Cold out side...time for fun recipes

We have started a few new recipes for the cold weather.  Riley is so excited!

We have recently started buying fruits and veggies that are in season only. Only because I wanted to learn the seasons and to see if they were cheaper, tasted better etc.  This time of year is oranges, pears, squash, and lettuce grows here very well. (I like to order from Nature's Garden.  It is a home delivery box.  I highly recommend it to you if you are looking for organic fruits and veggies.  They deliver it to my door every other week, you can do every week but we are not ready for that yet.)

My kids are not huge pear fans, only because they are picky some times. Ha ha.  So my pears were piling up.  I needed to get them out of the fridge to make room and decided to figure out how to make a pear crisp type dessert.  The kids would have to eat pears if they were in a dessert right?  This is where we ended up.

Pear Crisp

6 peeled pears, cored and sliced
5 TB Lemon juice (you can use less if you don't like tart)
6 TB Rapadura (ground fine, like powdered sugar)
6 TB quinoa flakes (from sprouts)
4 TB Montina blend flour (or flour of your choice this one is gluten free)
1/4 tsp cinnamon (Vietnam cinnamon)
1/8 tsp nutmeg
4 TB melted butter (or ghee if needed)
4 TB chopped pecan nuts (optional)

Place pear slices in a (stone) baking dish. Sprinkle with lemon juice and stir to coat pears.  In a bowl combine sugar, quinoa, flour, cinnamon and nutmeg.  Pour in butter and stir. And nuts and stir.  Spoon mixture over pears evenly.  Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until desired crispness of pears.  YUM!  This serves our family of 6. (We really like it and Riley always has 2 servings.)

Jada has been home sick on these cold and windy days.  We just had to make homemade hot chocolate!  Here is where we landed on this one.

Jada's Hot Chocolate (not dairy free)

3 1/2 cups raw milk (or not ultra pasteurized whole milk)
1/2 C Rapadura
1 pinch of salt
3/4 tsp vanilla (no sugar added)
1/2 cup raw cream (or not ultra pasteurized cream)
5 drops of vanilla creme stevia (Optional)

Mix first 5 ingredients together in a sauce pan.  Heat over medium heat while stirring to mix.  Heat until steamy, not boiling.  Pour into a coffee mug.  Jada wanted hers sweeter so she added 5 drops of vanilla creme stevia to her cup.  She drank the whole thing!

Enjoy these sweet treats.  Let me know how yours turns out!