Black Bean Recipe Roundup

I have talked before about Meat Free Mondays

and about substituting vegetarian meals into your weekly diet.

Not only are beans a healthy choice but they are packed with proteins and vitamins.

Did I also mention, canned or dried, beans are SUPER CHEAP!!!

(PS.  They even sell the Mr Goudas brand at  the Dollartree now...WIN!)

Just to help you out...

I have a black bean roundup for you!

I usually make a fried black bean dish that totally reminds Ches and I of being in Costa Rica.

Original black bean recipe,

Burritos and Southwest Soup:

Here

My newest recipe was adding the black bean recipe and serving it quesadilla-style.

Plain Greek yoghurt for the sour cream.

Chopped fresh tomatoes, grated local cheese, our home made salsa and some of last year's pickled jalapenos between two flour tortillas.  Place on side down in a frying pan with a bit of oil.

Fry one side and then flip to grill the other side.

Slice and serve while piping hot.

****************

Below is the roundup of more recipes I've already posted on the blog:

Burritos and Vegetarian Nachos

Here

A Creamy Black Bean Dip:

Here

Other Bean Recipes:

Here

A couple of Mean Bean Soup Recipes:

Here

The Mighty Potato...

The mighty potato!

Saviour of the Irish...

Scourge of Atkins-diet followers everywhere...

We absolutely love to grow potatoes!

Each year we attempt to grow a huge amount of potatoes.

The funny thing is...you never know how many potatoes you are growing...until you dig them up!

Each year we come up with some brilliant idea of how to grow MORE potatoes.

This year, we tried to grow the plants inside buckets with the bottoms cut out.

The first few plants I unearthed...I wasn't convinced it was a good method.

For some reason, the other half of the potato bed proved this method an unusual success!

We planted a dozen potato plants...and the above picture shows our white fleshed potato yield.

The ones in the bucket are for storing.

The ones on the straw are tubers that I scratched or nicked with my fingers or the trowel.

I was told that any disturbed flesh on the potato will rot very quickly.

I had no idea how quickly.

That is, until some of our red skinned potatoes went bad in 2 days where I had been careless.

Careless?  Maybe.  Excited to dig up super sized tubers?  Definitely!

There were more than a few that were the size of my head!!!

So what do you do when you scratch a freshly dug potato?

Make a loaded baked potato for dinner!

Gently scrub the skins of the potato (fresh taters have very delicate and papery skin)

Clean, soak and chop a handful freshly picked cooked broccoli.

Chop a few pieces of cooked bacon.

Shred marble cheddar cheese from Wilton Cheese.

Pierce potato all over and wrap in foil.

Bake for 1 hr approx.

Open foil and pinch sides of potato to open.

Add Stirling butter and top with broccoli, bacon, cheddar and s & p to taste.

Over the past few years of blogging, I have discussed potatoes before.

If you would like more potato-ey goodness:

Here I discuss cooking potatoes 

(features recipes for Potato and Wild Leek Soup, Leftover Mashed Potato Pancakes, Hashbrowns)

Here I illustrate the recipe for Shepard's Pie


Here is our recipe for Venison Steak and Veggie Pie with Pastry topping


Here is my original potato post complete with recipe for roasted red potatoes as a side dish.

New Books!

New to the bookshelf!

I was at a Christmas craft sale and happened to spy a box of books.

The sign on the box read 3 for $1...

how can you beat that?!?!

I sorted through the box to find a couple of treats.

Firstly I found a book called "Vegetables from a Country Garden" by Anstace and Larry Esmonde-White.

This book excited me because these folks are gardening in Kemptville, Ontario.

I get excited when I find a book that illustrates gardening in my region.

You come across so many gardening books, but if they are offering advise from another region than you're in...than the advise given isn't worth a lot to you.

While the knowledge and methods may work for their region, 

it isn't going to work for you.

Keep that in mind when you are thumbing through gardening books.

I was so excited to read this book.

That was, until I saw one sad picture that made me reconsider the whole book.

It shows the lovely Anstace with gloves and mask, hosing down her garden with pesticides.

While I admit, there are a lot of good suggestions in this book, that one photo made

me reconsider using this book at all.

How can you trust the other pieces of advise, knowing that she sprays her garden?

That brings me to the glory of the second book!

I have been wanting to get a hold of a copy of this book for some time now.
"Carrots Love Tomatoes" by Louise Riotte.

