Smooth and Tangy Two Bean Soup

First off, I know I've been a horrible blogger, I haven't posted for a week! Eeeek sorry! I wish I could say it is going to get better but I've got a busy week ahead of me, a banquet, a friends wedding and other misc stuff, but keep on checking back, it won't be too long.

Ingredients
1/2 stick butter
2 Tbsp Canola oil
1 sweet onion chopped
2 cloves Garlic- minced
4 Cups water- heated
2 Chicken Bouillon Cubes
4- 8 oz cans Tomato Sauce (2 without added salt)
1 Can Northern Beans
1 Can Kidney Beans
1.5 Cups Rice (+3 cups water)
1/2 Cup Mild Banana Pepper Juice
1 Tbsp Black Pepper

Makes 8 big servings.

So part of the reason why I didn't blog much last week is because I had some dental work done. Public service announcement: GO TO THE DENTIST REGULARLY your mouth will thank you. That is all.

So wednesday when I got home, I didn't want to cook, hubby wanted to cook for me (He is SO sweet) and I couldn't have anything much besides soup. So we made this. He asked what to put in and how, we did it together and voila a very tasty soup.

Heat a big soup pot on medium or medium high heat. Add your butter and oil, ( you do both so that your butter won't brown too much) and then your onion. Cook for 5-7 minutes and then add your garlic and cook for 2 minutes more.

Then add everything else.

Yup. Just toss it in. It will be fine.

The extra water is so your rice won't take up all of the water you put in earlier.

Cook on medium/low for 25-30 minutes or until your rice is cooked.

Then enjoy, this turned out so nicely. It was sweet and tangy all at the same time. I asked hubby what I should name it, this is one of the good ones he came up with ;)

Have a great day and God Bless!

Petite Cookie Cakes

Before we get to the good stuff, let me just tell you that this was for Taste & Create a place where other Foodie bloggers get together and test each others recipe's and link to each other. I thought this would be a fun way to do some new things!


Petite Cookie Cakes
adapted from Cookie Dough Dessert at (Ruth's Kitchen Experiments)

6-8 (mine made 12)

Ingredients
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted
1 cup of firmly packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
10 ounces I used chocolate drops - a mix of milk and plain chocolate (I used Milk Chocolate Chips)

Recipe
1. Preheat oven to 350˚F/160˚C.

2. Grease a 8"x 8" oven dish (I used baking cups and 2 cupcake tins)

3. Whisk together the flour, salt and baking soda in a bowl and set to the side.

4. In a separate larger bowl, whisk the melted butter and sugar then add in the eggs one by one, then the vanilla until well blended.

(Ah yes, real butter, the good stuff)(Sugar Mixture before adding the melted good stuff)(With the melted good stuff, before flour)(doesn't this look A-mazing, well it tasted superb, it's a perfect dough)

5. Stir in the flour mix with a wooden spoon then add in the chocolate chips.

(Yes, my Hubby laughs at me as I attempt to get my point and shoot
to take great ok, I'll settle for *good* food pictures)

6. Spoon a VERY and I mean VERY healthy Tablespoon of Cookie dough into each cupcake and smooth on top.

7. Cook for 12 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

8. Drool for a few minutes while the cool and then eat warm.

These were super and they were fun to make. I took them over to a friend's house and they got rave reviews. Hubby and I also enjoyed a few spoonfuls of the dough even before it was cooked. It was so good!

Enjoy, have a great day and God Bless. Thanks for going on my first Taste and Create Journey with me!

Sweet Curry Baked Beans

Ingredients
2 lb Dry Pinto Beans
Water to Cover them

2/3 Cups Molasses
1/2 Cup Brown Sugar
2 tsp Curry Powder
1 Tbsp Pepper
2 Cloves Garlic ( minced)
2 Tbsp Mustard
2 Medium Onions (diced)
5 Strips Bacon (cut into 1/4 in pieces)
3 Tbsp Ketchup
Water to cover

Dump your Pinto Beans into a BIG mixing bowl and cover with water. Let them soak overnight. Make sure you get any of the cracked or ugly looking ones out of there. Rinse them and pour them into your Crock pot.


Mince your garlic and dice your onions. Cut up your bacon.

Ready for how easy this is?

1. Dump onions and garlic on top of your beans.

2. Add all remaining ingredients

(hint, to get ALL of the molasses out, use this for your water as well and whisk lightly)

3. Cover with water.
4. Turn to low and cook for 10-12 hours or until beans are soft.
5. Eat!

These turned out nicely, I ate them with a little extra BBQ sauce for the kick. I made them sweet not spicy because mom was in town and she doesn't like spicy things. We took them to a Easter gathering and everyone liked them.

