Albondingas (Mexican Meatball Soup)

 New favorite vegetable! New favorite vegetable! Have you ever tried chayote squash? Not really a SQUASH, per say, as you can eat it raw or cooked. Raw, it tastes a bit like jicima. Cooked, it takes on the flavor of whatever it was cooked with. Remains in form like a potato.
Maybe it's just that I like cheap food and I can find this once in a while in the cheap almost-ready-to-go-bad bin at my local Smith's grocery. Cheap as in three squash for a dollar. (LOVE  IT!!!) Anyway, here is the recipe for some delicioso soup!

2 qt beef stock
2 c carrots, sliced
1 lb chayote squash, 3/4" cubes
1/2 lb new potatoes, peeled, 3/4" cubes
5 sprigs fresh mint
1 c small pasta (shells, stars, macaroni)
ground black pepper to taste

Meatballs
2 T coconut oil
1/4 c finely chopped onion
1/2 t garlic, minced
1/2 lb lean ground beef
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1/4 c tomato, finely chopped
1 T fresh mint, minced
1 t ground cumin
1/2 t salt
1/4 c fresh bread crumbs

1 qt beef stock for cooking in

Heat coconut oil in a small skillet over md-hi heat. Add onion and
saute till soft, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and saute one min longer.
Transfer to a bowl and stir in remaining meatball ingredients. Working
with about one tsp of mix at a time, roll between palms to form balls.
Place on a plate, cover loosely, and refrigerate for about 20 min
before cooking.
In a saucepan, bring 1 qt of stock to a boil over md-hi heat. Add as
many meatballs at a time as will fit comfortably in the pan and cook,
skimming off foam as necessary until done, about 5 minutes.Remove
meatballs with slotted spoon and set aside; cook the remaining balls
the same way, strain and reserve cooking liquid for another use.
In a soup pot or large saucepan, combine 2 qts stock, veggies, and
mint. Bring to a boil over md-hi heat and simmer, uncovered till
veggies are tender, about 25  min.
Meanwhile, cook pasta in large pot of boiling water till al dente.
Drain and set aside. About 5 min before veggies are done, add
meatballs and pasta to heat thoroughly. Season to taste with salt and
pepper. Serve.
Leftovers store 3 days in refrigerator, tightly covered.
--my making it into a one pot meal- put all 3 qts beef stock in, and
starting at about 10-15 min before the end of the cooking time, start
adding meatballs to cook with veggies. Add pasta also, cook till done.
Much simpler.
-- Virgin Coconut Oil, 2nd Ed.

Zuppa Toscana

Have you ever looked at that bunch of oober-healthy kale in the grocery store and wondered what people do with it? It looks like and tastes like a combination of lettuce and cabbage. Like lettuce and cabbage, some choose to eat it raw in a salad. You can also cook it like cabbage. I had a wonderful soup the other day, and was determined to make it at home, especially since I have previously had kale and watched it rot in the fridge being unsure how to use it. So, this is my Zuppa Toscana (Tuscan Soup).

1/2 lb italian sausage (I like mild, some like hot)
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
 1medium white onion, diced
 4 garlic cloves, chopped
10 cups water
5 tablespoons chicken bouillon powder (to taste)
1 cup heavy cream
6 cups potatoes, cubed
1 bunch kale, discard center stalks and coarsely chop greens (cavolo riccio) 
1 loaf crusty Italian bread, sliced
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil 

 Directions:

1 Saute ground spicy italian sausage and crushed red pepper flakes in 1 T olive oil. (I use 8 quart stock pot.) Drain fat and move mixture into bowl, set aside.
 
2 In same pan, add 1 T olive oil and saute white onions, garlic, and potatoes until onions are soft.
 
3 Add water and chicken boullion powder and stir thoroughly. Bring to a gentle boil and continue cooking until potatoes are soft, 20-30 minute.
 
4 Turn off heat, immediately add kale, sausage and heavy cream. Stir together.
 
5 Serve hot with slices of bread.

YUMMY!!!

Cuban Black Bean Patties with Pineapple Rice

This recipe is from myrecipes.com. I was looking for a way to use beans as a main dish, having them as the focus rather than as an afterthought. I found this yummy concoction and tried it, with a few alterations as per what I had on hand.

