Everyday Food's Pear Custard Pie

Pear Custard Pie
from Everyday Food: http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/custard-pie

3 Comice or Bartlett pears, peeled, halved, cored, and sliced
1/4 cup melted unsalted butter
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 large eggs
3/4 cup milk
1/4 teaspoon salt
Confectioners' sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees; butter a 9-inch pie dish. Peel, halve, and core 3 Comice or Bartlett pears; slice 1/4 inch thick lengthwise. Arrange slices, overlapping slightly, in dish.

In a blender, process 1/4 cup melted unsalted butter, 1/3 cup each granulated sugar and all-purpose flour, 2 teaspoons vanilla extract, 3 large eggs, 3/4 cup milk, and 1/4 teaspoon salt until smooth.

Pour batter over pears; bake until golden and firm to touch, 40 to 45 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature, dusted with confectioners' sugar.

There's a reason why you only see pictures of the pie in the whole pie form. It does not cut well. Maybe if I use whole milk rather than skim it would be thicker. Maybe if I used more ripe pears it would be softer. But when you cut into it, it just falls apart. This does not plate well.

The taste is okay. I might try it with different pears (I used Bartlett, that I think should have been riper). I thought I might have overcooked it, but Martha's is darker. It was so easy with ingredients I almost always have on hand, so I'll defintely try it again.

Chocolate Mug Cake

A while back, I went to the Senior Center in the town I work to man a library booth. This lady came up to my booth - she had perfectly coiffed hair, makeup, and she was wearing this shockingly purple pantsuit. I told her what a nice suit it was, she pulled on the bottom of the jacket and raised her shoulders and said, "Thank you! Purple is my favorite color. I saw a recipe on how to make chocolate cake in the microwave." I was incredibly confused on how we got so quickly from her shockingly purple pantsuit to chocolate cake in the microwave, but I rolled with it.
"How to do you do that?" I asked.
"In a mug!" She said.
Okay.

After that, I thought, maybe I'll look on the Star-Telegram's website and see if I can find this recipe. But I soon forgot about it.

Fast forward to a couple months later, I am looking at Food Gawker, and I found a blog about it. I saved that link, but still didn't think much about it until a co-worker forwarded an email to me with the recipe, stating it was the "Most dangerous cake in the world." So, I thought, "Okay, it's time to give this a try."

Here's the recipe:

Chocolate Mug Cake

4 tbsp flour
4 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp cocoa powder
1 egg
3 tbsp milk
3 tbsp oil
3 tbsp chocolate chips
dash of vanilla

Combine the dry ingredients in a medium to large microwaveable mug. Add the egg and mix well. Add the milk and oil, mix well. Stir in the chocolate chips and vanilla. Cook in microwave for 3 minutes.

Here it is in the mug. I suggest using a 16oz mug for this. I started out with a 10oz mug, and I had to switch.

Here's the top (from the bottom of the mug). All the chocolate chips fell to the bottom of the mug.I sprinkled powdered sugar on it - ice cream would have been very nice with it:

It was moist, but kind of spongy at the same time. I think maybe there's too much egg in it.


Overall, not bad. We ate it, so obviously it wasn't too bad. I think next time I might try to lower the amount of egg in it. If nothing else, it was fun experiment, and not nearly as scary as putting a CD in the microwave.

Brian's Bento

Thanks to Costco and a dear friend that we are cat-sitting for, I had a surplus of veggies. I realized that I had everything I needed to make Japanese potato salad (I have had it before, but never made it). I found a recipe on the wonderful webpage Justhungry.com.

I added radish to the mix too, and I used red potatoes. I think the red potatoes are creamy in and of themselves, which means I can use a little less mayo. I boiled an egg, but it didn't come out right, so I didn't add it. I am terrible at boiling eggs! I also added a dash or two of sesame oil, and topped with sesame seeds.

I put it in a box with sesame snap peas. I made these a while ago, but with frozen peas. I just steamed the peas over the pan when I was boiling the potatoes.

Brian seemed like his bento box. I'm already craving the potato salad again!! So good!