Black Bean Soup

The wife and I do a lot of meatless days during Lent.  But there is only so much pizza, pancakes, and tuna fish sandwiches you can have.  SO we started looking into making some high protein vegetarian soups and stews.  After a few tweaks to some black bean soup recipes, this is our current go to.  We do it in the Instant Pot, which makes it fast enough she can turn on the pressure when I leave work and we're eating by the time I get home.

Ingredients

• 2 Tbsp canola (or another vegetable) oil
• 1 medium onion - diced
• 1 large carrot - diced
• 1 bell pepper - diced
• 2 stalks celery - diced
• 1 lb dried black beans
• 5 cloves of garlic - minced
• 4 tsp chili powder
• 1.5 tsp ground cumin
• 1.5 tsp oregano
• 1tsp kosher salt
• 2 bay leaves
• juice from one lemon
• 4 cups chicken stock (or vegetable stock if you prefer)
• 2.5 cups water
• 1/2 cup Goyo Mojo Criollo*

Instructions

1. Set Instant Pot to saute.  Add oil, onion, carrot, pepper, and celery and saute until onions turn clear.
2. Add remaining ingredients and lock lid. 
3. Cook on high pressure for 1 hour
4. Let natural pressure release for 10 minutes, then you may rapidly release pressure.
5. Scoop out half of the beans and set aside.
6. Take a stick blender and process remaining soup in the pot until smooth. Return saved beans to pot and stir in.
7. Serve and enjoy

* - This isn't required but I found it added a lot of good flavors.  If you don't have on hand, you can replace with water.

Buffalo Chicken Stew

Whenever my folks are coming into town and we're not sure when they will get in, we like to have a meal that can be made ready and sit in waiting for guests to arrive.  For the past several visits, this has been the meal requested.  Paired with a hearty loaf of bread, this hits all the pleasure points of eating, a bit spicy, plenty savory, with some smooth creamy bits worked in.  This is based on a recipe found HERE and was originally designed for the crockpot.  That worked great, but we made some minor adjustments so you can Instant Pot it.

Ingredients

• 1.25-pound ground chicken or turkey
• 15 oz canned white beans (navy beans generally but anything on hand), drained and rinsed
• 14 oz can diced tomatoes, drained
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 1/4 - 1/2 cup buffalo wing sauce (I like 1/2 cup, but if you have non-spicy guests go lower)
• 1 package ranch dressing mix
• 1 cup frozen corn kernels
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon celery salt
• 1/2 teaspoon dried cilantro
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 8 oz cream cheese
• Blue cheese crumbles optional

Instructions

1. Brown ground poultry until fully cooked in Instant Pot on Saute setting
2. Add remaining ingredients except for blue cheese. Leave the cream cheese in a block on top, it will get stirred in later.
3. Cook on high pressure for 45 minutes
4. Natural release pressure and stir well to combine cream cheese
5. Served with a sprinkling of blue cheese on top

Cowboy Caviar

Here's a healthy, no cooking, super delicious salad that works as a dip or eaten directly with fork or spoon.  We make it for big parties as it travels well and works best if made ahead of time.  Generally, we serve with scooping tortilla chips.

Cowboy Caviar

• 1x 15oz can black-eyed peas (drained)
• 1x 11oz can of corn (drained)
• 2x avocados (diced)
• 1/2 cup diced tomato
• 2/3 cup red onion (diced)
• 2/3 cup fresh cilantro (chopped)
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
• 2 clove garlic (minced)
• 1 tsp ground cumin

1. Combine all ingredients and mix.
2. Let sit several hours before serving with chips. 24 hrs is even better

Notes: Recipe is extremely forgiving of substitutions.  We often swap black beans for the black-eyed peas, frozen corn for the canned, and in winter we use a 2 Tbsp dried cilantro instead of fresh.

