Enjoy!

Cuban Black Beans and Rice

2 15 Ounce Cans of Black Beans (or about 3 1/2 cups of beans, soaked overnight)
4 Cups Chicken Stock
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large green pepper, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
3-4 cloved garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
Salt, to taste
Rice (See recipe below)

In a medium sized pot, heat the olive oil until fragarant and hot.  Add in the peppers and onions, and saute until onions are slightly translucent.  Add in the garlic and saute a minute longer.  Add in the 2 cans of beans, and the 4 cups of chicken stock and stir well.  Lower heat to a simmer, cover and allow to simmer for about 40 minutes.

After about 20 minutes, prepare the rice.

2 Cups rice
1 3/4 cups water
2 cups chicken stock
1/2 tablespoon butter (optional)
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon salt
a bit of Tumeric or Saffron for color, if you wish

In a small pot, add water, chicken stock, butter, salt, garlic and optional tumeric or saffron.  Bring the water/stock to a boil.  Add in the rice and stir to remove any lumps (don’t overstir it, or it can become too sticky).  Bring to a boil, and then reduce the heat to the lowest setting, or a low simmer for about 18 minutes. Remove from the heat.

To serve, I usually grab the soup bowls,and place a serving of rice into the bowl, and ladle the black bean mixture over the rice.

Sprinkle with a bit of freshly ground pepper.

I like to serve these with baked apples, or even stewed apples with cinnamon, with an apple & lemon juice reduction.

Overnight Oatmeal Pancakes

2 cups old fashioned rolled oats
2 cups buttermilk
3 eggs beaten
2 Tablespoons sugar
4 Tablespoons melted butter
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 Teaspoon baking powder
1 Teaspoon baking soda
1 Teaspoon salt

The evening before:  Mix the oats and buttermilk together, cover and then allow to stand overnight on the counter.

The next morning: Beat the eggs with sugar and the melted butter, and add into the oat/buttermilk mixture.  Stir well to combine this.  Mix in the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  Mix gently, and just until combined.  Do not over mix.

Heat a griddle or pan, and lightly grease.  Pour the about 1/4-1/3 of a cup of the mixture onto the griddle. Flip these once, after the bubbles appear and the underside of the pancake is golden brown.

This could make anywhere from 6-12 pancakes, depending on the amount of batter you use.

Cilantro (aka Coriander)

Oven Roasted Red Potatoes with Peppers, Cilantro and Thyme

1 1/2 pounds small new red potatoes (about 15), washed well
1/4 cup vegetable oil (or olive oil, if you have it)
4 to 6 cloves garlic, crushed
2 tablespoons fresh cilantro
2 teaspoons fresh thyme, or 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 cup diced red bell peppers
1/4 cup diced green bell peppers
Salt and Pepper, to taste

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Wash well, and then dice the potatoes into bite sized pieces – about 1 inch.  I hardly ever peel the potatoes.  I like to leave it intact, as it gives good flavor, and texture.

In a large bowl mix the oil, garlic, and cilantro and thyme.  Add the potatoes and peppers and toss well.

Transfer the potatoes to a shallow baking pan, and arrange into a single layer.  Roast until potatoes are tender when tested with the tip of a knife, which should be between 25-30 minutes.

Serve hot, or cold, as these are great leftover.

Note:

I have sometimes made a ‘potato’ salad with the leftovers, adding in mayo, and eggs, with a bit of spicy mustard.

This week he chose chicken breasts and rice.  And though I love chicken and rice, I was drawing a blank on what I wanted to do.  So this recipe is, for the most part, his recipe. His choice was chicken, rice, an onion, and an orange bell pepper.

He used quick cooking white rice, while I used a rice blend by Rice Select, called the “Royal Blend”, which is a blend of Texmati white rice, brown rice, wild rice, and red rice.  It is also a quick cooking (15 minute) rice, but this recipe could very easily be done with long cooking brown, black, or red rices with the addition of a bit more stock, and a few more minutes cooking time.  I really enjoyed the nutty flavor this mix of rice gave to the dish, and cannot wait to make it again.  I plan to do some experimenting with the rice mix as soon as possible.

Chicken and Wild Rice, with Onion and Orange Peppers

Orange Bell Peppers

2 pounds chicken cutlets, cleaned and cut into bite sized pieces *See note
1/2 small onion, diced
1 medium bell pepper (red, orange or yellow)
2 cups wild rice (or rice of your choosing), preferably quick cooking rice
1 3/4 cup chicken stock* See note
2 teaspoons olive or vegetable oil
Salt to taste *

In a large pan (suitable for putting into the oven), saute the onion and bell pepper in a bit of olive oil for about 1 minute.  Add in the chicken, and chicken stock.  Cover and put into a 400F oven for about 15 minutes.

