Black Bean and Sweet Potato Cassarole

As always, I was struggling with what to make for dinner. I was in the mood for beans. I had black beans, kidney beans and white beans in the freezer. Black beans won out and a little Internet searching lead me to a recipe for a pumpkin and black bean casserole, so I used that as inspiration. I had sweet potatoes on hand, so that replaced the pumpkin and I pulled other stuff out of my freezer to add in.

2 cups black beans
One 28oz can of chopped tomatoes with the juice
5 cloves of garlic chopped small
6 green onions, white and green parts separated
1 cup corn (I used frozen)
1 teaspoon of ground cumin
1 teaspoon of dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon of salt (or to taste)
black pepper to taste
1 red pepper roasted
one sweet potato sliced thinly (~1/8")
4-8 oz shredded cheddar cheese

Preheat the oven to 425degF. Combine the beans, tomatoes, garlic, white parts of the green onion, corn, spices, and salt and pepper in a bowl and mix.
Spray a 9" x 13" pan with oil or non-stick spray. Pour half of the bean mixture in the pan, spread half of the sweet potatoes in one layer. Layer on half of the cheese. Then follow with the remaining bean mixture, the roasted red pepper, and finish with a single layer of the rest of the sweet potato. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 40 minutes. Uncover, spread the remaining amount of cheese on top and bake for another 20-30 minutes until the liquid has thickened and the cheese is golden brown.
Sprinkle the green parts of the green onion over the casserole.

I was very happy how it turned out. The flavors melded well. The only thing I would change is to chop up the red pepper and combine with the bean ingredients. Ebon seemed to like it well enough. He ate it with some corn tortilla chips. I will try to make it again if I have all the ingredients.

Brunch!

Brunch!

I love brunch. My nature is an affinity to the morning hours and I love breakfast. Most weekends I have two breakfasts - one around 7am when the babe and I wake up and the second sometime between 11 and 1pm when my Sleeping beauty of a husband finally wakes up.
This Sunday, however, we hosted some friends for brunch and I made a sweet item and a savory item, both pretty simple, both turned out great!  I made baked french toast and a crustless quiche.

I followed THIS  recipe for the baked french toast, except I used day old Challa bread that I cut up and left out for a few hours. In addition I added 2 eggs (for a total of 4 eggs), about 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon and 1 teaspoon of vanilla, just to give it a bit more flavor and make sure it was good and custardy. I was really happy how it turned out. It wasn't too soggy and it was nice and crispy on top. I really liked how easy it was and that I could prepare it the night before. I forgot about the butter and sugar, so, by accident, my version had slightly less fat and sugar in it.

The Quiche or savory egg bake was an attempt to copy a similar dish I had at a friend's house the week before. I did an OK job comparatively, but I think I'll add a little salt next time.

Ingredients for Quiche
1/2 small onion diced small
1-2 Tablespoons olive oil or butter (I used butter)
4 baby Portobello mushrooms sliced
large handful of spinach (about 2 cups)
8 eggs
salt and pepper to taste
~4 oz goat cheese
4 oz cheddar cheese shredded

Instructions
1. Melt the butter or heat the oil in a frying pan on medium/Med low heat, add the onions to soften - about 5 min. Add the mushrooms to soften and as they begin to release their liquid 5-10 min more. Add in the spinach to wilt.
2. Beat the eggs in a separate bowl and add the salt and pepper.
3. Butter or prepare a 10" pie plate, layer about half of the veggie mixture on the bottom of the pan. Spread around half of the cheese, then pour in half of the eggs, followed by the rest of the veggies, cheese and eggs.
4. Bake in a 425degF oven for about 25 min or until the eggs are cooked through.

Overall, I thought brunch was a great success!

Black Bean and Sweet Potato Chili

I occasionally participate in a food swap with other local mamas and I wanted to make a Black Bean and Sweet Potato Chili for that a couple weeks ago. I got sick the night before I was supposed to make the chili, so I opted to not make it and chance getting everyone else sick! SO Last night I threw together the Chili that I had intended making weeks before.


