Banana Blueberry Oatmeal Bake

I've been wanting to try a baked oatmeal recipe for a while, because they always sound so yummy.  But my children are not oatmeal lovers.  They like it in cookies and homemade granola bars, but not in a bowl, hot.  Except two of them like Quaker instant oatmeal.  But they each have their own flavor, and that is the only one they like.  But I thought "I am making this" because we have our own blueberry bushes and I always like to find new recipes to use our blueberries in.  Also my parents were coming over for dinner so I knew at least most of this would get eaten, even if it wasn't a kid favorite.  I told them "everybody has to eat this.  But not everybody has to like it."  It's from the Simple & Delicious that I'm working through.  We had this with potato pancakes (because once again we made way too many mashed potatoes for Thanksgiving), applesauce, orange slices, and of course, bacon.

Banana Blueberry Oatmeal Bake
1 ½ cups 2% milk
1/3 cup honey
1 tsp vanilla
½ tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp salt
1 ¼ cups old-fashioned oats
2 med bananas, sliced
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries
Topping
¼ cup brown sugar
2 tbsp flour
2 tbsp butter, softened
½ cup chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 350.  In a bowl, whisk the milk, honey, vanilla, cinnamon, and salt until blended.  Stir in oats.

Arrange banana slices in a single layer in greased 9-in square baking pan; top with blueberries.  Pour oatmeal mixture over the top, spreading evenly. 

Bake 25-30 minutes or until set.  Remove from oven.  Preheat broiler.

For topping, in small bowl, mix brown sugar, flour, and butter with a fork til crumbly; stir in pecans.  Sprinkle over oatmeal.  Broil 7-8 inches from the heat for 2-3 minutes or until lightly browned.  Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

I have no picture of the finished product!  You know how when you are making a bunch of things and then everything is ready all at once and everyone is ready to eat?  That's what happened here, and I forgot until I was putting the (small amount of) leftovers away that I hadn't taken a picture of the end result with the topping on it.  Sorry :(

My parents both ate this and said they liked it.  Steve and Emma both had seconds!  (whaaaaa??? She never does that...and she said she really liked it!).  Nathan would only eat two scraped off banana slices and would not even try a bite with everything in it.  Sam said...eh, not as bad as it could be (he is a big oatmeal disliker).  So, the verdict is, I'm keeping the recipe.  Emma having seconds cancels out Nathan having none, and everybody else's reactions were acceptable.

Bread Fish Fry

In the spirit of "there's a first time for everything," here is my first recipe containing fish on New Recipe Night.  I have well over 600 posts on here, and none of them have been for fish or contain fish.  I do not like fish.  At all.  I don't like how it smells or the texture of it.  We had it a few times growing up, and nothing bad ever happened to me from eating it (unless you count gagging) but I have never developed a taste for it.  Because of this, many of my children also think they do not like fish.  My oldest has tried several varieties of things at buffets, and likes crab rangoon and scallops now.  Good for him.  My two youngest have never tried anything up to this point. 

So why the change?  Well, my sweet youngest, who is 6, had a chance to go fishing with his dad and an older man that goes to church with us and also works with my husband.  They caught 8 fish.  I tried to encourage them, prior to the trip, to catch and release, so that I wouldn't have to do anything with fish that they would potentially bring home.  That is apparently not the kind of fishing that George does, though.  However, he is a full-service fisherman.  Not only did he take all 8 fish home, chop off whatever parts needed chopping off, scale them, gut them, whatever it is you do to get them ready for eating, he did all that.  He brought them to work, on ice, for Steve the next morning.  And, he hand-wrote a recipe for what to do with them.  You may be thinking at this point that I would have had to cook them.  But, glory be, I had to work!  So Steve made this!  He said it came out awesome.  Nathan had seconds.  Sam liked it.  Emma said the more she ate it, the less she liked it.  But she did eat some.  They brought some to Grampie, who called later to say how much he liked it.  So, due to the rave reviews, I said I would post the recipe on the blog.  Here it is, typed out in George's format.

Bread Fish Fry
1. Put 1/4 cup milk in a bowl and set aside.
2. Put 3/4 cup of flour, 1 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp pepper, 1 tsp basil in small bag (like gallon ziploc) and shake it up
3. Place either bread crumbs or crushed corn flakes in a plate and set aside (will need 1 1/2-2 cups)
4. Beat a couple of eggs in a bowl.
Now
1. dip each fillet in milk, wet both sides
2. put wet fillets in flour mixture (1 at a time) and shake til coated
3. put coated fillets in the egg and coat completely, then...
4. put fillet in plate with bread crumbs (or corn flakes) and set aside til all fillets are coated in this manner (coat both sides of fillets)

Put 1/4 inch of oil in fry pan and heat almost to the point of smoking (med high not super hot) fry fillets til golden brown.  Should take 2 1/2-3 minutes per side when heat level is right.  Add more oil if needed as you go.  We serve these as fillet sandwiches with our favorite cheese and tartar sauce. Our family loves 'em!

What do I love about this?  That Nathan got the whole experience of catching, preparing, eating, and sharing the fish.  I love that George took the time to take them fishing, and then went to the trouble of getting the fish ready for us (which I'm sure must be a disgusting and gross job) and THEN took the time to hand-write a recipe for us telling us the best way to eat them!  He wrote it on a piece of notebook paper, and it's going in my keeper book just like that.  The whole thing was so cool.

