I can’t quite remember how I came across Pear Soup with Pancetta and Blue Cheese, but I believe it was during a search for something to double for the neighbors. That involved a fair amount of the aforementioned pear peeling, but my husband agreed to do so, as long as I allowed him to play Johnny Cash while he did it.

Get that pancetta going. Someone is going to ask me if you can skip that to make this dish vegetarian. You can. But that little boost your onions will get from sautéing in that bit of fat is really good. Put the rest of your vegetables in there, and later, your stock, which hopefully is homemade. (I made mine with chicken necks during that freak October snowstorm, and it was indeed mildly flavored.)

Have you noticed how all your simmering steps are just a few minutes each? You love that right?

While the stock has this soup take form, make a salad, or send someone out for nice crusty bread. I pureed it all up with my immersion blender, which is truly the greatest kitchen invention ever — except for parchment paper, whisks, and maybe the zester that guy made in his garage. Top with the best blue cheese you can find. 

This soup has all the elements of a late fall dinner: it is creamy, warming, tastes of fruit but is not fruity, and bats it smoky eyes as a tangy finish on the spoon.

Plan to eat it all week.

Pear Soup with Pancetta and Blue Cheese by fiveandspice

Serves 4 - 6

5 ounces pancetta, cut into small pieces

1 tablespoon butter

1 large yellow onion, peeled and chopped

1 clove garlic, sliced

1/2 pound potatoes, peeled and cut into small cubes (around 1/2 inch)

1 medium-small carrot, cut into small cubes

1 tablespoon maple syrup

5 pears - I used bartlett - peeled, cored, and cut into 1 inch chunks

1 1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme

1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh sage

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg

3 cups mildly flavored vegetable or chicken broth

1/2 cup creme fraiche

crumbled blue cheese (a creamy, potent raw milk one is best for serving

salt and ground white pepper to taste

Go to Food52 for the rest of the recipe! I’m a huge fan of fruit based soups and can’t wait to try this out. Although I’m not a fan of blue cheese, so will probably look for a replacements. Suggestions are welcome.

Celebrate Friday and the end of Summer today with a fruit cobbler. I was fortunate to have both a peach cobbler AND a mixed berry cobbler last week. No, I did not win the lottery (since obviously cobbler is a big part of what I would spend my winnings on), I was just in the right place at the right time. “Which was better?” you ask. That’s like asking which period of MacGyver is more entertaining: the early years when he faced down injustice with reckless abandon, a neatly trimmed mullet, and flannel? Or the later episodes when he still cared deeply when others were wronged, but did so begrudgingly in a motorcycle jacket and wildly overgrown do? Obviously both have their perks and can be enjoyed independently of each other. So celebrate all cobblers this weekend before the pumpkin flavored goodies take over!

Thanks to:

boyfriendreplacement:

Individual Blueberry Cobblers

Recipe

Gorgeous! I love artsy food pics. You really don’t have to do much to fruit to make it look appetizing, but this photo manages to capture in 2D the sweet juiciness you’d get biting into any one of these fruits in real life.

Just don’t forget that fruit does have calories so you can’t nosh uncontrollably (ie me in front of a bowl of grapes. It is my crack.) Serving sizes for whole fruit are about the size of a baseball. So a regular size orange or apple. If it looks so huge it could be genetically engineered it’s two servings. On the flip side, if the fruit is small, like a tangerine or a plum, you can have two to make a serving. For berries, a serving size is a cup.

Throughout the day you should shoot for 2-3 servings. I do half a cup of blueberries on my cereal in the morning, a peach for a snack after lunch, and then another half a cup of berries on my JELLO dark chocolate mousse at night with a spoonful of light cool whip :)

How do you get your fruit serving in each day?

Replace whatever packaged sweets you eat now with fruit for a week and then have a taste of the old stuff (Ho-Ho, Hostess Whatever, ice cream,etc.) and it will be gross! Nature provides the sweetest treats you could ever want, you just have to train your taste buds for it. Look at how appealing, juicy and delicious these are! I add a handful to fat free plain Greek yogurt, yum yum :)

Salsa makes for an awesome summer snack, just make sure you’re eating it with blue corn chips or baked tortilla chips. It’s easy to O.D. on chips so just keep an eye on the portion size (usually around 12-15 chips). Even better, use this as a topping on baked or grilled tilapia or another mild white fish. It’s light, refreshing, and so sweetly good!

Thanks for the recipe:

cupcakes-for-breakfast:

A Couple Cooks | Fresh Peach Salsa

veganskinnybitch:

Have fun with your food :3