Pear and almond tart

I think I have made this before, but I think I did this a little differently, so here goes.
This is a Super quick and Super delicious dessert!

Ingredients: crust, almond paste, pears, cinnamon, almonds, and butter (not pictured).

Step one- line a tart pan with crust, then almond paste.
Now, to each her own on the crust, but to make my life easier today I used the store-bought kind.
After you line the pan with the crust, place a thin layer of almond paste on top. Feel free to use as much or as little as you want. Personally, I don;t like too much, so I just did a layer of thin pieces.

Now, peel and slice up some pears (I forgot to peel them, which is fine, but its better if they are peeled). Sprinkle them with cinnamon, then layer them into the pan, getting as many as you can in there, however you want.

Place them into the oven for about a half hour, until the crust is golden brown.
I actually put them in the oven for about 10 minutes, then decided to add more pears once the first layer cooked down a bit, so I popped another layer on top. Then I brushed them with a tiny bit of melted butter, sprinkled them with a little bit more cinnamon, sprinkled some crushed almonds on top, lightly covered it with foil, and let it continue cooking (the foil helped the pears stay moist and not dry out).

Once the tart is done, let it cool a bit, then its ready to enjoy!
I recommend pairing this with a little vanilla bean ice cream (which of course I didn't have, booo!)
Sooo delicious. Oh my gosh!

Enjoy! :)

Chicken, butternut squash and kale

The title should really say "balsamic roasted butternut squash with almonds and kale, and oven roasted chicken thighs with onions", but that would have been too long. Either way, this dinner was Soooo Goooood and I hope you make it too!
Anyways, now that you know what I made, lets get to it!

The Veggies.
Step one- preheat the oven to 425. Then make the balsamic dressing.
For this I used 8 tbsp. olive oil, 3 tbsp. balsamic vinegar, 1 tsp. Dijon mustard, and about a tablespoon of minced onion. (I would have preferred shallot, but I forgot to grab some).

Whisk them all together then set aside.

Next, peel the butternut squash and cut into 1" pieces. Oh, and if you have one of these Pampered Chef choppers, I highly recommend it for this. Makes the job super easy (and they'll cool with a crinkle cut)!!!

Toss with a little bit of olive oil, salt and pepper, then place on a foil-lined cookie sheet and roast for about 20 minutes, or until they start to get browned. 

While those are in, get your chicken ready. For this I used 6 bone-in, skinless thighs.
Place the chicken on a baking sheet, cover with sliced onions, then drizzle with a little bit of the balsamic dressing (not too much).

Pop them into the oven with the squash, and let them roast for about a half hour, or until done.

Ok, while those are roasting, you can prep the kale. Chop it, rinse it, and put it in a pan.
Now, I like to break the kale up by hand, tearing the leaves off and leaving the stalk behind. I just think it's too tough to eat.
Once its in the pan, put the burner on low to start steaming it.

At this point the squash should be about halfway done, so pull it out of the oven, sprinkle some sliced almonds on top, toss it around, then pop it back into the oven. This way the almonds get toasted along with the squash.

Now, while everything is cooking, clean up the kitchen. I never mention this, but cleaning while you cook is just as important of a step as the cooking itself. You never want to be left with a disaster in the kitchen.

Ok, once everything is done, get it out of the oven.

My squash was done first, so while I dealt with that I left the chicken in. 

Scoop all the squash and almonds onto the kale, (at this point you can turn the burner off) then drizzle with the dressing we made earlier, making sure you get all the onion and Dijon that may have settled to the bottom.

Then, grate some fresh Parmesan cheese, sprinkle it on top, and toss everything together. 

Next, grab the chicken out of the oven.
Isn't it just beautiful!!!!!

Last step, plate it!!!! (actually, that is the second to last step. The last one is EAT!!!!!)

Sooooo yummy!!!!! 

sick day soup

I'm home sick today. And when I am sick, I like to eat soup. So I made myself some chicken noodle soup.
And if you haven't done this before, her is a super easy, super fast, and super delicious way to do it.

Here's what I used: chicken, tiny egg noodles, corn, peas, carrots and celery. And, of course, chicken broth.

First step, boil some water for the noodles, then get them into it to cook. Do not cook them for as long as the package says. Cut it short. You want your noodles a little underdone for soup, as they will cook in the broth. These noodles said 7 minutes, so I cooked them for 4.

First, chop up a bunch of celery and add it to a pot with a little bit of oil and butter. Cook until tender. This step is really important, as the celery gives a really good flavor, as well as color to the broth.

Once the celery is done, add the other veggies. Feel free to use whatever you want.
 

Then add the broth to the veggies so it can all get warm and happy.

At this point, the noodles should be done, so strain them, and rinse them in cold water to stop the cooking.

Once the noodles are strained, add them to the soup.

Next step, chop up some chicken. To make things easy, I recommend using a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store because it's quick and it's yummy. And I'm sick. So the last thing I want to do is cook chicken.

Add the chicken to the pot, stir, let it all get hot, add some salt & pepper, then you are done!

Now just enjoy!

(I think I'll take a nap now...)

Oh, and PS- if you want to make some more broth, or make your broth from scratch, toss the chicken skin & bones into a pot of water, add some herbs/spices/salt/pepper, bring to a boil, then let it simmer for a while. then strain it, and you are good to go!!!