Cuban Pulled Pork

When it comes to hosting a meal, I'm a big fan of pulled pork.  There are many varieties and it can be made as fancy or as simple as you like. This recipe is based on a freeze-ahead slow cooker recipe from IAmThatLady.com as part of one of her $150 Aldi shopping plans where you prep twenty meals.

I liked the idea, but once I got my Instant Pot, I no longer really needed to prep as much ahead.  You can make this is an hour and a half so I can start it when I get home or even on weekends after we clean up from lunch.  Here's my adjusted version.

Cuban Pulled Pork

• 2 lb Pork Tenderloin
• 1/2 Large Sweet Onion - Diced
• 3 tsp garlic - minced
• Juice from 1 lime
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1/4 tsp garlic powder
• 3/4 cup beef broth

1. Combine all ingredients in Instant Pot.
2. Cook at high pressure for 60 minutes
3. Natural pressure release for 10 minutes. Then shred pork and stir back into juices.

I generally serve with small flour tortillas and some guacamole.  Served that way, this recipe will serve 6-8 adults.  

Koolicks (Koolaid Pickles)

So I tried something this summer and a friend just asked for the recipe.  Sadly, I can't find any pictures but I'm sure you can google it and see hundreds of them.  This is my recipe for making these, which used less sugar than most of the recipes I've seen.

Koolicks

• 2 Quart sized jars of Dill Pickles (I used my refrigerator half sours with added dill.)
• 1 pkg of Koolaid (I used Black Cherry for the color)
• 2/3 Cup Sugar

1.  Drain the Brine from the pickle jars into a large bowl.
2. Add Koolaid packet and sugar to the bowl and stir until sugar and mix is dissolved
3. Pour back into jars, filling to the brim
4. reseal jars and place in the refrigerator for at least one week, two is better.

Results:

 Both jars were consumed within a day of opening, One at a party, and one as a gift to a Monsignor friend (hence the color choice). I thought it was a nice balance of sweet and salty.  I have NOT tried this will commercial pickles, so your mileage may vary.  Let me know in the comments how your koolicks turn out.
 

Pumpkin Spice White Chili

Wow, did this turn out much better than expected.  For this months Cast Iron Cook competition, the secret ingredient was "Pumpkin Spice."  I was not thrilled with the choice and I out right refused to make a dessert.  When in doubt, I usually turn to the crock pot to fix most of my cooking problems.  I was not let down.  Joining a few recipes I found on-line and tweaking to my tastes, I made this chili and it was extremely well received by the judges.  It came in second after the scoring was done, but it was requested at next months neighborhood block party.  So I'll take that has a win of a different sort.

Pumpkin Spice White Chili

• 1.3 lbs Ground Turkey
• 1 Chicken Breast, diced raw
• 1 yellow onion (diced)
• 1 green bell pepper (chopped)
• 1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes
• 1 16 oz can light red kidney beans (rinsed and drained)
• 1 16 oz can cannelini beans (rinsed and drained)
• 1 14.5 oz can of pumpkin puree
• 1 cup frozen corn
• 2 cups water
• 1/3 cup sugar
• The Spices
• 2 tsp kosher salt
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp whole cloves
• 1 Tbsp chili powder
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp red pepper flakes

In a skillet, brown the ground turkey and onions until the meat is cooked and the onions clear and starting to brown.  Transfer this to the crock pot and add all of the other ingredients except the spices.  Be sure to rinse the drain the beans both to remove gas inducing toxins and to make sure your chili consistency is right.

I put all of my spices in an old coffee grinder and set it spinning and pulverizing my cloves, cinnamon, and other spices to make a fine fully mixed powder.  When that was done I then pour that over the contents of the crock pot and stir well to fulling incorporate.

Cook this on high for at least 3 hours.  (Be careful because there is raw chicken in this mix, so no tasting for an least  90 minutes or until the chicken is fully cooked).  I propped the lid off to the side for the last hour to thicken the chili up.  This is to your preference.

The Result:

This was awesome.  I see no reason to change anything at the moment.  I would recommend this recipe to anyone looking for something with a little taste of fall harvest.