This book discusses companion planting.
There are a ton of reasons why you would want to know more about companion planting!
Certain plants grow better when planted next to each other.
Certain plants keep pests away from their neighbouring plants.
It also discusses what plants do not like other plants.
Some plants have nutritional requirements that differ from others,
so planting them next to those other plants would result in a less-than-bumper crop.

I must admit, I had heard about an old Native practice called "The Three Sisters".
It involves planting corn first, then beans and the squash at the bottom.
I never truly understood the rationale behind the practice though.
(I thought it was all about saving space, honestly)
Just a quick reading of this book quickly explained most of it!
The beans provide protection for the corn from raccoons,
the squash keep weeds down and keep moisture in the ground for the corn.
The corn provides shade for the squash and a natural structure for the beans to climb.
Some plants, like dill or sunflowers, can keep pests away from your crops too!

You can bet that by the end of winter, "Carrots Love Tomatoes" will be dog eared, scribbled upon and probably be almost falling apart!

I would love to maximize my yield!
To improve the quality and quantity of my harvest sounds ideal!
So I believe I will be adding this book to the permanent resource shelf.

Now as for the former book...I'm still on the fence.
While I love reading about gardening in my area...I don't believe I should have to gas my food.

Stay tuned for more "novel" insights...sorry couldn't help it.


What resource books have your discovered lately?

2 Mexi Options for a Meat Free Monday

Every now and again I like to offer up options for people who are trying to curb their meat intake.

I have previously done posts about Meatfree Mondays, 

an initiative spearheaded by Sir Paul McCartney and his daughters.

If you are looking for the nutritional info on beans (or beans and rice together) - check out this link to my previous post.

Here is another in that series of posts:

Meat Free Burritos

I have posted this recipe before - but its so good, I'm posting it again.

I make a bean and rice dish that was inspired by something husband and I loved in Costa Rica.

Basically its black beans cooked in a little oil with lemon juice, cumin, chili powder, cayenne, coriander, onions and S&P to taste.

Add in rice (I use a mixture of wild and brown rices) and simmer a bit more.

I add the beans and rice mixture to the wraps and top with spinach, tomatoes, 

sweet bell peppers, shredded cheese and plain Greek yogurt.

(Previously I have shown eating these with ranch dressing - but the Greek yogurt is awesome too)

What you get is a delicious, healthy and filling meal!

Pretty cheap too, if you happen to grow yer own veggies!
Beans and rice keep forever (in the proper conditions) so they really are a great investment for your grocery dollar, whether they be canned or dried.


I use the same bean and rice mixture in another dish...

Vegetarian Nachos

I take the same beans and rice mixture and scoop them into the center of a dinner plate.

Surround the scoops with nachos chips (shown here is Tostitos Cantina chips)

I sprinkled the last of my Roma tomatoes, chopped, and some sweet bell peppers, chopped.

Homemade salsa gets spooned around too.

Grated cheese (marble cheddar and hot pepper brick cheeses) on top of the whole mess and bake at 400 degrees C until cheese is melty!

I've been able to find these chips for quite a good deal, so the overall price on these nachos is still way below pub or restaurant rates.

ENJOY!

What have you been making meat-free these days?

The new digs...

So we've moved and the settling in begins...

We are definitely loving the new place.

The puttering is neverending...and we love it.

I'm in love with the front yard, its slightly enchanting...and I can't wait to fill it with more ferns and mosses.

I sit on the back porch and dream about the years to come.

I think about all the vegetation I want to introduce.

Fruit trees and pathways.

It was so open when we first landed here...all of our stuff seemed so small in comparison.

The original garden was over top of the septic access.

That was one of the first things on our to-do list.

Ches scraped back the top layer of grass and raked it out evenly with the terrain.

Ches and I organized the railway ties we just couldn't leave behind at our old house.

All of the excess top soil that was shovel out of the old garden was transported by

wheelbarrow to the new section.

In between each project, we took breaks on the dock. 

Listening to the frogs and their wonderful songs.

The cattails were yummy! 

When we had only been here a week, Ches picked out some cattail that hadn't pollenated yet.

Boiled and buttered, they seriously taste like corn on the cob!

I haven't had 2 seconds to read the section in Steve Brills' book about wild orchids.

I have some..now what is it I do with them again?

So much to do!

The old garden is almost completely levelled at this point.