This made alot, I'm still eating them. It's 9 days after Easter ;)

Have a great day and God Bless!

White Bean Lasagna

Ingredients
12 Sheets of Barilla No Boil Ready to go Lasagna Sheets
1 Can Pasta sauce (20 oz)
1 Can Cannellini Beans
1/2 Package Frozen Spinach (thawed)
1/2 lb Cheese ( I used Monterey Jack)
Garlic Powder to taste
Oregano

Preheat oven to 375*

Hubby and I were baby sitting our friend's sweet baby girl who is 7 weeks old on friday night. So I threw this lasagna together with some things we had in the house. This was good since I only had one hand to eat with since the other was snuggling the darling girl.

Spray the bottom of a pan ( I used a 7 x 10 ish ) with cooking spray. Cover with Sauce and then 3 sheets of lasagna noodles (by the way these ready ones from Barilla are AWESOME, no boiling before required, they are sweet).

Then add 1/2 of your can of cannellini beans and 1/2 of your spinach. (I didn't take a picture of this, sorry!) Then add 1/3 of your remaining sauce and a generous amount of cheese.

Repeat one more time.

To finish add sauce and cheese, garlic powder and oregano to the top.

Cover with aluminum foil and place on a baking sheet (because some will bubble out). Cook for 50-60 min covered and 5 minutes uncovered to brown the cheese.

Allow to sit for 5 minutes and then enjoy!

Have a great day and God Bless!

Fun Potato Salad

Seeing Kay's Potato salad made me want to play around with one that I was taking to a home group of mine on Thursday.

Kay's Potato Salad- she's awesome, takes amazing pictures that I'm a little sad that I can't take and you should check her out.

Ingredients
6 Russet Potatoes (Rinsed, scrubbed, cubed)
1 Carrot (grated)
15 Green olives (minced)
1 Small onion (minced)
3 Stalks Celery (sliced)
6 Tbsp Mayonnaise ( I used my homemade mayonnaise)
4-5 Tbsp Sour Cream
3-4 Tbsp Mustard
Salt and Pepper to taste (If you use regular mayo I would add garlic, my mayo already had it in there)
2 Chicken bouillon cubes

Serves 12-15

Bring a BIG OLE pot of water to boil for your potatoes, add in your bouillon cubes (for extra flavor).

Rinse, Scrub and Cube your potatoes into about 1" Cubes. Put them in your pot of boiling water and cook for about 7-10 minutes, you want them to be cooked through but firm.

Slice and Dice or grate all of your other ingredients, I don't need to list them again. You already wrote them down or at least saw them at the top! For the Carrots I just used my box cheese grater on the 2nd smallest side.

When your potatoes are done, drain them and allow them to cool for a few minutes.

Then add them to a large bowl. ( I used a big green tupperware bowl that I love) I made this for a Bible study pot luck that we had, so I made A LOT.

Add all of your ingredients together in the bowl and if you have a potato masher now is the time to use it. If you are not cool enough don't have a potato masher then follow me to the dark side. Take one of your beaters from your hand held electric mixer and go to town.

Make sure everything gets mixed together and you can leave as much or as little potato chunks that you would like.

This turned out really well and got many good reviews, the green olives gave it a nice kick as did the onions. The carrots balanced out with a nice sweet flavor and the sour cream makes it nice and smooth.

Have a blessed Sunday and God Bless!

Homemade Calzone's

Ingredients
1 Pillsbury pizza crust
1 package light sausage ( the kind you only have to warm through), sliced about 1/2" thick
Pepperoni
Cheese ( I used Mexican)
Tomato Sauce
Onion Powder
Garlic Powder

As you can tell I'm still loving the Pillsbury sale!

Pre-heat your oven to 400*

Roll out the pizza crust so it is about 1/4-1/2 " thick. Then cut into 4 pieces using a pizza cutter.

On a baking sheet with aluminum foil place one piece of crust on top. On one end add 2 Tbsp Sauce, onion powder and garlic powder to your liking. Then top with a few pieces of pepperoni and lots of sausage. Top with Cheese and fold the rest of the dough over. Press together to form a calzone.

Now take a knife and make breathing holes for your calzone on top. Spray with cooking spray so they will brown up nicely.

Do this with all 4 calzones. Toss them in the oven and cook for about 15 minutes or until golden brown.

Allow to cool for 5 minutes and enjoy!

Have a great day and God Bless!

Homemade Mayonnaise

I know I know...I've been not blogging this week. My mom has been in town so I've been super busy with hanging out with her and enjoying her while she is here. I've got plenty of things to be posting soon. Don't worry. Hang in there!

Ingredients
1 Cup Canola Oil
2 Egg Yolks
3 Tbsp Lemon Juice
1/4 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp Pepper
1/4 tsp Garlic Powder
1 Tbsp Mustard
lots and lots of elbow grease.....

