Monday, May 24, 2010
Kale
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Sweet Potato Spread
Makes 3 cups of spread
3 large sweet potatoes (about 2 lb), peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes (I baked the sweet potatoes whole, then scooped out the tender flesh (less hands-on work)Preheat oven to 400°. Place the sweet potatoes in a shallow roasting pan and cover with foil. Roast for 15 minutes. Uncover and continue roasting until soft, about another 30 minutes.
2 medium carrots, peeled and finely chopped
1 small yellow onion, finely chopped
2 T tahini (sesame paste)
¾ t salt
¼ t curry powder
¼ t ground cumin
While potatoes are roasting, combine the carrots and onion with ½ cup water in a medium nonstick skillet. Bring to a boil; reduce the heat, cover and simmer for 5 minutes. Uncover and cook until water evaporates and vegetables are tender, about 3 minutes.
In a food processor, combine the sweet potatoes, tahini, salt, curry powder, and cumin. Process until smooth. If necessary, add water to make a spreadable puree. Add carrot-onion mixture and pulse until blended.
Serve at room temperature or chilled, with wedges of focaccia.
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Memorial Day is Monday, May 31st, and with it comes Barbecue Season. But while you’re hanging out in the yard, loitering over the grill, sipping a cocktail, watching the kids run around, bacteria could be contaminating your meal. A watchful eye on a few key areas will go a long way to keeping your family and friend free from food-borne illness all summer long.
Thaw safely. It’s great to have food in the freezer — a spur-of-the-moment party always at the ready! But be careful how you bring it from the freezer to the table. Food safety experts recommend thawing foods in the refrigerator or the microwave oven or putting the package in a water-tight plastic bag submerged in cold water and changing the water every 30 minutes. Changing the water ensures that the food is kept cold, an important factor for slowing bacterial growth that may occur on the outer thawed portions while the inner areas are still thawing. It is not advisable to thaw meat, poultry, or fish on the counter or in the sink without cold water; bacteria multiply much more rapidly at room temperature.
Avoid cross-contamination. Grilling adds great flavor to meals, and makes summertime entertaining both fun and easy. However, once you’ve placed your raw meat on the grill, wash the plate thoroughly with hot soapy water, or get a clean plate for the cooked, ready-to-eat foods. Cooked foods should never be placed on a plate that held raw meat. Thoroughly cook all meat, poultry and seafood, especially shellfish.
Keep cold foods cold and hot foods hot. Once ready to serve, you don’t want your food’s temperature in The Danger Zone (40°F–140°F) for any longer than necessary. The U.S. Food & Drug Administration recommends that you keep hot foods hot (use a warming tray or Sterno or votive candle under your serving dish) and cold foods cold (use a bed of ice under your food) while you serve them. Do not leave food out for more than 2 hours (this includes preparation time and the time it was in the car after you left the grocery store).
The foods that are most likely to cause illness if left unrefrigerated are:
- meat, poultry, and fish (both raw and cooked;
- salads made from starchy ingredients such as pasta, potatoes, rices, and other grains;
- anything containing raw or cooked eggs such as mayonnaise and potato salad, cream pies; and
- anything else containing dairy products.
If serving sour cream– or mayonnaise-based dips, be sure to keep the bowl on ice and avoid direct sunlight if at all possible. If holding your party at the beach, a park, on a boat, or at some other remote location, bring a cooler full of ice and keep all foods that may spoil cold until they are ready to be cooked or eaten. If possible, use two separate coolers—one for drinks and snacks, which people will be dipping into frequently, and a second one for meat and other dishes that stay closed, and therefore colder, until it’s time for the meal. Also, if possible, keep raw meats separate from cooked meats.
If you’re serving snacks and appetizers that will likely be sitting out for a while, stick to foods that don’t need refrigeration, such as fresh veggies, fresh fruit, breads with oil-based dips, nuts, and chips (tortilla chips with salsa provide a healthful addition to your menu as well).
Prepare your foods well. Thoroughly wash raw fruits and vegetables with tap water. Even those fruits and vegetables that do not have pesticides grow very close to the soil—another key bacteria-causing agent.
Cover and store leftover cooked food in the refrigerator as soon as possible. Cooked foods can also breed bacteria. Make sure you refrigerate, or place in a cooler with ice, any unused portion of cooked food (again, keep cooked meats separate from raw meats). If this is not possible, discard the leftovers.
Hot foods should be refrigerated as soon as possible within two hours after cooking. Don’t keep the food if it’s been standing out for more than two hours. Don’t taste-test it, either. Even a small amount of contaminated food can cause illness. Date leftovers so they can be used within a safe time—generally, they remain safe when refrigerated for three to five days.
If in doubt, throw it out; it’s not worth a food-borne illness for the small amount of food usually involved. Eat Well, Live Well, Be Well.
