Good Chili Variation

We had this soup last night and it was delicious. I omitted the turkey and doubled the black beans (about 5 cups cooked, rinsed, and drained total). We also omitted the jalapeno because I didn't have one on hand. For the cheese we used cheddar but I think the Pepper-jack would be better although I don't think the soup really needs cheese so it could easily be made vegan and still taste good. The spinach was straight from our garden; so good!

Choir Snacks

We are in the choir in our church. To make it more fun and enticing to be in choir (especially after already being at church for 3 hours) we can volunteer to bring choir snacks. This past Sunday was our week and it was all such a big hit, especially the spinach-artichoke dip. Here is what we had (it was all homemade):

Crackers

Thin slices of French bread

Hummus

Spinach-artichoke dip (I doubled the recipe and kept it in a crockpot on low until we served it; for the artichokes I used canned marinated artichoke hearts and I added no salt to the dip)

Caramel corn

Meringues (my husband's specialty)

Apple slices

Ham and Bean Soup

We had this last night and it was delicious. For the beans I used about 3/4 cup large lima beans, 1 cup white beans, 1 cup black beans, and 1 cup pinto beans. My husband said the limas were what made the soup stand out.

Ham and Bean Soup

1-2 pounds (3-4 cups) dry beans

2 cups stock

4 cups water (plus more for soaking beans)

2 bay leaves

1-2 tsp paprika

1-2 tsp dried parsley

4 cups cooked ham, chopped

pepper to taste

1. Soak beans (using either quick soak or overnight soak).

2. Drain and rinse beans; place in crock pot. Add all other ingredients. Cook on high for about 4-6 hours.

I Grew This

October's Bounty

too bad it was a cold, wet spring...

short tomato season...

few tomatoes...

no canning tomatoes...

but I saved seeds for next year!

Breakfast Burritos

Looking for a new breakfast idea? Try this! I don't really have a recipe but it is so easy to just toss things together. First, I sauteed about 1/4 cup of sliced onions (I used the little spring onions so they made very small slices) in about 2 Tbsp butter. When they were soft, I added 1/2 bunch of chopped chard (stems and all). Put the lid on the pan and allow the chard to wilt and the stems to soften. Then, add the eggs. I used 4 eggs and the same amount of milk as I would have to make scrambled eggs (about 1/4 cup), mixed them well in a bowl then poured the contents into the pan with the greens. Add salt and pepper. Cook as if you were making scrambled egg. Spoon the eggs onto four tortilla shells, sprinkle with cheese, wrap and eat. It was so good. The kids ate it for the most part. My step-daughter (who is generally not a fan of my anti-fast food cooking) ate it all but had a sour look on her face the whole time. My oldest son left a little pile of chard on his plate. And, my youngest devoured it as he does everything else.

Husbands Can Cook Too

This past week my husband made an ice cream pie with a graham cracker crust (the graham crackers were made from this recipe), raspberry ice cream (made with raspberries I hand-picked last summer), and a meringue topping. It was for a co-worker's birthday so I didn't get the whole package but the individual parts were quite tasty. The trick to making ice cream with frozen raspberries is to let them completely thaw before adding them to the ice cream. The first time we tried we just added them frozen so we had vanilla ice cream with frozen raspberries. This time was much better. All of my husband's co-workers loved his ice cream pie.

Saturday morning he made me the absolute best breakfast known to man. Northwest Eggs Benedict (i.e. eggs benedict with crab cakes in the place of ham). My mouth is watering just thinking about them. We were able to make it with fresh eggs. So good. He makes the English muffins from his sourdough starter using this recipe. The recipe for the crab cakes calls for "salad dressing." Rather than using mayo, my husband uses homemade honey mustard dressing. It gives the crab cakes a nice tang. This is seriously unbeatable. I love it when he makes me Eggs Benedict. (My mouth is still watering).

{Proof of how hard he works to make me Eggs Benedict}

Spaghetti

Tonight we had spaghetti with green beans and toast. Just after Christmas a friend gave us a pasta maker that her parents were no longer using so I no longer have to make it by hand, which means we eat pasta more often (the dough is hard to roll out by hand, especially with whole wheat flour). To make the spaghetti sauce I just use a can of tomatoes and season it with things like basil, garlic, oregano, salt, and pepper... It is never the same but always good, especially with a sprinkling of parmesan cheese on top. The green beans were from last year's garden, we froze them so I just boiled them in salted water.