Black Beans and Rice

We seem to go back and forth in terms of eating meat and then no meat. We have two family members (one adult and one child) whom a good part of the time just are not interested in meat of any sort, so we have been creating altering menu items that are high in protein. Beans seem to keep coming back into the menu. Last night we made this killer recipe, Black Beans and Rice (I would actually use brown rice rather than white rice, but I ran out...still good though).

Black Beans and Rice
2 green peppers (you can also use red/orange/yellow peppers)
1 medium onion, chopped finely
2 T. olive oil
2 cans (15 oz each) black beans, rinsed and drained
1 can (15 oz) diced tomatoes, undrained
2 T. white vinegar
1 tsp. garlic
1/8 tsp. pepper
2 1/2 cups cooked rice (the black bean mixture is served over the rice. So if you want to cook more, please do so).

In a large saucepan, saute the fresh peppers and onion in olive oil until your desired tenderness. Stir in black beans, tomatoes, vinegar, garlic, and pepper. Cook uncovered for about 15 minutes and stir occasionally. Serve over rice.

Apple Cake

We recently had a weekend dinner party with some family friends of ours that we had not seen in a while. We decided it was much too long and we needed to get together more often. We were talking about one of our favorite topics….food! My daughters had mentioned that one of their favorite desserts was Apple Cake. We all chuckled because they had mentioned that they had not had an apple cake before, apple pie of course, and have had applesauce in different cakes to help add moisture and create a little bit more healthiness to the dessert, but not a true apple cake.

Now after talking about, the next day I thought to myself…ahh….I think we will make an apple cake for dessert (and I must say it is also good breakfast as a coffee cake)!


Apple Cake
¾ cup chopped walnuts (other nuts that are also good are sliced almonds and pecans)
3 cups flour
2 cups sugar
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
4 large baking apples, peeled, cored and sliced
1 T. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
4 large eggs
½ cup vegetable oil
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
¼ cup orange juice
2 tsp. vanilla extract


Preheat the oven to 350 F. Spray a 10-inch bundt pan with oil to help the cake in not sticking to the sides. Sprinkle walnuts at the bottom of the pan evenly. In a large bowl, mix 2 T. of the flour, ¼ cup of the sugar, and the cinnamon together. Add apples to the bowl and toss.

In another bowl, mix the remaining of the flour and the sugar, baking powder and salt. Add the eggs, oil, butter, orange juice, and vanilla. Mix together until the batter is well combined.

Pour half of the batter into the bundt pan (roughly 2 cups). Then place the apple mixture on top of the batter and spread evenly. Add the remainder of the batter, on top of the apples.

Bake for 1 ¼ hours. Let the cake cool for 15-20 minutes. Take a knife and run around the sides of the pan, turn over, cool a little more and remove the cake from the pan.

Onion Soup at its Best

We are a family that loves our soup....so you may find may find many recipes pertaining to this complimentary dish to a half-sandwich, a salad or as a meal. This past week, I made one of our all time favorites....onion soup.

You will not twist anyones arm when it comes to this recipe. It has been tweeked to fit our tastes, but there is one ingredient that you will typically not find in onion soup and that is chicken broth. We tend to like soups that are chicken broth based rather than beef based. I am not for sure why. One ingredient that my husband enjoys adding to give it more of a zing is a bit of sherry or red wine to the broth. It is good too!

Onion Soup
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 large Vidalia onions, sliced finely
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
4 cups chicken broth
4 slices french bread (that you lay on the top of the soup
Sliced/shredded mozzerella cheese that is sprinkled on top of the bread before placing in the broiler
Ovenproof ramekins

In a saucepan, heat the olive oil over medium heat and add the onions, salt, and pepper. Cook these four ingredients until the onions are tender (almost sauted). Add the thyme and broth to the onion mixture and simmer for about 15 minutes.

Divide the onion soup between the four ovenproof ramekins. Place the bread among the ramekins. Top each slice of bread with cheese). witPlace under the broiler, until the cheese is golden and bubbly and serve.

Grandma Jean's Oatmeal Rocks!

My Grandma Jean would have turned 96 years old today if she was still with us cooking in the kitchen, working on her crewel stitching, talking with fellow friends, reading her favorite mystery novels, and just being a grandma to us.

