Blackberry-Pear Cobbler

When they announced that the Ward Trunk or Treat was to be preceded by a Chili and Cobbler cookoff--I knew I needed to make cobbler!! I spent all week looking at different recipes, trying to decide what kind of cobbler I should make--and they all sounded so good. But, Mom and Dad had another bumper crop of pears this year, and kept trying to send us home with them. So, I decided to make good use of their fruit and went with this recipe for Pear-Blackberry cobbler from Epicurious.com.

Delicious! I was so nervous about the batter rising up around the fruit like it should. But it baked up beautifully and smelled amazing when I pulled it out of the oven. It got a lot of hits at the cook-off and I even overheard several compliments. (I kept coming back to the cobbler table to try juuust one more..)

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Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter 9x13" baking dish.

4 cups frozen blackberries, NOT thawed
4 cups pears, peeled and chunked
1 1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup Cran-Grape juice
3 tsp finely grated orange peel
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger

Gently toss berries, pears, 2/3 cup sugar, juice, orange peel, cinnamon in large bowl. Set aside.

1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cup whole milk
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Combine flour, baking powder, salt, and remaining sugar in medium bowl. Add milk, melted butter, and cinnamon; whisk until blended.

Spread batter in prepared dish. Place berry-pear mixture atop batter. DO NOT STIR, batter will bake up around fruit.

Bake cobbler until crust is set in center and brown at edges, about 1 hour.

Butternut Mac & Cheese

I was so intrigued when I saw this recipe on the cover of Cooking Light magazine. I even bought the magazine.

I made a few changes to the recipe, mostly just being lazy. But it was easier to put together than I had expected. I think I'd like to try different combinations of cheeses. The original recipe called for Gruyere instead of Cheddar buuuuuut, its kind of expensive and I already had a lot of Cheddar on hand. I think it was a bit too heavy on the Pecorino. Anyway, maybe there's room for improvement there. Still came out creamy and rich.

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3 cups cubed peeled butternut squash (about 1-pound squash)
1 1/4 cups fat-free, lower-sodium chicken broth
1 1/2 cups fat-free milk
2 garlic cloves
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons yogurt
1 1/4 cups (5 ounces) shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup (4 ounces) grated pecorino Romano cheese
1/4 cup (1 ounce) finely grated fresh Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, divided
1 pound uncooked cavatappi
Cooking spray
1 teaspoon olive oil
1/2 cup panko

Preheat oven to 375°.

Combine squash, broth, milk, and garlic in a medium saucepan; bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium, and simmer until squash is tender when pierced with a fork, about 25 minutes. Remove from heat.

Cook pasta according to package directions, omitting salt and fat; drain well. Set aside.

Place the hot squash mixture in a blender. Add salt, pepper, and Greek yogurt. Remove the center piece of blender lid (to allow steam to escape); secure blender lid on blender. Place a clean towel over opening in blender lid (to avoid splatters). Blend until smooth. Add Cheddar, Pecorino Romano, and 2 tablespoons of the Parmigiano-Reggiano. Blend until combined.

Pour squash mixture over cooked pasta, and stir until combined. Spread mixture evenly into a 13 x 9-inch glass or ceramic baking dish coated with cooking spray.

Sprinkle panko and remaining parmesan evenly over the hot pasta mixture.
Bake at 375° for 25 minutes or until bubbly. Serve immediately.

See? The cut up squash even LOOKS like Cheddar, doesn't it?

Baby Girl Strawberry Frosting

I really wanted to do strawberry frosting from scratch for cupcakes I made for Angela's baby shower. (Girl. Duh.) I ended up using a mash-up of two recipes; one was the Sprinkles recipe from Martha Stewart's website and the other from a blog called Recipe Shoebox. I made the cupcakes from scratch also, but they came out pretty dry, so I don't think I'll post the recipe I used.
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4-6 whole frozen strawberries, thawed
3/4 cup butter, slightly cold
1/4 cup shortening
3 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
3 tsp lemon juice
pinch of coarse salt

In a small bowl, mash strawberries.

In a medium bowl, beat together butter, shortening and salt until fluffy. Reduce mixer speed and slowly add powdered sugar until it is the consistency of ice cream.

Add 3 Tbsp of the mashed strawberries, the lemon juice and vanilla. Mix until just blended.