Quick and Spicy Black Bean Soup

Sometimes a hearty, home-cooked meal that’s been carefully prepared and simmered all day is just what one needs....but then other times you just need to eat! Here’s a quick bean soup that can go from pot to table in about 15 minutes. Last week, I doubled the recipe and threw it into a slow cooker (on Low) and came home 5 hours later to dinner.


Here’s to surviving the season, Friends!

Quick and Spicy Black Bean Soup

Ingredients:

2- 15oz. cans Black Beans

1- 16 oz. container medium Salsa (or hotter, if you like)

4- cups chicken broth

Optional Garnishes: cilantro, sour cream, corn chips, cheese.

Directions:

Rinse and drain beans and put all ingredients into a pot. Heat through. Remove ½ of soup to a blender and blend thoroughly. Add back to pot and stir. Serve with a garnish of sour cream and cilantro. Serves 4

Notes: This is a super easy and versatile recipe. I’ve added chopped chicken before. I’ve also skipped the blending and just served it chunkier. My husband spooned his over a bowl of brown rice. My kids ate theirs with plenty of chips and cheese. (oh, and in the picture above, I was short one can of black beans so I substituted some great northern...whatever works!)

Coconut-Cherry Kiss Cookies

I love all things chocolate and cherry, add coconut to it and I'm on it like a stink on fish! Here's a favorite Christmas cookie of mine that incorporates all three of these loves. (And it looks pretty cute, too!)
Happy Holidays, Friends!

Coconut-Cherry Kiss Cookie

Ingredients:

1-3oz. pkg. cream cheese, softened

1/3- cup butter, softened

2/3- cup white sugar

1 tsp.- vanilla

1 -egg yolk

1&1/4- cup flour

¼ tsp.- salt

2 tsp.- baking powder

½- cup maraschino cherries, drained and chopped

1-14oz.- pkg. sweetened, flaked coconut

1-9oz pkg. Chocolate Kisses

Directions:

Cream butter, cream cheese, and sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg yolk and vanilla; beat well. Stir in mixture of flour, baking powder and salt. Gently mix in 3 cups of coconut and cherries. Chill, tightly covered for 1 hour. Shape into 1-inch balls and roll in remaining coconut. Place onto ungreased cookie sheet and bake at 350 for 15 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove from oven and immediately press a chocolate kiss into the center of each cookie. Cool on cookies sheet for 1 minute. Remove to wire rack to cool completely. Yield: 4 dozen

Note: Sometimes I stir in a handful or two of chocolate chips into the dough instead of putting the kisses on top. This way I get uber chocolate satisfaction in every bite!

Easy Lasagna

Ok, Erin, I know you've got some cheesy pasta love goin' on. This one's for you. You could make it even easier by purchasing the no-cook lasgna noodles. Just make sure you add some extra water to your sauce, maybe about 3/4 cup. The package may tell you exactly. Good luck!

Easy Lasagna

Ingredients:

1 lb. Italian sausage
1- 32oz. jar spaghetti sauce
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. salt (or to taste)
1 tsp. pepper
1 Tbsp. dried oregano (or italian seasoning)
1- 8oz. pkg. lasagna noodles
1- 16oz. container cottage cheese
1 egg
1-16oz. pkg. shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions:

-Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray a 9x13 pan with cooking spray and set aside.
In a large skillet, cook meat over medium heat until browned. Drain off fat. Stir in sauce, garlic, salt, pepper, and oregano. cover and simmer on Low about 15 minutes.

-Meanwhile, cook noodles according to pkg. directions. Drain in colander and lay noodles flat on a sheet of foil.

-Mix egg into container of cottage cheese.

-In your 9x13inch pan layer 3 times: Noodles, cottage cheese, sauce and mozzarella. Noodles, cottage cheese, sauce and mozzarella, Noddles, cottage cheese, sauce, and mozzarella.

-Cover with foil and bake for 45 minutes or until bubbly and heated thru. Let stand about 10-15 minutes before serving.

(Note: I like to sprinkle on a handful of Parmesan cheese before baking. Adds to the cheesy goodness.)

