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)

Homemade Mayo

There are some really inspiring people out there on the internet. People who make good wholesome, healthy food. I admire their efforts and the time they take to share things with the world.

We dont eat many meat sandwiches anymore, so mayo is not a part of our lives here, but summer is coming up, that means lots of BBQs with family and friends. This mayo is such a great replacement for the store bought container of mayo or Miracle Whip.


This picture is from Karas blog and her recipe can be found here.

Quinoa Salad

Look at this colorful bowl of deliciousness.

We have been eating lots of this, thanks to Alisa Burke

Her pictures are much more beautiful than mine, and I bet her bowl of salad tastes better too. Seriously, you should read her post about this salad. I dreamed about it for days after seeing her pictures!

My kids and I have been taking about food a lot lately and I am trying to teach them the value of colorful foods. They chow this down like there is no tomorrow. And they eat the leftover quinoa by the spoonful for a snack. Does my heart good.

Fried Peanut Butter and Banana Sandwiches

These are my favorite sandwich. Hands down. I could eat one every day.
2 slices of whole wheat bread
peanut butter (we used coconut peanut butter and regular)
banana
butter
cinnamon

slice the banana thin, spread the peanut butter on the bread and assemble sandwich. Cover the outside of the sandwich with butter. Cook on cast iron griddle til golden and crispy. Sprinkle with cinnamon while hot.

Stuffed Quesadillas

Homemade tortillas
kidney beans, about 2 cups
spinach, chopped
corn
2 potatoes, diced
garlic
cooked quinoa, about 1 cup
shredded cheese

Warm some oil in a pan and toss in the garlic to brown. Then add beans, spinach, corn potatoes, quinoa and any other veggies or beans you would like. Cook long enough to wilt the spinach and soften the potatoes. Load all of that into a homemade tortilla with some cheese and cook on cast iron pan til the cheese melts. Serve with avacado, tomatoes, salsa, sour cream, etc.