If I were a vegetarian abuelita…

…but relax, guys.  I’m not a vegetarian (yet) or a granny (let’s not rush that.)  If I were though, I’d want to make really great frijoles.  These are a serious and frequent craving.  There are several places locally that make really tasty beans, but in the spirit of more more more home cooking, here we go…

20 or so years ago, I had a scrumptious (Gracia) family recipe for frijoles.  They contained salt pork, or bacon, or little sausages? Or all three?  I couldn’t find it, so I can’t say for sure …Pork products, anyway.   I set out to try to make something that delicious without the sodium and pork.  Sometimes these more healthy replications can be mission impossible, but this time (spoiler alert) it was actually pretty easy.

There were dozens of veggie bean recipes on the web.  Surprisingly, they were all quite different, produce and spice wise.  The recipe below is loosely based on one I found from the Minimalist Baker.  Several recipes looked great, but this one most closely matched my available ingredients. (And it was raining.  And cold.  And I didn’t want to go back out.)

1 pound dry pinto beans, soaked 6 hours or overnight (used Goya)
1 medium yellow onion, diced
1 cup diced tomatoes (used fresh)
1/4 cup petite diced green pepper
1-2 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, chopped (will mince next time)
1 tablespoon minced garlic (3 cloves if fresh)
1 tablespoon Olive Oil
1 teaspoon Oregano (did not have Mexican, used Turkish)
1 tablespoon Cumin
1/2 tablespoon Chili Powder
Black Pepper to taste (used about 1/2 teaspoon)
Liquid to coat, plus about half an inch.  Half veggie broth, half water.  For me, it was 2 cups broth, 2 cups water, and I added another cup of water after an hour of stewing, to keep them covered in liquid.

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A quick time out…  Canned chipotle peppers in adobo sauce.  Where the heck have I been on this?!  These are so inexpensive and so good! Get some! Do it!  Today!  (Then please let me know how else to use them.) Time in.

I sautéed nothing before hand.  Dumped all ingredients straight into a (4 qt)  crock pot, set to low.

Cooking time… Anybody’s guess.  Took mine 4 hours on low, but I had the lid off huffing the magical aroma like every 30 seconds.  I had ZERO self control with this.  Shameful.  I think I was just so surprised they smelled like legit authentic frijoles!  They could possibly be done in as little as 2.5 – 3 hours.  Check them occasionally for liquid and give them a stir.  7,974,609 sniffs probably not required.

Resting.  When you’re satisfied with the bean texture, cut the heat and let them rest (still covered) for about an hour.  This is when I stirred in a tablespoon or two of fresh parsley, chopped.  The more popular choice here would be cilantro. If cilantro is tasty to you, do that!

Spice blends.  Nothing at all fancy here.  The majority of spices used were from Aldi.  (As were the Chipotles)

Overall, so pleased with this recipe.  They were just as good as the aroma.  I made bean tacos straight away!  For this batch, I used 2 whole chipotles plus, so there was a bit of heat.  I loved it!  But if you have children or other sensitive palates that may not, keep it to just 1.  Another great thing about this recipe was the only thing I dirtied besides the crockery is a cutting board and knife.   That’s it!  But, three questions:
What to do with the remainder of the yummy chipotle peppers? Help!
Bloggers, does all the “I” writing make you uncomfortable? Feels weird!
Who wants beans? I’ve got tons!

¡Buen provecho!

All Souls Day (11/2) & more potatoes

All souls day and a carbtastic tribute to my brother.
All Souls Day. Beliefs on this vary.  Some believe you pray for souls in purgatory.  While I choose not to believe in some extended purgatorial existence in the afterlife (don’t we do that HERE?)  I’m all about thinking good and positive thoughts (or prayers) for our loved ones who have left this earth.

<digress>
Martin Luther wasn’t really into purgatory either. You probably know that if you’re Lutheran. I’m not and I didn’t, until I set out to learn more about him to sell cakes.  (For real.  This is a thing. Reformation Day was yesterday, btw.)