Drunken Maple Apples

  My friend called me tonight looking for my recipe for German Pancakes, which got me thinking," I should make those for dinner," which got me thinking,"ooh wouldn't glazed apples be good on that," which got me looking at the bottle of booze on my counter (don't judge, it was for another recipe, of course!), which got me thinking, "hmm, what if I put the booze in my apples...?" And, voila!  Drunken Maple Apples was born! See what happens when I think too much and there's a bottle of booze around. Anyway,  I smothered my pancake with these babies and blushed a little when my husband caught me licking my plate. Hope you enjoy these as much as I did, and oh, you might want to  make sure you're really alone before you take a lick.

Drunken Maple Apples

Ingredients:

3 large sweet apples, peeled and sliced

5 Tbsp. butter

1/2 cup Bourbon Whiskey

1/4 cup maple syrup

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

Directions:

Melt 1 Tbsp. butter in skillet over High heat. Add apples and cook about 5 minutes until slightly softened. Remove from pan and set aside. In same skillet carefully pour in Bourbon and cook about 30 seconds (to cook off some of the alcohol). Reduce heat to Med. and add butter, maple syrup and brown sugar. Stir until butter is melted. Add apples back to skillet. Toss well, and cook over Med. heat about 5 minutes more or until soft and syrup is slightly thickened.

Note: These were great over pancakes, but you could try them over ice cream, with ham or pork. Or just eat them out of the pan like I did.

Arlene Dunning's Pie

  Ssheww! I don't know know about you, but I'm glad to finally be sitting down after a long afternoon in the  kitchen preparing for tomorrow's Thanksgiving feast! This year's celebration will be bitter-sweet for my family, as we mourn the loss of my dear grandma who passed away this last week after a months-long battle with cancer. She will be very missed, but we are so thankful for the blessing of having known this courageous, hard-working woman. One of my earliest food memories (because my best memories involve food!) is of standing on a stool between my gramma and my mom learning to can peaches. Gramma let me use this itty bitty knife to take the skin off the peaches and I felt so grown up! Today while working in the kitchen, I was reminded of gramma while struggling with my pie crust (yet again!) My gramma was the best pie maker I've known. For twenty years I've been struggling to duplicate her delicate, flakey crusts, but for the life of me, I just can't get it right! Pie crust making is beginning to be a lost art, and with the plethora of ready-made crusts on the market it's tempting to quit trying, but something inside just won't let me (it's probably my ocd). The recipe I'm posting today (and made today) is a lot like gram's and very good, but I'm still workin' on that tender crust. So anyway, hug your loved ones really tight tomorrow and let them know how much you love them, and from my family to yours, have a very Happy Thanksgiving!

Thankful for you, friends!

Pastry for Double- Crust Pie

Ingredients:

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 cup cold butter, cut into cubes
1/4 cup shortening
1/4 cup ice water (may need more)

Directions:
-In a food processor with blade attachment pulse flour and salt together.

-Add butter and shortening; pulse until mixture resembles coarse crumbs

-With processor running, pour in water through feed tube. Stop motor and pinch dough. It should be moist enough to hold together. If not, add 1-2 Tblsp. more water.
-Shape dough into two round disks. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. (If chilling overnight, let dough stand at room temp. at least 30 minutes before rolling out.)

-On a floured surface, roll out dough into 12 inch circle and ease into pie plate. Trim edge, leaving 1-inch overhang.

- Spoon filling into crust. Roll out remaining dough and place on top of filling. Fold overhang under; make decorative edge. Cut 1-2 slits in top to allow steam to escape. Bake as directed.

Peach Pie

Ingredients:
3/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup cornstarch

pinch of salt
7 cups peaches, peeled, pitted, and sliced (I used canned, unsweetened, well drained peaches)
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
1 Tbsp. butter, cut up.

-Preheat oven to 425.

- Stir together sugar, cornstarch, and salt. Add peaches and lemon juice. Toss gently to combine.
-Spoon filling into prepared pie crust. Dot with butter and place remaining dough on top. Finish edge and cut slits.
- Bake for 20 minutes. Turn oven down to 375 and bake for 40-60 minutes more or until filling bubbles in center. If necessary, cover loosely with foil to prevent overbrowning during the last 20 minutes or so.
-Cool on wire rack 1 hour to serve warm or cool completely.

