Hi Everyone and Happy Sunday,
Do you ever have one of those days where nothing goes according to your plans? That was my Saturday! In the morning, I did my routine, exercise, have breakfast take a shower. As lazy as I felt I told myself, you are going to clean the front room, wrap presents, make dinner and eat healthy today, no chocolate and no cookies. Well I kind of failed! I geared up got ready to do what I needed to do and my Husband said come with me. Come with you where, I asked. He wouldn’t tell me. He said we won’t be gone long, so come on. Fine I did, kind of irritated, but I went. He took me to Home Depot! Home Depot! He said he needed spray paint for his car. Ugh!! Are you kidding me? So he took me into Home Depot and for my Christmas present he bought me my refrigerator that I wanted. It’s beautiful! We ordered it and it will arrive on Friday! Yah!! Not exactly what I wanted for Christmas, but then he said, that means we need new cabinets for the kitchen. Huh? Cabinets? Maybe a new floor? What? He he, for Christmas I am getting a mini remodel! Yah!! I’ll take that over gifts!! I can’t wait till we start!! He did mention I’ll have to live out of boxes for a while until he can get the cabinets and stuff. I can live with that too!! I can’t wait to show you! My kitchen is ok, but it’s not organized very well. My pantry is so small that it won’t fit a box of cereal in it. I am so ready for some normal shelving!!! Now I just have to figure out the colors of the cabinets I want. Personally I like white, but he said no because it will get to dirty looking. I’ll probably go with a dark brown then. So after Home Depot instead of coming home, we went to Buffalo Wild Wings for a late, but light lunch. Let me tell you nothing is light in there, but it was good. So I blew my calories, and didn’t get my chores done. Matter in fact I have dinner in the crockpot and we are so not hungry for it. I hope it can last a few more hours. But I did manage to make these little guys when I got home. This recipe has been sitting in the back of my mind all week.
These are my pear and cream cheese fillo cups. I wanted to share them with you before Christmas because it is a fabulous appetizer that can be put together in a snap. It’s made with cream cheese, honey, cinnamon, fresh pear and walnuts. It’s kind of like pear crisp meets cheesecake.
When you take the first bite it tastes just like a sweet fruit crisp, then you get to the bottom and you have a wonderful cinnamon cream cheese that melts in your mouth. The fillo cups are crisp and perfect. I put it all together in a matter of minutes and baked the cups for 10 minutes and out came these darling little appetizers. If you are going to serve them right away, the pop of whip cream gives them an extra bonus of flavor and the whip cream melts perfectly over the top.
I thought this would be so perfect for the holidays. If you wanted to add a little red to it, you could always add a few pomegranate arils to it, instead of the walnuts. I debated about doing that, but skipped it, since my husband doesn’t care for pomegranate seeds. Also if you don’t have pear, I think apple would work out great too!
- 15 mini fillo shells
- 2 oz cream cheese, fat free, softened
- 2 tsp. honey, divided
- 1 dash cinnamon, ground
- ⅓ cup pear, diced small
- 1 tbsp. walnuts, chopped fine
- Preheat oven to 350F
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and place fillo shells on baking sheet.
- In a small bowl add cream cheese, 1 tsp. honey and cinnamon; mix until combined. Evenly divide the cream cheese mixture into fillo cups.
- Evenly divide the pear on to cream cheese mixture and top with walnuts. Add a drizzle of honey over the top.
- Place in oven and bake for 10 minutes.
Calories per cup: 24.2, Fat: .08, Cholesterol: .07, Sodium: 35, Potassium: 7.1, Carbs: 3.6, Fiber: .01, Sugar: 1.2, Protein: 1.1
Now for this weeks recap
Monday: Hamburger Soup – This soup has a wonderful flavor and it tastes even better the next day. The second day the noodles expanded a little more and it gave it more of a pasta type dish. It was a huge hit with the family!
Tuesday: Buffalo Chicken Wing Dip – I can’t tell you more than this is a fantastic dip!! It truly tastes like a chicken wing with out all the fat and oil. It’s made with greek yogurt, cream cheese, Franks Hot Sauce and cooked chicken. I loved dipping my chips into it!!! It’s highly addicting!!
Wednesday: NY Deli Rye Bead – 5 Minutes A Day – Love this bread and it is so simple. really all you do is throw everything together, mix with a wooden spoon and refrigerate for up to two weeks. Pull off a chunk of dough, mold it into shape, let it rise for 40 minutes and bake. The bread is crispy on the outside and so soft in the middle. My Husband and I finished a loaf for dinner!! Great bread to make for first time bread makers!
Thursday: Christmas Cranberry Smoothie – Normally when I come home from work, I have a frappe, but this day I was wanting a smoothie. So I came up with my Christmas smoothie. It’s creamy, sweet and has the slightest tang from the cranberry juice. It’s filling and light too!!
Friday: Holiday Pomegranate Mojito – I rarely post alcohol recipes on my blog, matter in fact besides my Baileys Shake I think this maybe my first one. I figured with Christmas and New Years upon us, this would be a nice drink to celebrate the holiday. It’s light, bubbly and a little sweet. I personally love mojitos, so this drink tops my favorite drink list!
Saturday: Black Bean and Butternut Squash Quinoa Tacos / Salad – I love, love, love this combination!! I have been eating this salad all week on tacos, lettuce and as side dish. I add a little avocado and hot sauce and it’s perfect!!
Well my Friends, I am not hungry, but I need to take my dinner out of the crockpot. I’m thinking of having it tomorrow instead. I can’t believe a shared appetizer would be so filling. Well I did have a few Pear and Cream Cheese cups, he he!
Have a safe and wonderful holiday weekend!
Toodles,
Jennifer
P.S. This weeks craving is: Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cashew Butter