I never tried the fish, although Nathan did save me some, and assured me that there was no skin left on it (a concern I had shared with them...in the past, I have seen fish skin on my fish sticks and it turned my stomach).........it got rave reviews from so many other quarters...he said I could try it on leftover night....we'll see.........I don't even know what category to put this recipe in.  I don't want to start one for "fish" since it seems highly unlikely that I'll need it again...I guess meatless, because we do know several vegetarians that still eat fish.

Black Bean and Rice Bake with "Pina de Gallo"

Once in Haiti I had a sauce on the beans and rice with several ingredients I could not (and did not try to) identify, but it was tasty.  When I saw this recipe, it reminded me of that dish, so I thought I would try it.  Also, it's meatless, so it counts for the meatless meal that I try to do every week (but do not always do because I really like meat...).  I think the "Pina" part of the name of the fruity salsa is supposed to be a play on the "pico de gallo" you often see in Mexican recipes.  From $5 Dinner Mom.

Black Bean and Rice Bake with "Pina de Gallo"
3 cups cooked black beans (or 2 15 oz cans, rinsed and drained)
1 1/4 cups brown rice
1 cup chicken broth
2 cups hot water
2 garlic cloves, crushed
salt & pepper to taste
Pina de Gallo:
2 cups fresh pineapple, cut into bite-size pieces
1 plum tomato, seeded and diced
1 small red onion, finely chopped
3 sprigs fresh cilantro, chopped
1/2 tsp cumin
salt & pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350.  Grease 9x13 glass baking dish with cooking spray.  To the prepared dish, add the beans, rice, broth, and hot water (I put the 2 cups of water and the 1 cup of chicken broth in a saucepan, brought it to a boil, then added it to the pan...that way I knew the rice would be done when she said it would be...).  Add the garlic and season with salt and pepper.  Cover the dish tightly with foil and bake in preheated oven for 60 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a mixing bowl, toss together the pineapple, tomato, onion, cilantro, cumin, and salt and pepper (I put all of this in my Tupperware choppy thing and chopped it all up until it was the consistency I wanted).

Serve the beans and rice with the "Pina de Gallo" over the top.

The rice smelled great while it was cooking (I think it was the garlic).  The salsa was yummy too.  The kids did not like this at all.  Even Sam, who likes everything.  Nathan & Emma were complaining about it, and Sam chimed in with "No comment."  This was surprising coming from him.  Steve and I both thought it was good, although it didn't really feel like a complete meal (probably because we are used to meat...??).  I think some bread and butter would have been a good addition.  In Haiti we would have had this with a folded tortilla or two...anyway it was good but we won't have it again...gotta give the people what they want.

Skillet Black Bean Lasagna

Our vegetarian meal for the week.  This recipe comes from the Christmas cookbook from my mom, the $5 Dinner Mom one.  We had this with corn bread, because even though it says lasagna, which is Italian and would normally call for garlic bread on the side, the spices in the recipe sounded more Mexican, so I made it with corn bread.  Weirdly, Nathan randomly asked me this morning when we could have cornbread again.  So it also seemed like I was supposed to make corn bread to go with it.  Meant to be, almost.

Skillet Black Bean Lasagna
3 cups cooked black beans (or 2 15 oz cans of black beans, rinsed and drained)
1 can (15 oz) diced tomatoes, undrained
1 can (15 oz) corn kernels, drained (I used 1 cup frozen)
1 can (4 oz) green chilies, undrained
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp chili powder
Salt and pepper to taste
6 lasagna noodles, broken into 1 inch pieces (little pieces of noodle flying everywhere...wear safety goggles if you have them)
2 cups hot water
2 cups shredded Mexican cheese blend
Sour cream for serving, optional (and omitted by me)

In a large skillet, combine beans, tomatoes, corn, and green chilies.  Mix in the cumin, chili powder, and salt and pepper.  Bring to a boil over medium high heat and add the broken lasagna noodles and hot water.  Gently stir the mixture and press the lasagna pieces down into the liquid.  Reduce heat to medium, cover and cook for 15-20 minutes, stirring once.  When the pasta is al dente, uncover the mixture and top with the cheese.  Cook another 2-3 minutes over low heat to allow the cheese to melt.

Okay when I saw this recipe, I thought it would be a good vegetarian meal.  I thought I would like it okay.  But I didn't expect to like it so much.  Seriously it was so good!  And with such simple ingredients!  Good enough to serve vegetarian dinner guests.  We loved it.  We will definitely have this again.  I already copied it for my keeper book.

Cheesy Onion Focaccia Bread

I made this last night and brought it to the potluck dinner we have before Wednesday night service.  It's always risky bringing a new recipe somewhere, but I've made similar things in the past so I thought it would be okay.  From Simple & Delicious.  This starts with frozen bread dough, which I still have an abundance of from that time my friend gave me some, but I'm sure you could make your own dough if you are so inclined.

Cheesy Onion Focaccia Bread
2 medium onions, halved and thinly sliced
3 tbsp butter
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 tsp Italian seasoning
2 tsp brown sugar
1 loaf (1 lb) frozen bread dough, thawed
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese (I used a bit more)
2 tbsp grated Parmesan cheese

Saute onions in butter in large skillet until tender.  Add the garlic, italian seasoning, and brown sugar; cook 2 minutes longer.  Pat dough into 10-inch circle on an ungreased 12 inch pizza pan.  Build up edges slightly.  Make indentations at 1-inch intervals with a wooden spoon handle.  Top with onion mixture and cheeses.  Bake at 425 for 10-15 minutes or until golden brown.  Cut into wedges and serve warm.