In honor of her, my daughters and I decided to bake one of her favorite cookie recipes...Oatmeal Rocks! (no they are not really rock hard, it is just what her family called them). I remember cooking in her kitchen, baking this special family recipe that her great-great grandma would make for her and her 11 brothers and sisters. We use to bake these cookies together and then create a special care package for my uncle who was in the military.

As the years have gone by, we still bake these oatmeal goodies. Today my daughters learned the family recipe. It was such a fun day and we wanted to share it with you.

Happy Birthday Grandma Jean! We love you!

Oatmeal Rocks!

2 eggs

1 cup sugar

3/4 cup lard or butter
2 cups oatmeal

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon lemon extract

4 Tablespoons sweet milk

1 teaspoon baking soda (dissolve in milk)

pinch of salt

Dates, raisins and nuts - as many as you like

Mix all together and drop on a cookie sheet. Bake at 350 F for 10-15 minutes.

The girls also enjoyed dunking them in milk..ohlalala yummy!

Sausage, Kale and White Bean Soup

A new little bundle of joy joined my sister/brother-in-laws family about three weeks ago.  My sister and brother-in-law had a little girl. We have been calling her “Sweet Pea” for many months. Her three big brothers are already protective of her, can you believe it? And my "little mamas" wanted to hold her and never let her go, they just love babies and of course, now they have a little baby girl in the family!

A group of ladies and I each selected a day to bring a meal over to my sister, brother-in-law and nephews, so that they did not have to cook. It was just one less thing that they did not have to do and be pampered for a little while longer! My family and I brought one of our favorite recipes, Sausage, Kale and White Bean Soup. I made this recipe for my parents one night and the loved it too!

Sausage, Kale and White Bean Soup

1 large onion, diced
3 T. olive oil
1 pound of smoked sausage or kielbasa, cut into bite-sized pieces (we also have substituted turkey sausage)
2 cloves of crushed garlic
4 carrots cut into small cubes
3 cups of white beans
5 cups of chicken stock
3 cups of chopped kale (our family uses roughly about 1 ½ cups)
Salt and pepper

Chop and sauté your onions and garlic (until they are golden brown) in olive oil in a large stock pot. Add your sausage and cook until it is the desired tenderness that you like. Add carrots and sauté so that they are incorporated into the onion and garlic mixture.

Add the chicken stock, white beans and kale. Simmer for roughly for one-hour. It goes great with hearty bread.

Steak Goulash Stew

Stews are one of our favorite things to make during the fall season, it is actually a staple food in our family and requires very little time to make. I am a huge fan of goulash, this recipe is not a typical goulash that you would make based off of the Eastern European recipes (just as a heads up when reading the recipe).

1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 T. sweet Hungarian paprika
1 tsp. kosher salt
1 tsp. black pepper
1 1/2 lb. sirloin steam, trimmed, sliced into to 2-inch strips (we cut our meat smaller in that our daughters can eat it more easily since they are younger).
2 T. olive oil
1 cup chopped onion
1 T minced garlic
1 T tomato paste
1 tsp. caraway seeds (optional if you are not a lover of caraway seeds)
2 c. beef broth
1/2 c. sliced roasted red pepper
1-2 T red wine vinegar
Sour cream

Combine the flour, 1 T paprika, salt and pepper and toss the steak so that it is covered with the flour mixture; set a side.

Add oil to your pan and sear your steak for roughly 1 minute per side. Remove steak and set aside.

Saute your onions, garlic in the same pan. Stir in tomato paste, 1 T paprika, caraway seeds, and remaining flour mixture.

Add your beef broth to the pan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer stew until thickened, roughly 5 minutes. Add steak, peppers and vinegar; simmer. Add salt and pepper.

Serve stew onto of noodles, rice, etc. Can top with sour cream.

Homemade Pumpkin Pie Spice

We love just about anything pumpkin in our home, it seems like the only time that we eat pumpkin is in the fall. I guess it makes sense considering if you planted pumpkin in your garden, it ripens for the fall season. But to be honest, I can not complain, because we just love it. My mouth is just watering for some pumpkin pie right now, my oldest daughter even requested that we make a pumpkin pie this week...that will not be twisting my arm.

I came across this pumpkin pie spice that was all natural and "perfected" it a little to fit our tastes.


4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg


Combine all ingredients. Store in an airtight container.