Olive oil
1 large onion (I had about 1/4 of a large red onion and a small yellow onion) cut into 1/2" chunks
5 garlic cloves minced
2 carrots 1/4" dice
2 stalks celery 1/4" dice
1 medium/medium-large sweet potato cut into 1/2" chunks
28 oz can of diced tomatoes and their juice or whole tomatoes cut up or squished
1.5 tomato cans of water - this is probably 3-4 cups
~ 4 cups cooked black beans (I had a "2lb" plastic tub worth of cooked black beans that I had previously cooked and froze)
small can of tomato paste
1 cup of corn (I used frozen)
~1-2 tsp of ground cumin
~2 tsp chili powder
~1 tsp dried oregano
~2 tsp salt or to taste
~1/2 tsp ground black pepper or to taste

1. Heat the olive oil in a soup pot/dutch oven add in the onions and garlic saute until soft.
2. Add in the carrots, celery, and sweet potatoes, cover, and simmer for a bit while the carrots soften.
3. Add the remaining ingredients and stir to combine.
4. Bring to a boil and reduce to simmer until the sweet potatoes and carrots are soft ~20-30 min depending on how frozen the beans might be.

I served this with corn bread, since that is my favorite accompaniment to chili!

Stuffed Acorn Squash

So I made my own version of Stuffed Acorn squash last night.

I started out with a 6-grain rice mix that I got at H Mart - I think there was red rice, brown rice, black rice, and a few different types of barley. I cooked a 1/2 cup in the rice cooker with 2 cups of water on the brown rice setting. That always takes forever so I started that in the early afternoon.
When it got close to dinner time I chopped up a portabella mushroom and about 1/4 of an eggplant that I had left over in about 1/4" dice.
At that point I looked up a recipe (because before that I was just winging it based on what I had on hand) online. From those, I decided to add pecans for flavor, texture, and a bit of protein. I also added some frozen cranberries. I mixed all of the rice, veggies, etc together and added salt and pepper to taste - but probably about 1/2 tsp of salt and 1/4 tsp of pepper. I had every intention of adding other herbs, but I forgot. I liked the way it tasted in the end, so all was not lost.

I cut the acorn squashes (I had 2) in half length-wise and spooned out the guts. I put them in the oven in a lasagna pan at 450degF for about 10 or 15 min based on one recipe I read which said to roast them for about 20-30min. Then I decided I needed to put the filling in and have it cook for a bit, so I pulled the squashes out of the oven and added 1 tablespoon of butter and then the filling to the holes. I ended up with way more filling so I cooked that in a baking dish. The filled squashes cooked for about 40 min more. I took them out one more time to sprinkle a bit of mozzarella cheese on top - to make them more appealing to Ebon. I let the cheese melt then pulled them out for good.

I really liked how they turned out - flavor and texture wise. The rice mix was hearty and a bit crunchy, the cranberries were an added plus, as the burst of sour was a surprise for the tongue. The butter definitely helped, so don't forget that step. I couldn't get Ebon to say if I should make them again or not, but he finished the whole thing, which I wasn't expecting. Overall I would call it a success.


1/2 cup rice/grain mix
Water to cook
portabella mushroom cap 1/4" dice
1/4 large eggplant 1/4" dice
1/3 cup peacans chopped
1/2 cup cranberries (fresh or dried)
salt and pepper to taste
acorn squash
butter
cheese

Muffins!

I made Lemon Cranberry Muffins yesterday. My alterations were to use some lemon juice and olive oil in place of the butter and lemon zest. I also used an entire (12oz?) package of cranberries that I had bought in the fall and froze. Probably a bit too many cranberries because I think they were a bit sour. The lemon flavor didn't come through as much as I would have liked - the zest was definitely needed.
I added some turbinado sugar on top hoping that it would be a crust of sugar, but I didn't add enough, so there was a bit of crust, but not what I wanted.

I would make these again, but I'll try to follow the recipe the next time :)

Indian food fail

I made a slow-cooker version of Baigan Bharta last night. I had very high hopes, but it just didn't turn out right.This time I followed the recipe. The only thing I did differently is I didn't allow the eggplant to sit overnight with the spices. I don't think that would have made a difference. It came out with little flavor, I had to add a ton of salt and a bit extra of the garam masala.

After this debacle I looked how Baigan Bharta is normally made and the eggplant is roasted and there is usually some tomatoes in it. That makes a lot more sense in terms of the texture and flavors that I was missing. I won't make this recipe again.

Broccoli Cheddar soup

I made this last night:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchens/almost-famous-broccoli-cheddar-soup-recipe.html

It was pretty good. I was lazy and didn't use a carrot. I also used milk instead of 1/2 and 1/2