Christmas Confetti Bean Soup in a Jar

What is on your "I Really WANT to Do" list for the holidays?

Really, is there such a thing as a list of Things You Must Do For the Holidays?  Kinda takes the fun out of it.

Besides listening to more seasonal music, I really wanted to make "soup mixes in a jar" for gifts.  It was unbelievable how many sites came up on a Google search for just this topic.

Here is the one site I settled on at this link because it was COLORFUL, EASY, and HAD LABELS.

Needed: 12 wide-mouth pint (2-cup) canning jars with lid and rings 14 pounds assorted dried peas, beans and lentils (at least 8 different varieties):

•  pink beans 
•  black beans 
•  baby lima beans
•  lentils
•  red lentils 
•  black-eyed peas 
•  red kidney beans 
•  pinto beans 
•  split peas 
•  great northern beans 
•  small red beans 
•  white beans 
• 12 Italian-flavor or beef flavor bouillon cubes 
• 12 bay leaves

Just put half cup of each bean layered in the jar topped with a bouillon cube and bay leaf and tie on a the printed label.  Like this!

I like soup, and almost any kind of flavor.  How about you?

If you made the soup exactly as directed, it would be pretty bland.  I'm thinking of giving a package of ham hocks along with the jars of beans, reminding the bean recipients that they will also need to add spices for a heartier, tastier version of this bean soup.

(Just had to add the Soup Nazi picture from the Seinfeld days.)

Linking to A Sheltering Tree ... because soup is something that can nourish a body and soul!

What I Did For Love (with leftovers)

You know your leftover turkey in the fridge?  This is what I made at 6:30 AM, because there was a hankering for it:  Curried Chicken Salad

That is Ina, not me...

And is it ever good!!

Easy Pumpkin Muffins

Want to make a batch of pumpkin muffins, stirred up in less time than it takes to read this post?  Why not?
Two ingredients and a few spices with no liquid...really. Plus they stay moist and freeze well.

Thanks to AllRecipes with the directions found here, they turned out tasty.  Ingredients: one packaged cake mix and one can pumpkin with extra pumpkin spices.  No liquid.

They were so pumpkin-y and moist.

One last picture.  My husband found this little mouse trying to scare the kids away last night and hung it up on the front door to discourage further varmints from trying to scurry in.

Here is to a great November!

source

Mme Ramotswe & Pumpkin Soup

Purloined from others' blogs and the Soulbrush Etsy store for a rendition of Mme Ramotswe, as well as the biblical verse that says "what has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun", I bring you a post today about Pumpkin Soup.  Nothing original.  But tasty.

Source; Soulbrush Etsy Store here

You will recall that Alexander McCall Smith's character Mme Ramotswe generally went home from her Number One Ladies'  Detective Agency and made pumpkin soup for dinner.  She did it so often that it must have been tasty.  And because she was of "traditional build", I'll just bet she added cream to that soup more often then not.

So I made some pumpkin soup yesterday and felt just like Mme Ramotswe must have felt preparing this recipe, right down to her swollen ankles.  The delicious recipe was found on the delightful blog of Mrs. Thomasina Tittlemouse; the link to her soup is here.

So I roasted up a pumpkin and went to work on the soup.  I did add cream, which Mrs. Tittlemouse did not, so it made for a more calorific dish, but was it yummy!  I also added quite a bit of red pepper flakes and curry spices, as well as S&P.

Maybe pumpkin soup is not a new idea, but it was the best soup under the sun yesterday!

Julia Child would be 100 Today

My brother sent this.


The New York Times  has a researched article worth the read on some of the Julia Child favorites.  It says most of us have cooked (at least once) her famous recipe for coq au vin or boeuf bourguignon or maybe an omelette.  I surely did, back in the day.  We might take a few more short cuts these days.

Do you have a favorite Child recipe?

Waste Not

Epic failure on blueberry coffeecake as the middle was still doughy after 50 minutes in the oven. Honestly, all instructions were followed correctly:

So I scooped out the middle from the loaf cake and repackaged the dough into muffins.  It worked, sorta.

But the Orange Date Muffins with recipe supplied here by the Mennonitegirls were a bit more successful:

Coffee clache at our house was fun, even though my friends did not want their pictures taken. So I didn't.

