Last night the hubby and I had a very late supper to make up for the “fancy” supper we’d planned for Sunday, his one day off.  We’d planned to cook supper together and sit down at the table and eat, with candles, flowers and everything.  (We do that sometimes :) )  Mark works all day (10am-9pm) most of the week so we decided that I’d just make supper Monday night and we’d eat when he got home, around 10pm.  We don’t usually go to bed until around midnight, so a 10pm dinner is doable for us.

I tend to get stressed out when I have a lot of things to make that have to be done at the same time, but I managed it very well last night. (I think I like that stress anyway.. until I start spilling things and freaking out, that is.)  It was worth it too, but we had an amazing meal!  So good that Mark posted about it on Facebook in his status update that’s usually reserved for sport-related stuff ;)

Even though I didn’t take pictures of anything, I thought I’d share the recipes for what we had: pear harvest salad, baked french fries, basil noodles, stuffed chicken “cordon bleu” rolls and honey-baked pears. 

(I skipped the fries and Mark skipped dessert (and the salad, of course). He went for the soft pretzels I made yesterday. I guess I should post about those too?)

Pear Harvest Salad, Taste of Home magazine (image credit as well), October/November ‘09
Makes 6 servings
I halved this recipe and left out the pomegrante seeds, almonds, clue cheese, avocado and onions.

2 packages (5 ounces each) spring mix salad greens
4 cups cubed cooked turkey breast
2 medium pears, sliced
1 medium ripe avocado, peeled and cubed
1/2 cup pomegranate seeds
1/2 small red onion, thinly sliced

DRESSING:
6 tablespoons cider vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
3 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

TOPPINGS:
1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese
1/2 cup honey-roasted sliced almonds

Directions:
- Divide spring mix among six plates. Top with turkey, pears, avocado, pomegranate seeds and onion.
- Whisk the dressing ingredients; drizzle over salads. Sprinkle with cheese and almonds. Serve immediately.

Baked french fries
I bought a wavy cutter that I love to use for cutting potatoes now. You can also deep-fry your potato fries, obviously, but I prefer to bake mine. Mark loves his fried foods but he also loves these baked fries/wedges :)

- Cut potatoes into wedges or “fries”. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle on desired herbs and spices. (We like seasoned salt, pepper, basil/italian seasoning and rosemary). Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes or until browned and tender.

Basil Noodles, a basic side dish my mom used to make
Egg noodles
Dried basil
Olive oil and or butter
Salt and pepper

- Cook noodles according to package directions; drain. Drizzle with olive oil (toss to coat) or add butter (stir until melted), sprinkle with basil, salt and pepper.

“Different Chicken Cordon Bleu” All Recipes (image credit)
I made these chicken rolls by flattening breasts, placing a slice of cheese and turkey on each and rolling up (secure with toothpicks). I halved this recipe but still used a whole package of stuffing mix (I used chicken stuffing), which was so good! I also used turkey instead of ham simply because that’s what we had. Since I made these as stuffed rolls, I baked them covered for an hour.
Makes 8 servings

INGREDIENTS
8 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
8 slices ham
8 slices Swiss cheese
1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of chicken soup
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup white wine
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon dried parsley
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 (6 ounce) package herb-seasoned dry bread stuffing mix

DIRECTIONS
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
- Place chicken breasts in a lightly greased 9×13 inch baking dish. Lay a ham slice, then a cheese slice on top of each breast.
- In a medium bowl combine the soup, sour cream, wine, garlic powder, parsley, salt and pepper. Mix well and pour mixture over chicken/ham/cheese pieces. Top all with the dry stuffing mix to cover.
- Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for about 30 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through and juices run clear.

Honey-Baked Pears, All You magazine (image credit, as well), October 23, 2009.
Makes 6 servings
I halved this recipe as well.

2 T. lemon juce
1/2 c. honey
1 cup crushed graham crackers
1 T. sugar
1 t. apple pie spice
4 T. unsalted butter, melted
3 pears (about 2 lbs), peeled, cored nd cut into 1-inch chunks

- Preheat oven to 400°F. Stir lemon juice with honey and 1/2 cup water in a small bowl until blended. In a separate bowl, blend graham cracker crumbs with sugar and apple-pie spice, then stir in melted butter.

- Layer pears in an 11-by-7-inch baking dish and sprinkle with half of crumb mixture. Pour honey mixture over pears and sprinkle with remaining crumb mixture. Bake about 25 minutes, until pears are tender when pierced with a knife, topping is golden brown and juices are bubbling. Serve warm with ice cream or whipped cream, or let cool, cover and refrigerate to serve cold.