Apple and Pear Bread

I needed something homey and comforting... my house has almost not food in it... but I had apples and a few overripe pears. So today I made apple and pear bread. It was delicious. It was homey. It was gone within a few hours of making it.

Sometimes life is really crappy, and hard, and you don't think that you will be able to get up out of bed. If you feel that way take a stab at this bread. You get the joy of peeling and chopping stuff up, pulverizing some pears, whipping it all together in a big bowl, and then enjoying the moist almost cakelike texture of the bread. It's also very quick to do. The thing that takes the longest is chopping the apples.

Ingredients:

2 overripe pears (it doesn't really matter what kind), peeled and pulverized - about 3/4 of a cup
3 apples (I used 2 Granny Smiths and 1 Fuji), peeled and chopped 2-3 cups
3 c flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1-2 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground cloves
3 eggs
1 c brown sugar
3/4 c granulated sugar
1/3 c greek yogurt
2 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a medium bowl mix dry ingredients together. In a large bowl whisk together eggs,  sugars, greek yogurt, vanilla, and smashed pears. Once well incorporated add your dry ingredients in about 3 batches. Mix well. Add apples and mix into batter. This is a thick batter, don't worry. It is dense, but very moist. Put into two greased loaf pans, and bake for 50-60 minutes. Make sure you do the toothpick test. :)


Pulverized Pears


Chopped apples

Dry Ingredients

Eggs, Yogurt, Sugars, Vanilla, and Pears.

All mixed together

Add your dry ingredients

And your apples

Pour into two greased loaf pans.
BAKE...

Mmmmmm

Biscuits and Gravy

A VERY basic recipe today. Biscuits and gravy is one of my favorite comfort foods. I'll make it for breakfast, or dinner if I'm eating alone (which happens far more often than I would like). The key to REALLY good biscuits and gravy is good sausage. You want to get really nice and flavorful sausage, or make your own if you've the time. I happened to have linked sausages for this go-around, but I usually use the log that you can just break off what you want. :D I also LOVE my sausage gravy to be loaded with sausage bits. So, good sausage, and good biscuits. If you want to use store bought that's fine... but stay away from the "flaky" ones, and anything that says "butter flavoring" on it. It will compete too much with your gravy. Here we go! Ingredients: 1-2 lb sausage 1/4 c flour 2 cups milk (or 1 c milk, 1 c cream) 1 shallot, finely diced 2 cloves garlic, finely minced 8 oz mushrooms, half sliced, half diced Salt and Pepper Cook off your sausage until it's done. Remove from pan. Add your shallot, garlic, and mushrooms to the sausage drippings, sautee for about two minutes. Sprinkle your flour over the top, and then stir in well. You want to cook this gently to remove some of the floury taste. Slowly add in your milk, stirring as you go. If your gravy is going to have lumps... this is where it happens. Take your time! Add back in your cooked sausage and cook for a minute or so until everything is well combined and your sausage is warmed through. TASTE! Add salt and pepper as needed. Cover your biscuit of choice with your gravy and nosh away! Cook the sausage. Sautee the veg. Add your flour. Combine well. Slowly add your milk. Add your sausage back in. Nosh! Do you like biscuits and gravy?

Banana Coffee Cake

There can't be a thing wrong with coffee cake throw in a banana or two and you have a GREAT coffee cake. I found this recipe in a book A Sheetcake Named Desire by Jacklyn Brady. I tweaked it a bit to suit my own tastes, and I hope you love the results as much as we do!

Ingredients:
2/3 c packed brown sugar
2/3 c walnuts or pecans (optional)
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 c butter, softened
3/4 c granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 1/4 c ripe banana, mashed
2 Tbsp greek yogurt (can use sour cream)
1 Tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 c all purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon


Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 8x8x2 pan ( I used a long loaf tin).
In a small bowl combine brown sugar, cinnamon and nuts. Set aside.
In a large bowl beat butter, sugar and egg until fluffy. Add bananas, sour cream, and milk. Mix well. Beat in dry ingredients until just blended.
Spread half the batter in your pan, cover with half of the cinnamon sugar mixture. Carefully spread the remaining batter over the cinnamon sugar. Top with the remaining cinnamon sugar. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, between 40 and 50 minutes. Cool in pan. Can be served warm or room temperature. Can also be frozen.


Brown sugar.

Add in your cinnamon and nuts if using. Set aside.

Cream together butter, sugar, and egg.

Add mashed bananas, greek yogurt, milk, and vanilla.

Mmmmm banana....

Add in the dry ingredients.

Mix until smooth.

Add just over half the batter to your greased pan.

Cover with half the cinnamon sugar.
Repeat.

I added some butterscotch chips to the top on my cake. You can omit these, or use chocolate.

Bake for 40 to 50 minutes.



Enjoy!