Spicy Black Beans and Rice.

My apologies to my readers, as I've put off posting for a bit.  I'm still cooking, just haven't stopped to photograph often.  I do have some photographs on reserve though, recipes I made awhile back and haven't gotten around to posting yet.  Here's one of my favorites.

I had been seeking a great black beans and rice recipe for awhile now, ever since a trip to mexico in high school.  For dinner one night we were served from a big bowl of rice, and a large bowl of beans.  That was all. I thought I was doomed.  Then I tasted it.  Delicious!  From that point on, I wanted to learn how to make the dish.  The ladies who cooked the meal tried to explain it to me, but the language barrier proved to be too difficult.  

Now, years later, I found a recipe in a newly purchased cookbook by chance, tried it, and here we are.  It's not quite like that delicious meal I had in Mexico, but it's delicious in its own way.  Even my Hubby, who is hesitant about such things, enjoyed this meal.  I hope you do too!

Spicy Black Beans and Rice

Ingredients:

1 med. onion, chopped (approx. 1/2 cup)

4 cloves garlic, minced

2 T. olive oil or cooking oil

1 15 oz. can black beans, rinsed and drained

1 14 1/2 oz. can mexican style stewed tomatoes

1/8 to 1/4 t. ground red pepper

2 c. hot cooked brown or long-grain rice

1/4 c. chopped onion (optional)

Directions:

Prep all ingredients before beginning to cook.

Begin cooking rice, if using slow-cooking rice.  If using minute rice, prepare when needed.

In a medium saucepan cook 1/2 cup onion and garlic in hot oil until onion is tender.

Carefully stir in the drained beans, undrained tomatoes, and red pepper. 

Bring to boiling; reduce heat.  Simmer, uncovered, for 15 minutes.

To serve, mound rice on dinner plates; make a well in the centers.  Spoon black bean mixture into centers. If desired, sprinkle with 1/4 cup onion. Makes 4 servings. Enjoy!

Yogurt Cream & Berries, Cuban Coffee Chili, Steak Soup and Pumpernickel Bread.

So, this week Hubby and I have made many wonderful things...and I've been putting off posting about them.  For no good reason really, except that I had other things come up to keep my attention.   In any case, I'm back now, with yummy food to share.

First, we have Yogurt Cream and Berries. We had it both with blueberries and strawberries, myself finding strawberries to be infinitely the better choice.  It's meant for breakfast, but we had it for dessert after dinner as well.

Next, there is Cuban-Coffee Chili.  This is one is a specialty of Hubby's and mine.  We love taking it to church chili cook-offs.  People are wary because of the name, and because it has raisins in it, but believe me, you have to make it, the smell of it alone, will make you salivate.  

ingredients:

1 1/2 lb lean ground beef

2 med onions, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 bay leaves

2 t chili powder

1 t ground cumin

1/2 t nutmeg

1/4 t fresh ground black pepper

1/4 t ground allspice

1 t salt

1/4 t fresh chopped thyme leaves

1 T dark molasses

14 1/2 oz can diced tomatoes

1/3 cup raisins

1/2 cup toasted slivered almonds

5 cups hot cooked rice

1 t capers

2 T chopped pimiento-stuffed green olives

9 oz can (2 cans) diced green chiles

2 cups strong coffee

Directions:

1. Brown the meat and vegetables: In a large Dutch oven, brown the beef over medium-high heat -- about 3 minutes. Remove contents from the Dutch oven and set aside. Reduce heat to medium low. Add onions and saute until translucent -- about 3 minutes. Add garlic and cook 1 minute.

2. Make the chili: Replace meat and add bay leaves, chili powder, cumin, nutmeg, pepper, allspice, salt, thyme, capers, olives, chiles, coffee, molasses, and tomatoes. Simmer uncovered for 20 minutes.

3. Finish the chili: Add raisins and simmer uncovered for 10 minutes. Garnish with almonds. Serve hot over cooked rice.

The day after, we made Steak Soup for lunch.  Much better than I thought it would be, considering that I'm not a fan of minute steak. We'll definitely make it again. (Sorry, neglected to take pictures for this one.) Here's the recipe.

Ingredients:

2 4-oz. beef cubed steaks (also called minute steaks)

1/4 t. garlic salt

1/8 t. pepper

1 T. cooking oil

1 med. onion, chopped

1 stalk celery, chopped

4 cups water

1 10 oz. package frozen mixed vegetables

1 T. instant beef bouillon granules

1 T. Worcestershire sauce (We left this out, Hubby is allergic)

1 t. dried basil, crushed

1 7 1/2 oz. can tomatoes, cut up

1/2 c. cold water

1/3 c. all-purpose flour

Directions:

1. Sprinkle meat with garlic salt and pepper.  In a large saucepan, cook meat in hot oil over medium-high heat ablut 3 minutes or until brown, turning once.  Remove meat from saucepan, reserving drippings in pan.  Cut meat into cubes, set aside.

