January 4, 2013

I didn't get a chance to do all the freezer cooking that I wanted to do this week, but I did find time to make a few batches of cookies for the kids school lunches.  Priorities, right?  A few recipes are still out for me to work on this weekend, so we shall see if I can follow through on that!  I know I will be so happy if I am able to make it happen and get a bunch of meals in the freezer - so wish me luck!

Do you eat black beans?  I am not a huge bean fan (well, I love green and wax beans, but I am talking about all those other kinds of beans...navy, pinto, kidney...).  In fact, I avoided them all as much as possible until a few years ago when I gave back beans a try.  They are small, and if made well, pretty decent.  I don't like to eat them on their own, but don't mind them at all in a meal.  So, I guess black beans are now my friends.

Black beans - they stretch a lot of different meals, and they are a cinch to make and freeze.  I keep them on hand in the freezer in about 3/4 cup batches.  You can puree them to meld more in with your dish, or keep them whole (they are fairly small). I find them to be very versatile, and add them so many different entrees.   I even have a black bean brownie recipe!   They are especially economical if you make them yourself.

This week we had two keepers.  A ravioli dish - super easy and very tasty, and a pork roast recipe which was also very easy and left me free for the day while it cooked itself!  Let me know if you give one (or both) of these a try!

Happy Cooking!

New Recipes
Fiesta RAY-violi
Slow Roasted Pork

Slow Roasted Pork

Ingredients
* 2 tbsp fennel seeds
* 1 tbsp sea, rock or kosher salt
* 2 fennel bulbs, trimmed and roughly chopped
* 4 medium carrots
* 3 onions, peeled and roughly chopped
* 1 bulb of garlic, cloves peeled and roughly smashed
* bunch of fresh thyme
* large pork shoulder on the bone, skin scored
* olive oil
* 750 ml bottle white wine
* 1 pint chicken or vegetable stock

Directions
1. Preheat your oven to maximum (I set it to 550).
2. Smash the fennel and salt in a pestle and mortar until fine.
3. Put the roughly chopped vegetables, garlic, and thyme into a large roasting pan or Dutch oven.
4. Pat the pork with olive oil and then sit it on top of the vegetables.  Massage all the fennel and salt into the pork.
5. Roast the pork for 20-30 minutes or until it is beginning to color.  Turn the oven down to 250 degrees, put the top on, and cook the roast for a long time.  As a reference, if your roast is 11lbs or larger, 9-12 hours.  If your roast is 5 lbs, 5 hours.  
6. Take the top off the pan and pour the wine into the bottom of the pan.  and let it cook for another hour.
7. Remove the roast from the oven and let it rest for 30 minutes in the pan.  After 30 minutes, move the roast to a cutting board.
8. Strain the vegetables from the liquid.  Place the vegetables in one bowl, and add the stock to the remaining liquid in the pan.
9. Mash or blend the vegetables to create an accompanying vegetable puree to serve with the roast.
10. Bring the stock and roasting liquid to a boil to create a gravy.  If desired, add a little thickener to alter the consistency of the sauce.
11.  Carve or shred the pork and serve with the gravy and vegetable puree.

Notes
Ryan and I are not licorice fans.  I was a little nervous about all the fennel...but fear not!  The flavor of the roast was mind but fantastic! 

My roast was 5 lbs.  I used 1 fennel bulb, 4 carrots, 2 onions and about 2/3 of the head of garlic.  I also made the full 2 tbs fennel seeds/1 tbsp salt, but probably only used about 1/2.  I also used a little more than 1/2 the bottle of wine. I also didn't have fresh thyme, so added some dried in with the vegetables.  I roasted my pork fat side up.

Once the roast was out of the oven, I forgot to add the stock to the sauce!  I boiled the sauce and added a little Wondra, and the gravy was excellent.  Also, I've never pureed vegetables like this before, and was quite skeptical.  My reaction when I tried them was "Wow!  This tastes a lot better than I expected!"  I ended up really enjoying them and dipped my pork in that instead of using the gravy.  It was also a nice substitute for the mashed potatoes that I served.  My kids love mashed potatoes with gravy. Ryan and I ate the puree, Owen tried it, but the other kids didn't try them.  Everyone loved the pork, though, so this recipe is definitely a keeper!

I used the leftovers later in the week for pork and caramelized onion quesadillas.  So nice to re-purpose leftovers!

Fiesta RAY-violi

Ingredients
* 25 oz bag of frozen ravioli (your choice on filling)
* 10 oz enchilada sauce
* 1 cup salsa
* 6 oz shredded cheese, divided (cheddar, Monterrey jack, pepper jack)
*  small can sliced olives, optional
* 1 cup corn, optional
* 1 cup black beans, optional

Directions
1. Cook the ravioli according to the directions.
2. While the ravioli cooks, combine the enchilada sauce, salsa, 4 oz cheese, and the optional ingredients you've chosen.  Stir to combine and heat over medium.
3. Drain the ravioli and add to the sauce. Pass the additional shredded cheese for people to top their ravioli with if desired.

