Beans

So, in our quest for cheap good food, I discovered how to cook beans. I actually love beans and rice, but cooking dried beans always seems to be complicated, so I've normally relied on canned beans. But I have recently discovered that my crock pot is the easiest way to cook them -- and I don't have to be home or pay attention to it. I have cooked black beans, pinto beans, and black-eyed peas this way. Then I usually make refried beans ( a vegetarian recipe from the Moosewood Cooks at Home cookbook, below).

Dried Beans

Place a 1-lb bag of beans in the crock pot, cover with water until it comes about two-inches above the beans. Soak overnight. Drain in the morning, cover with water again, and turn it on low to cook all day (about 6-8 hours), or on high to cook half a day (3-4 hours).


Refried Beans

1 onion, chopped
1 tsp olive oil
1 tsp (or more) cumin
salt
4 cups (or two cans) black or pinto beans, drained w/ liquid reserved

Saute the onion in olive oil. Add cumin and salt to taste. Add beans, cook until hot. Mash beans with the back of a spoon or potato masher. Add enough bean liquid until you have the consistency you want.

Lemon-Rosemary Cheesecake

We got a rosemary tree as a Christmas present and I've enjoyed finding fun recipes for rosemary. I've loved this interesting one from Better Homes and Gardens. The rosemary is not over-powering and is balanced well with the lemon. (Just read the preparation time carefully as it does require lots of steps and chill time.)

Ingredients:
2 15-oz cartons ricotta cheese
1/3 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 TBSP baking powder
1 tsp vanilla
3 slightly beaten eggs
1 TBSP snipped fresh rosemary
2 tsp finely shredded lemon peel
1/4 cup pistachio nuts

Preparation:
1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Soften the cheese and butter at room temperature for 30 minutes; grease and lightly flour a 9-inch springform pan.
2.In a mixing bowl beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in ricotta cheese, flour, baking powder, and vanilla until combined. Stir in eggs, rosemary, and lemon peel just until combined. Pour into prepared pan.
3. Bake 40 minutes. Turn oven off; let cheesecake remain in oven for 1 hour. Remove; cool cheesecake in pan on wire rack for 15 minutes. Using a small sharp knife, loosen cheesecake from sides of pan; cool for 30 minutes. Remove sides of pan; cool cheesecake completely on rack. Cover and refrigerate at least 4 hours. Top with pistachios.

Quick Tofu Stir-Fry

I improvised this a bit from a Betty Crocker recipe for a chicken stir fry (Pacific Rim Stir-Fry I think they call it) because I had tofu that needed to be cooked, a needy child, and I didn't have time to hunt down the recipe. I had ABC rice (already been cooked) in the fridge that I threw in at the last minute to warm, but fresh rice would be even better. This made enough for 2 generous servings (or lunch the next day!).

sauce:
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp fish oil (or other oil, or broth)
1 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp garlic
1/2 tsp dried basil

About 1/3 block of tofu
2-3 tbsp sesame oil
splash of soy sauce
Heat the oil and soy sauce in a wok or skillet until hot and then throw in tofu. Stir to coat. Fry tofu, stirring every now and then to prevent sticking until tofu is golden-brown. Remove from pan.

1 can Water chestnuts
1 Carrot, peeled into thin strips (just continue w/ veg. peeler after the peel is removed)
1 large handful of snow peas
1 small bunch green onions
splash of sesame oil (if needed)
Stir-fry vegetables, adding a little more oil, if needed, until vegetables are just tender, several minutes. Add tofu and sauce back to pan and continue cooking a minute or two more, until tofu has absorbed some of the sauce. Serve over rice.

future vegetables of summer

Hi this is Mark (borrowing Kristen's post) and these seedlings are hopefully future vegetables of the late spring and summer: From top left: Toma Verde tomatillos and bell peppers; moving clockwise.... the bigger plants, top-middle from the sunshine gardens plant sale (5 tomatoes, 2 mole peppers, herbs.); top right: Basil (about 18 or so); bottom right: the 4 tomatoes and a few lettuce--all that really made it from the first Jan. seedlings; lower center: tomatoes (about 40 tiny ones sprouted so far... (costoluto, red pear, persimmon tomato); Red Boston lettuce (no luck yet...).