So I only got a tiny sliver of this, because I cut the pieces so small, but it was very tasty.  I loved the sweetness of the onions.  I wasn't sure about cheddar cheese on a pizza-type thing, but it tasted great.  For me, this was a cheap recipe because I already had all of these ingredients.  So I will definitely make this again, and bring it nowhere, so we can eat  more of it.

Taco Twist Soup

Weird weather for January in Maine, wouldn't you say?  We had soup yesterday.  Steve has a little cold so it was a good meal for that.  We love taco type things, and I like good hot soup.  Steve is not a huge fan of soup, but this was a Mexican one, and I served it with tortilla chips on the side, so this was a hit.  Also it's a vegetarian soup, so it gets points for that, too.  This is from Simple & Delicious.

Taco Twist Soup
1 onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tsp olive oil
3 cups vegetable or beef broth
1 can (15 oz) black beans, rinsed and drained
1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes, undrained
1 1/2 cups picante sauce (I used my favorite, Pace mmmmm)
1 cup uncooked spiral pasta
1 small green pepper, chopped
2 tsp chili powder
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese (we used shredded Mexican)
3 tbsp sour cream (omitted by me)

Saute onion and garlic in large saucepan (or soup pot) until tender.  Add all remaining ingredients except cheese and sour cream.  Bring to a boil, stirring frequently.  Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 10-12 minutes or until pasta is tender, stirring occasionally.  Ladle into bowls and top with cheese and sour cream.  (we had ours with tortilla chips for dipping and scooping, too)

This was well liked.  When we were almost done, I asked the kids if they had noticed that it was a vegetarian meal.  They were surprised.  The broth was very yummy and tasted awesome with the tortilla chips.  This soup came together quick and easy.  We will definitely have it again.

Potato and Leek Soup

First post of the new year!  Starting it off with a soup that has a whole pound of bacon in it...what's not to love?  This soup has a leek in it.  The only other recipe I have used a leek in is this yummy potato salad (that has no disgusting mayo) that is essentially potatoes, leeks, and Italian dressing, but it looks way more complicated when it's in the bowl.  But I know that leeks are related to onions, but they kind of look like celery, and you cut them like celery.  And you only use the white part.  Oh and for some reason, once you cut off the root and the green leaves, you cut it in half and rinse it under cool water to remove the sand (??) particles.  Maybe the leeks stopped at the beach on their way to the grocery store, I don't know.  So this soup is a crock pot recipe, and it's from Simple & Delicious.  We had this with a dinner roll recipe that I will post separately.

Potato and Leek Soup
4 cups chicken broth
3 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 1/2 cups chopped cabbage (I did not include this)
2 medium carrots, chopped (I used 10 baby carrots and sliced them thinly) 
1 medium leek (they were all one size at Hannaford)(white portion only), chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
1/4 cup minced fresh parsley (I didn't have any fresh, I just used a few tsp of dried)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp caraway seeds
1/2 tsp pepper
1 bay leaf
1/2 cup sour cream
1 lb bacon strips, cooked and crumbled

Combine first 11 ingredients in a 4 or 5 quart slow cooker.  Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours or until vegetables are tender.

Before serving, combine sour cream with 1 cup of soup; return all to the slow cooker.  Remove the bay leaf and stir in the bacon. 

I thought this was quite good.  And it smelled great.  But I could tell Steve didn't like it that much.  He of course did eat it, but when I asked what he thought he said "I like your other potato soup, too.  The one with the cheese in it."  So there you go, not a big fan, and this from the man that likes almost everything.  He does prefer stews to soup, so it was probably just his personal preference.  So I guess it's not one we'll have again, but it was good and easy. 

So, if you left the bacon out at the end, this would be a vegetarian meal.  I love bacon too much to try/do that.  But because of that I did put it in the "meatless" category, too.

Corn Chowder (Dairy & Gluten Free)

My sister-in-law has been a vegetarian for like 20 years.  Occasionally she emails recipes to me that she thinks my picky children will like, especially now that I am trying to cook more meatless meals, for health and cost reasons.  This corn chowder is dairy-free, and she says the grated potatoes in it make the broth thicken instead of the traditional ways you thicken chowder (a milk/flour mixture).  This recipe does have creamed corn, but I just googled it (so I am 100% certain) and it said that depending on the brand, if it specifies corn starch vs modified food starch, it is gluten free.  Mine did (I bought Libby's).  I also found a recipe for homemade creamed corn, but I did not print it.  But if you are so inclined, you can make your own, apparently.  We are definitely not gluten free or dairy free here at our house but it's fun to try new things, and you never know when your gluten-free neighbor or a family from church will need a meal...to undo the gluten-free-ness of the meal tonight, we had this with freshly baked whole wheat bread & butter.

Corn Chowder (Dairy & Gluten Free)
1 tbsp oil
2 onions, finely chopped
2 celery stalks, thinly sliced
2 peeled carrots, diced
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
3 1/2 cups broth (I used homemade vegetable stock)
2 peeled grated potatoes (I don't have a fancy mandoline slicer from PC so I just used a cheese grater...it still worked)
2 cans creamed corn (she didn't specify size so I bought regular sized cans)
1 bell pepper, finely chopped (I used red pepper)

Saute onion, celery, and carrots in oil until soft.  Add broth and boil.  Transfer to slow cooker.  Stir in potato, salt, and pepper.  Cook on low for 8 hours or high for 4 hours.  Add corn and bell pepper and cover and cook for 30 more minutes on high.