Chicken Tikka Masala

One of my favorite indian dishes is chicken tikka masala. We have a favorite indian restaurant not too far from our home that we have enjoyed dining at for many years.

One night while we were having dinner, my husband says to me, "You know what? I think you could make this." To be honest, indian was not one cuisine that I thought I could make just that wherever you go, each dish tastes different. But I accepted his challenge of thinking that I could make CTM. Six years later, I am still making our CTM for our family. It is one of our favorites. This dish is very easy to make and that is what I just love about it.

The Marinade
1 cup yogurt
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
6 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces

In a large bowl or even in a Ziploc bag, combine the yogurt, lemon juice, 2 teaspoons cumin, cinnamon, cayenne, black pepper, and ginger. Cover and refrigerate the chicken for up to one hours. If you are marinading the chicken for a shorter period of time, you might want to cut the chicken in smaller pieces so that the marinade can soak into the meat.

The marinade also is wonderful if you are wanting to grill out in your backyard. We have had several small get togethers with family and friends where we had the chicken marinade for a couple of days, later grilled out and the chicken was moist and just full of flavor.

The Sauce
1 tablespoon butter
4 clove garlic, minced
2 jalapeno pepper, finely chopped
4 teaspoons ground cumin
4 teaspoons paprika
3 (29 ounce) can tomato sauce
2 cups heavy cream (1 pint)
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

When cooking your chicken there are a couple of different ways. One way is to use the grill which makes it very tender but another route is, if you have a George Forman grill it works just as well, and can be done inside of your home. We have discovered that grilling just makes this dish have the right amount of flavor.

Melt the butter in a large heavy skillet over medium heat. Saute garlic and jalapeno for 1 minute. Season with 2 teaspoons cumin, paprika, and 3 teaspoons salt. Stir in tomato sauce and cream. Simmer on low heat until sauce thickens (about 20 minutes). Add grilled chicken, and simmer for 10 minutes. Transfer to a serving platter, and garnish with fresh cilantro.

We serve our CTM over rice.

Nothing like Homemade Macaroni and Cheese!

I love macaroni and cheese. I must admit once again, that I have not purchased a box of macaroni and cheese for many years. If I am going to have it, I want the real thing. My daughters ask for this recipe each time I mention..."would you like for me to make some mac and cheese tonight for dinner?" I know the answer will always be yes and they will not turn it down.

I remember when growing up. Each time that we got together with my family, my Aunt Bobbe always made the best macaroni and cheese for our family lunch/dinner (depending on which day you came over to their home).

We wanted to share with you our family favorite!

1 package (7oz) elbow macaroni
4 T butter
3T flour
2 c. milk
1 package (8oz) cream cheese, cubed
2 tsp. mustard
2 c. shredded cheddar cheese
½ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. pepper
Parsley if you would like to sprinkle a little on top of the dish.


Cook the macaroni according to the package directions. Meanwhile, melt butter in a large saucepan. Stir in flour until smooth, this is forming your rue. Gradually add milk. Bring it to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes. Reduce heat; and add cheese and cream cheese, mustard, salt and pepper. Constantly stir the cheeses until they are melted and the sauce is smooth. Next drain the macaroni and then pour it into your baking dish. Pour the cheese sauce and stir to coat. Bake uncovered at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes (we typically do it around 20 minutes).

Out of this World Taco Seasoning

It has been about 10 years since I purchased store bought taco seasoning, I know it is a little extreme, but you know what, I have modified a taco seasoning recipe that I found when my husband and I were married. It has been a favorite of ours since our two-person kitchen in our condo.

I typically 3X's the recipe below but only double the red pepper flakes. It is super easy to make. I store it in with my spices/herbs in my kitchen in an spice container dedicated to taco seasoning, and just reuse the container each time that I make a new batch.

1 tablespoon chili powder

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon black pepper

Cucumber Raita

Cucumber Raita
I have one daughter that loves yogurt and a daughter that has a huge dislike for it by itself. The funny thing about this dish is that my daughter who has a strong dislike for yogurt loves the raita. Now one trend that we have noticed is that if it has cucumbers in it, she will eat it. Guess what, it does. I know it is not nice to "slip" this in but my thought is if she will each yogurt this way than I am all for it.

Raita is a traditional Indian side dish or sauce that is cool and delightful, especially with spicy curries. We have had it accompany some of our favorite indian dishes, in addition to serving it with cucumber slices and various types of indian bread.