Pineapple Rice

• 1 (3 1/2-ounce) bag boil-in-bag long-grain rice (I had about 2 c leftover cooked rice I used)
• 2 teaspoons butter 
• 1 cup diced fresh pineapple (I had some canned)
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro (I used a dash of coriander and parsley)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt 

To prepare rice, cook rice according to package directions, omitting salt and fat. Drain; place rice in a large bowl. Melt butter in a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add pineapple; sauté 4 minutes or just until pineapple begins to brown. Add pineapple mixture, cilantro, and 1/4 teaspoon salt to rice in bowl; cover and keep warm.

• Patties:
• 2 cups rinsed, drained canned black beans (1 [15-ounce] can), divided (it has been suggested to use 2 cans instead, and that worked well for us)
• 1/2 teaspoon bottled minced garlic
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1 large egg white (I used a whole egg)
• 1/2 cup (2 ounces) shredded Monterey Jack cheese with jalapeño peppers (cheddar here, I did add some chili powder to a few of them and they turned out really nicely)
• 1/4 cup chopped red onion
• 1/4 cup cornmeal
• Cooking spray
• 1/4 cup reduced-fat sour cream (didn't have any on hand, but it was very good without)

To prepare patties, place 1 1/2 cups beans, garlic, cumin, and 1/8 teaspoon salt in a bowl; partially mash with a fork. Place 1/2 cup remaining beans and egg white in a food processor; process 30 seconds or until well combined. Add bean puree to mashed beans in bowl, and stir until combined. Add cheese and onion to bean mixture; stir until combined. Divide bean mixture into 4 equal portions, shaping each into a 1/2-inch-thick patty. Place cornmeal in a shallow dish. Dredge both sides of each patty in cornmeal.
Heat pan over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add patties; cook 3 minutes on each side or until browned. Spoon about 1/2 cup rice onto each of 4 plates; top each serving with 1 patty and 1 tablespoon sour cream.

Note: You can prepare the patties in advance up to the point of dredging them in cornmeal; cover and refrigerate. Purchase precut, fresh pineapple in the produce section to save time.

Highly recommended, we LOVED it! Even the kids ate it (it took some talking to get them to taste it in the first place tho since it looked different than what we normally eat)

I do love soup.

I really do. Even in the heat of summer, nothing else makes you feel warm and cozy inside and out. I also like knowing what I created is healthy and tasty. Today, I threw together a vegetable soup which turned out AWESOME! So- here's the break down (I do have a photo, but I haven't had time to get it uploaded just yet):

1 T butter
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
Melt the butter and saute the onion and garlic till al dente then add
3 carrots, skinned and sliced
3 stalks celery, sliced
Saute till onions are soft, then add
2-3 lbs tomatoes, chopped
1 3/4 qt water
Bring to a boil and simmer for a good half hour till carrots are soft. Then add
1 cup peas
1 cup quinoa
Simmer 7-10 min till quinoa is cooked and translucent. Finally, add
1 Tbsp rosemary (1 sprig)
2Tbsp thyme (3-4 sprigs)
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
Simmer till fragrant, and serve!

We loved this, so delicious and a very healthy dinner for your family!

Potato Tomato Casserole

I always love main dishes which use many of the fresh produce from my garden. Today I harvested half a gallon of blackberries, about 15 tomatoes and about 15 potatoes, ranging in size from a lentil to a mango. I was happy just to be getting some fresh things out of my garden, especially after a week of being gone to Seattle and leaving the care of my garden in the hands of my well-intentioned but misunderstanding husband. I'll just say the garden needed a good long drink when I got home, but nothing died, so I guess I really can't complain. :D Either way, I froze the blackberries to use for jam later, and still had all those potatoes and tomatoes to use. So, I made a nice veggie dish for dinner tonight, adapting this recipe to my preferences and likes. I created my own tomato sauce from about 4 tomatoes and softened the onions and garlic while simmering the sauce. I also am learning to use freeze-dried peas and so added those to my dish, hoping they would help absorb more of the extra liquid. Worked fairly well. It turned out really nicely! Here's what I did:
2 medium shepody (gold) potatoes and 13 pontiac's (red), most of which were smaller than a walnut, sliced.
10 tomatoes, chopped, 2 tomatoes sliced.
1 med onion, quartered and sliced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbsp fresh sage, chopped
1 Tbsp fresh oregano, chopped
1 tsp fresh thyme, chopped
1 tsp fresh basil, chopped
1/2 cup peas (fresh or frozen works too)
1 can black beans, drained
shredded cheese, if desired
salt and pepper, if needed
olive oil