Notes
How easy is this meal!  From putting the pot on to boil to getting it on the table - maybe 20 minutes?  The original recipe called for more cheese to be added to the dish and melted on the top, and no beans or corn.  Not everyone at my table likes melted cheese, so I incorporated most right into the sauce, and added the black beans and corn to the dish to round it out, and it helps stretch it as well!  I served it with fresh pineapple which the kids just devour.  And there is something about spicy food paired with pineapple - it is very refreshing!

December 28, 2012

Oh my...this week has flown by and here it is Friday already!  I almost missed posting!  Thankfully I have 2 wonderful recipes from the holidays with my in-laws.  It is tradition to make quite a few types of Christmas cookies, as I am sure it is with many of you.  You should see the cookie trays that my grandmother-in-law puts together.  Traditional treats like fudge and thumbprint cookies, but then specialties like bird-nest cookies, chocolate crinkles, apple pie bars, and so many others.  This year there were even her chocolate chip cookies just in case some of the great-grandkids weren't feeling too adventurous. You cannot go wrong with one of those!

This week I am highlighting two of my favorites, Peanut Butter Brittle and Three Layer Christmas Bars.  The layer bars are from the famous cookie platter, but to be fair, the peanut butter brittle was found by my mother-in-law years ago in the paper.  It is really soft, and not at all like your traditional brittle.  It can be a bit of a two person job in the final stages, though, because you need to work quickly in order to get the mixture on your pan.  If you do try this one, maybe the first time you make it enlist some help.  If you do make it, I bet there will be a second, and a third, and a fourth time...

Well, the next time we meet it will be 2013!  I am just so surprised that the year is coming to a close.  I hope for you a new year better than the last, even if you had a wonderful 2012.  We here around our dinner table are looking forward to an excellent, but hopefully uneventful, new year.

Give your loved ones a hug, and try a new recipe!
Cheers!

New Recipes
Peanut Butter Brittle
Three Layer Christmas Bars

Three layer Christmas bars

Ingredients
* 1/2 cup butter
* 1/4 cup sugar
* 5 tbsp baking cocoa
* 1 tsp vanilla
* 1 egg
* 2 cups graham cracker crumbs
* 1 cup coconut 
* 1/2 cup finely chopped nuts of your choice (walnuts is what we've used)
* 1/4 softened butter
* 3 tbsp milk
* 2 tbsp instant vanilla pudding
* 2 cups powdered sugar
* 1 tbsp butter
* 4 oz chocolate

Directions
1. Combine the butter, sugar, cocoa, vanilla, and egg in the top of a double boiler.   Cook until set.
2. Add the graham cracker crumbs, coconut and nuts.  Blend well and press firmly into a 9x9 pan.
3. Mix softened butter, milk, vanilla pudding and powdered sugar.  If too stiff, and an additional splash of milk. Spread this layer over the crust and refrigerate until firm (about 15 minutes).
4. Melt 1 tbsp butter and 4 oz of chocolate in a double boiler. Spread evenly over the pudding layer and let it set.  Once set, cut into bars and enjoy.

Notes
The top layer is just a very thin layer of chocolate.And in the pudding layer, it will be thick, but if you think it is really tough to mix, feel free to add a bit more milk.  You don't want it to be runny, though!  These are best kept in the fridge.  They are fine left out, but are really good cold!

Peanut Butter Brittle

Ingredients
* 2 cups sugar
* 1/4 cup water
* 1 1/2 cup light corn syrup
* 2 cups salted peanuts
* 2 to 2 1/2 cups peanut butter
* 1/2 tsp vanilla
* 1 1/2 tsp baking soda

Directions
1. Combine sugar and water in heavy saucepan. Bring mixture to a full rolling boil over high heat, stirring constantly. Stir in corn syrup; cook to the hard crack stage (300 degrees).  Watch the mixture carefully to prevent scorching.
2. Mix peanuts, peanut butter and vanilla.  Butter a cookie sheet or jelly roll pan.
3. Remove the sugar syrup from the heat, immediately add the peanut butter mixture.  Stir in the baking soda and pour onto the buttered sheet.  Quickly spread the candy with a fork.
4. Once cool, break or cut into pieces.

Notes
This is a tradition in my husband's family.  It is a soft peanut brittle and delicious!  It is a challenge to make this on your own, so you will probably want to enlist a helper, especially for the quick stirring at the end and pouring it onto the pan.  You will need to boil water in the saucepan you used in order to remelt any candy that didn't get onto the sheet pan. 

December 21, 2012

It's almost time to wish you a merry Christmas!  Can you believe it that the next time you read this it will already be after Christmas!  Wow!  This holiday season flew by, as did this week.

Our family was really busy all week, so we only made one new dinner recipe, but it was fantastic, a real keeper!  For Christmas, the kids gave me an early gift. They had picked out a mac and cheese cook book, and Hannah picked out the first one for me to try.  We made fajita mac and cheese, and added chicken to the ingredient list.  It turned out really well, though it did seem to generate a lot of pans in the process.  The next night I re-heated it in the oven for the kids, and it was almost as good as the first night!  In some ways it was better, because the flavors had a chance to meld even more. This cookbook was an excellent gift from the kids for sure!

Have a Merry Christmas, and happy cooking!

New Recipe
Fajita Mac & Cheese