We had to save some of the existing plants...the chives and the rhubarb

The bees were happy about that...

Ches went and extended the proposed garden area...by a whole railway tie length...

(I do love that man!!!)

This is the pathway to our dock on Holleford creek.

It was alright, but we were finding it getting harder and harder to get through.

The wildlife was starting to take back its territory.

We grabbed some more railway ties (I had no idea how many we actually had!)

and some free chips (compliments of the travelling hydro crews working in the area)

and beat back the wild vines.

We also gave the willow tree a trim!

A big improvement that didn't use any unnatural products.

Don't forgot the boy in the tree.  He loves it there!

So like I said, we are in love with our new property and house.

The garden might not make it this year like we planned..but we are making due with some jimmy-rigged spots around the property.  Updates to follow.  We're also concentrating on composting and buying up the cheap peat moss (seems its nearly the end of season).

The key right now for setting up the larger garden is conditioning the soil for use next year.

A fun fact is that there is nothing wrong withsoil anywhere.  The problem lies with the person trying to grow something there that doesn't belong.  Anytime you plant seeds, you are essentially forcing nature's hand.

By conditioning the soil, you are preparing it for your needs.  You add essential nutrients before you plant, so that you should never need to add things like miracle-gro (don't even get me started on that business!)

Patience is key.

I'm learning to have more of that stuff.

How many of you have started a garden this year?

Steak and Veggie Pie...on the Wild Side

We had a big venison steak feed a few days ago...sadly we cooked waaay too much steak and had a ton of leftovers.  We also had leftover pie crust in the freezer too.

To me, that means just one thing...time for meat pie!

I scrubbed, peeled and chopped some of our garden potatoes and cooked in the microwave for 4 min.  Sliced some onions too, also from the garden.  The wonky carrot in the picture below was also from our garden and here is where I digress...

This wonky carrot was tasty and delicious!  You'll never see its equal in any store.  Going into stores now creeps me out, as everything is so damned uniform.  Each and every thing looks identical from the next.  Like you are actually shopping in the clone aisle instead of the produce aisle.  Aberration in produce stores is akin to disease! 

Ok...I feel better now after that rant.

Back to the recipe!

I also grabbed some garlic which I bought at the Verona Garlic Festival from my friends Cam & Michelle Mather.  I pulled out the leftover venison steak (supplied by my step dad Rob Cory) and chopped it coarsely.  The dough came out of the freezer, thawed, and left until the stew was well under way.

The onions get fried with veg oil, followed shortly by the chopped carrot and nuked potatoes.  Simmer for a bit until it starts to smell good.  Then dump in the chopped venison.

On the side, you'll be boiling a kettle of water to add to the beef broth...

not too much though, we're not making soup here. 

We've since run out of the peas from our garden (they do go fast),

so these are store bought sweet baby peas. 

Once the beef broth powder has completely dissolved in the boiling water, you can go ahead and add it to the pot.  The potatoes add a thickness to the broth after a while so there is no need for flour for thickening.  I don't know what it is about wild game that makes me always want to add beer, but here I've done it again. 

This time it was a large splash of a nice dark lager, Steelback's Tiverton Bear.  Dark beer and wild game combine in the most unexpected way.  I was going to add some worchestershire sauce, but the beer was sweet enough that I didn't have to add anything else.  S & P was about it.

Once the whole mix has simmered together for a bit...you can divide it between a couple of small ramekins (or other small, oven-safe dish).  Try not to eat some while you're dividing it!!!  (unless you made extras, in which case good for you!  You were thinking ahead!)

Next step is to roll out the dough and cut out two circles, slightly larger than the ramekin.

Arrange dough circles on the ramekin dish and pierce the top. 

I just used scissors like my mom did on apple pie crusts. 

I whipped up one egg and brushed it over the crust.

Place in an oven at 400 degrees C and bake for 30 min.  Check on them after 20 min though.

A helpful tip I would suggest...place a baking sheet under these suckers whilst baking them.  If you fill the ramekins too full of stew, they will overflow while bubbling.

I couldn't have been prouder with my first attempt at pot pies.

I was even prouder to take a look at my costs:  Beer from father-in-law, venison from step dad, carrots, onions and potatoes from our garden, garlic from a local provider, and one hellvua home made crusty topper!  Seems like the peas and beef broth were the only thing we had to get from a store. 

