Black Bean Soup

I got this recipe from my good friend and neighbor. Its so simple and easy, and freezes really well. I adapted it just a teeny bit.

BLACK BEAN SOUP
serves 8

2 cups dried black beans (food storage!)
2 cups frozen corn (or 1 14 oz can corn)
one medium onion, diced
2 Tbs. garlic (about 2 cloves, finely diced)
2 Tbs. cumin
1 1/2 cups chicken stock
salt and pepper to taste

You can easily add extra grains in this soup. Quinoa, barley, millett would all be easily disguised.

Sort and rinse the beans. place them in a large bowl to soak. I usually soak my beans for 2 or 3 days before I cook them, just be sure to drain and rinse them well twice a day, keep them covered with water.

When you are ready to cook your soup add the soaked beans to a crock pot and cook them about 8 hours on LOW. Add corn, onion, garlic, cumin, salt pepper and chicken stock. Smash the beans a little if you want and let everything heat together in the crock pot. Add pre cooked quinoa, barley or millet a few minutes before serving. Top with avocados, tomatoes, cheese, salsa, sour cream, or other favorite toppings and scoop up with chips or serve with corn bread!

Braided Bread (Challa)

Growing up, we had a neighbor who made the most beautiful braided bread. She was friends with my mom and I loved when she'd come by, she rarely came empty handed. She was from Switzerland and used to say the bread was "just something they made". She had a talent and not only was her bread lovely, it tasted great too.

She offered to lend a hand with our wedding reception and guess what she did? She baked 5 gazillion loaves of that beautiful bread. I remember her stopping by my house with samples and asking for feedback when she had tweaked a recipe just a bit.

I have tried to replicate her recipe over the years, but nothing comes close. (I need to track her down!) I made this braided bread on Sunday to serve at family dinner, it needs some obvious fine tuning, but turned out pretty good.

Braided Bread
(also called Challa)
Ingredients:

3 Tb yeast

2 cups warm water

½ c. sugar

1 Tb salt

½ c. oil (I used grapeseed)

6 -7 c. flour

5 large eggs

Directions:

Combine water, yeast and sugar, leave it to proof for about 10 minutes in a bowl(I used my Bosch). Once its all foamy and bubbly, add the salt, oil, and about 3 cups of flour. Mix together well and then add the eggs. Once the eggs are all incorporated, add about 3 more cups of flour. Add enough flour til you get a good dough to work with and it pulls away from the side of the bowl. Cover it and let it sit somewhere warm for about an hour. Separate into 3 large pieces and then divide each of those pieces into three smaller pieces. Roll into snakes and braid together. Let rise for about 1 hour, it will be about double in size. Then brush with egg wash (1 egg white and 1 Tb water).

Bake at 350° for about 18 minutes

These loaves are 100% white flour, something I have not done in a long time. When I make this again, I will definately add some fresh-ground-something-or-other. The dough was very soft and workable, it could use a little more substance.

Banana Bread

Fist off, banana bread is SO FUN to make with kids, my boys love all the smashing and squiching of the bananas! But waiting an entire hour from start to eating is taxing. My kids asked a zillion times if the bread was done and they watched it in the oven while it rose, remarking every 37 seconds that it looked done!
Banana Nut Bread

1/2 c. oil (I used coconut)
1 c. sugar
2 eggs
3 bananas (smashed)
2 c. flour (I used a mix of whole wheat, spelt, kamut, and buckwheat)
1 t. soda
1/2 t salt
1/2 t. baking powder
3 T. milk
1/2 t. vanilla
1/2 c. nuts (you can omit the nuts if your family doesnt like them)
bake at 350 for 45 min to 1 hour

( I test with a tooth pick if it doesn't look done, sometimes it doesnt)