Spicy Cranberry Salsa

This is the dish that won me the September Cast Iron Cook competition in the neighborhood.  The secret ingredient was cranberry, and I wanted to make something with some spicy kick to it.  The recipe is dead simple, but it will take a little planning.  If you start around lunch, it will be ready to serve as an appetizer before dinner.

Spicy Cranberry Salsa

• 12 oz dried cranberries
• Cranberry Juice (100% juice, not cocktail)
• 3 green onions
• 1/2 Cup cilantro (chopped fine)
• 4 jalapeno, minced
• Juice of one lime
• 1/2 tsp cumin

In a medium pot, soak cranberries in enough cranberry juice to cover for thirty minutes.  After that time, kick up the heat on the stove to medium and bring to cranberries to a simmer Cook for 15 minutes.  Kill the heat and add all of the other ingredients. 

Transfer this mixture to a medium bowl and place bowl in an ice bath to bring down the temperature.  When cooled to room temperature or below move to the refrigerator.  Salsa is best is allowed to mellow for a few hours and let the flavors continue to blend. 

I served this over two logs of goat cheese with some small crescent rolls, but honestly the salsa would be good over anything from pork loin to just served with chips.

The Results:

Simple Freeze-Ahead Pesto

Invariably, my basil plants will grow faster than I pull leaves for pizza and salads, so eventually its time to make a big batch of pesto.  I always start with the Pesto recipe from the Betty Crockers New Cookbook (8th Edition) and then make a few mods.  Here's my modified version

Simple Pesto

• 2 Cups washed and dried basil leaves (packed down)
• 3 tsp minced garlic
• 1/4 Cup pine nuts
• 1/2 fresh Parmesan or similar cheese
• ~3/4 cup olive oil

  (I've switched to using the Grana Padano cheese sold a Costco for this in place of Parmesan.  I think it has a similar taste, and with either the basil is the strongest taste here, the cheese is a second stringer and therefore the savings in cost is worth the substitution)

 

To make the Pesto, simply put all of the ingredients in a food processor and pulse until everything is well mixed together and minced to tiny bits.  Then add half of the oil and start blending.  Add additional oil until you like the consistency.  I like to leave mine a bit on the lumpier side if I'm going to freeze it for future use.  I can add oil later, but removing oil is harder.

Speaking of freezing, I got these Ball Silicon Ice Cube Trays and they work great.  A cube of pesto is good for about two people's worth of pasta.

Apple Slaw

One of the downsides of picking fresh apples is that you always over pick.  You can't help it.  Once you start a bag you want to stuff it.  So even after making 8 Qts of apple pie filling, 8 Qts. of apple sauce, 9 Qts of apple butter, we still had apples left.  What to do?

Luckily a neighbor of mine backs great BBQ pork and invited us to dinner.  So we decided to whip up some cole slaw, but with a twist.  This recipe was SUPER easy and very tasty.  I may not make regular cole slaw again.

Apple Slaw

• 1 bag of shredded cabbage
• 1 tart apple (Jonagold, Granny Smith, etc)
• 1 sweet apple (Gala, Red delicious, etc)
• 1 carrot
• 1/2 bell pepper
• 1/3 Cup mayonaise
• 1/3 Cup greek yogurt
• 1/4 Cup brown sugar (loose pack)
• 3 Tbsp cider vinegar

Using your grater, shred the apples and carrots.  Dice up the bell pepper.  Combine all cabbage, apples, carrot, and bell pepper ina  large bowl and toss together. In a seperate bowl mix all of the wet ingrediants to make the dressing.  Pour dressing over dry slaw, and mix well.

Best if you let sit in the fridge for a few hours.

The Results
 
I thought this was way better than regular cole slaw.  And it complimented the dry rub pulled pork very well. 