Photo courtesy of gourmetint.com

My first text of 11/1 came from GRCC.  Morning classes cancelled.  An email that followed shortly after went like this: At approximately 3 a.m., GRCC facility personnel located a fully loaded magazine for a semi-automatic handgun in a restroom in Cook Hall. It is not clear when or why this item was left there.
I wont pretend I know what this is about.  I don’t.  But, couple quick PSA(s), take them or leave them:

1.) If you are not feeling right in your own head or skin, please ask for help.  And do not be afraid to ask again and again and again. Nobody is too sick of your asking to lose you (or others.)
2.) Just the few different interpretations I came across in regard to All Souls Day today were SO different.  Which led me along a path of reflection… Holy play books (bibles, if you prefer) expand and contract based on their authors/editors personal beliefs and feelings (and likely, geographical region.)  One size will never fit all.  If its teachings (or teachers) have you feeling judgment or hate toward anyone/thing or it’s making you feel debilitating guilt, or seclusion, or anger or just BAD in general, maybe it’s not the best book for you.  And that is ok!  I can relate.  Doesn’t make you a bad person.

A reading from the book of high points according to… me:  Please be kind. Grace is free. Sprinkle it liberally.  Helicopter*, see below.
</digress>

I don’t need a special day to celebrate or remember, but this seemed like a great time to bring you one of Brian’s favorite noms. I come from a house of potato hounds.  My dad is a potato hound.  My brother was a potato hound. I… am a potato hound.

Twice bakes are something Brian routinely requested for special occasions. If not as part of the dinner, as the gift. Brian was also a seasoned salt/cheese salt hound. (Trying quickly to quantify the amount of Lawry’s he consumed in his 40 years makes me laugh.) He applied one, the other, or both to most everything. If you’ve ever had a basket of tortilla chips with this guy, you’ve been a party to the aerial application technique known as “the helicopter*!” Can I get a witness?!

There may be a few people reading this who recently received a special spice parcel from me.  While Seasoned Salt may have seemed like the very least exciting thing in the box, it is most dear to me.  It brings Brian into your kitchen. 🙂

Anyway, here goes…

Wash, dry, prick your potatoes (I did 9 medium russet) once or twice on each side.
(I’ve read conflicting reports on whether or not to poke your potatoes.  Always have, so will continue.)  Lightly rub them with olive oil and lightly salt all sides with Pink Himalayan salt (flake, sea, kosher, or regular table all work fine.)  I bake on a perforated pizza sheet.  Do them this way, or right on the rack, or on a cookie sheet, or on foil, or however makes you happy.  350 degrees for 45 min to an hour, depending on the size of your potatoes.  Do try to be relatively consistent in your potato sizes, or you’re going to have pretty inconsistent results.

Remove and cool to a point that you can handle them without sustaining 3rd degree burns. When safe, gently slice in half and remove the goodness.  I try to keep about 1/8″ potato wall (or 3mm, if you’re into metrics) to hold a nice shape.  Anything less than that, you’re easily busting through the skin & nobody needs to hear that language. 😉 (lol, just kidding. I love cook swears.)  Anything more than 1/4″ (6ish mm) and you’re taking away from the heaven inside.

While you’re baking, SHRED YOUR OWN CHEESE!  You wont be sorry, especially for this recipe.  I’m not sure when home shredding fell out of favor.  I remember my mom shredding her fool head off on (chef boyardee) pizza night, lasagna night, taco night, etc.  Pre-shred is very conveneint, no doubt about that, but there’s so much extra “stuff” – it’s just not the same.  You’ll need 2 cups shredded cheese (I used 1 cup aged white cheddar and 1 cup mild cheddar.  Use what you like!  Colby is great.  Muenster is great.  It’s hard to make a bad choice here.)

Filling

All your potato flesh
4 oz cream cheese or Neufchâtel (softened)
2 tablespoons butter (softened)
Healthy dab of Sour Cream, up to 1/4 cup-ish (optional)
1-2 cups milk, depending on the consistency you like (less if you used sour cream)
1-2 tablespoons Sunny Paris (Sunny Paris contains shallots, chives, green peppercorn, dill weed, basil, tarragon, chervil and bay leaf.  Any combination of the above would be great.  Before Sunny Paris, I would use chives and dill and a few shakes of garlic powder)
Pepper to taste
Paprika (smoked if you have it) and Seasoned salt (to top filled potatoes, before cheese)

Sunny Paris, my new spice blend this month.

