Baked Camembert with Asian Pears

Make a baked Camembert to impress your guests. They'll never guess how easy this is to prepare.

My sister, here husband and their friends love cheese. I added Asian pears (which I knew as apple-pears growing up) and got a nice walnut baguette to serve it with. It disappeared quickly.

Even though I stay away from gluten and dairy, I did try a few slices of this wonderful treat. Let me tell you, the melted cheese, the sweet Asian pear and the crunch of the walnuts makes a divine combination. I think some good quality salami would be wonderful with this, too.

At my parents' house, there are always many appetizers to chose from. Quite a spread appears, seemingly out of nowhere, as soon as they know someone is on their way over. Not sure how she does it, but Gran Fran usually gets some homemade focaccia bread in the oven, pulls together some roasted hot peppers and an assortment of salami.

Since most of the entertaining I do involves going to friends' houses, I try to bring along a few great side dishes or appetizers. This baked Camembert will go into regular rotation!

Baked Camembert with Asian Pears and Baguette

INGREDIENTS

• 1 wheel good quality Camembert cheese, placed in a baking dish
• 2 Asian pears washed and sliced
• 1 baguette, sliced

PREPARATION

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
2. Place the baking dish with the cheese in it in the oven and bake for 10 to 15 minutes, until you see it starting to brown on top and soften.
3. Serve with the Asian pear spread on toasted baguette.

Breakfast for Dinner: Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Pancakes

We had gluten free chocolate chip pancakes for dinner tonight.

 Working all day, cooking two to three meals a day and making sure my teenage daughter is taken care of is a huge amount of responsibility. I love all of it, but sometimes, I just have to give in to a nice and easy dinner: gluten-free almond milk chocolate chip pancakes (way more words in that name than the actual effort took to make them).

This is another installment of my cook the book project with these lovely ladies: Rachel, Aimee, Emily, Sammy and Claudie. We are cooking our way through Marion Cunnignham's The Breakfast Book. Chapter six is all about pancakes!

My daughter was thrilled with the choice. I didn't have any bacon, so she had roasted chicken and  cauliflower alongside her pancakes. Sort of like she ate dessert at the same time as dinner.

Look at that batter. The warm milk and butter mixture melted the chocolate chips into delicious strips of chocolatey goodness.

I made them with almond milk and gluten-free flour so I could eat them, too. So yummy!

Plain Pancakes

adapted from Marion Cunnigham’s The Breakfast Book, Copyright 1987, Alfred A. Knopf

Ingredients:

• 2 eggs
• 5 tablespoons butter
• 1 cup almond milk
• 1 1/4 cups gluten-free flour (make your own or use this one from Gluten-Free Pantry)
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt

Method:

• Beat the eggs in a mixing bowl until they are thoroughly blended. Put the butter and the milk in a small saucepan and warm over low heat until the butter has melted.
• Set aside and allow to cool a little –you don't want to add this mixture to the eggs while it is very hot or it will cook the eggs. Stir the butter mixture into the eggs and mix well.
• Put the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt into a bowl and stir with a fork until well mixed.
• Pour the egg mixture into the flour mixture and stir only until the dry ingredients are well moistened. Don't over mix.
• Heat a griddle or skillet until a few drops of water dance on it, then lightly film with grease.
• Drop 2 or 3 tablespoons of batter for each pancake onto the griddle (a 12-inch girdler will hold 4 pancakes) and cook until bubbles break on the surface.
• Turn the pancake over and cook another 30 seconds, or until the bottom is lightly browned. Serve the pancakes hot.

A Little Taste of Home: Onions and Eggs

Gran Fran made me onions and eggs on our most recent visit.

We visited for a little over two weeks, and returned home just before school started. What a good time we had. Tons of good food at every turn, with these onions and eggs as one of my favorite simple meals we were served.

These eggs are great served at room temperature, too. You could easily pack this in a container for a nice hearty lunch. It's also excellent with some cheese added in at the end of cooking, or better yet, some bacon. The little bit of sugar in the mix just heightens  the flavor of the onions.

Make this easy, four ingredient dinner for dinner, serve it alongside a salad and toasted baguette and you've got yourself a great meal.

Onions and Eggs

Ingredients:

• 2 pounds Vidalia onions, thinly sliced
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• Good dose of kosher salt
• Freshly ground pepper to taste
• 8 large eggs, beaten just until blended

Method:

1. Heat large skillet; add olive oil; heat oil over high heat.
2. Add onions; reduce flame to medium; sprinkle with sugar, salt, and pepper.
3. Saute about 20 minutes over low heat---or until golden and reduced by at least half.
4. On medium heat;stir in eggs; allow to set for three minutes or so.
5. Stir and fold eggs until they reach desired consistency; serve.

Sweet Peppers, Oven Roasted

Take the time to make these roasted peppers. Super simple, delicious and versatile, these peppers can served as a side dish or in a salad. I served them on top  broiled salmon and quinoa.

Delish!

Oven Roasted Sweet Peppers

INGREDIENTS

• 3 sweet peppers sliced into rings
• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced into small pieces
• Salt to taste

PREPARATION

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2. Pour the olive oil onto a rimmed baking sheet
3. Place the hot pepper rings onto the baking sheet, turning over on the pan to coat with the olive oil.
4. Throw the garlic cloves into the pan.
5. Sprinkle with coarse salt .
6. Roast in the oven for 15 minutes. Check on them every five minutes or so to ensure that the peppers aren't browning too quickly. If they are, lower the heat to 400 degrees.
7. Remove from oven and pour the rings and oil into a glass jar or bowl.

Excellent in egg dishes, pasta salads or mixed into a green salad with nuts and cheese.