Dill Pickles #1

By request, I'm putting up my current dill pickle recipe. I'll be upfront and say this recipe probably still needs some tweeks. Last time I made them they got a "pretty good" rating. To be fair, they were matched against my spicy B &B pickles, which are my favorite. Generally if I'm making dill pickles I like the fresh variety and use my Half-Sours with some dill added in, but those aren't the dill pickles people think of when they buy a jar at the mega mart. Further the higher vinegar ratio of this recipe allows it to stay preserved longer.
So here's what we have so far.

Dill Pickles #1

• ~10 pickling cucumbers, sliced into spears or chips
• 4 Cups white vinegar
• 4 Cups water
• 3/4 Cups sugar
• 1/2 Cup pickling salt
• 1 tsp red pepper flakes
• 3 tsp pickling spices
• bay leaves
• garlic cloves
• dills
• mustard seed
• Pickle Crisp

The Process

1. Bring boiling water canner to a boil and sterilize 5-6 pint jars.
2. In a separate pot, bring vinegar, water, sugar, salt, pepper flakes, and pickling spice to a boil. Simmer for 15 minutes to dissolve sugar and salt and pull flavor from the pepper and spices
3. One at a time, remove the jars, dump water and carefully cold pack the cucumbers in the jar along with 1 garlic clove, one bay leaf, 1/2 tsp mustard seed, 1/4 tsp of Pickle Crisp, and two sprigs of dill.
4. Pour in Brine leaving one inch of head room. Wipe, seal, and return to boiling water.
5. Process these jars for 15 minutes following standard water bath canning methods.

Pickles are ready to eat after two weeks, but achieve full flavor after a month. Home canned goods like this are good for about two years.

The Results

Like I said above, these were good. I don't know how I'm going to change them yet. The red pepper was too weak to really taste over the vinegar and salt, so I may increase that in the future, or else drop it entirely. I also think for ease you can switch the garlic cloves for 1/2 tsp of minced, I bet it would do just as well.

Refridgerator Half-Sour Pickles

One of the easiest ways to preserve food is to Pickle it.  Through this process we push off bacteria by making the food unattractive to the food beasties. Conveniently, because we are omnivores, sometimes what the little bugs don't like, we find delicious.  This is where my Fridge Pickles come in.

Ingrediants

• 3-4 Pickling Cucumbers, sliced lengthwise and trimmed to be no taller than than jar openning (usually about 5 inches)
• Quarter of a large onion, cut into onion slivers
• 2 tsp minced garlic
• 4 tsp salt
• 1/2 Cup white vinegar
• 1 1/2 Cups water

The Process

1. Clean and sterilize (you can use the dish washer for that) a quart sized, swing top jar. [You can also use a regular canning jar, but I like the swing top for this, as we aren't really canning this and I don't want to give the impression of shelf stable food.]
2. Pack the cucumbers and onion slices into the jar.  A tight pack will help keep the cucumbers from floating to the top. Add the minced garlic on top.
3. In a small sauce pan, heat the water, vinegar and salt until salt is disolved and the liquid just comes to a simmer.
4. Pour hot brine into jar, filling to the top as much as possible.
5. Close jar, and seal.  let this cool on the counter until room temperature and then move to the refridgerator. 
6. Enjoy pickles anytime from one week to four weeks.

Result:

This is the recipe I use now.  You can alo add dill if you so chose, or use a flavored vinegar.  I like it simple and straight forward.  I've also added Koolaid to this later on, but that a different post.

Flank Steak with Quick Pickles

Tried a new recipe today. Found it in Southern Living. Had to make a few modifications, but overall it turned out great. The best part was actually the Quick Pickles. Only take 30 minutes (but I'd give them an hour) and add awesome flavor.

Quick Pickles:

Here's how I made them.