On the way home from karate I prepped the children for this vegetarian meal.  I said it was from Auntie Dawn who is very good at cooking without meat, etc.  This led to a long discussion of the various reasons people choose to be vegetarians (economic, ethical, or health concerns...or I have a friend who has none of those reasons, she just doesn't like meat and thinks it's gross...also a viable opinion).  The very first thing Nathan said when he sat down at the table was "where's the chicken?"  I said, "remember, I told you there was no meat in this soup?"  He protested, "but Mom, that is my favorite part of soup!"  He did eat a few bites but was not impressed.  Sam suggested a helpful hint of adding ham next time.  So they totally missed the point.  I thought it was good, and it paired nicely with the bread (I like dipping bread in my soup...I think I wouldn't do it if the President was over for dinner or something, but I do like to do it)(also I wouldn't make soup if the President was coming for dinner).  The texture was definitely different than a traditional chowder.  Steve didn't believe me when I said it was chowder.  It doesn't have that creamy color to it.  But I think it would be a good stand-in if you couldn't have traditional chowder for whatever reason.  So I'm feeling pretty good about this healthy (except for possibly the sodium content) meal, even if my carnivore family was less than impressed. 

"Black Gold" Black Bean Soup

This was our meatless recipe for the week.  I don't do it faithfully, but do try to have one meatless meal per week (for cheapness and for healthness).  We have a few things that I make often, like Corn & Black Bean Quesadillas.  And lots of times we have breakfast for supper and have scrambled eggs and some kind of muffin or other bread.  And then once last month we had blueberry pie and ice cream.  That was fun.  I have tried a lot of meatless recipes, but so far I only have 6 in my keeper book.  Those are recipes that we really liked and will make again (not counting breads).  So I need to boost my repertoire.  My vegetarian sister in law has been passing me a lot of recipes, which I always give her credit for when I try.  So far her banana bread has been awesome, and it's in the keeper book along with her black bean burgers.  She also gave me a recipe for dairy-free corn chowder, so stay tuned for that when it gets a bit more fallish.  This soup came from Back of the Box Cooking.  I'm not sure why it's called "Black Gold."  Sam and I figured it could be a Texas recipe (since "black gold" was a nickname for oil when they found it in Texas); or that it was such a tasty soup it tasted as good as gold (ummm, how does gold taste?).  The recipe offers no insight into the name, so you can make your own conclusions there.  The featured items in the recipe are Hain (never heard of them) chicken broth and canned corn, and Garden of Eatin' blue tortilla chips.  Which I did not purchase.

"Black Gold" Black Bean Soup
 2 (14.5 oz cans) chicken broth (I used 4 cups of homemade vegetable stock)
5 (15 oz) cans black beans, rinsed and drained
2 tbsp canola oil
1 1/2 cups chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped carrot (I bought matchstick carrots so no prep work)
12 cup chopped red or green pepper (I used red)
2 tsp minced garlic
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 (15 oz) can whole kernel corn, drained (I used 1 1/2 cups frozen)
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
Fresh cilantro for garnish
Tortilla chips for serving

In a blender, puree 1 can (or 2 cups) of chicken broth with 3 cups of beans.  Set aside.  In a large saucepan (I used a dutch oven), heat oil.  Add onions and carrots and saute for 3 minutes.  Add red pepper and garlic and saute additional 1 minute.  Add coriander and cumin and cook another 30 seconds.  Add remaining broth, pureed beans, remaining black beans, corn, salt and pepper.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes.  Garnish with cilantro and serve with tortilla chips.

Sam and Steve decided they wanted to put shredded Mexican cheese on theirs.  The little ones and I did not.  Nathan laboriously picked only the corn and carrots out of this soup, and he wanted his with Ritz crackers instead of tortilla chips.  Emma ate it but didn't really like it.  Steve and Sam both liked it.  I thought it was good, not great.  Not good enough to keep, anyway.  Also, Emma was rating on a 5 star scale, where the soup got 3 stars, and the tortilla chips got 4.5 stars.  Then Nathan wanted to rate his meal too.  He told me that the lower the number of stars, the more he liked it, and "remember, more stars is worse I like it."  So he gave the Ritz crackers 1 star, which means he REALLY liked them.  He gave the soup 50 stars (bad).  And he gave the one tortilla chip he tried 100 stars.  So bad.

Beans and Rice (Diri ak Pwa)

Finally I attempted Haitian beans & rice.  I do have a beans and rice recipe that I make and we all love, but it's not Haitian.  It has smoked sausage, chicken broth, and ketchup, among other things.  We've had beans and rice several times on our various trips, and it has a certain flavor and texture that I wasn't sure I could duplicate.  But I thought it was time to try.  Thursday night we had people over for dinner from Corinth that are going to Haiti in February.  Steve told them I would make Haitian food.  I have made a few main dishes so I decided to go with Koden N (Haitian Turkey) except I made it with two whole chickens, cut up, this time, instead of Fred Flintstone turkey parts.  I thought I should do better than minute brown rice for a side dish.  So I took the plunge.  This is from A Taste of Haiti.