After 15 minutes, add in the rice, and stir.  Leave the lid on for about 10 minutes.  After the 10 minutes, remove the cover completely, and stir.  Don’t put the cover back on.  Continue to bake in the oven until the rice is cooked through.

This method works well with quicker cooking rices.  If you are using wild rice, or brown rice, add in the rice when you add in the chicken.

Note:

• As noted above, I used a quick cooking texmati white, brown, wild and red rice blend.
• You can use whole boneless chicken breasts, or bone-in chicken breasts, just give it 10 more minutes in the oven, before you add in the rice.
• If you do not have chicken stock or chicken broth, use water instead, and adding chicken 2 bouillon cubes (or 2 teaspoons bouillon paste).
• Regarding the salt:  First, if you are using a store bought chicken stock, get the lower sodium version.  Second, if you are using bouillon cubes, taste mid-way through cooking, adding salt then if necessary to keep from having the dish over salty.

A strange, but interesting variation, is to use shredded potatoes, instead of mashed, either homemade or the type you can get at your local market.

Enjoy :)

Twice Baked Mashed Potatoes with Onion, Green Peppers and Bacon

5-6 pieces of bacon to equal about 1/2 cup when cooked, and crumbled.
1 tablespoon of leftover bacon fat/grease
1/2 cup scallions, chopped
1 medium green bell pepper, diced
5-6 cups of mashed potatoes (prepared with butter & milk)(leftover or made previous day is fine)
1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded (divided)
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper

Cook the bacon — about 5-6 pieces, depending on the size, until nicely crispy. Set aside to drain, and then crumble.

Take about 1 tablespoon of the leftover bacon fat and saute scallions and green pepper until peppers are tender.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the scallion/green pepper mixture, mashed potatoes, 1/2 cup of the cheese, 1/4 cup of the bacon, salt and pepper.  Pour into a lightly greased baking dish – about 2 quart size.  Sprinkle the remaining cheese and the bacon over top.

Bake uncovered at 350F for 20-25 minutes, until the cheese is bubbly and golden.

Notes:

• I’ve mixed this up totally the day before, put it in the refrigerator and, the next day, about 1 hour before I want to put it in the oven, I take it out, and let it come to room temp.  Bake then as usual.
• If you don’t want to cook the onion and pepper in the bacon fat, just use vegetable oil
• Don’t have mashed potatoes?? Just bake 7-8 red potatoes in your oven for about 50 minutes at 400F.  Once done, allow to cool a bit, and then mash the potatoes (leave the skins on if you like, or remove them)(I like them left on — looks good and tastes great), mash with butter, and milk.  Continue the recipe as above.  The baking time may need to be adjusted as the potatoes will still be hot from baking.
• Add things you like:

Sour cream — add 1/2 cup sour cream

a clove of garlic added when you saute the scallions and green peppers

instead of cheddar, use a mix of feta and Parmesan or Romano — yummy when combined with the addition of garlic, as above.  Use 1/2 cup feta, and 1/2 cup Parmesan.

mix the peppers up — use yellow, red and orange bell peppers

use a medium yellow or white onion, instead of scallions

use chives, instead of scallions

Like I’ve said in a previous post, I didn’t really like oatmeal much as a child.  It wasn’t until last year that I gave it another chance.  That said, I’ve been experimenting ;)

It’s pumpkin season, and one of my very favorite things to eat at this time of year is anything with it! So on these cool Autumn mornings, it seemed pretty logical to try to use some pumpkin with my oatmeal.  It tastes almost like creamy pumpkin pie, and, next time I make it, if my son isn’t around, it might just get a big dollop of whipped cream ;)

Enjoy!

Maple Pumpkin Oatmeal

1/2 cup milk
3/4 tablespoons water
1/2 cup old-fashioned oats
1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon teaspoon maple extract
1/4 cup canned pumpkin
brown sugar, to taste

Bring the milk and water to boil over a medium heat.  Add in the oats, cinnamon, and nutmeg.  Reduce the heat to medium low and simmer until most of the liquid has been absorbed, stirring often.  Add in the pumpkin and maple extract, and then serve.  Sprinkle with brown sugar, to taste. 

You can change out the maple for vanilla, or leave it out all together.

I was back home a few years ago, when I stopped to see an old friend of mine, who was just about to make dinner.  And making Mexican Rice, to boot.  She is an older woman, raised in Mexico, and taught by her grandmothers, mother, and aunts how to cook.

The secret to Mexican rice, I’ve found, is to use salsa – aka Pica de Gallo.  I recall the conversation pretty well..