I hand mash.  You can use a mixer or beater, I’m just not a big fan of cleaning them.  And maybe I like to have one really strong arm? For a hidden treat, put a little shredded cheese inside your skins before you fill them. Fill them up.  Give them a super light dusting of paprika and seasoned salt …or get crazy and helicopter, if you’re channeling B.
Cover with your remaining cheese.

Return your potatoes to a 350 oven for 10-15 minutes, depending on how you like them.  If you refrigerate for any reason before your second bake, best to let them warm to room temperature before baking.  Guess I was so excited to eat them I forgot to take a photo out of the oven.  Oops.  If anyone makes them, please tag me!

Happy souls! xoxo

Potato Leek Soup

How is it that I’ve managed to live 29 (hahaha!) years and have never cooked with leeks?

I get a Door to Door Organics box twice a month. (If you’re interested in this, let me know.  I’ll send you an intro discount.)  My box this week included a MASSIVE organic leek.  It was time to familiarize myself.  It’s soup season.  Here we go…  I found dozens of recipes, but none that sounded perfect on its own.  The following is a marrying of half a dozen different recipes I liked.  It also includes a new spice blend!

(I just had to walk away from this to add fabric softener to the washer.  Is it true Millennials don’t use fabric softener?  Anyone?)

First, let me back up and say I’m not the only one strange to the leek.  Before I made the trip, I called Ken’s (a produce market!) too see if they stocked fresh leeks (was going to need more than my one) and the sweet woman who answered the phone had no idea what I was talking about.  I got transferred to the butcher counter.  They do carry them and they are as fragrant and beautiful as the one that arrived from D2D.

The ingredients:

2-3 tablespoons (salted) butter
3 leeks – dark greens and roots trimmed (dirt hides everywhere in these guys, wash well)
8 medium potatoes – washed, peeled, large diced
4 cups veggie broth (chicken would be ok too, but if I go that route, I can’t share with my veg friends)
2 cups water
1/2 – 1 tbsp. Mural of Flavor (Penzeys – there is a lot of citrus going on in there)
1 tsp dried thyme
1 bay leaf (Mine was Jurassic Park sized.  Use 2 if they’re small)
Pepper to taste
2/3 cup half & half

Notice I added no additional salt.  The butter is salty, the broth is salty… If you want more, add it, but it’s not needed.

 

Don’t worry friends, fishies never have and never will touch this mat

Wasn’t sure on size here, but this worked well

Clean, chop and sautee the leeks in butter until soft.  I peppered here.  Add potatoes to the pot (I used russet because they were on sale and I wanted them around for baked, but I bet some upscale golds or the like would be REALLY good.)  Add broth, water, and spices.  Simmer until potatoes are tender, around 20 min.  Fully cool and remove your bay leaf, before you forget!  I let mine cool overnight.
So, here’s where the drama comes in.  The idea was to puree half and leave the remainder chunky, but I discovered this morning that my mini Cuisinart was dead.  It’s 0600 (Yes, I’m up.  Talk to the cat about it!) and I didn’t want to get dressed to go to Meijer for a replacement.  I decided to whip small batches with my hand mixer.  While functionally this worked just fine, I do not recommend it.  I’ll be cleaning up oniony smelling potato projectile til Rapture.  If this happens to you (it probably won’t) just get dressed and go buy the damn blender.

 

Anyway, combine smoothed soup with chunky soup and stir in half & half.  Added more pepper here.  It’s still gently warming on the stove top.  Smells great.  I’ve snuck a few tastes.  Yummy!  When I bowl it up, I have some shredded sharp cheddar and Bac-Os (fakos!) to top.

Some notes…

THIS BUTTER!  If you Aldi, you know, as a verb, pick this up.  It’s not with the butter sticks, but near the “special buy” fancy meats & cheeses.  The most delicious, creamy butter I have ever used.  Grass fed cows must really be happier.