Then I bought two new side tables to refresh the living room furniture.  The wood is from India and is a very hard, dark wood called Sheesham.

Two new tables in the house, two previously used tables out of the house and to the consignment store.  My husband's philosophy on all material goods is that if one thing comes into the house, at least one item must go out.  Zen-ish.  It works for everything but my craft room.

Be patient with me, Gene, God isn't finished with me yet.

Letter to the Dormouse Regarding Carrot Soup

Dear Fat Dormouse Getting Thinner:

Thank you very much for the recipe I found here on your blog.  I did want you to know that it was quite delicious.  But somehow, cooking times did not equate at high altitudes.  Your recipe called for cooking the vegetables for about 20 minutes after the liquid came to a boil.  I was extremely hungry when I began soup preparation, just so you know.

So after cooking the onions, carrots and sweet potatoes for 55 minutes in the chicken stock, and flavoring with a Tbsp. of orange marmalade (the grocery shopping elves had not picked up any orange juice by noon today), I hoped it was ready.  I zuzzed it all together, and put it in my favorite poppy mug.  Can you see the steam?  No?  It was there, believe me.

(knitters please note that those are Hermione's Everyday Socks on the needles)

I was too hungry to make it pretty with a little parsley on top for garnish.

Anyway, thanks again Dormouse,
Nancy

P.S.:  the roof of my mouth got burned while sipping the soup because I did not want to wait for it to cool (did I tell you I was hungry?)

P.P.S: I drank the soup and had Weight Watchers popcorn with the soup and it was extra delish

Mennonite Girls Can Cook: Potato and Farmer Sausage Casserole

Dottie: this is your dinner tonight.  We send with it our thoughts and prayers, and hope it brings comfort.

Mennonite Girls Can Cook: Potato and Farmer Sausage Casserole

Online Cookbook at No Cost

Thank you, Natalie, for sending this link.  It is a downloadable cookbook from Penzey's Spices.  Go here to see the entire cookbook online.

There are many great recipes in the book, and I thought it interesting to read about the spices Penzey's sells.  My first purchase will be "vindaloo seasoning" for chicken (page 22).  It says this about Vindaloo Seasoning:  

This hot and spicy blend comes from Goa, a small state nestled in the middle of the Malabar Coast of India. Though control of Goa was returned to India in 1961, the four and a half centuries of Portuguese rule left many lasting impressions. Pork Vindaloo is a favorite dish of the Catholics, who make up a third of the population of Goa. The Muslims and Hindus of India prefer Vindaloo lamb or duck. 

Mix 2-5 TB. spice in 2-5 TB. water, set aside. Heat 2 TB oil, brown 1 ¹/2 lb. pork
cubes, remove, then brown 1 large minced onion. Put browned pork back into pot, add Vindaloo paste, 1 cup water, 6 TB. vinegar and 1 tsp. salt, cook 30 min. Add 4-6 cups cubed potatoes, cook till tender (45 min. or so). For authentic fiery hot Vindaloo as served in beach
front restaurants in India, add an equal part cayenne pepper. Hand-mixed from: coriander, garlic, cumin, ginger, cinnamon, crushed brown mustard, cayenne, jalapeño pepper, cardamom, turmeric, black pepper, cloves. 

1⁄ 4 cup jar (net 1.0 oz.)   #12531   $ 3.65
1⁄ 2 cup jar (net 2.2 oz.)   #12557   $ 6.29
4 oz. bag   #12544   $ 6.89
8 oz. bag   #12586   $ 12.75
1 lb. bag   #12515   $ 24.40

This is just ONE of the recipes that looked good to me for Creamy Chicken Chowder:

Melissa Clark's Sticky Cranberry Gingerbread

Here is a keeper, along with complete recipe and instructions, found at the Amateur Gourmet's Website:

The Amateur Gourmet says:

Think Christmas. Think Thanksgiving (at least, the cranberry sauce). Spicy, fragrant, gingery, wintery, this gingerbread is remarkable not only for the way it makes your whole apartment smell like the holidays, it’s also remarkable because the texture is just dry enough to lift up a piece with your hands, but wet enough to be incredibly, notably moist. I suppose that’s why “sticky” is in the title. It’s that kind of gingerbread.

It's coming out of my oven soon!