Beans and Rice (Diri ak Pwa)
1 cup dried kidney beans
3 tsp salt
2 tbsp oil
4 garlic cloves, crushed and minced
1/2 onion, finely chopped
1/2 scallion, finely chopped
1/4 tsp pepper
2 cups long-grain rice
2 whole cloves
1 green scotch bonnet pepper (I used a jalapeno)
1 thyme sprig
1 parsley sprig

To cook dried beans, wash beans and drain.  Place in saucepan with 6 cups of water and 1 tsp salt.  Bring to a boil.  Lower heat and boil on medium-low heat, uncovered, for 1 1/2 hours.  When skins wrinkle, taste to see if they are fork-tender.  Drain and reserve liquid for cooking the rice.  This gives the rice a nice color and lots of taste.

Heat oil in cast iron pot (I don't have one...I used a Dutch oven) on medium heat.  Stir in garlic, onion, scallions, 2 tsp salt, and pepper to 2 minutes.  Add and stir the cooked beans and fry for 5 minutes until the beans are crisp.  Add 4 cups of liquid (reserved bean liquid plus enough water to make 4 cups) and bring to a boil.  Add rice and cloves.  Stir and boil and until water (mostly) evaporates.  Lower heat, stir rice, and place the whole pepper, thyme, and parsley on top of rice.  Cover and let cook on low for 30 minutes (mine only took like 15).  Remove pepper, thyme, and parsley.  Stir before serving.

I just saw another recipe for this that added a tablespoon of butter when adding the rice, which I think is a good idea because the rice did stick together more than I liked.  But that is my only complaint.  Steve and I both thought it was similar to what we have had in Haiti.  It made a lot.  We had 6 adults and 3 kids eating it, and we still have about half of it leftover, and everybody had good-sized servings, and some people had seconds.  So definitely enough for a crowd, which you always have in Haiti.

Cream of Potato and Cheddar Soup

I have a lot of catching up to do! Sometimes I am so busy I can't type these in a timely manner. But here we go, in catch up mode. Also when I get a backlog like this, sometimes I am not as funny, because it becomes about getting all the recipes up, not about being funny. So sorry about that in advance...

It does seem like I have made several variations of potato soup in the last few weeks. I don't even crazy love it, but the recipes make it sound good and easy. This was a crock pot recipe, and I put it in the crock pot on Wednesday because I had an appointment in the afternoon and I wanted to have dinner all ready when I got home. This version of potato soup is from the April/May 2012 Simple & Delicious.

Cream of Potato and Cheddar Soup
8 medium Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 large red onion, chopped
1 celery rib, chopped
2 cans (14 1/2 oz each) chicken broth (I used 4 cups of homemade veggie broth)
1 can (10 3/4 oz) condensed cream of celery soup, undiluted
1 tsp garlic powder
1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup half and half
Optional toppings: salad croutons (yes), crumbled cooked bacon (yes), additional shredded cheese (yes)

Combine first seven ingredients in a 4 or 5 quart slow cooker. Cover and cook on low for 7-9 hours or until potatoes are tender.

Stir in cheese and cream. Cover and cook 30 minutes longer or until cheese is melted (mine only took like 5 minutes). Garnish each serving with toppings of your choice.

Sounds benign enough, right? Well, two out of three children reduced to tears during dinner over it. I gave Nathan a bite with just potato and broth, and he started crying, "Where's the meat???" I explained that this soup doesn't have any meat. He was not impressed. Emma didn't like it either, and also cried, although I can't remember any specific complaints. The rest of us ate it and liked it okay. I have a lot of this left over that I, obviously, cannot give to the children. Guess it will be soup, soup, and soup for Steve's lunch leftovers...

Black Bean Sliders

I made some black bean burgers a while back, and thought they were rather bland. This recipe is from my sister-in-law, the same girl who gave me the Best Banana Bread recipe I posted last month. They have been vegetarians for years and years so she knows how to make yummy food like this. Black beans are so cheap, like $0.88, compared to like $4 for a pound of hamburger, so that is a good reason right there to sub them in for things, not to mention the health benefits and all that. Don't get me wrong, I still love meat and chicken. But I am loving other things too. Especially saving money.

Black Bean Sliders
1 14 oz can black beans, drained (reserve the liquid)
1 medium onion, finely diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp taco seasoning
1 egg
1/2 cup plain bread crumbs
1/2 cup corn
1/4 cup cilantro (even though I love cilantro I left that out...I just didn't have any)
2 tbsp olive oil

In a large bowl combine everything except corn and black beans. Add the black beans and corn and mash with a fork until still chunky. If it is too dry, and the reserved black bean liquid a little at a time until it is like a thick paste. Let the mixture rest in the fridge for a few minutes. Shape into patties and let side in the fridge for 15 minutes. Heat a large pan over medium high heat and add the oil. Cook the burgers for 5 minutes on each side. Serve on buns with toppings like salsa, sour cream, or guacamole (we used just the salsa).

These were really good. Sam was at a birthday party so missed out. Nathan refused to even try, even though he watched me make them. Emma was convinced she wouldn't like them. She even tried tears, but I would not relent, because she has eaten so many things with corn and black beans and liked them. I told her she had to take 6 bites, and she took 8, and admitted that it was good. Steve and I both liked them. There are varying opinions of meatless "burgers." Here's mine: if you are looking for a meatless burger to substitute for a meat one, you will probably be disappointed with every one that you try. But if you try it as something new that happens to be in burger form, you will like them. Because they are yummy. And don't forget cheap.

Lentil Soup

I've never had, or made, lentil soup. I had some lentils left from another recipe a while back, and didn't have to buy anything to make this soup, so I decided to try it. It's from the Everything Soup cookbook.

