Sweet Potato Rice and Bean Soup

This soup could also be called "pantry soup" because it's great for those days when you haven't been to the store in a while and need to use up your food storage. I originally got this recipe from here: I was looking for a recipe with sweet potatoes, rice, and beans, and this one had all three listed. It wasn't until I started making the soup that I realized that the sweet potatoes were just supposed to be a side dish!

However, I think the sweet potatoes are they key to this creamy and mellow tasting soup. They neutralize the acidity of the tomatoes and tomato sauce and lend a very mellow and delicious flavor.

Ingredients:

1 can red beans

1 can black beans

1-2 cups uncooked rice

1 can diced tomatoes

1 8 oz can tomato sauce

1 can (1 cup frozen) corn

1 can sweet potatoes (you can use fresh, but the canned ones worked nicely)

3 cloves smooshed garlic

2 T olive oil

salt and pepper

6 cups of water (add more as necessary)

Spices to taste (I used my own random concoction of chicken spice and Italian spice)

I just threw everything in the pot and added rice and water until it looked like a good consistency. I like my soups less "soupy" and more "meaty," so I added more rice and less water. It's pretty bland without the spices so I recommend a liberal dose of whatever spices you want.

And seriously, the sweet potatoes add a really nice mellow flavor. This is a great autumn or winter dish.

(And sorry, I didn't add a picture because it tastes much better than it looks!)

Cookie Salad

Okay Breanne, this one is for you. Sorry there are no pictures but this tastes much better than it looks anyway.

4 cans Dole Tropical Fruit Salad
1 large can Pears
1 large can Peaches
2 cans Mandarin Oranges
Red Grapes
1 package Fudge Striped Shortbread Cookies

Sauce
1 small package instant vanilla pudding
1 cup buttermilk
1 9 oz. container Cool Whip

Drain and cut up fruit to desired size. Mix together.

For the sauce; mix pudding with buttermilk until dissolved. (It will be thicker than pudding generally is.) Stir in the Cool Whip.

Mix sauce and fruit. Break up the cookies into smallish pieces. Just before serving mix the cookies into the fruit-sauce mixture.

You can add whater fruit you want but this is the fruit I use.

Honey Cake

Please, no one have a heart attack. I figured it was time to let all of you know that I actually do know how to cook, and now that I have a kitchen with a working stove and oven (and I'm no longer crouching by my refrigerator eating cheese with my hands and drinking milk out of the carton like a barbarian), I should post some recipes.

A couple of weeks ago I had an international desserts party, and since it happened to fall on the same day/night as the first day/night of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, I decided to make a traditional Jewish dessert that I had last year while celebrating Rosh Hashanah in Israel. Jews eat a lot of honey-sweetened things to celebrate Rosh Hashanah, symbolizing the sweetness of the new year. But the great thing about this honey cake is it's just sweet enough to feel like a dessert but not too sweet for breakfast the next morning (especially if you aren't averse to eating such cakey things as banana bread and the like for breakfast).

The original recipe is from here, although I modified it a little.

2 Tbsp. honey dissolved into 3/4 cup hot water

3 eggs

3 Tbsp. oil

3/4 cup apple sauce

3/4 cup honey

3/4 cup brown sugar

2 1/4 cups flour

3/4 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

2 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. salt

1. Dissolve honey into water. Cool.
2. Mix eggs, oil, apple sauce, honey and brown sugar in a using an electric mixer. 
3. In a separate bowl, combine dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt).
4. Alternating, add flour mixture and honey water to the egg mixture in the bowl. Mix lightly until just smooth. 
5. Bake, uncovered, at 325 degrees Fahrenheit for 20-25 minutes.

(In case you're wondering why there is that odd step of dissolving honey into water, it's because the original recipe called for coffee. I tried substituting honey and it worked out well. But feel free to experiment with other liquidy things if you prefer.)