NPR Provides Great Fall Recipes

A link for summer garden bounty use:... click here

(all pictures by Susan Chang for NPR)

The garden season will end soon enough, in a fanfare of potatoes and squashes and pumpkins and gourds. As the weather gets colder, they get starchier and more like breads themselves, so it takes less and less effort — a little egg and sugar to sweeten and bind them — to get them to shine in a loaf pan.

Quick Zucchini, Carrot and Pumpkin Breads all found here.

Chicken Pablano and All the Fixings

We had a Mexican Sunday lunch that was pretty tasty, IMHO. The husband does most of the cooking, but he cooks only what HE likes. So when I have a hankering for Southern food or Mexican food, or desserts, or anything with more than a few ingredients in a longer recipe, I do the cooking.

Here was our lunch, based loosely on recipes for Chicken Pablano found at this site, and Mexican Fried Rice found at this site, and pinto beans, and tortillas.

Start out with roasted, peeled, seeded and chopped pablano peppers:

For a quick cream sauce to add to chicken that has been browned and cooked in garlic and onions with a bit of chicken sauce and white wine and herbs and S&P, just mix sour cream with the chopped pablano peppers and a bit of cumin for seasoning.  Put this atop the cooked chicken in the skillet for about five minutes, or long enough to warm up the sour cream.

Actually, the entree was the easiest part of the meal.  Start off by cooking the pinto beans (soaked overnight, but not necessary) with a few slices of bacon, a fresh chopped tomato, cilantro, chopped onions, chopped garlic, chili seasoning, and S&P.  It takes around two hours on a low stove top burner to take out the crunch in the beans.

And then there was the rice, browned in a skillet with bacon, chopped garlic, and chopped tomatoes prior to adding the water.  I used 1 1/2 cups white rice and about 2 cups water after browning the rice and vegetables and cooked it while covered for about 20 minutes.  I also added a can of corn after the rice cooked.  Peas and carrots could be added, too.  And don't forget to season with all the herbs and spices you like!

(Pretend there is cilantro atop the rice.  It would have made a better pictorial essay.)

It was almost a fiesta!

Sharing Recipes (on a laptop?)

(okay, maybe it was a joke they shared)

Here is the best scone recipe I found from Amateur Gourmet:

Ingredients:

2/3 cup heavy (or whipping) cream
1 large egg
1/4 cup vanilla sugar, plus more for sprinkling on the scones
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces, chilled
1/2 cup dried cranberries (or dried currants)
Zest from 1 small orange
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (or, if your oven runs hot, 350 degrees F.)
2. Place the cream, egg, and 1/4 cup vanilla sugar in a medium-size bowl and whisk until fluffy and well blended.
3. Place the flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda in a food processor and pulse to combine.Add the chilled butter, then pulse again until fairly well blended. Then add the cream mixture and pulse until the dough just holds together.
4. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface.  Sprinkle the cranberries and orange zest over the dough and knead for 30 seconds, making sure the cranberries are well distributed throughout the dough. Pat the dough into a round about 1/2 inch thick
5. Cut out the scones using a floured 2-inch round cookie cutter. Gather up the extra dough, pat it out again, and continue cutting out the scones. You should have 16 to 20.
6. Place the scones on an ungreased baking sheet. Brush the tops with the melted butter and sprinkle them with vanilla sugar. Bake in the oven until golden brown, 15 to 18 minutes. 

YUM!

Drying Herbs & Freezing Pesto

We have herbs.  Do we have herbs.  Abundant herbs!  Never one to waste anything, my husband has been nudging me to dry those aromatic sprigs from heaven.  He even sent me this information from Michael Ruhlman on drying herbs that said, in part:

The herb garden has gone wild from the heat and rain showers. It’s bursting with more herbs than I can handle or possibly use.  It’s like an herb party with too many rowdy guest showing up.  So now is exactly the time to start cutting them back and letting them dry for winter cooking.  This will both begin the supply of dried herbs and also encourage more growth during the next weeks of summer.  Herbs are roughly divided into two categories, “hard” and “soft.”  The soft herbs are herbs with soft stems, such as parsley and tarragon. The soft herbs are best used fresh; they’re fine dried, but they lose their magic, all the beguiling qualities that make them so powerful.

Looking at my "soft" herbs, I seized the day and picked tarragon and parsley to dry, simply washing off the leaves and spreading them on tea towels laid on the counter for drying.  Ruhlman says to spread them out in bowls for drying, so that must work too.