Ode to Cream o' Mushroom

  I have a confession to make. I love Cream of Mushroom soup. I've recently heard fancy,shmancy chefs, on fancy,shmancy cooking shows making disparaging remarks about this creamy concoction and well, frankly, it hurt my feelings. Why this soup love, you ask? Well, it's creamy goodness, and easy accessibility aside, Cream of Mushroom soup has saved my bacon in more than one "Hi honey, I brought the boss home for dinner" inccidents. It has made me look like I had it all together and really knew what I was doing. And for that alone, I hail thee. Here is a quick,easy recipe that will even impress your husband's boss.

Chicken Breasts with Cream Sauce (wow, that is a boring name)

Ingredients:
5 -6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/4 cup melted butter (can use more if needed)
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1/4-1/2 cup of white wine
1/4 cup sour cream or heavy cream (can use more if needed)
pinch of tarragon
two handfuls of Jack or Parmesan cheese

Directions:
Coat chicken breasts in butter. In a large skillet, quickly fry them over med-high heat about one minute on each side. (Just to brown and seal in juices) Lay them in a large 9x13 pan. In the hot skillet, whisk together canned soup, wine, cream and tarragon. Pour over chicken and bake for 20 minutes, sprinkle on the cheese and baste with sauce. Continue to bake for 5-10 minutes more or until chicken is no longer pink. Serve over rice or with a great bread to sop up the good sauce!

Note: As you can see your measurements don't have to be exact because you can't really mess this one up. If I were serving this to adults only I might put more wine in it or saute some fresh mushrooms (with butter, garlic and wine) to spoon over top. With kids, I usually put more cream just to stretch it and make it creamier. It's pretty tasty any way you serve it.

The Great Pumpkin Massacre (that turned into cookies)

  For the very first time this year, I tried my hand at gardening . To my shock and amazement I actually grew something. The pumpkins pictured above are some of the fruits of my bounty. Actually, it's a tiny fraction of my bounty (of pumpkins, that is). Like many amateur gardeners I decided that, to be on the safe side, I would plant extra just in case some of the plants got damaged or eaten by vermin. In the case of the pumpkins, that meant 8 hills with 3-4 seeds in every hill. (All you experienced gardeners out there, I can hear you laughing!) Needless to say, I have a few pumpkins in the garage. 20 to be exact, (not including the ones I've already cooked, given the neighbors, given to cousins, given to friends or used for decorations.) So what am I gonna do with all this pumpkin, you ask? I have no idea. For right now I'm cookin' it all down and putting it into 2 cup baggies to store in the freezer for a rainy day. Or, at least until next week when some of it will get made into Thanksgiving pies. I did ,however, remember to leave some of it out to use in one of our favorite fall cookies. These iced pumpkin cookies are wonderful! Moist and cakey with a hint of nutmeg and clove, you won't be disappointed.

Let me know what you think, friends!

Iced Pumpkin Cookies

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cup flour

1-tsp. baking powder

1-tsp baking soda

2-tsp cinnamon

1/2-tsp.ground nutmeg

1/2-tsp. ground cloves

1/2-tsp. salt

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 1/2 cups white sugar

1 egg

1 cup canned pumpkin puree

1-tsp. vanilla

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine dry ingredients and set aside. Cream together the butter, and sugar. Add pumpkin, egg, and vanilla and beat until creamy. Stir in dry ingredients. Drop by spoonfuls onto cookie sheet and flatten slightly with the bottom of a cup dipped into flour.

Bake for 15 minutes or until light brown. Cool completely and frost with butter cream icing.

Butter Cream Icing

3 cups powdered sugar

3 Tbsp. milk or cream

1/3 cup melted butter

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla

Beat until creamy and spreadable

Note: My family loves these cookies iced but my favorite is to stir some chocolate chips into the batter before baking. Mmmm!

Corn Bread Casserole

  Here's the cornbread cass. I served with last night's Jambalaya. It is creamier and sweeter than your average cornbread and pairs well with tomato based dishes like Mexican food or Chilis. I've seen lots of variations on this dish, but this one comes from my good friend, Margarete. Thanks for sharing, girl!
Have a great day, friends!

Corn Bread Casserole

Ingredients:
1- can creamed corn
1- can whole corn, undrained
2-boxes Jiffy corn muffin mix- or 3 cups cornbread mix
2 eggs, beaten
2 sticks butter or margarine
1 pint sour cream

Directions:
Mix all ingredients, pour into 13x9 pan and bake at 350 for 1 hour.

(Note: I know what your thinking. . . No, this is not a low calorie, low fat dish! I usually serve it when I have  group of people over (so I don't eat the whole thing myself ). You can also bake it in two pans and freeze one for later. It reheats very well.)