“The secret to making rice is simple.  What goes into the rice?  Nice fresh crisp tomatoes, tomatillos, spicy peppers, some onion, a bit of cilantro, a touch of garlic and some lime, if you have it.  Same things that go into the rice, right?  Every couple of days, I make pica de gallo. So, why not use the  salsa?”

She made the rice in a similar fashion to making Risotto.  She melted some shortening, and then added the rice in, and stirred it well, until the rice was evenly coated.  Then she dumped in a bunch of salsa, and again stirred it.  She added some water, and a bit of beer, and continued to stir it, adding more water as needed, until the rice is done.

I experimented with the recipe as soon as I could.  I dropped the shortening in favor of vegetable oil, but the rest of the recipe is the same.

The “heat” of the rice is purely dependent upon the type of salsa you use.   The hotter, the better, in my opinion.  You can make your own, of course.  That is always fun to do.  But this recipe, for me, uses a jar of salsa.

There are a lot of salsas on the market, but by far, my favorite one is Green Mountain Gringo Salsa – Hot.  It tastes like the salsa my friend made – fresh, crisp,  and without the chemicals.  It literally has no preservatives.   But whatever salsa you end up choosing, make it one one that you like the flavor of with tortilla chips or by itself.  If the salsa is bland to you with the chips, it’ll be bland in the rice.  Find one that you really enjoy and then use that.

Enjoy!

Simple and Easy Mexican Rice

2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 cups rice
2 cups salsa (or a 16 ounce or 454grams) Salsa
4-6 Cups of water (depends on the amount of liquid in your Salsa)
Beer
Cilantro, chiffonade

In a pot, heat the water – no need for boiling, but just simmering.

Heat the vegetable oil in a large frying pan with deep sides, to a medium-high temp.

Add in the rice, and stir to coat. Cook for about 30 seconds.

Add in the salsa, and stir well.

Once the rice has absorbed most of the liquid in the salsa (don’t let it get dried out), add in, by ladlefuls, the water.  Stir until the water has been almost all absorbed, and add in more.  Repeat this until the rice is done.

At some point, towards the end, add in some beer.  This is not really necessary, but gives a nice flavor.  Use about 1/2 cup or so.

Serve, topped with the cilantro.

Tabouli is a Middle Eastern dish that I became aware of at a party given by some friends, who had it catered from a Middle Eastern restaurant.  I immediately loved the creamy texture of this salad, with the delicate flavors of the tomatoes and spring onions.

This salad is great for summer picnics, barbeques – it can be served as a side dish, or as an alternative dip for chips.

I also like this wrapped up in thin slices of roast beef, or leaves of lettuce for an easy lunch.

I usually prepare this in the traditional way, with slight variations when I feel the need. I sometimes add in finely chopped red peppers, or hot peppers.  And I’ve made this without mint or parsley – This is great with basil, or with cilantro.  The cilantro version is fantastic with refried beans, or as a topping with tortilla soup.

Fine Bulgur Wheat	Couscous
Quinoa	Pastina

I tend to use instant couscous, instead of bulgur, because of the ease of prep. I’ve also tasted tabouli made with quinoa, as well as pastina, giving the salad a different flavor and texture.

Enjoy!

Tabouli

2 cups fine bulgur (or use couscous)
2 cups very hot water
1 cucumber, peeled, seeded and diced
3 Roma tomatoes, seeded and diced
1 Red onion (Or, for traditional, use Scallions)
1/4 cup fresh mint, chopped fine
2 cups fresh parsley, chopped fine
1 clove of garlic, minced fine (you can leave this out 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
3/4 cup olive oil
1 teaspoon of salt (or to taste)
1 teaspoon pepper, freshly ground

If you are going to use the bulgur, soak it in the hot water for about 30 minutes, and then drain.  If it is overly wet, squeeze dry.

If you are going to use couscous, prepare as directed — usually 1 cup of water to 1 cup of couscous.  Bring the water to boil, add the couscous, and remove from the heat, allowing it to sit for about 5 minutes.

Combine the couscous, cucumber, tomatoes, onion, mint and parsley together.  In another bowl, combine the garlic, lemon juice, olive oil and then mix together with the couscous-vegetable mix.

Refrigerate, and allow the flavors to meld for about 2 hours.

You can serve this either chilled, or at room temp.  Keeps for 3-5 days, refrigerated.

However, because of the vast amount of recipes, and their variations, I sometimes hold back and don’t bother to post a recipe — why, when there are 308,000 search results, should there be 308,001? Well, my own take on a recipe is what makes this blog work, I suppose. So, I’ll start to post a bit more.. even though you might find 308,000 other recipes of the same title, none of them will be exactly what I post here.

To that end…

Potato Salad..

