Bolognese Sauce

Simple, classic, and clean flavors. That is my own personal description of this sauce. I love this sauce for many reasons, one of which is simplicity. This is a simple, easy and absolutely delicious sauce to add to any pasta. Whenever I make this sauce regardless of what I put it on, there are no leftovers. It's that good. Don't believe me? Try it. Prove me wrong.

Ingredients:
olive oil
1 medium onion, peeled, and finely chopped
2 medium carrots, peeled, and finely chopped
2 ribs celery, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, very finely minced
5-10 roma tomatoes, chopped (I know this seems vague, but it's based on your taste, I like more tomato) OR you can use a can of crushed tomatoes if you don't have fresh
1 lb pork sausage (I like hot italian)
1 lb ground veal (Usually I use 2 lbs italian sausage)
1/2 c to 1 c heavy cream
2 Tbsp butter
Salt and Pepper
Parsley, chopped

In a large pot over medium low heat add your onion, garlic, carrot, and celery.  Add your tomatoes. Cover and keep on medium low/low for 15 minutes until tomatoes start to fall apart. Squish all the veg to the outside and add your meat to the center of the pot. Break the meat apart into very small pieces, but try to keep it contained. Then cover and cook another five or so minutes at medium. Uncover and vigorously stir the meat into the veg. If the meat is all the way cooked, you're just about done add in your cream, and butter. If the meat is not cooked leave it a few more minutes and then add the cream and butter. Salt and Pepper to taste. Serve with pasta and sprinkle with parsley.

I tend to use this as a quick sauce, but as with any sauce the longer you simmer the more developed and deeper the flavors. If you have the time, let it go for a while, you won't be sorry.

Enjoy!

Onion

All the veg

Simmering away

Add the cream

Buttery

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

Brookies - Chocolate Avocado Cookies

I have to start off by saying please do not be afraid of these cookies. You cannot taste the avocado, it morphs into this amazing creaminess that lends these cookies their awesome texture. 

This is an adaptation of a recipe that I tried at a cookie exchange a few years back, I cannot remember whose cookies these were... so I apologize for that. The cookies I had were chocolate banana cookies and I was reminded of them by a book that I read recently by Joanne Fluke. I used her recipe as a base, and added a bit of my own flair. There will be a recipe that are actually chocolate banana cookies, this is a bit different though.

These were named by a gentleman that I work with at my "real" job. His name is Bill. Bills description of this cookie is that it's like a cross between a brownie and a cookie. Hence Brookie.

These cookies are dense, moist, and very rich. I am not ashamed to say that I ate several of these in one sitting, but if you aren't me... you may only be able to handle a few.

Ingredients
1/2 c salted butter (or unsalted with a pinch of salt)
3 oz dark chocolate (or unsweetened)
3/4 c granulated sugar
1 c brown sugar, packed
2 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 c mashed avocado, about 2 medium (mash VERY SMOOTH)
2 1/2 c flour
1/2 c cocoa powder - next go around I'm going to try using Dark Chocolate cocoa powder
1 c semisweet chocolate chips
1 c dark chocolate chips
1 c chopped pistachios


Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.

In a microwave safe bowl combine butter and 3 oz chocolate. Melt in microwave on high for 2 -3 minutes. Set aside.

In a large bowl combine sugars and stir together until well combined. Add eggs, one at a time until well incorporated. Whip eggs and sugar together until lightened and a bit fluffy. Add vanilla, salt, and  baking powder. Stir until well combined. Add your avocado and mix well.

Check your chocolate and butter mixture. It should be cooled down enough to add at this point, but if it is still very hot, wait a few minutes before continuing.

Add the chocolate and butter mix to your big bowl. Stir well. Add your flour and cocoa powder in increments until well combined. This is a stiff batter, be ready for that.

Add in your chips/chunks of chocolate. Use a cookie scoop or 1 Tbsp measure to measure out these babies. I suppose you could make them bigger, but you'd need to adjust your baking time. On top of each cookie I sprinkled some chopped pistachios for a little bit of crunch, and salt. You could forgo these and sprinkle with sea salt, or nothing. These cookies do not spread, so press them down gently, or you'll have little ball cookies.

Bake on parchment lined baking sheets for 13 to 15 minutes until they no longer feel moist on the outside. Try not to over cook them, they are not as good when they aren't moist inside. Let them cool on the cookie sheets for a few minutes so they firm up enough to be moved to a cooling rack. Let them cool completely before eating, the avocado mellows after cooled. If you do not have a sensitive pallet then go ahead and eat them warm.... they're still amazing.




Sugars

All mixed up.

Add your eggs

One at a time.

Avocado in.

Chocolate

Dry ingredients.

Chocolate Chips

All lined up.

Cool.

Enjoy!

Apple and Pear Pie

1/4 cup unsalted butter, chopped into small pieces
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 Tbsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp cloves6 Granny Smith apples - peeled, cored and sliced
2 pears, firm, peeled, cored and sliced (you can halve the apples and pears, this is just what I had on hand)
Pie crust

Preheat oven to 475. Combine dry ingredients and pour over fruit. Mix together well but be gentle! Your pears will break apart if you are too rough. Put your bottom crust into a 9" pie plate. Fill with your fruit. I like to layer the fruit by hand, but it really does not matter. You can just chuck it in the plate and be done. I cover mine with a lattice top, but you can just put a regular crust on top. Make sure you brush the top crust with egg wash to get that lovely browning, I sprinkle sugar on mine as well.
Bake at 475 for 15 minutes, then turn the oven down to 350 for 35-45 minutes.
Make sure that you either put this on a cookie sheet bigger than your pie plate, or that you line underneath with tin foil, this can bubble over. Serve with vanilla ice cream for a real treat!

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