Chicken thighs with balsamic vinegar and mushrooms
1 lb skinless, boneless chicken thighsBoil water and reconstitute dried mushrooms in 1 cup hot water for 10 minutes. Drain mushrooms; strain and reserve liquid. Salt and pepper the chicken. Add chicken, mushrooms, garlic, vinegar, broth, tomatoes, bay leaf, thyme, and reserved liquid to crockpot. Cook on low for 6-8 hours (high for 4-6 hours). Serve with mashed potatoes or egg noodles or crusty bread to sop up all that yummy flavor.
salt and pepper to taste
6 oz dried mushrooms OR ¾ lb fresh mushrooms, sliced
6 cloves garlic
¼ c balsamic vinegar
¼ c beef broth
¾ c chicken broth
1 15-oz can diced tomatoes
1 bay leaf
¼ t dried thyme
Monday, May 17, 2010
Funky Chunky Chocolate Bars
1 yellow cake mix
1 stick margarine, plus 2 TBSP
2 eggs
1 can sweetened cond .milk
1/2 package chocolate chips
Mix cake mix, melted stick of margarine and eggs together. Spread 2/3 of this in the bottom of a greased 9x11 pan.
Mix sweetened cond milk, chocolate chips and 2 TBSP margarine over low heat until melted, then spread this evenly over the cake mix layer.
Drop remaining cake mix batter over the top.
Bake at 350 for 20 minutes
Friday, May 14, 2010
Slow cooker pork recipes
This Italian Roast Pork was so easy, delicious and done in 5 hours on LOW. I was concerned, but the thermometer read done! Nice meal to come home to!
http://www.familycircle.com/recipe/pork/italian-pork-roast/
I love my BBQ Ribs: I put a rub on them, then grill them, and finish them off in the oven with a mixture of BBQ sauce and beer. I tried these last weekend for a family get together, I wanted something in the crock pot so I could go to an AM soccer game and a PM baseball game and have things ready when we walked in the house. I may never go back to my original:)
http://www.familycircle.com/recipe/pork/asian-style-ribs/
Monday, May 10, 2010
Black bean soup

This is an easy, yummy, spicy black bean soup. It can be made in the crockpot, and tailored to your family’s specific &ldqou;spicy quotient” (add less salsa or less spicy salsa—smoky or smoked garlic salsa works very well with black beans, just omit the extra garlic), thickness preference (add more broth or stock, or fewer beans), and other likes and dislikes (omit garlic and red pepper, add onions or diced tomatoes, use vegetable broth rather than chicken for a vegetarian soup).
I had 4 cups of chicken stock in the freezer, so I used that, but canned (or boxed) stock is fine too.
Black bean soup
2 t olive oilHeat olive oil in stockpot or crockpot. Add garlic and peppers, cook until garlic is translucent and peppers start to soften. Process 3 cans of beans in the blender with salsa (in batches). Add stock, bean mixture, and whole beans (rinsed) to the garlic and peppers.
1 t minced garlic
1 red peppers, diced small
6 15-oz cans black beans
½ 14-oz jar Mrs. Renfro’s Green Salsa, more for spicier soup, less for milder soup (Mrs. Renfro’s also has a very good Smoky Garlic Salsa that is excellent with black beans, if you use this one, omit the extra garlic and the oil above, the oil is only for cooking the strong taste out of the garlic)
4 c chicken stock
Simmer for at least 30 minutes, until soup is warm and flavors have blended. Flavor will benefit from additional simmering, so feel free to let it simmer longer, just keep it over a low flame and stir occasionally so beans don’t stick to bottom of pan and burn. If you like, garnish with additional diced red peppers or thinly sliced scallions.
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Beef advice
Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Then, in our household, yesterday I needed a meal I could throw together quickly and early and with what I had on hand, so that everyone could feed themselves when they came in from baseball practice, before the baseball game, and from the baseball game, respectively. It ended up being a great, family-pleasing meal — I love when that happens!
I have a divided crockpot. In half, I put 4 chicken breasts, a can of enchilada sauce, and a can of diced green chiles. In the other half, I put 2 cans of red kidney beans, a large can of diced tomatoes, a cup of white rice, uncooked, a teaspoon of garlic, some salt, pepper, and cumin, and about ¼ cup of diced red peppers that I had on hand. I turned the crockpot on High at 2:30; I cut up some avocados, tomatoes, lettuce, black olives, green onions, and put them and shredded cheese, salsa, and sour cream in Tupperwares together in the fridge, defrosted some tortillas, and by 5:30, the chicken was cooked and ready to be shredded and returned to the sauce, and the rice and beans were cooked (but I might add about ½ cup of water next time) — soft chicken tacos with red beans and rice, from where there was no original meal plan, I love it! (And, as it turned out, thunder and lightning ended the first game early and canceled the second game altogether, so we got to sit down and eat as a family, even better.)
Tonight, we’ll grill, but my nod to Cinco de Mayo will be this Black Bean Salad that my family has lovingly turned into a dip (or filling for burritos and tacos). It’s one of the healthiest dips you’ll find. (Oh, and we’ll have a glass of sangria.) Enjoy!
Black Bean Salad
2 16 oz can black beans, drained, rinsedCombine all ingredients except avocado in a bowl and let stand for 30 minutes to combine flavors. (Can be prepared up to 2 days in advanced and refrigerated.)
1 tomato, diced
2 green onions, chopped
1 bunch cilantro, minced
½ t cumin
2 dashes Tabasco pepper sauce
2 small garlic cloves, minced
4 T balsamic vinegar
8 T olive oil
salt and pepper
2 avocados, diced
Just before serving, add diced avocado, correct seasonings, and serve on a leaf of Boston lettuce as a salad, or as a dip with tortilla chips.