From about mid-May, to the end of September, potato salad was made often by my mother — served with almost any meal — from the lowly hot-dog, to a nice pork roast, as well as fried chicken, a good steak, or just beer brats.

Every summer get-together had some version or other of potato salad, and, even within my own family — my grandmothers, my aunts, my mother — all the versions of potato salad were slightly different — one put in onion, one didn’t. One put in sour cream, one didn’t.

My own version of this recipe is akin to both my Gram, and my mothers version — it contains a lot of egg – my favorite part of this salad. I hope you enjoy it as much as I always have, and as my family always does.

One quick note here — I do not have measurements for this recipe. It’s one of those recipes you never actually use a recipe for. I just do it by eye. I will try and give some bit of guidance, however. This recipe assumes you will use between 10-12 medium sized red potatoes.

Potato Salad

Red potatoes
1 egg to each potato – (e.g. if you are using 14 potatoes, use 14 eggs).
Mayo – about 1-1.5 cups up to 2 cups if necessary
Mustard – anywhere from about 1/2 to 2/3 cup
Celery — usually 2 stalks, diced
Onion – a medium onion, diced
Kosher pickles (the more sour, the better), one large, minced
1 medium red pepper, diced
Salt and Pepper, to taste

The key to this potato salad is to have lots of boiled egg — one egg for each potato you use. Boil the eggs.

Wash the potatoes well, and then boil until soft, but not mushy. They need body to stand up to the mayo – you don’t want mushy potatoes here. If you overcook them, make mashed potatoes and try again ;).

Allow the potatoes and eggs to be completely cooled. I usually cook both the eggs, and the potatoes the day before, and then refrigerate overnight.

Dice both the eggs and potatoes. The eggs should be a small-medium dice, whereas the potatoes should be bite sized.

Prep the celery, onion, pickles and red pepper as above – diced. Have the mayo and mustard ready to go in.

Add the vegetables, eggs and potatoes to a large mixing bowl, and gently mix together. Now, add at least one cup of the mayo, and 1/2 cup of mustard. The best way to mix this is without a spoon — use your hands. Cover the mixture with the mayo & mustard, adding more to taste as necessary. I always over-add both the mayo and mustard as the potatoes will absorb a bit before serving.

Once you’ve mixed it well, add salt and pepper to taste, and chill for a few hours (or overnight) to allow the flavors to meld.

Enjoy!

Classic Macaroni And Cheese

Recipe from: America’s Test Kitchen

Bread Crumb Topping
6 slice white sandwich bread (good-quality — about 6 ounces), torn
into rough pieces
3 tablespoon unsalted butter (cold) — cut into 6 pieces

Pasta and Cheese
1 Lbs elbow macaroni
1 tablespoon table salt
5 tablespoon unsalted butter
6 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoon  powdered mustard
1/4 teaspoon  cayenne pepper (optional)
5 cup milk (see note)
8 ounce Monterey Jack cheese — shredded (2 cups)
8 ounce sharp cheddar cheese — shredded (2 cups)
1 teaspoon  table salt

For the bread crumbs: Pulse bread and butter in food processor
until crumbs are no larger than 1/8 inch, ten to fifteen 1-second
pulses. Set aside.

For the pasta and cheese: Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position
and heat broiler. Bring 4 quarts water to boil in Dutch oven over high
heat. Add macaroni and 1  tablespoon  salt; cook until pasta is tender.
Drain pasta and set aside in colander.

In now-empty Dutch oven, heat butter over medium-high heat until
foaming. Add flour, mustard, and cayenne (if using) and whisk well to
combine. Continue whisking until mixture becomes fragrant and deepens
in color, about 1 minute. Gradually whisk in milk; bring mixture to
boil, whisking constantly (mixture must reach full boil to fully
thicken).

Reduce heat to medium and simmer, whisking occasionally,
until thickened to consistency of heavy cream, about 5 minutes. Off
heat, whisk in cheeses and 1  teaspoon   salt until cheeses are fully
melted. Add pasta and cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly,
until mixture is steaming and heated through, about 6 minutes.

Transfer mixture to broiler-safe 9-by 13-inch baking dish and
sprinkle evenly with bread crumbs. Broil until crumbs are deep golden
brown, 3 to 5 minutes, rotating pan if necessary for even browning.

Cool about 5 minutes, then serve.

Recipe Notes from Americas Test Kitchen

It’s crucial to cook the pasta until tender–just past the “al dente”
stage. In fact, overcooking is better than undercooking the pasta.
Whole, low-fat, and skim milk all work well in this recipe. The recipe
can be halved and baked in an 8-inch-square, broiler-safe baking dish.
If desired, offer celery salt or hot sauce (such as Tabasco) for
sprinkling at the table.