Love/Hate

I have no pictures, but I just had to get that picture of bread off the top of this blog. I am gluten sensitive, so bread is poison to me. I do love bread and would love to eat it, but it doesn't love me. I have a love/hate relationship with food and always have, but it's even more so now that I'm gluten sensitive and even more since I'm now pregnant. I don't enjoy eating all that much, but I have to do it to survive. Being pregnant and nauseous makes it worse because I don't want to eat and nothing sounds good, but I know if I do eat then I'll feel better. Also, I can't eat whatever I crave this pregnancy either. I'm hungry all the time, too, so it's a challenge to find something that's GF, appealing, and that will hold me over a few hours. Sorry for being so negative here. I figured this could be a good place to vent.
I have found a few saving graces here in Austin, though. One is Craig O's pizza. It's a great pizza place for everyone, but what makes it even better is that they make gluten free pizzas and the place is close to our house AND they deliver! This is so exciting. It's really good GF pizza, too!
I do have one question: Does anyone have any good recipes that use quinoa? It's a very healthy GF grain which also is high in protein. I need lots of protein being pregnant, but I'm having a hard time figuring out what to eat. If y'all have any other good ideas or recipes that are GF, let me know!
Okay, I'm hungry...gotta go figure out what to eat again.

Bread

Mark has been the bread baker in our house, but last week I was on a roll in the kitchen, so I kept on going. Well, I was also on a loopy roll - I ended up roasting the chicken upside down (wierd!) and then didn't read the "warm" milk in the bread recipe. Yeast needs to be warm to work. Mark came to the rescue, and we ended up with lovely bread.

Here's a recipe for what James Beard (Beard on Bread) named a "Basic Home-Style Loaf". Good for toasting and sandwiches.

Basic Home-Style Loaf

Beard on Bread

1 package yeast

2 cups warm milk

2 tablespoons sugar

1/4 cup melted butter

1 tablespoon salt

5-6 cups flour (The recipe says all-purpose -- I used 2 cups whole wheat, and the rest white.)

Add yeast and sugar to 1/2 cup of the milk, stirring until dissolved. Allow to proof (i.e. it will bubble). In another bowl add the rest of the milk, butter and salt and then add the flour one cup at a time. After 3 cups, add the yeast mixture. Continue stirring in flour until firm (about 4 to 5 cups).

Put dough on flowered board and knead, adding flour as needed until dough is "supple, satiny, and no longer sticky." Butter a bowl, place dough in turn to coat, and cover. Allow it to rise in a warm spot until it doubles in size (about 1.5 to 2 hours).

Punch the dough down, put it back on the floured board and knead another 4-5 minutes. Divide into two equal parts. Shape into loaves and place into well-buttered 9x5 inch loaf pans. Set aside to rise again until doubled.

Bake at 400F 40-45 minutes.

Chicken and Yellow Rice

After New Year's Chad and I met his family down in Florida for a family vacation at Disney World. We also made the hour and a half drive down to Tampa to tour what used to be the old family homestead in the suburbs. We stopped in Ybor City, which was/is a center of cigar factories and Cuban restaurants. We ate at the Columbia, which I highly recommend. Jane was nice to treat me to a cookbook from the restaurant. Tonight I'm trying the Chicken and Yellow Rice which I actually ordered for lunch the day I was there. It was wonderful then. I'll have to let you know after dinner how my version is. It has some variations:

1. Saffron. I can't afford saffron (the most expensive spice there is. apparently because it is the dried stigma of a Crocus Sativus Linneaus - member of the iris family. and there are only 3 stigma on each flower. so that is a lot of stigma for a 1/2 teaspoon) So I finally did what anyone does when they need to know something, I googled "saffon spice substitution." A dash of tumeric apparently replaces the color. We'll see.

2. I cut up a whole chicken for the first time in my life. Again, I did have to google "How to cut up a chicken," but found a very nice website with good descriptions, step by step instructions and pictures. Here you go - http://gourmetsleuth.com/cutupchicken.htm

3. I also made the asparagus and white wine optional since I didn't have it on hand.

And now the recipe:
3-lb. chicken fryer, cut into quarters
2 onions chopped
1 green pepper chopped
2 med tomatoes diced
2 cloves of garlic
1/2 cup olive oil
1 bay leaf
4 cups chicken broth
2 cups long grain rice
1/2 t. saffron
1/2 t. salt
1/2 cup small green peas cooked
4 asparagus tips
2 roasted red peppers
1/4 cup white wine

In a skillet, saute chicken in heated oil until skin is golden. Remove chicken and place in casserole . In same oil, saute onion, green peppers, tomatoes and garlic for 5 minutes. Pour over chicken. Add chicken broth, saffron, salt, bay leaf and rice. When mixture begins to boil, cover casserole and bake in oven at 350 for 20 minutes or until chicken is done. Sprinkle with wine and garnish with peas, roasted red peppers and asparagus tips. Serves 4.