Ingredients
2 large cucumbers, peeled, seeded, and chopped
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 tablespoon salt
2 cups plain, nonfat yogurt
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
Black pepper to taste

Instructions
1. Mix the cucumbers, onion, and salt in a bowl. Let stand for 1/2 hour.

2. Drain off liquid, rinse well with cold water, and drain; then soak in cold water to remove as much salt as desired. Drain well.

3. Add the yogurt, cumin, and pepper and mix well.

4. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours before serving.

Chocolate | Peanut Butter Brownies

Our family is a huge fan of chocolate and peanut butter mixed together. I especially was craving something really chocolaty and peanut butter like this weekend. So my oldest daughter said, "lets make brownies!". I said to myself...ahh that sounds like a great idea. So we came up with this recipe. It was really easy to make and very quick to assemble. 

One thing that I would recommend is that it is hard to mix this recipe by hand, I would use a handheld mixer to help mix due to peanut butter being so sticky and thick.

If you are wanting more chocolate in the recipe, I might recommend adding chocolate chips or double the cocoa.

Chocolate | Peanut Butter Brownies

1 cup of brown sugar (or your preferred sweetener of choice)
2/3 cup of all-purpose flour
½ cup of peanut butter
2 eggs
4 tablespoons of butter, softened
1 teaspoon of baking powder
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
2/3 cup of cocoa
Pinch of salt

Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C). Grease an 8-inch square baking pan. In a mixing bowl, cream together the peanut butter and butter. Add the brown sugar, eggs and vanilla extract; then beat until light and fluffy.

In another bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt. Add to the other mixture and mix well.

Spread the batter evenly into pan and bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Mamma's Meatloaf

I love meatloaf! One of our family favorites is "Mamma's Meatloaf". My daughters just devour it. Mamma's meatloaf has been a favorite for when we have made a meal for family friends if they just had a baby, surgury, etc. My MOPS group has loved this recipe when we have delivered meals. It is a really simple recipe and good for when you are wanting to make alot, freezing it and then pulling it out for a later meal.

Mamma's Meatloaf
1 egg
3/4 cup milk
1 1/2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 cup oats
1/2 cup onion (finely chopped)
1 teaspoon salt
1 pound ground beef
2/3 cup ketchup
1/2 cup packed brown sugar (may substitute your own sweetner)
1 1/2 teaspoon mustard

In a bowl, mix egg and milk together. Stir in the cheese, oats, chopped onion, and salt. Add the beef and mix well. I personally mix all of it together with my hands so that it gets well distributed. When well mixed, shape into individual meatloaves, place in a glass baking dish.

In a separate bowl, mix ketchup, brown sugar and mustard. Make sure that the brown sugar is not too lumpy in the ketchup and mustard. Spoon the mixture over the meatloaves. The brown sugar will melt and carmelize.

Bake uncovered at 350F for 45-55 minutes. We like our meatloaves a little more well done so that the ketchup mixture caramelizes a little longer.

Broccoli + Cauliflower Salad

Many times last year, after my husband played hockey, the teams and their families would tailgate in the parking lot of the ice skating rink. We would grill chicken, hamburger, and hot dogs. Many times the wives would bring different salads, so that we could try new recipes.

One of our favorite salads that we made was a broccoli + cauliflower salad. I must admit, broccoli and cauliflower are not one of my most favorite vegetables to eat, but my husband and daughters just love it. I learned during the course of the hockey pitch-ins that a lot of the families enjoyed it as well. So I made it a staple of the hockey grill outs.

One thing that you might want to note is that this is not a "sweet" salad. My husband tends to like dishes (or salad dressings) that might be a little sour to ones taste.

1 large head broccoli - cut up in nice size pieces
1 large head of cauliflower - cut up in nice size pieces
1 small red onion, halved, thinly sliced and chopped
1/3 cup sunflower seeds
3/4 cup mayonnaise
2 T cider vinegar
4 slices bacon, cooked crisp and crumbled (we place this on top of the salad right before we are getting ready to serve the salad)


Clean, trim and chop broccoli and cauliflower into a large bowl. Add the red onion and sunflower seeds.


Mix together mayonnaise, and cider vinegar; stirring until smooth. Pour dressing over salad. Cover and refrigerate.


Top with bacon bits before serving.