Lentil Soup
1 cup dried lentils, rinsed very thoroughly
1 onion, diced
1 garlic clove, minced
2 tbsp butter or oil
1 tbsp tarragon (it doesn't say dried or fresh, I had dry and used 1 tbsp, I think it was too much)
1 tsp paprika
1 bay leaf
4 cups vegetable or chicken broth

In a large saucepan or soup pot, melt the butter (or warm the oil). Saute the onion for 5 minutes on low heat. Stir in the tarragon, paprika, and bay leaf. Add the lentils. Pour in the vegetable broth and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook for 30 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly. Discard the bay leaf. Using a blender or food processor, puree the mixture (I used our new blender and it worked great). Reheat for 5 minutes.

Well. Nathan and Emma did NOT like this. To be fair, it did look like baby poop. They didn't even want to try it. Sam & Steve LOVED it. They shoveled it in with their bread pieces and it was gone in no time. Me...I liked it at first. The more I ate of it the less I liked it. I had to add salt at first because it was so bland. Then by the time my bread was gone I tried to eat some bites of it, but all I could taste was the tarragon. Maybe I feel about tarragon the way Jill & Melissa feel about cilantro, I don't know. I just couldn't eat any more of it. Not a keeper, but at least I'm not out anything.

Tuscany Bread and Cheese Soup

This is meatless. And it's something totally new that I've never made before. And it sounded really good. Alas, not everyone thought so...from the Everything Soup cookbook.

Tuscany Bread and Cheese Soup
1 large sourdough baguette
4 cloves garlic, divided (I used more)
3 tbsp olive oil, divided
Salt (I used sea salt)
1 large spanish onion (I do not know what makes an onion "spanish." They had no onions labeled as such at either Walmart or Hannaford. I saw Autumn at Hannaford whilst looking for a Spanish onion and she didn't know what it was either. I just ended up using a regular onion)
2 stalks celery
2 leeks (the leeks at Hannaford were BIG so I only used one and I still think a whole one might have been pushing too much)
1 28 oz can whole tomatoes, drained & diced (again I ask, why not just buy them diced?)
2 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 pinch of cayenne pepper (a teeny tiny pinch if you are me)
6 cups vegetable broth
2 tbsp basil
1/2 cup parmesan cheese (we used shredded parmesan)

Preheat oven to 300. Cut the bread into 1/2-inch slices. Crush 1 clove of the garlic (I used 2 cloves here) and rub bread slices with it (if you think that sounds hard, you're right), then cut the bread into 1-inch cubes. In a bowl, toss the bread cubes with 1 tbsp of the oil and a generous sprinkling of [sea] salt. Place them in a single layer on a baking sheet and bake for 40 minutes, then set aside.

Meanwhile, coarsely chop remaining garlic (I used 3 cloves here for a total of 5 cloves), onion, celery, and leek.

In a soup pot, heat remaining oil. Add the onion, celery, leek, and garlic. Cook on low for 4 minutes. Stir in the thyme, black pepper, and cayenne pepper. Add the broth, tomatoes, and basil; bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook for 20 minutes.

Remove from heat and stir in bread cubes. Let sit, covered, for 5 minutes. Sprinkle the parmesan cheese on top.

Okay. Best croutons ever. I am not kidding when I tell you that I ate half of them before the soup was done. I'm not even embarrassed to admit it. They were that good. Also, I did not mix all the (remaining) bread cubes in with the soup in the pot. I added them to the individual bowls, because otherwise the leftover soup would have been unusable. There are enough croutons left for one serving. There should have been more but oh well.

The kids hated this. Steve and I thought it was fabulous. There was nothing the kiddos could really pick out that they liked, like meat or beans, which is what they usually do with soup. Emma wouldn't even touch it and was reduced to tears. Nathan had his with saltine crackers because I knew he wouldn't want the bread crumbs, and occasionally he would dip a corner of one cracker into the broth and eat it. Sam ate about half of his, like a champ, and then said, "No Mom, it's good, I'm just full." But he only says that if he doesn't really like it, because if it's something he likes, he just eats it and doesn't pay attention to if he's full or not. So I guess I will not be making this soup again, but I did already write down the crouton part of it because they were, seriously, SO fabulous. But I will have to be careful because I could eat the whole batch of them without even thinking about it.

Chocolate French Toast

Yummy. So you might remember that I'm trying to incorporate more meatless meals into our diet, because of the cheapness. Well this counts, I say, even though it's not your traditional meatless meal. Like, when I think "vegetarian dish" my brain does not just jump to french toast. But it is totally meatless. This is the last recipe I have marked from the Dec/Jan 2012 Simple & Delicious. The recipe says to use "egg" or "challah" bread. I don't know what those kinds of bread are. I did look (in vain) at Walmart and Hannaford, in their bakeries, but had no luck. I don't know if it's known by another name in our gourmet state or not. I used homemade oatmeal bread, which I made a few days ago so it was a bit dry. That's what they say you're supposed to use for french toast. Old(er) bread.

Chocolate French Toast
4 slices egg or challah bread (3/4" thick)(I used 12 slices of oatmeal bread and still did not have to double the following ingredients...)
2/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup baking cocoa
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp baking powder
4 eggs
1 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla
2 tbsp butter
Optional toppings: confectioners' sugar, fresh raspberries, strawberries, bananas, and maple syrup (we had ours with syrup, and then fruit on the side: bananas, strawberries, and mandarin oranges)

Arrange bread slices in 9x13 baking dish (I had to use 2). Combine the sugar, cocoa, salt, and baking powder in a medium bowl. In another bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, and vanilla. Gradually whisk into dry ingredients until smooth. Pour over bread. Let stand 10 minutes, turning slices once (carefully).