Left Over Night

I started a new job last month...and it's been great to be back in the workforce.  I will admit, though, that being back at work doesn't allow me the time I'd like for meal planning (of course).  I used to hate cooking.  Once I became unemployed last March, I was a woman on a mission.  We didn't have very much of anything and I was determined to make the most out of what we had.  I was the shoe-string meal MASTER!

Now that I'm back at work...and it's shift work at that...I have been very good about not buying lunches out.  In 4 weeks, I have only bought one bagel from Tim Hortons...and that is saying a lot!  I make all of my lunches ahead of time and package them up so that I can see them even if it were still dark out.  Coming home to my husband in the kitchen and my son yelling MUMUMUM! as soon as I walk through the door...its been wonderful!

Last night we decided it was time for a left over night...and it was definitely a smorgasbord!  See picture below... 

Its not the most colourful meal I've ever taken a picture of...but the taste was DEVINE!  Clock-wise from the top:  Tourtiere from the local farmer's market, spatzle that my hubbie Chester made one evening I worked, and fried cabbage with apples.  This post is going to discuss the cabbage mainly, but I'll also include a bit on spatzle.  Before I move on, I'd like to add that the tourtiere (for those who've never had the pleasure) is a french meat pie with mashed up potatoes in the meat mixture.  I buy mine from the farmer's market here in Verona.  It's made with pork and tastes almost exactly like the ones my step mom Mary Elaine would make at Christmas time.  How flavours can carry so many memories is beyond my comprehension!

 

This is a close up on the cabbage.  First off I am not a fan of cabbage.  I'm not sure that growing them last summer turned me right off of them completely...as I wasn't a huge fan before that...but when I saw how they hve a habit of harbouring slugs and earwigs...ugh....

I would probably research more about how to keep the pests off of them...if I liked them a little more.  That could explain why I'm not planning to grow any this year. 

That was...until Ches made this side dish a few nights before.  WHOA MOMMA!  It was the most amazing taste.  He used about a half of a cabbage, sliced julienne, and added some of our frozen apples that were already peeled and sliced.  There was some water and vegetable broth, a splash of apple cider vinegar, a dash of salt and pepper and a little dap of dijon mustard.  The result was pretty inconspicuous looking...you'd never expect something this bland coloured to taste so vibrant.  Add a little butter and a turn of your salt grinder...serve while warm!  If you require more colour from your side dish, you could always leave the peels on the apples, or use red cabbage instead.

We get a monthly food box stuffed with veggies...and we've gotten a cabbage in each box for the last 3 months.  I don't even want to look at the things, so I'm very happy that Ches did something useful with them! 

The spatzle is a funny story...as far as I know, my husband has no German blood in him...but every now and then he gets a HUGE craving for this german side dish.  Apparently, his maternal grandfather and name sake Chester Lane used to make it on occassion.  Its basically a dumpling.  The Joy Of Cooking recipe is as follows:

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

2 large eggs

1/2 cup of milk

6 cups of salted water

Mix dry ingredients together.  Mix in wet ingredients.  Form a batter ball and force through a pasta strainer into the simmering water or stock in a frying pan.  Toss in pan until brownish.  Serve while hot.   My husband likes to add a sprinkle of nutmeg or parmesan to the mix.  Both good variations indeed!

In a typical meal I don't like to have so many carbs going on, but I did preface this post by saying it was left over night.  Not shown is the huge salad I made to go with the meal.

Sexy Sailors! ok...its really about parsnips...

Its it sad that I couldn't come up with a delicious sounding post title....I know everyone turns their nose up at parsnips!  I used to be one of you!!!  Several years ago I read an article in Canadian Gardening magazine that stated if you left your parsnips in the ground until a few frosts had hit them...they turned into a COMPLETELY different vegetable...

Thats where they had me....I HAD to find out how different they were...and it was such a dramatic flavour...I became a born-again parsnip lover. 

This year we staggered our crop of parsnips and it allowed me more time for peeling and chopping these massive roots vegetables.  After I peel and chop...they get placed in freezer bags (not heaping full, just half full then pressed flat).  I ended up with 4 large freezer bags of them...and I ate plenty while we were digging them up!  They are great prepared like a roasted potato, or added to mashed potato (which I use on top of sheppard's pie)...that is until I saw this month's recipe in my Foodland Ontario 2011 recipe calendar.

