Miniature Pear Salads

I am making up for lost time tonight; the holidays have worn me so thin that my cooking, and certainly my cooking-themed blog, have both suffered.

I mentioned, during recent blogging, that I did quite a bit of food preparation for a friend's Christmas party. One other dish I made was an AllRecipes find that satisfied my need to use three pears going to waste in my kitchen. I can't even remember the dish I'd found online that has asked for the damn pears in the first place--a lesson in the importance of bookmarking.

This dish is called "Pear Salad II," but don't let the name mislead you--it's not a big salad; it's several "mini-salads." As I mentioned, I had whole, fresh pears from the produce section, so I didn't use the canned pear halves the recipe called for. I really can't imagine that they would have been good; if you desire to use those because you think canned pears are juicier, believe me, chopped pears with mayonnaise smeared on top of them are juicy enough. I actually quite enjoyed this dish. My dad has grown pears my whole life, and I have many childhood memories of eating sliced pears in Robards with him, just minutes after we'd picked them. But it's important to note that pears have a very unique, and almost tangy, taste. And, just because someone likes pear jelly, that doesn't mean that they'd want to eat a whole pear--think, is grape jam the same as eating fresh grapes? No.

I thought this salad was very sweet and pleasing, and I bet it'd be very refreshing in the spring or early summer. My boyfriend saw it after it was already prepared and said, "Are those apples?" so I labeled it "PEAR SALAD" for the party. I overheard a few people passing by the party's buffet say, "Pears?" incredulously. Apparently, I might as well have written, "RATTLESNAKES" or "WORM DROPPINGS" on a card and attempted to serve that. Meat-eaters get finicky about the strangest things...since when is a freshly peeled and seasoned pear more gross than a slab of red meat?

Never mind the omnivores, my veggie friends...this dish would make a nice little snack or lunch for yourself sometime!

Tofu-Creamed Spinach

Hello, hello, Herbivores!

We attended a Christmas party last night and brought several vegetarian-friendly dishes which I would like to share.

The first has become a staple of mine for every get-together I attend or host, Tofu Creamed Spinach. This is another recipe I stumbled onto while browsing the website AllRecipes, and it has continuously been a hit with both meat-eaters and my fellow vegetarians.

And just a warning, this is probably one of the best-tasting and most crowd-pleasing dishes I have ever made. I'd stack up my spin dip against any restaurant's!!

I usually use fresh spinach from the produce section; I remove the stems and shred the leaves. It's very time-consuming to do this, but I think the fresh spinach has a superior taste to frozen spinach. Thawed frozen spinach is a worthy substitute when you are pressed for time, and it is much less aggravating than ripping apart two pounds of spinach leaves. Sometimes, I have added in sliced mozzarella cheese, which is extremely delicious and contributes to the "creaminess" of the dish. Most significantly, I have always used chopped artichokes--from bottles of marinated hearts--to the recipe. I alternate the sizes of the choppings, because sometimes a half-inch chunk is actually a very scrumptious surprise when using dip.

I season the recipe differently based on what will accompany it. Lots of salt is always a good idea when it is served with tortilla chips or crackers. Last night, though, I knew it would be used as a vegetable dip for carrots, celery, broccoli, and cauliflower, so I skipped the uber-saltiness and instead added Italian seasoning, oregano, and basil, and I upped the amount of garlic and pepper. This morning, we devoured the leftover dip with slices of garlic bread and spaghetti sauce--it was absolutely delicious.

I often make this work for my dayshift customers at the bar, because it's a great accompaniment for beer or the kinds of fried bar food they like. Meat-eaters frequently ask me for the recipe, and, even after they realize they are eating tofu, they do not mind! This is a very easy dish to make, and it's great for any occasion, from an upscale party to watching football at home with your buds. Herbivores and their meat-eating companions will all dig into this creamed spinach--it's too tasty not to!