Melt butter over medium heat in large skillet (I used 1 tbsp of butter for each batch). Cook bread (in batches if you double or triple it) for 3 to 4 minutes on each side. Serve with toppings.

I put a plate in the oven at 200 and put the "done" slices in there so they would stay warm while I made the other ones.

Everybody but Nathan liked this. The kids actually really liked it. What's not to like? The bread didn't get too soggy, which is a common problem I have with other french toast recipes I have tried. It tasted great. Definitely keeping this one.

Cuban Black Bean Soup

As I have mentioned before, I am trying to add more vegetarian dishes into our diet, not because I hate meat, but because it's so cheap to buy beans. So this is the recipe I made for supper. It's from the Everything Soup cookbook. There is a lot of black bean consumption in Haiti too. So we need to get used to that.

Cuban Black Bean Soup
1 lb dried black beans
4 cups cooked white rice
1 onion
1 red pepper
1 green pepper
1 tbsp butter
4 cups beef broth (of course if you use beef broth this won't be strictly vegetarian...just use vegetable)
2 bay leaves
1/2 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 cup rum (optional)(ha ha)

Soak the beans overnight in cold water, then drain. Cook the rice if you don't have leftovers. Chop the onion and dice the red and green peppers (separately). In a soup pot, heat the butter. Add onion and saute for 3 minutes. Add the beans, broth, bay leaves, thyme, oregano, and red pepper. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, and cook for 1 1/2 hours.

Remove about 1 cup of the beans with a slotted spoon and place them in a bowl. Mash them. Add them back into the soup pot, stirring a bit until the mixture thickens. Discard the bay leaves. Add the rum and green pepper. Cover and simmer for an additional 10 minutes.

Divide the rice among the serving bowls and pour the soup over the top. 6 servings.

(If you saute the veggies in olive oil instead of butter, this will be dairy free, too.)

I only made half the amount of rice, because the kids will all eat it now, but don't love it. Also I made it with brown rice instead of white. Once the soup was on the rice, this looked very like food we have eaten in Haiti before. I wish it tasted better. It didn't taste bad, just kind of bland, I thought. I tried adding salt, but then it just tasty kind of bland and salty. All the kids ate it though. Sam gave it a 3 out of 5 stars. Steve said 3 or 4. I said a solid 3. So Sam calculated that the average rating for this recipe is 3.1. Not sure that's exactly right mathematically speaking, but I think fairly accurate for how we liked it. Maybe the rum would have helped...?

Marinara Sauce

I like to make things ahead and freeze them. Something about a full freezer makes me happy. I like to make my own spaghetti sauce, because a lot of the ones you can buy in stores have a lot of additives. Of course I start with canned tomatoes...maybe this summer when someone with a garden has real tomatoes I will buy them and start from scratch. But I made this whole batch, which yielded 14 cups of sauce, for about $4. That's pretty good. And 14 cups of sauce equals about 4.3 jars of store bought spaghetti sauce, which depending on which sauce you buy, is probably going to cost more than $4. If you buy Hunt's in a can that will not be the case. But if you buy almost any sauce in a jar, it will be the case. I got this recipe from Tiffany Stewart's adoption fundraiser cookbook. If you haven't bought one of these yet, you totally should. I already said here, but will say again, this cookbook has a very good mix of all different types of recipes, and proceeds go to rescue a little boy from Ethiopia. Okay. This recipe has no meat in it. The sauce I usually make has meat in it, but then when I wanted to use it for certain other recipes, the fact that it had meat in it was a hindrance, and I ended up buying a jar of meatless. Like if you want chicken parm or something like that.

Marinara Sauce
3 tbsp olive oil
3 cups chopped yellow onion (about 3 medium)
1 tbsp sugar
3 tbsp minced garlic (about 6 cloves)
2 tsp salt
2 tsp dried basil
1 1/2 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp black pepper
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 cups chicken broth
3 (28 oz) cans crushed tomatoes
1 (6 oz) can tomato paste

Heat oil in a large Dutch oven over medium heat. Add onion to pan; cook 4 minutes, stirring frequently. Add sugar and next 6 ingredients. Cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Stir in vinegar; cook 30 seconds. Add broth and tomatoes; bring to a simmer. Add tomato paste. Cook over low heat for an hour or until sauce thickens, stirring occasionally.

The kids thought this smelled great, until I got to the vinegar step. Then they plugged their noses for approximately 30 minutes. It did smell very strongly for a few minutes there, but they were totally exaggerating. Once it was all together and simmering it smelled great. I asked Steve to smell it, because the nose-holding children were starting to give me a complex. He smelled it and said he would stick his face right in it and drink it up, it smelled so good. My friend Melissa, whose children were warned at the door and also commenced to hold their noses, also said it smelled great. Then she wondered if I was making this to go on the Indian Baked Chicken (previous post) that I had already told her I was making. I assured her I was not, although she is a sport and I bet she would have eaten it anyway.