PARSNIP, APPLE & BRIE SOUP....

I HAD to try it....I like each of the individual ingredients enough to want to make it.



Straight out of the calendar

  I was hoping you could read the recipe in the above picture...but basically its 4 cups parsnips, peeled and chopped, 4 cups veg or chicken broth, 1 onion, 1 tsp of butter, 2 apples, peeled and chopped...125g of brie and salt and pepper to taste.  Melt butter and fry onion until just cooked, add parsnips, apples and broth, simmer until soft.  Use blender or handblender to smooth.  Cube the brie and add while warm. 


my version


I will DEFINITELY make this again!  A few alterations though...I would use 3-4 apples...instead of just two.  I would also use the whole 200g wheel of brie.  I love brie.

This soup was wonderfully hearty and tasty.  Technically all I had to buy was the brie...as we buy broth in bulk, had parsnips and apples in the freezer, and saved a dozen onions from the garden in a slightly make shift root cellar...which is working out so far...but its more accidental than planned out.

I encourage you to try this soup out...it may just bring you back over to the parsnip side!!!

Butternut Squash Love....

We have been eating a LOT of soup lately....its kind of a soup time of year....

You know that feeling, when you've been outside shovelling snow, or playing with the kids, or ice fishing on the lake?  Perhaps thats just our lifestyle...but even if you're just going from your car to your home, its still nice to come in from the cold and enjoy a nice steaming bowl of soup.  Even better when you've grown the vegetables yourself!!!

We tried growing butternut squash this year, and I will admit that I am still waiting for the taste of squash to grow on me.   I figured, why not?  Grow them and the recipe hunt will begin.  I will not spend money at the grocery store on items that I have no idea whether I or the family will like them.  There is something widly emancipating about growing something...and if you don't like it...it just goes right back into the compost bin!  WIN WIN!



Butternut Squash soup with home made biscuits

The one thing I really enjoyed growing butternut squash, is that they arrive and ripen when the rest of the garden has long since died off.  You get these beautiful, waxen lovelies that produce wonderous flowers.  Their vines take over all other areas.  It was growing these lovelies that made me think about late season foods and also their ability to store well.  I didn't get a chance to start a root cellar this past year...so I didn't get to expertiment with the old school method of storage.  We did cube and freeze them though.  It was the late season aspect that made me love them.  This past year I did get to experiment with staggering my veggies.  Its a wonderful method to avoid the common gardening ailment of having 10 tonnes of anything all at the same time.  This method allows you to enjoy each crop for several weeks instead of getting flooded with them all at once (which makes it almost impossible to eat everything or have enough time to properly prepare and store everything - trust me!  I've learned this one the hard way).  You wind up sick of whatever it is thats ripening...and you waste the rest.
 

close up on soup with cracked black pepper

So here is the mouth-watering recipe that I cooked up in the fall.  I frozen the whole lot that time.  All I had to do was freeze it and add cream when ready to serve! 

Butternut Squash Soup

2 tablespoons butter

1 small onion, chopped (from our garden, dried and stored in the basement)

1 stalk celery, chopped

1 medium carrot, chopped (from our garden, kept in the crisper with dirt on)

2 medium potatoes, cubed

1 medium butternut squash - peeled, seeded, and cubed

1 (32 fluid ounce) container chicken stock

1 tsp nutmeg

salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Directions

1. Melt the butter in a large pot, and cook the onion, celery, carrot, potatoes, and squash 5 minutes, or until lightly browned. Pour in enough of the chicken stock to cover vegetables. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover pot, and simmer 40 minutes, or until all vegetables are tender.
2. Transfer the soup to a blender, and blend until smooth. Return to pot, and mix in any remaining stock to attain desired consistency. Season with salt and pepper.

Nutritional Information

Amount Per Serving  Calories: 305 | Total Fat: 6.8g | Cholesterol: 21mg

Servings Per Recipe: 4
Amount Per Serving
Calories: 305

• Total Fat: 6.8g
• Cholesterol: 21mg
• Sodium: 1248mg
• Total Carbs: 59.7g
•     Dietary Fiber: 9.5g
• Protein: 6.9g

That was the original recipe I used...from allrecipes.com but I'm a sucker for a rich soup, so I swirl in heavy cream just prior to serving.  You can also add some cinnamon to taste. 


while Owen loves the biscuits...he's still not a huge fan of the soup