Pear Problems

This winter we have been enjoying some of the best pears here in Oregon but the past two weeks we have been unable to get our pears to ripen. We had a method that was working well, but suddenly it seems to have stopped working so I thought I would post here and see if anyone has any ideas.

We buy our pears in a big bag from Costco and pull about six out and store the rest in the fridge.



We place the 6 that we pulled out in a brown bag like this one and leave it on the table for 4-5 days. Once those pears are ripe we eat them and add the pears from the fridge to the bag to repeat the process.


All winter we have been using this method and enjoying juicy delicious pears. However, starting last week the pears just would not ripen in the bag no matter how long we left them in there. The tops would get all soft and shriveled but the pear would still be rock hard. Seriously slicing into one of these pears is like slicing into an apple (and they taste terrible like that too). We love eating pears and I am hoping that someone might have some ideas that we can try to get things rolling again. Anyone have any suggestions or a special way that you like to ripen pears?

Zucchini Banana Muffins

One of the best things about pregnancy so far is... muffins. That's right. I have been lucky to mostly escape ice cream cravings and other unhealthy foods and have instead channeled my cravings into apple juice (which I never even liked before) and muffins. Here in Zoey's Kitchen we are making muffins once or twice a week now so I am always on the lookout for something new and at least somewhat "healthy".

When I saw a recipe for Banana Zucchini Bread over at Kimmy Kokonut's blog, I knew this was a recipe that I wanted to try. Normally Zoey's dad helps with the muffin prep but I decided to surprise him with these on my own. As I was scooping the batter into the muffin pans he decalred "I don't eat vegetables in muffins!" Which was actually fine with me because I suspected that 1) he would and 2) if he didn't that was all the more for me and I could freeze them:


I decided to make muffins instead of a loaf because I am in a muffin frenzy and every baked good these days must come out as muffins. So I filled up my muffin tin (which is actually one of those sillicone muffin trays) and baked them for 30 minutes.

Here they are fresh out of the oven:



Well, turns out that Zoey's dad does eat vegetables in muffins. Not only did I not have a chance to freeze any for myself for later, they didn't even last long enough to get a good picture once they came out of the muffin pan!

These muffins were super moist and delicious. I used the oil in the recipe even though I normally would have gone with the applesauce substitution. The next time I make these I will try applesauce instead to see how that works out.

Roasted Red Pepper Hummus

We have had some sunny days in Oregon which is a rare winter treat. All the sun is making me more interested in sandwiches so my interest in homemade hummus has resurfaced. I found this recipe in the August 2008 issue of Oxygen Magazine. I have been trying to find a hummus that has the same taste as my favorite store-bought hummus and I thought this one might do the trick.

Ingredients:

4 oz roasted rep peppers in a jar (drained)
1 can garbanzo beans (or 1 1/2 cup garbanzo beans if you soak your own)
2 Tablespoon lemon juice
1 clove of garlic
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions:

1. Add all ingredients to your food processor:



2. Blend:



3. I tried this on bread with tomatoes and in pita bread with romaine lettuce.


Review: This was okay hummus, but not as good as my store-bought variety. I am not sure how to describe this but it tasted sort of too "neon red". Perhaps I should have used less red pepper.

I am still in search of my perfect homemade hummus. Do any of you have a hummus recipe that you love?