Poached Pears with Blueberries

Happy February! 

Tomorrow is my Dad's birthday (Happy Birthday Dad! I love you more than anyone in the world.)

Who watched the Superbowl? Anyone? Yeah, I failed as an American and didn't watch it. Partly because I worry about seeing people get injured (apparently someone broke their arm? Can't handle it), and also because I'm an avid Sea Hawks fan and I knew that I would be sad if they lost. (Which, whelp... we all know how that ended). I will admit that I'm more of an ice skating fan than I am a football fan, though. Maybe because I can actually imagine myself ice skating, but not playing football? I am way too intimidated by large men running towards me to be successful in any type of football career.

Things here at CSU have been going very smoothly. I've been drinking copious amounts of coffee and keeping up with school work, which is great. I still have this weird sensation that each day is flying by faster than I can catch up, though. I'll wake up at 6AM and bam, it's 7PM and I'm tired (because yes, I do go to bed at 8PM every night. I am internally an old person in terms of sleep. And probably about five years old in terms of energy level during the day). 

I've really been digging having before-bed snacks. They're usually composed of mini caramel rice cakes (once again: I'm old) or some type of cereal doused in soy milk (living the college life). But recently it's been all about the fruit. Fruit fruit fruit. It started out with me adding frozen raspberries to my cereal but after a while I was really craving something more fresh. Then a few days ago I started to feel a cold come on, which made me crave ginger --I have this weird association between sickness and ginger, because I always crave it whenever I'm sick-- and that led to some pretty creative combinations. 

Thankfully for you, I won't be sharing all those disgusting creative combinations (dates and rice and popcorn may have been involved). Instead, you get this lovely creation, which has actually been a staple of mine for some years now.

Poached pears with blueberries! And ginger. And vanilla extract for that little extra (is that a pun? It could be a pun) sweetness. This is a simple recipe that still impresses friends and family. When I made this for guests back in High School, they thought I was some type of fruit magician. In reality, I put the pears in a pot, walked away to do something else, came back and voila! That was pretty much it. It is a quick and easy way to create a fresh end to a meal. 

A simple scoop of ice cream or some whip cream is always a bonus, but this perfectly sweet dessert is delicious without it as well! Cooking the pears brings out a nice sweetness and the poaching softens them to give a smooth, melt-in-your mouth desert. Blueberries and ginger add little pops of flavor to keep it interesting.

If anyone has suggestions of fruits besides pears to use in this, I'm all ears! Because I think I could devour a whole table's worth of ginger-based goods around this time.


Xoxoxo. 

Poached Pears with Blueberries

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 4 large Green Anjou pears (firm, but ripe), peeled and cored, cut in half
• 4 and 1/4c. water
• 3tbl sugar
• 1/2 inch segment of peeled fresh ginger
• 1/2tbl vanilla extract
• 1 cup frozen (thawed) or fresh blueberries

 Instructions:

1. In a large pot, bring the water to a boil. Dissolve in the sugar, and add ginger/vanilla. 
2. Gently slide the pears into the water, and cook over medium until soft when a knife is able to slide in and out easily (about 15 minutes, but may take as much as 30 depending on your elevation).
3. Remove the pears from the syrup, and let cool. Cut pears into bite-sized cubes, and divide cubes evenly among 4 serving bowls. Top each serving with 1/4c. blueberries and 1/4c. liquid.

Note: If you want to serve the pears warm, you can chose not to cut them up into pieces. Simply serve each person the equivalent of 1 pear, 1/4c. blueberries, and 1/4c. liquid. This method is best if you are planning to top it with ice cream or some other creamy deliciousness!

Nutritional Information: 
Sodium: 7mg
Total Fat: 0g
       Saturated:  0g
       Trans: 0g
Protein: 1g
Sugar: 39g
Calories: 196