I started with 7 chopped tomatoes, and got them simmering over med heat in a medium pot. I added the onions and garlic, and simmered till the onions were soft. Add the peas, and continue simmering till half of the liquid is absorbed. Add the remaining chopped tomatoes and herbs (S&P if needed, we didn't need any). I used olive oil to lubricate this portion a little. Ladle a small amount of the tomato sauce into the bottom of a 9x13 casserole, then lay out the sliced potatoes in one layer, and 1/3 of the beans on top of that. Then a layer of the tomato sauce, and repeat the layering process twice more. Cover with sliced tomatoes, then shredded cheese if desired. Bake at 375 for 45-50 min till potatoes are cooked through. We loved this!
Disclaimer- I used sliced cheese as my husband kindly forgot to wash dishes while I was a way and thus no shredder was available till after dinner when I had a chance to get to the dirty dishes. :P

Got Jicima?

Honestly. I know people say "Eat it raw! It's delicious!" It's not. At least, not to me. It tastes more like a potato from the starch and while I know people who like to eat raw potatoes too, I'm not one of them. I've tried- in salads, dressing it up with various things like chili powder and vinagrette... nothing took, I still couldn't get rid of that starch which put me off in the first place. But wait- it's sorta like a potato, so can't you cook it? Off I went to search out a better way to eat jicima... one the family would actually eat anyway. I found a delicious recipe which I decided to try out and adapt. We do have one in our home who is a little leery of curry in general due to an undoubtedly very nice family who made him dinner once and went a LEETLE overboard on the curry. In his words- "you could taste the curry. That was it." This is, of course, not how curry should be used.
I did make up a quick brine/marinade for the chicken a couple hours before hand to add a little more flavor- it was simply olive oil, rice vinegar, salt and brown sugar. It was AWESOME. I didn't measure anything tho, so I'm not entirely sure I'll ever be able to replicate it. But, at least I can remember it.
The recipe provided a nice baseline to work from, so I got to work stir frying the diced chicken and julienned and peeled jicima in a little butter. Being blessed with a decent garden this year, we had some green onions as well as green garlic to use, so I chopped up some of those to use (for whomever has not tried green garlic, I highly recommend it!) and added it in with some chopped red pepper I had in the freezer for just such occasions. While this was cooking, I boiled some water and made me some couscous, to which I added a little of the greens, a touch of curry, and olive oil to help it not stick so much. Couscous are also awesome, and I think my daughter thought they were scrambled eggs from the color. Either way, she loved them, at all of hers, and got caught later that night climbing beside the stove to shove handfuls of it in her mouth straight from the pot!
Back with the chicken, I added about 3/4 tsp curry powder and expected the salt from the brine/marinade would suffice... esp cause I have a sinus infection right now and can't smell or really taste anything. Once everything was coated and fully cooked, I turned off the stove. Then, figured I should add some peas cause I know peas go well in curry dishes. I dumped about  1/2 c of frozen peas in and trusted to the residual heat of the dish to warm them up. It really turned out pretty well served over the couscous, the hubs did just tell me he still didn't like jicima cooked, but at least he ate it, which is more than he does raw!
I highly recommend this tho, especially if you are like me and just can't stomach the raw jicima. Eliminate the chicken and add some other veggies and you could just as easily make this into a vegetarian dish!

OH NO YOU DI'INT!

My husband's family is famous for their s'mores. Especially my husband and his brother who make them like s'more gods. And then I ran across this delicious recipe and HAD to share!

S'more Cupcakes (from American Family)
The campfire treat is reinvented here as cupcakes.
Graham crackers make up the cake while chocolate nuggets
are slipped inside right after baking. Don’t forget to
top with the marshmallows!
Prep: 10 minutes • Bake: 18 minutes

2⁄3 cup shortening                                  11⁄2 cups sugar
3 large eggs                                            11⁄2 cups all-purpose flour
11⁄2 cups graham cracker crumbs          2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt                                                11⁄4 cups milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract                               24 chocolate nuggets
4 cups miniature marshmallows            1 cup chopped pecans

1. Beat shortening at medium speed with an electric mixer until fluffy. Gradually
add sugar, beating well. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating after each addition.
2. Combine flour and next 3 ingredients; add to egg mixture alternately with
milk, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Beat until blended after each
addition. Stir in vanilla.
3. Place paper baking cups in muffin pans, and spoon 1⁄4 cup batter into cups.
Bake at 350° for 18 minutes or until done. Quickly insert a chocolate nugget
into center of each warm cupcake; top each with 4 or 5 marshmallows, gently
pressing into melted chocolate. Sprinkle with pecans. Makes 2 dozen.

Do I hear your mouth's watering?
Mine is!