It's nice to know what goes into your food. And that it isn't a bunch of soybean oil or preservatives. So that made it fun. But it was long.

Take 2 egg yolks, add your lemon juice and all of your spices. Put all of your oil in something that you can get small amounts out at a time. I used one of those oil droppers that you use for cooking. I loaded my oil in there. It's going to be important that you only put in a little at a time so that your emulsification takes place and it doesn't separate.

(this is not what I used, only what I measured it in)

Use your hand mixer on low and start to mix your egg, lemon and spice mixture. Continuing to blend add in about 1 tsp of oil at a time, mixing all the way through. Continue to add 1 tsp at a time until you are 1/2 way to 2/3 done putting your oil in.

Then you can start to add it a little more quickly. Blend until you have all of the oil added in.

Place in the refrigerator for 30 min and then use as you please. Use all of it within 1 week because remember, there are no preservatives!

Have a great night and God Bless!

Rice and Beef soup

Ingredients
1 lb ground beef (cooked and drained with Salt and pepper)
1 Onion diced
1 Clove Onion minced
1 Quart Chicken Broth
1/2 Bag Frozen Corn
Salt and Pepper to Taste
1 Cup Rice (+3 Cups Water)
3 Tbsp oil

In a large Soup Pot heated to medium heat add your oil. To that add your onions and cook for 5 minutes. Then add your garlic and cook for 2-3 more minutes. Add your ground beef and stir, mixing together.

Then add your quart of chicken Broth, 3 cups water and 1 cup of Rice. Bring to a boil and then simmer for 20-25 minutes. About halfway through add your 1/2 bag of frozen corn.

Cook until Rice is plump. Salt and pepper to taste!

Enjoy and God Bless!

Two Times the Spice Chicken

Ingredients
1.5 lbs Chicken Pieces ( I used thighs)
1/3 cup Canola Oil
1/2 Tbsp Chili Powder
1/4 Tbsp Onion Powder
1/4 Tbsp Season Salt
Spicy Garlic Wing Sauce

Heat grill pan (or normal pan) to medium high heat.

Cut chicken up into bite sized pieces.

In a large bowl combine oil, chili powder, onion powder and season salt (this is your first spicy layer). Toss chicken to coat.

Transfer chicken to the grill pan and cook through.

When the chicken is done cooking toss it in the Spicy Garlic Wing Sauce (second spicy layer).

Enjoy with some Homemade Bleu Cheese Dressing here .

Have a great night and God Bless!

Taco Pocket- wheels

So yesterday I showed you how stoked I was about my pillsbury find. This was another one. I used a package of flaky buttermilk biscuits for this.

Ingredients
1 Package Biscuits
1 lb Lean Ground Beef (cooked and drained, seasoned with salt and pepper)
1 Medium onion chopped
1 Can Original Rotel
Cheddar Cheese


Let me just tell you before you see the pictures below. This turned out to be a fail. Not in the sense that it tasted bad, because in fact they tasted great. But in the fact that my beautiful pocket-wheels didn't stay together while they baked. This made me very sad.

Just ask my hubby, I was sad and dissapointed. I put a lot of time into making those things look really pretty. I was foiled.

Foiled.

So figure out a way to get them to stick perhaps with a tooth pick and you will have pretty taco pocket-wheels instead of misshapen taco pods.

Anyways. On with the recipe.

Cook your Ground beef (if it isn't already) with salt and pepper.

In another pan cook 1 Medium chopped over medium heat until slightly translucent. While they are cooking, add the juice of the can of Rotel so they will taste spicy. Once they are cooked add the rest of the Rotel to warm it through.

Take a biscuit and start by pressing in the middle and flattening in a circle until you get a fairly good sized circle (when I stretched mine they were probably 5"+). Continue until you are done with all of them (or fed up like me, I left one not done and cooked it as a biscuit)

This.

Is.

A.

Long.

Process.

Place them on the baking sheet, pulled nice and big.

Add 2 spoonfuls ground beef, 1-2 spoonfuls rotel/onion mix. Top with cheddar cheese.

Now the fun part (well I thought it was fun, until they opened during cooking and it was a big 'ole fail). Take opposite sides of your biscuit and bring them up over the top of your meat, onion and cheese mixture and press together and twist. Then do the same thing on the other side pinching and twisting together and pressing down slightly. Now open each of the 4 pockets. Pretty right?!

Do this over and over. ADD TOOTHPICKS!

Then cook at 400* until they are golden on the outside.

Don't be like me and be sad when they don't hold together, be happy that you used toothpicks.

Enjoy these spicy little wonderful pocket-wheels.

Have a great Friday and God Bless!