A Bit of Creole

  I love a little something spicy now and then and Cajun/Creole is where I turned tonight. Jambalaya is a Louisiana Creole dish originally of Spanish and French influence. There are two varieties: Creole Jambalaya gets it's origins from the French Quarter of New Orleans. It contains tomatoes; whereas the Cajun variety does not. Cajun Jambalaya hails from Louisiana's more rural, swamp country where crawfish, shrimp and wild game were plentiful. This Jambalaya gets it's dark color by the browning of the meat for color. Legend has it that Jambalaya was typically made at the end of the week, so families could use up all their leftover meat and vegetables. A Cajun type stew was born. Here's my take on this Louisiana hot dish. I've paired it up with a cornbread casserole. The spicy/salty with a sweetish side is so delish!

Bon Appetite, Friends!

Creole Jambalaya

Ingredients:

1- medium onion, chopped

1- green bell pepper, chopped

1- jalapeno, diced

1- stalk celery, chopped

1- cup chicken broth

1- 28oz. can diced tomatoes

1- bay leaf

2- tsp. dried oregano

2- tsp. Cajun/Creole seasoning
1- tsp. hot sauce
1/2-1 lb. peeled and deveined shrimp
2- boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into cubes
1/2 lb. andouille sausage, diced (or other smoked linked sausage)
4 -cups cooked rice

Directions:

In a large skillet or kettle, over high heat, quickly brown chicken and sausage. Remove from pan and set aside. Add to pan onion, peppers and celery and saute till softened. Add broth, tomatoes, all spices and reserved chicken and sausage. Cover and simmer on low heat for at least an hour. Add shrimp and cook till pink, about 4-5 minutes. Remove bay leaf. Serve over rice.

(Note: In authentic Jambalaya you cook the raw rice in the vegie/ meat mixture during the last 20 minutes. My family thinks the rice gets too soggy this way so I just serve them separately.)

(Another Note: You can make this in the crockpot as well. Just brown meat and vegies then throw everything but shrimp and rice into crock. Cook on Low for 6-7 hours or High for 3. Stir in shrimp during last 5 minutes.)

Slow Cooker Apple Butter

Apple season is coming to an end here in the Pacific Northwest, but year after year I'm amazed at how great our apples are here! Growing up I got pretty spoiled with my mom and grandma's home-canned applesauce, apple butter, hot apple pie, fresh apple cider. . .aahh, I can smell it now! Unfortunately, my canning days are few and far between right now. Canning somehow got shoved on the list with: Get a pedicure, lose 10 pounds, and write in the baby's scrapbook (my baby is two). I did, however, stay up late this last weekend to get some applesauce canned.  I made myself do it because I can hardly bring myself to eat the store-bought variety after years of the "good stuff". It's the only canning I did or will do for this year. A couple years ago I found a way to make the store-bought sauce taste pretty good, by making it into apple butter. Now, if you aren't familiar with apple butter, by all means, let me fill you in. Apple butter is basically applesauce with added sugar and spices that is cooked down all day until it is dark and thick like jam. It is divine on toast, and slays me spread on a buttery biscuit. It just tastes like fall! Canned in little jars it is beautiful and makes for darling little hostess gifts. Give this recipe below a try. It is so, so easy and you'll impress your friends and neighbors (okay, that might be pushin' it, but it is easy and delicious)!

Happy canning friends!

Joy's Cheatin' Apple Butter

Ingredients:

2- 46.5 oz jars unsweetened apple sauce (or 3 quarts)

3 cups sugar

1 tsp. apple cider vinegar

2 tsp cinnamon

1 cinnamon stick

1/2 tsp. cloves

1/2 tsp. allspice

1 tsp. vanilla

Directions:

Place all ingredients in a slow cooker. Cover. Cook on High for 11-12 hours, removing lid during last 4 hours of cooking. Stir occasionally. Makes 5 pints.

Note: This is easy to can by the Inversion Method.

Ladle apple butter into hot, clean jars, leaving 1/8 inch from top of jar. Wipe rims. Cover with hot canning lids and screw on bands tightly. Invert jars for 5 minutes, then turn upright. You will hear little pops as your jars cool and lids seal to jars. After jars are cool, check seals. Refrigerate any jars that did not seal.