2. In the same saucepan, cook onion and celery in the reserved drippings over medium heat until tender.  Stir in meat cubes, the 4 cups water, the vegetables, bouillon, Worcestershire sauce, and basil.

3. Bring to boiling, reduce heat.  Cover and simmer about 5 minutes or until vegetables are crisp-tender.  Stir in undrained tomatoes.

4. In a screw-top jar shake together the 1/2 cup water and flour; stir into meat mixture.  Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly.  Cook and stir for 1 minute more.  Makes 5 servings. 

Tonight we made homemade pizza for dinner.  We'll post a step-by-step of this another time...it's a staple in this house, so it'll be around again soon, don't worry.  (Sorry, no picture...we were too hungry to stop and photograph.) 

Finally, I'm currently making Pumpernickel Bread. The end result of the loaves is actually croutons.  We recently tried Ruby Tuesday's croutons, and I'm now trying to simulate them.  If you have the opportunity, check out their salad bar...it's probably one of the best salad bars I've been to! Delicious!!!

Also, Hubby is wonderful.  He made me oatmeal for breakfast one morning, after a particularly difficult and sleepless night with our son.  It had apples chopped up and cooked in it, with pumpkin spice and nutmeg and cinnamon.  Yum!

Kabobs and a "Bento Lunch".

Ok, so here's lunch for Hubby and me.  We actually had fruit, salads, and juice! (Ok, the juice wasn't that great...it was Crystal Light, which uses fake sugar.  Blech!)  Hubby tried out his new bottle of buffalo sauce, which oddly had some cheese mixed into it, so it was a bit thick, but he dubbed it passable and now has a bottle to keep at home.

For dinner tonight we had kabobs.  There was no glaze, rub, or sauce, just straight chicken, red pepper, onion and apple.  The apple was a last minute decision, but it completely made the meal. (In my opinion.)  We had wild rice on the side, and my only complaint was that there wasn't more of it.  Delicious, easy meal! Everyone that can, go make yourself some kabobs before winter hits! (We all know that South Dakota becomes a frozen wasteland for at least five months of the year, so you had better hurry! Lucky us, here in Nebraska, only get four months of ice.)

On another note, Hubby found some great software for recipe management that I've just downloaded the trial version of.  I'm now off to play with it for the rest of the evening!

Chicken Tetrazzini.

For lunch today, I was inspired by a website I recently came across, adventuresinbentomaking.com, (now http://www.aibento.net/).  Bentos are packed lunches, and mine was clearly not, but the goal of making a beautiful meal is the same.  This is my first attempt, but it was fun to do, and fairly easy, so expect to see more.

Dinner tonight was chicken tetrazzini.  It was a favorite from my childhood, published in a cookbook from my grandma's hometown the year that I was born.  It's even better when you take the time to cook the chicken, but I generally use a large can of chicken instead.  I know, it's sad to see some of the flavor go, but it's neglible when compared to the time gained, at least for me. Here's how you put it together.

CHICKEN TETRAZZINI

Preheat your oven to 375°, and pull out a 1 1/2 qt. casserole dish.

Ingredients:

4 oz. spaghetti, broken (approx. 1 cup broken up)

1 can cream of celery soup

1/2 c. milk

1 c. diced, cooked chicken (or one large can chicken, drained)

1/4 c. chopped pimientos

1/4 c. green pepper

1 T. minced onion

1 c. shredded cheese

1/4 t. black pepper

Chop all vegetables, and drain the pimientos (and chicken, if needed) before beginning assembly.

I prefer to mix the soup and spaghetti first, with the chopped vegetables.  This way the spaghetti is nicely broken up by the time everything else is mixed in.

Add the milk next.

When you add the chicken and pimientos, be sure that you break up any large pieces of chicken so that it blends well with the rest of the dish.

Finally, add the shredded cheese and pepper, reserving some of the cheese for sprinkling on top.

Mix everything well and place in the oven.  Cook for 30 minutes.

If you care to make cleanup easier on yourself, be sure to wipe the casserole dish around the top with a paper towel before cooking.  Enjoy!

Grilled Peanut Butter & Jelly Sandwich.

This was my brunch.  Pan-seared creamy peanut butter with strawberry preserves on wheat bread.  Delicious, and super-sticky.