Black Bean Soup

I have been wanting to try this recipe for forever! It is great, and the best part is: it's as easy as throwing it in the crock pot!

Black Bean Soup
2/3 cup chopped onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 small green bell pepper
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
4 cans (15½ oz.) black beans (just did pre-soaked dry beans, mashed it lightly with a potato masher at the end, and it turned out fine. Obviously, I added a bit more water)
2 cups water
2 chicken boullions cubes
1 cup cooked smoked ham, cubed
1 cup carrots, diced
4 dashes?? (or more) cayenne pepper
4 drops Tabasco sauce
Salt to taste
Sour cream


Saute onion, garlic, and bell pepper in oil.Puree contents of 2 cans of black beans and add to sauteed vegetables in crock pot. Add the rest of the ingredients except sour cream. Be sure to break up the boullion cubes.Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours. After serving, add dollop of sour cream to each bowl.

Flan

For Cinco de Mayo we had Cafe Rio Chicken Salad, Mango pico de gallo, and flan. Doesn't sound like much, but it was A LOT of work. I didn't feel like cooking for a week after that.

Flan
1 c. sugar
1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk
1 (15 oz) can evaporated milk
4 eggs

Preheat oven to 350. In med. saucepan melt sugar until light brown and syrupy. Pour into 9in round baking pan. Set aside. Beat eggs, and milks until smooth. Pour into pan. Cover with tin foil and bake for 60 mins. Let cool completely, tip over on a serving platter, and serve.

It was really good, and turned out better than I thought it would. It was WAY sweet though. After I had already made it, I had two suggestions to not use the sugar, and use dulce de leche in it's place. I am sure that would have been great as well!

Oven-Fried Potato Wedges: Our favorite homemade fries

These are by FAR our favorite homemade fries. If we have hamburgers, we have these fries. They are delicious (and relatively healthy)!

Oven-Fried Potato Wedges
3/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. paprika
1/4 tsp. ground mustard
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
3 med unpeeled Idaho or russet baking potatoes
Cooking spray

Heat oven to 425°F. In small bowl, mix everything but the potatoes and cooking spray.

Gently scrub potatoes, but do not peel. Cut each potato lengthwise into 4 wedges. Place potato wedges, skin side down, in ungreased 13x9 pan.

Spray potatoes with cooking spray until lightly coated. Sprinkle with salt mixture.

Bake uncovered 25-30 mins. or until potatotes are tender when pierced with a fork.

Gazpacho Pasta Salad with Tomato-Lime Dressing

We have been trying to eat less meat lately, and I came across this salad. I thought it would be worth a try,  it was a hit! It was nice and refreshing. (Sorry, no picture.)

Tomato-Lime Dressing
1/4 c. tomato juice
2 Tbs. olive oil
2 Tbs. lime juice
1/4 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper
1 clove garlic, finely chopped

Salad
1 pkg. farfalle (bow-tie) pasta
1 large tomato, seeded and coarsely chopped
1 sm. cucumber
1 sm. bell pepper, coarsely chopped
4 med. green onions, sliced
1/2 green Anaheim chili, seeded and chopped
1 can (2 1/4 oz), drained
1/4 c. chopped fresh cilantro

In tightly covered container, shake all dressing ingredients.

Cook and drain pasta as directed on package.

In large bowl, mix pasta and remaining salad ingredients. Pour dressing over mixture, toss. Serve immediately, or cover and refrigerate until serving.

Source: Betty Crocker Cookbook

Spicy Chicken in Peanut Sauce

We loved this! It was really nice for me, because I could just stick it in the crock pot and not think about it (except that it smelled really good) again until dinner time. I had forgotten how crazy it is to cook with a newborn. It's like they have this sense (...maybe the sense of smell?) that mom needs to be busy cooking now, so now I need to cry my lungs out. Actually, it's not just my kids. Apparently, the hour from about 5-6 is called "the bewitching hour." Anyway...so make a long story short, it was great! We loved it, and I will be making it again.

Spicy Chicken in Peanut Sauce

1 Tbs. olive or vegetable oil
abt. 3 lbs chicken (breasts, thighs, whatever...)
1 lg. onion, chopped
2 (14.5)cans diced tomatoes
1 (15oz) can tomato sauce
1 jalapeno, chopped
2 Tbs. honey
2 tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/3 c. peanut butter (the recipe called for creamy, but I think crunchy would be good too, especially if you don't have peanuts on hand)
2 c. hot cooked couscous, or rice

Heat oil over med-hi heat. Cook chicken about 4 mins, until brown.

In 4-5qt. slow cooker mix onion, tomato, jalapeno, honey, cumin, and cinnamon. Add chicken. Spoon tomato mix over chicken.

Cover and cook on Low heat setting 7-8 hours (I don't think it needed quite that long.)

Stir in peanut butter until melted and well blended. Serve chicken and sauce over rice or couscous. Garnish with peanuts and cilantro.

Source: Adapted from the Betty Crocker Cookbook.

Summer dress

I haven't really been making any amazing food lately (That doesn't mean the food I have been making isn't, I just haven't made anything new), BUT I did make Heather B. a summer dress from an old button down shirt. She's been going through a dress phase lately, so I thought I'd give it a go. Here's the end product. I can't really give credit to anyone. I looked at several blogs, got lots of ideas and sort of made it up as I went along. It's not perfect, but as my grandma says: "It'll never be noticed on a galloping horse." :) Heather loves it, and it makes it special because it was made out of Daddy's old shirt. I also made the leggings out of one of my old T-shirts. I feel so domestic. :D

The dress can do anything a little girl can. It's good for: 

Dressing up

Counting

Twirling

And Climbing

Yup! It's Heather (and mommy) approved. The best part is: it was free!

PS. For the story of her black eye check out our family blog. http://bookofstandage.blogspot.com

Mmm. I love her so much.

Pizza Margherita

This was delicious! Traditionally, the green in the pizza is supposed to be fresh basil, but I didn't have any so I used spinach instead. It worked perfectly. Here is what I did:

1Tbs. Olive oil
2 large tomatoes, chopped
+/- 1/2 c. spinach, julienned
1 large clove garlic
2 (ish) Tbs. onion
Dried basil, to taste
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
Cheese of your choice(I used mozzerella and cheddar because that's what we had, and we didn't have much of either so I had to use both)
Parmesan cheese
Your favorite pizza dough enough for one pizza (I used my favorite universal bread dough recipe)

Prepare your pizza dough. Combine all ingredients except cheese and in a bowl. Put cheese (not Parmesan) on the pizza dough, then add the tomato mixture. Top with Parmesan. Bake according to pizza dough recipe instructions. Usually 450°F for about 15 mins.

I was worried that the pizza would be a little dry because there was no sauce, but it was perfect! It was like a fresh, savory salad on a pizza...I can't say enough good about it. You better try it! We will be making this one often. :)