• 4 Cups fresh thin slices cucumbers (I used pickling cukes from the garden)
• 1/2 cup slice yellow sweet onion
• 1/2 Cup white vinegar
• 3 Tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp minced garlic (I used jarred)
• 1 tsp salt

Place the cukes and onions in large bowl. Bring vinegar, sugar, garlic, and salt to a boil in a small pot until everything is dissolved. Pour over cukes and onions and let sit for at least 30 minutes. I tossed them once every ten minutes or so.
Flank Steak

• 2 lb Flank Steak
• olive oil
• salt & pepper

This is simple. My grill was out of commission as I'm resurfacing the deck. So let flank steak come to room temperature. Brush both sides with a thin layer of olive oil and salt and pepper (I go more liberal with this). Let sit for at least 15 minutes for the salt and pepper to penetrate.
In the broiler, with the rack set 7-8 inches below the heat, I cook the flank steak 5 minutes a side, and then one more minute on the original side. Remove and cover with aluminum foil. Let sit for 10 minutes before carving (very important, or you'll lose juices and get a tougher bite).

Remember: always cut with the grain into chunks, then across the grain for slices. Again this will help avoid tough pieces of meat. If done right it will present well and be very savory.
Steak Sauce #1

• 1 Tbsp sesame oil
• 2 tsp minces garlic (I used jarred)
• 1/4 cup soy sauce (i use low sodium, but choice is yours)
• 1/4 water
• 1/4 Cup brown sugar
• Juice from half a lemon
• 1 tsp cornstarch + 2 Tsbp water

Saute the garlic in the sesame oil for about a minute. Avoid burning the garlic or over heating the oil by watching your heat. I used just below medium on my stove. Add the Soy sauce, water, brown sugar and lemon juice and simmer for about 3-4 minutes. Finally make a rue with the corn starch and water (mix them together until they form a cloudy liquid with no hard particles, and add it to the pot. Stir and simmer and an additional minute. This should thicken it up a bit.

The Outcome:

1. Steak tasted great, cooked perfectly and not chewy, which was a concern of mine
2. Pickles were okay. I think they need some more seasoning. If you've got some ideas, please post a comment.
3. I didn't drain pickles before plating, and that was a big mistake. The steak sauce was downed by the brine, except the stuff that sat on top of the steak.

Pectin-Free Balsamic Strawberry Jam

As the summer kicks off, strawberries are abundant. So abundant that it seems a crime not to buy them in bulk. But as with all berries, they have a short shelf life. you can certainly wash and freeze them for use in ice cream, smoothies, pies, etc. Or you can eat as many as you can before they start to mold (which can be in days if you're not careful. This year I decided to try and make some jam.
I love strawberry jam. It goes good on everything. But I didn't have any pectin, nor do I like the gel consistancy of most jams. So I opted to try and go pectin free. I also didn't just want something plain. I can buy plain jane strawberry preserves at Costco for very reasonable price and its organic. So I found a recipe for jam and saw a modification to add balsamic vinegar to punch up the taste a bit. I made a few tweaks. Here's what I did.
Pectin-Free Balsamic Strawberry Jam

• 2 "dry quarts" fresh strawberries
• 5 Cups sugar
• 1/2 tsp butter
• 5 Tbsp Balsamic Vinegar

First I put the strawberries in a medium size pot and over medium heat. I used a potato smasher to roughly crush the berries. This will release some liquid and make it easier to avoid burning anything. Bring this to a low simmer.
Add the butter (to help with foaming) and half the sugar. Stir in until disolved. Then add the remaining sugar. Bring to a simmer and cook for ~45 minutes. Stir often and avoid boil over.
Kill the heat and at the vinegar. Stir to combine well. Done
Now you have some options. I put mine in clean and steriled half-pint jars and boil water bath canned them for 15 minutes (Strongly recommend). You can also just put this in a clean jar, seal and put in the fridge for several weeks. If you go the second route be aware you have a lot of jam to use.

The Outcome:

1. Jam tastes great!
2. A bit runny, but not much, I'll increase my cook time to 50 or 55 minutes next time.
3. I didn't even taste the vinegar, so if you don't like a strong taste, you're good to go. I think it just punched up the strawberry flavor some. Next time I'l personally double the vinegar and see what happens.
4. That being said, this recipe can be used with confidence.