 

Penzeys spices.  The Turkish bay leaves – super huge and sooo fragrant!  Penzeys mixes dozens of their own blends.  They are posh and somewhat pricy as far as spices go, but I love them and what they stand for.  If spice is not your vice, I’d say Mural has just enough in common with Mrs. Dash salt free table blend to make it a suitable substitute.

(My beloved vet says I could be a hand model, but she might just be trying to make me feel better about all the “accidents” we clean up around here.  What do you think?)

All in all, pretty simple soup.  The leek and I are good friends now.  The Cuisinart and I are on the outs.  If you make this potassium packed comfort food, I hope you enjoy!

What is this and why are we here?

1. During a floundering spell this summer, I ended up making a list of short and long term goals for myself.  One of them was to have a blog-worthy garden in 2018.  This is a little jump on that.  Maybe to hold myself accountable to actually doing it.
2. I like to cook.  I’m no gourmet chef, but it’s usually tasty.  I’m terrible at writing it down for later recreation.  There will be some recipes here.  While I’m not opposed at all to eating out and quite enjoy it, cooking at home (nourishing yourself and others) is a huge act of love.  Do it! More!
3. My spice cabinet used to be pretty boring. Some of the crap in there dated back to my initial home purchase. Yikes!  Not any more.  I’ve made it a goal to buy and use a new spice or spice blend monthly.  Hopefully there will be some evidence of that here.
4. For countless reasons, I needed a better platform than Facebook for expressing myself.  It is my personal feeling that nobody there really cares what you have to say once you’ve exceeded 20 words.
5. I had the opportunity to work with my cousin for half a year.  During that time, vegansnax.blog was born.  She seemed to really love her blog days, and I’d been bloggy curious the whole time.
6. Mental health (and prescription drugs.)  My only sibling passed away in 2013.  I have lots to say about this, but am fearful of sharing it out there on the other platforms.  In general terms, it’s become a very cruel and political place.  I’m not at a place in my healing where I’m ready and willing to spend more time defending my words than I did creating them.
7. Cats.  Can you be a crazy cat lady with only one cat?  She easily requires more attention than six healthy cats (which is the crazy cat lady starter kit, yes? Six?) so I may qualify.  We’ll call me accepting, but not outwardly proud of CCL status.  I don’t have a robe with cats on it.  Unless someone gets me one for Christmas.  Hint!  Kissi is deaf, has Chronic Kidney Disease, feline IBS, and a heart murmur.  (Side note: I am securely attached to the oxford comma.  See it up there?  That’s a whole post all on it’s own.)  The co-existing conditions make care and treatment an extra challenge.  There were several times this year I did not think she would live another two weeks, but here we are.
8. Writing practice.  I’m still in school.  More on that later, too.  …But also, do things that keep your brain at work.  Form new neural connections.  Rest on your laurels only for the weekend, or long enough to celebrate the people you love, or your most recent accomplishment.  Expand your mind (Craig!) Learn new things and about other perspectives.  Always. (Another side note: Don’t expect to find perfect grammar or punctuation here.  I know the difference between they’re, their, there and you’re & your, but I’m no English major.  Feel free to correct me if you want, but be gentle.) 😉
9. This list is a beginning and will probably grow.  Aside from personal growth, I can feel other goals brewing here, but it’s too soon to nail them down.  Fun with leeks coming up this weekend.  Yum!

Apple Sauce Muesli Muffins

Check out my recipe for muesli muffins featured by gourmetint.blog! CANNOT WAIT to make a batch of these with home-made super-spiced chunky applesauce…

You wouldn’t realize it if you lived here in Michigan with us, but fall has begun! The temperature here has been rocking over 90℉ for the past several days, with some relief in sight later this week! Some school districts in the area even had half days since last Friday, since some do not have […]

via Time to Bake Hearty Muesli Applesauce Muffins! — Gourmet Nibbles

Hello!

New here; figuring it all out…

Here’s my CKD and preciously deaf kitteh with some apples.

More about both soon!