Candied herbs?  Look at Shuna Lydon's post a few years back about how to infuse herbs into sugar.  She has a way with words:

Custards could be infused but they must drape the tongue briefly and evaporate, smooth and silky. Like a well cut skirt: scissors glide through the grain of the fabric, not against it. An aroma is an elusive sensory experience. We embrace those we have known and loved forever and are comforted because they still smell the same as we remember.

And now for the basil and Making Pesto to Freeze:

from Food Network:

Pesto to Freeze

2 cups packed fresh basil leaves

2 cloves garlic

1/4 cup pine nuts

2/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil, divided

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

1/2 cup freshly grated Pecorino cheese

• Combine the basil, garlic, and pine nuts in a food processor and pulse until coarsely chopped. Add 1/2 cup of the oil and process until fully incorporated and smooth. Season with salt and pepper.
• If using immediately, add all the remaining oil and pulse until smooth. Transfer the pesto to a large serving bowl and mix in the cheese.
• If freezing, transfer to an air-tight container and drizzle remaining oil over the top. Freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw and stir in cheese.

I followed the directions, doubling the amounts:

Several years ago I made this recipe.  It is great for gift giving in mid winter, and it lasts in the freezer much longer than three months; don't hesitate to make several batches for those cold weather doldrums when you want to carbohydrate load.   This pesto recipe is delicious with pasta and chicken.

PS: I decreased the olive oil slightly, and added the pecorino cheese into the processor while blending.  Then remember to sprinkle heavily with more Parmesan or mozzeralla cheese as a finishing entree topper.

Sassy Water

Have you tried SASSY water?  It is the next best thing since... fill in the blank...  And it supposedly gets rid of belly fat.  Ya think?

This is what you need:

8. 5 cups water
1 tsp. grated ginger
1 cucumber (sliced)
1 lemon (sliced)
spearmint leaves, a dozen or so (I leave them whole)

Combine everything and chill in the refrigerator overnight. Drink!

That is the official recipe, but since cukes and lemons are not cheap, I used half the amount called for and it tasted just fine.  Then the next day, I could make up another batch of sassy water.

The taste?  It was refreshing.  But I doubt it gets rid of belly fat...unless you quit eating.

Prevention Magazine has more information about Sassy Water, named after its originator, Cynthia Sass.

Best Gazpacho Recipe and Apricot Cooking

Ina Garten showed off her best gazpacho recipe on Food Network.  So I made it.  Don't know about being the "best", but it was good, easy, and was said to take only 20 minutes to make.   I don't know about the 20 minute time frame, but the recipe was definitely worth whipping up again.  In process:

And apricots are finally in season.  We bought five pounds at a local farmers' market and dehydrated 3 pounds. After 12 hours in the drying unit, they still are not ready to bag.  But they are sweet and delicious!

Two pounds of the apricots were used immediately for an apricot cobbler with rolled dumplings.

OLD FASHIONED COBBLER

8 or 9 peaches or apricots, peeled and sliced
1/2 c. water
1 1/2 c. sugar2 tbsp. self-rising flour
Pinch of salt
1/2 c. butter, melted

Cook fruit in water until tender. Mix flour, salt and sugar. Add to peaches. Mix. Add melted butter.

PASTRY FOR COBBLER

1 cup self-rising flour
1 tsp. salt
1/3 c. shortening
4 tbsp. sweet milk, or enough to make a stiff dough

Blend flour, salt, and shortening to coarse meal texture. Add milk. Roll on floured surface. Pour half of fruit in 9x13 inch pan. Cut some dumplings and push dumplings down into the peach juice. Pour remaining peaches in and top with more cut pastry. Bake in a 350 degree oven 35 to 40 minutes, or until top is golden brown. I like to sprinkle a little sugar on top before baking. This should be juicy cobbler.

Several days ago, I got out the tried and true Better Homes & Gardens Cookbook and made some vanilla ice cream, so home made ice cream was topping for the cobbler.  It was the first time I had gotten the electric ice cream freezer from its shelf in the garage, and it was not even "cranky" after having been neglected for a number of summers.

The ice cream recipe called for only four ingredients - no infusion of vanilla bean, etc.- just 2 Tbsp of vanilla extract, and no eggs.  Some things don't have to be difficult to be tasty.

