Pear, Blue Cheese, Caramelized Onions, Prosciutto, Walnuts, Mozzarella Cheese Pizza with Arugula Salad

Pear, Blue Cheese, Caramelized Onions, Prosciutto, Walnuts, Mozzarella Cheese Pizza 
with Arugula Salad

This is possibly the best pizza I have ever had. Pear is one of the most underrated fruits, and tastes amazing on pizza. If you have never tried it before, you should! And this pizza recipe is your chance.

ingredients:

dough
blue cheese
caramelized onion
prosciutto
walnuts
mozzarella
pear
olive oil
pepper
cornmeal
arugula

directions:

pizza dough:

1. Fill a mixing bowl with 1-1 and 1/4 cups of warm water in a bowl.

2. Add 1 tbsp of active dry yeast. Add 1 tbsp of brown sugar, or white sugar if you feel the yeast is old. It will help activate the yeast and give it something to "eat". Let stand for about 10 minutes until white frothy bubbles are on top. Add in 1 tbsp of oil (though probably optional) and 1/2-1 tsp of salt.

3. Mix in 3 cups of flour. You can add more flour if its too sticky. Kneed dough on a flat surface covered with flour. Add more flour to the surface as needed. Maybe kneed for at least 10-15 minutes. Until the dough no longer sticks together on your hand.

4. Form the dough into a ball and coat with olive oil. Put in a covered container in a warm place. Warm is key. I sometimes run the oven for a little while, and then turn the oven off and put it in a pot. Let it sit for at least one hour. Two hours works too. The Longer the better. The dough should double in size.

5. Punch the dough, and cut in half. This pizza recipe will make two pizzas.

6. Oil a pizza pan with butter or margarine. And dust it with cornmeal. The cornmeal will adhere to the grease. And then spread out the dough on the pan.

7. Top pizza with olive oil, pepper, mozzarella cheese, sliced pear, prosciutto, walnuts, caramelized onions, and crumbled blue cheese. Cook in an oven at 400 F for about 30 minutes. Or until the top gets golden brown.

8. Eat with a arugula salad, or top the pizza with arugula after it comes out of the oven.

Cranberry, Walnut, Green Bean Quinoa Salad, With Veggie Burger

Cranberry, Walnut, Green Bean Quinoa Salad

This is a great quinoa salad to eat as a side, or bring to a pot luck. (as long as there are no nut allergies that is...). It is packed full of flavour and is also really healthy for you. I saw something like this first made at the Vegetarian Food Fair in Toronto, but it had oranges and it didn't have this dressing.

ingredients:

1 cup quinoa
dried cranberries
chopped walnuts
fresh green beans
balsamic vinegar
olive oil

pepper
salt
garlic powder

directions:

1. Cook quinoa in slightly salted water in a pot. 1 part quinoa, 2 parts water. Bring to a boil, and let it simmer until quinoa absorbs all of the water.

2. Set the cooked quinoa aside, and let it cool a bit. After it has cooled, fluff it with a fork.

3. Slice fresh green beans into more bite sized pieces, and steam them so they are cooked through. Blanch them in ice water immediately after to stop the cooking process. This will keep them crisp, and not soggy for your salad, as well as bright green.

4. Mix your dried cranberries, cooled green beans, and chopped walnuts into the quinoa.

5. To make the dressing for the salad, combine balsamic vinegar, olive oil, salt, pepper, and garlic powder into a vinaigrette. The ratio of oil to vinegar should be 3 to 1. 3 parts oil, 1 part vinegar. Mix through, then pour on salad and mix til it is fully coated.

Carrot Cake

An all time favourite! My siblings and I always requested this on our birthdays.