Fruit crumble

Since I have a 2-hour delay tomorrow, I feel like I have so much extra time tonight.  Weird, huh?  Well, I decided to make a fruit crumble with fresh pears, frozen mixed berries, and an orange.  Here is the recipe, which, by the way, is the perfect remedy for a cold night.

Fruit Crumble

serves 6

Filling
4 or 5 pears, peeled, cored, and sliced 1/4 inch thick
1/2 cup frozen berries
zest of one orange
juice of half of one orange
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp corn starch
1/4 cup white sugar

Crumble
1 1/2 cup instant rolled oats
1/4 cup flour
1 stick (1/2 cup) cold, cubed butter
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt

Combine filling ingredients in medium bowl and stir lightly until combined.  Set aside.  Put crumble ingredients in food processor and pulse until mixture is pea-sized.  Alternatively, cut butter into dry mixture with a fork or pastry cutter.  Lightly grease an 8x8 inch baking pan, and place filling mixture into pan.  Spread crumble mixture evenly on top.  Put in the oven preheated at 375 degrees for 40 minutes.  If the top is browning too quickly, cover with aluminum foil.

You may substitute any type of fruit, really.  For this size pan, there should be about 4 cups of fruit.

Healthy Happenings

I made butternut squash soup for the second time last night, and quinoa for the first time.  What I learned was: 

*I could not taste a difference between boiling the squash in chicken stock versus roasting it first.

*Adding yams and carrots added only a slight flavor difference versus just squash alone.

*I did not need to add cream or any type of (fattening) dairy product in order for the soup to be rich and satisfying.

*Quinoa is expensive, but much easier to make than rice.

Here is the recipe I used for the soup: 

Squash soup

Aaand my recipe for the quinoa salad is ... 

1 cup dry quinoa

1 14.5 oz jar chicken stock, plus 3 tablespoons water to make 2 cups

1/3 cup dried cranberries

3/4 to 1 lb cooked chicken, shredded into small pieces

5 oz goat cheese

3 TBSP olive oil

2 TBSP lemon juice

1 tsp Dijon mustard

1/2 tsp pepper

1/2 tsp salt

Heat the liquid just to a boil.  Turn the heat down to medium low and add quinoa, stir, and cover for 15 minutes.  In a separate small bowl, whisk together oil, lemon juice, mustard, salt, and pepper to make a vinaigrette. Remove quinoa from heat after the 15 minutes and add in cranberries.  Cover for 5 additional minutes.  Fluff with a fork and add vinaigrette, then chicken.  Crumble the goat cheese and stir gently to combine.  Makes 4-6 side dish servings.  

There are probably thousands of different combinations of things that you could put into quinoa.  Next time I might try something more savory, such as feta cheese, kalamata olives, and kale.