And last, apricot freezer jam was a hit.  We only made five cups, but that will be enough for a while.  A previous post about freezer jam can be found here.  Ingredients:

3 and 1/3 cup pureed apricots
1 and 1/3 cup sugar
4 Tbsp. freezer pectin

Stir sugar and pectin together.  Add apricots and stir for 2 minutes.  Let it stand for 30 minutes and then ladle into plastic containers and freeze.  Excellent!

Summer Squash and Sausage Casserole

With tomatoes, squash and onions all now available, they are the basis of my favorite summer casserole.  This recipe makes plenty, is easily reheated in the microwave, and is definitely in the new triangle of foods that are good for you.  It also has lots of cheesy goodness.

Ingredients: as many and as much as you like of....

1. tomatoes in thick slices
2. yellow and green squashes, any varieties are fine, cut in thick slices
3. onions, yellow or white, cut in pieces
4. a pound of Italian sausage, browned in a skillet with the grease discarded
5. cheese, yellow and grated

Preparation consists of layering all the vegetables, browned sausage and grated cheese a couple of times with lots of pepper, a bit of salt, and maybe some spices you like.  Cover and cook in a 350 degree oven for an hour or until the vegetables are no longer crunchy.

So there you have a complete meal if you add just a slice of bread, a beverage, and a dessert if you are feeling indulgent.

Mint and Jalapeno Jelly the Quick Way

Mint grows like crazy in our back yard.

Mint jelly with lamb is OK, but how about a sweet jelly with a little more kick?  Maybe adding a jalapeno would bring up the heat and tone down the sugar.  It would be tasty with meat entrees, and a kick over a block of cream cheese. (My husband remembers pouring a jar of salsa over a block of cream cheese, but he is much older than I, so I don't recall that particular little party treat.)
   
A Google search for mint and jalapeno jelly came up quickly.  Here it is:

2 cups spearmint leaves, chopped fine, divided
2 jalapeno peppers, seeded, diced
3/4 cup white wine vinegar
2 Tbs lemon juice
3 1/2 cups sugar
4 Tbsp. freezer pectin (this is my variation on the original recipe since it called for regular pectin) 

In a small saucepan, heat 1 3/4 cups mint leaves with 1 1/2 cups water, bring to boil, shut off heat and let steep for 30 minutes. Strain mint infusion into large saucepan, squeezing out mint leaves to extract as much mint as possible (I used a coffee filter in a small colander for straining). Discard boiled leaves.

...(recipe continues for Hot Water Bath canning)

Here is what I did to make it a quick freezer jam:

Instead of boiling it all together for what would have taken forever, I just stirred it all for three minutes, added about 7 drops of green food coloring, added a few cleaned mint sprigs to each container, then ladled it into the plastic freezer containers.  Done.  -- It has not been thawed yet, so perhaps the mint leaves might wither.

This is my third recipe for making freezer jams this spring.  We have strawberry, blueberry and now mint jelly in our freezer.  The first batch with strawberries was too sweet, so I cut down the sugar when I made the blueberry jam, and also cut down the sugar on this mint/pepper jelly.  We liked them all.

And here, in all its glory, is a picture of the mint jelly slathered over a block of cream cheese.  It tasted surprisingly refreshing with just a little bite to it.

Does that picture above remind you of James Lilek's Gallery of Regrettable Foods?

Says Lileks:

Freud never had to ask what men want. Men want liquor. They want a pistachio cordial that matches their ties, matches the coffee cups, and matches the salad and the relish. AVOCADO GREEN, the rutting stags demand.

To remind them they're men, make sure to embed a batch of wriggling, erect wieners in a sea of beans.

James Lileks has so many funny stories and books.  Take a look.  He makes our childhood foods look downright...well, unappealing. His Gallery of Regrettable Foods is here.

Lettuce and a Summer Recipe

Here is a clever idea with lettuce growing in containers attached to exterior house siding:

These are my little pots with leaf lettuce now ready for the picking.  Each clay container will make maybe two large salads at two week intervals.

Along with fresh fruit, this salad will be delish on newly harvested lettuce leaves:

Here is the website for Strawberry and Mozzarella Salad with basil.  Our basil won't be ready for a while, however.  The leaves are still very young: