened to chivalry? Does it only exist in 80s movies? I want John Cusack holding a boombox outside my window. I wanna ride off on a lawnmower with Patrick Dempsey. I want Jake from Sixteen Candles waiting outside the church for me. I want Judd Nelson thrusting his fist into the air because he knows he got me. Just once I want my life to be like an 80's movie, preferably one with a really awesome musical number for no apparent reason. But no, no, John Hughes did not direct my life."

Baby Talk #5: Week 22

Mr. R wrote our Dear Baby letter this week. So I thought I would follow up with pregnancy highlights. I still don't feel very pregnant and the morning sickness has finally stopped so I am almost feel normal or at least what I remember as normal.

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 22 Weeks!

Size of baby: According to the book, she is the size of a naval orange.

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Gained: I was up one pound, but then at my appointment last week I was down 2 pounds. So I think I am actually down one pound.

Maternity Clothes: I am still in my regular clothes but the baby bump is out is all it's glory. I actually looked into a pair of maternity pants because let's face it there will be a time when my jeans just refuse to button, but the way I am carrying maternity pants aren't an option right now.

Gender: GIRL! And we have a name! Piper Jayne Martin

Movement: I have belly flutters and what I think are little kicks. Also I am pretty sure she likes to dance on my bladder at 3 AM.

Sleep: I am sleeping fine, but my bedtime is still between 8:30 & 9:00. I didn't even make it to midnight this New Years Eve!

What I miss: I still miss coffee. I would love to have more than one cup a day.

Cravings: Salad, fruit, and cereal. I went to Publix for groceries earlier this week and came home with four bags of salad, a giant bowl of fruit, and two boxes of sugared cereal. Clearly the cravings have kicked in!

Symptoms: I don't think I have any yet. I posted about needing more air while running yesterday, but besides taking deeper breaths I can't think of anything. And best news yet! The constant burping has almost stopped!

Best Moment this week: The ultrasound! We are having a girl!!! Tutus and pink all the way!

Husband Quote: At the ultrasound Jeff was so excited to be Piper's dad. He has been amazing supportive these past 5 months and while he isn't always vocal about his thoughts and feelings, he left the ultrasound beaming and ready to pick out girl clothes.

Another winner! (Last Nights Dinner)

Rachael Ray is my homegirl! Wait, can I still say that and be cool? Is the saying _______ is my homegirl to 2003? Did anyone else have the Mary is my homegirl t-shirt? And moving on....

Last night I tried RR's chicken suiza enchilada casserole. Ms. Ray has a new show called Cooking for the Week and I caught the last 10 minutes of it before church on Sunday morning. That was long enough to set the DVR for all future episodes and get the gist of this amazing recipe.

Ingredients: Shredded rotisserie chicken, salsa verde, sour cream, tortillas, and a mixture of Monterey jack and swiss cheeses.

You basically layer the ingredients, making three layers total, bake and enjoy!

The actual recipe is found here.

Seriously, go bookmark this page, watch her show, and eat an awesome 30 minute meal :)