Strawberry Lemonade Mini Cheesecakes

I recently made these for a piano recital and they were a hit! Miniature cheesecakes with tangy lemon curd, sweet strawberry sauce, and fresh strawberries are essentially summer in a cupcake liner. :)

Lemon Curd recipe from Allrecipes

Strawberry Sauce recipe from Our Best Bites

For the cheesecakes:

24 Nilla wafers

2 8 oz. pkgs Philadelphia cream cheese

3/4 c. sugar

1 Tbsp. lemon juice

2 eggs

2 tsp. vanilla

Beat together cream cheese, sugar, lemon juice, eggs, and vanilla. Place 24 Nilla wafers in cupcake liners placed in muffin tins and fill about 2/3 full with cheesecake mixture. Bake at 375 for 15-20 minutes, until tops are beginning to brown and toothpick comes out clean.

For the lemon curd:

3 eggs
1 c. sugar
1/2 c. fresh squeezed lemon juice
1/4 c. butter, melted
1 Tbsp. grated lemon peel


Combine ingredients and cook in the microwave for one minute intervals until it coats the back of a spoon.


For the strawberry sauce:


1 pint strawberries
1/3 c. white sugar
1 tsp. almond or vanilla extract


Combine ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Cook for 5 minutes, breaking up and mashing strawberries constantly. Allow sauce to cool slightly, then put it in the blender and blend until smooth.


To assemble:


After cheesecakes have cooled, top with a dollop of lemon curd, several slices of fresh strawberries, and a drizzle of strawberry sauce. Store in the fridge.

Sweet Cornbread

This is the most amazing cornbread! The recipe is from an old friend, Wendy Smith. It is moist, sweet, and not overly crumbly like most cornbread tends to be. Sam had never liked cornbread until he had this kind--now he loves it!  It comes together very quickly, so it's a great last-minute side. We love it with a little honey drizzled on top!

Pictured with Vegetarian Chili

Cream together:

1 stick butter

2/3 c. sugar

2 eggs

1 c. buttermilk***

Add:

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 c. cornmeal

1 c. flour

Bake at 350 for 30 minutes in a square pan. (If doubled and put in a 9x13 pan, it is not as good.)

***I almost always use 1 Tbsp. vinegar+milk to equal 1 cup instead of buttermilk.

How to Can Pineapple

Canning pineapple had never occurred to me until I saw a post about it on my friend Melissa's blog. It's not much different than canning peaches or pears. When pineapples went on sale for $1 each here, I jumped at the chance and bought 20 to can.

1-Chop pineapple as desired.

Note:  I didn't let the pineapple ripen enough and my canned pineapple is really lacking in flavor. Make sure the pineapple is ripe before starting for best results.

2-Place pineapple in clean jars.

I used quart jars because they were cheaper, but pint and half-pint jars are the more ideal sizes for pineapple, since you don't typically use 4 cups at a time (at least I don't).

3-Add 1/3 cup white sugar.

4-Fill up jar with water, leaving 1/2 inch head space.

5-Bring lids to a boil.

6-Wipe rims of jars off, ensuring sugar grains are removed.

7-Place lids on jars and screw on rings.

8-Process in steam or waterbath canner for 20 minutes, according to your canner's instructions.

Melissa doesn't waste anything, really--she even dehydrates the rind and grinds it into powder to use in drinks and flavorings. She takes the cores and covers them with water, cooks them on the stove for several hours, and then strains the juice into jars to can as well.

The juice didn't have a particularly strong flavor, but it would add a nice punch to some Sprite or something.

Melissa also said she has a recipe for pickled pineapple cores that tastes like wassail. I'm hoping to get that recipe from her and try it for next time!

Spiced Pear Muffins

I adapted this recipe from Taste of Home. I intended to make applesauce muffins, but when I discovered part way through making them that I was nearly out of applesauce, I made up the difference with mashed up bottled pears. The result was a deliciously moist muffin (or cupcake, if you're Jocilyn) with a fun pear flavor. Here's what the original creator (Linda Williams) had to say about them: "These are such a popular item at the restaurant I own that I had it printed up on a card to share with guests."

1 cup butter, softened

2 cups sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

1/2 c. applesauce

1 1/2 c. very soft pear puree (canned pears work best)

4 cups flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

1/4 tsp. cloves

Cream together butter and sugar. Add eggs and vanilla; mix well. Stir in applesauce and pears. Combine flour, baking soda, and spices and stir into creamed mixture. Spoon into muffin tins and bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpicck comes out clean.

Yield: About 2 dozen