Another note ; ) I usually start this in my crockpot right before bed and let it cook all night. In the morning I'll remove the lid and stir and let it finish cooking. The bonus is you wake up to a heavenly smell!

Missing Molasses

  Costco use to carry these cute little loaves of molasses bread which I quickly learned to love. Unfortunately, after about 6 months (and a significant attachment on my part) they stopped carrying them. Alas, I have missed them! So yesterday, after deciding on beef stroganoff  for dinner, I purposed to bake my own darn loaves of molasses bread and stop the griping. The recipe below is what I came up with. Now, mind you, it's not quite the same as those cute litttle loaves I used to purchase, but it turned out quite good just the same. A tender, moist loaf that went great with stroganoff and sliced beautifully for turkey sandwiches today.
Happy baking, friends!
P.S. I put this all in a bread machine and let it do the work, but you can do it by hand as well.

Honey-Oat Molasses Bread


1 tsp. sugar
1 pkg. dry yeast (or 2 1/4 tsp.)
1/4 cup warm water (110-120 degrees)
Mix this together in a small bowl and set aside to proof.( proofing means to activate the yeast)


Stir together:
1 cup boiling water
1/4 cup oil
1/4 cup molasses
1/4 cup honey
1 cup oats


Add to above mixture:
1 tsp. salt
2 eggs
2 cups wheat flour
2 cups white flour
2 Tbsp. vital wheat gluten ( I always add this to my bread. It improves the elasticity a lot.)
Now add yeast mixture into flour/oat mixture and set Bread machine to Dough cycle. When it's finished  shape it into a round and put into a greased pie plate.(I brushed it with butter and added some oats to the top at this point)  Let rise for about 30 minutes. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes, or until golden and tapping on it results in a hollow sound. Let cool 10 minutes before removing from pan.  Yields: 1 large loaf ( about 12 slices or wedges)


(If you're doing this by hand, just mix the above mixture together as well as you can with a spoon. Then turn out dough onto a floured counter or board. Knead for at least 10 minutes. Cover and let rise for about an hour until dough has about doubled in size.Punch down dough and shape into loaf. Then bake as directed.)

Chowda anyone?

  We just got home from four fun-filled days at the coast. It was beautiful and balmy (well, 65 degrees), which for the Oregon coast is a rarity.We didn't want to come home, but then the rains rolled in and well, "home again, home again, piggldy pig" (as my mother always says). It's our family tradition to go to the beach every fall, and it's also our tradition to seek out a great bowl of chowder while we're there. The last few years I've been greatly disappointed. It's been either too thin, too thick, too gritty or just plain bad (I know, I know, I'm a chowder snob). So this year I took matters into my own hands and took a whole kettle full of my own chowder, which I made at home and transported in a cooler. I warmed it up on the stove in the condo and served it with oyster crackers (my kids fav) and fresh sourdough bread. Dinner is served! Pipin' hot, creamy chowder while watching the waves roll in. . . . well, it just doesn't get much better than that. Enjoy, friends!

Creamy Smoked Salmon and Sweet Corn Chowder (now there's a mouthful!)


1/2 a small onion, chopped
4 Tbsp. butter, bacon grease or oil (which ever fat you prefer)
5-6 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed
3 tsp chicken base or 3 bouillon cubes
2 cups water
1/3 cup flour
1 8oz. pkg. Neufchatel (light cream cheese)
1&1/2-2 cups whole milk
2 cups frozen sweet corn
8 oz. pkg. smoked salmon, crumbled with bones removed
1 can cream of potato soup (optional- just makes for a creamier consistency)
1/2 tsp. salt
Saute onion in butter until transparent in a large kettle. Add to kettle, water, chicken base, and potatoes.Cover and cook until potatoes are tender. Soften cream cheese and blend with flour until smooth. Stir into potato mixture. Add milk, can of soup and corn. Bring just to a boil. Remove from heat and stir in salmon and salt.

What the . . .

So my family is shocked and amazed that I'm actually doing this, but it's really been years in the making. Since I think about food, dream about food, read cookbooks like novels and cook lots of food, I've decided to share some of these musings with ya'll. Check back later and see what's cooking. Oh, and about the name . . . I watched my daughter take forever to peel her orange making sure she had every little bit of the white stuff off before she would eat it. When she got all done there it sat. . . a "naked orange." So, Nani, this blog's for you, may all your oranges be naked.