We had this for the first time tonight, over noodles with garlic bread. It was pretty good, although we are not used to having sauce like that with noodles and no meat. But it was one of those in-a-hurry meals. So while I'm not sure this will be a great sauce to use by itself, carnivores that we are, I think it's going to be great in things like lasagna, or with ravioli. Or chicken. You see what I mean. It was very smooth and very flavorful. I'm glad I made it. Also I'm glad I liked it because I have 6 more containers of it in the freezer ha ha.

Baked Beans with Sausage & Apples

This is from Tiffany's adoption fundraiser cookbook. We love baked beans, and also we love smoked sausage. Baked beans, when you make them slow all day, make your kitchen smell great. Yankee Candle should totally do a Baked Beans one. The before, not the after, hee hee. Anyway a lot of times in cookbooks like these with multiple contributors, it can be hard to follow the recipe, because the person who submits it will not write down a step they just assume everyone will know, or that they know to do so well they don't even think to write it down. I am sure I am guilty of the same thing when I have submitted recipes in the past. So a couple of times in this one, I was like "what??" But a popular and oft-featured New Recipe Night consultant, my mom, told me what to do. So I will fill in her suggestions where appropriate.

Baked Beans with Sausage & Apples
1/4 lb dried kidney beans
1/4 lb dried pea beans
1/2 lb smoked sausage, cut into 1" slices and browned (I used a whole package because we really like it)
2 cups peeled, sliced apples
1 medium onion, sliced
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 cups tomato juice
1 tsp salt
1 garlic clove (which I minced)
1/2 tsp dry mustard
1/8 tsp pepper

Soak beans overnight (in a large amount of water in a Dutch oven). In the morning, simmer beans until tender (this will take about 1 1/2 hours...way longer than I expected). In a crock pot, combine all other ingredients except beans and sausage. Bring to a boil (in the crockpot?? I didn't do that) then mix with beans (do you drain them first? Yes, but mom says reserve the bean cooking water in case you need to add more liquid as they're cooking); add sausage. Cook 2 hours on high or 6 hours on low, adding more liquid if needed (the bean water). You can also bake these at 325 for 6 hours, adding liquid as needed.

These could be meatless if you left out the meat. That is the Captain Obvious sentence of the day. I made mine in the crock pot and didn't end up needing to add any extra liquid, but I'm sure if you made them in the oven you would have to. These came out great. Nathan didn't like it at all, but he still ate them. Everyone else liked them. The sauce turned out so so yummy and just a hint of sweetness. I gave some to my friend and she said it was delicious. So this is definitely something I'll make again, but definitely making a double batch next time, because they are all gone already, only one little serving left for leftovers.

Lentil Tacos

This is from Tiffany's cookbook. Now normally I wouldn't say "yum, lentils." But they are so cheap. And I am trying to make one meatless meal per week. Not because meat is bad, but it is expensive. And we have had lentils before. The kids have eaten them without complaint. So I decided to try them.

Lentil Tacos
1 cup finely chopped onion
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tsp olive oil
1 cup dried lentils, rinsed
1/4 cup taco seasoning (or 1 envelope)
2 1/2 cups chicken broth
1 cup salsa

In large skillet saute onion and garlic in oil until tender. Add lentils and taco seasoning, cook and stir 1 minute. Add broth and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer 25-30 minutes or until lentils are tender. Uncover and cook 6-8 minutes or until mixture is thickened. Mash slightly and stir in salsa. Fill taco shells and top as desired (we used cheese and lettuce).

These were pretty good. They definitely will not replace regular meat-filled tacos on our menu. Nathan had chicken nuggets, ha ha. Sam & Emma both ate theirs and said that they liked them. I asked them, on a scale of 1-10, if meat tacos are a 10, what are lentil tacos? And they said 7. So that's pretty good. We still have half the filling left so we will be having these at least once more in the near future.

Garlic and Onion Focaccia

Basically this is pizza without a red sauce. This recipe is near the beginning of the Taste of Home seasons cookbook I've been working through, and I've had it marked for a while, but I kept going by it, thinking it wouldn't be good for a meal, and I would have to save it for some event where we needed an appetizer. But then I just thought, what the hay, I'm going to make it. So I did. We had one of those bagged Caesar salads to go with it, and it was actually a great meal.

Garlic and Onion Focaccia
1 cup water (70-80 degrees)
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
3 cups bread flour
1 1/2 tsp yeast
2 large onions, thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, minced
3 tbsp butter
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
2 tbsp grated parmesan cheese

In a bread machine pan, place the first 6 ingredients in the order suggested by your manufacturer (not your ACTUAL manufacturer, which would be God or your parents. They mean your bread machine's manufacturer). Select dough setting. When cycle is completed, turn dough onto floured surface. Roll into 12-inch circle. Transfer to 14-inch pizza pan coated with cooking spray. Cover; let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 30 minutes.

While dough is rising, in large skillet cook the onions and garlic in butter over medium heat for 15-20 minutes (definitely use 2 onions...I only used 1 because it looked like so much in the pan, but they reduced a LOT and then it didn't seem like enough topping on the final product), or until onions are golden brown, stirring frequently.

With the end of a wooden spoon handle, make indentations in dough at 1-inch intervals. Top with onion mixture and sprinkle with cheeses. Bake at 400 for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown. Remove to wire rack. Cut into wedges and serve warm.

Steve, Sam, and I all LOVED this. Nathan and Emma both cried (real actual tears) when I said I was making onion pizza for supper. So I didn't even try it on them. They had "Blue Box Blues" and had Kraft Macaroni & Cheese (remember that commercial?). This was so good and definitely one I will make again.