Puerto Rican Style Red Beans (or, How to Boil Water)

As a budget shopper and a vegetarian I love to find new bean dishes that are interesting enough for everyone else in our family. Often times when I mention to someone that I like to use beans, they ask me if I use dried or canned. Canned beans are very easy, and sometimes I do use them. But the cans are lined with chemicals, they often contain tons of salt, and most of the time they have high fructose corn syrup as well. And they cost more. So, a couple words about using dried beans:

1.) Season the water! If you just throw them in the water until they're soft you will be sorely disappointed. We're used to beans having flavor from the can. So add flavor! Sliced garlic cloves, mollases, oregano (all in the pot above), cinnamon, etc. Get creative and be liberal. Add your salt near the end of the cooking time if you want the skins very soft.

2.) When you think they're done, leave them a little bit longer. It will take a long time to render them mushy, but if you have beans that are too firm in your casserole, yuk. Dry and pasty is no fun.

3.) Experiment with different kinds. You can find far more variety in the dry form, so take advantage of this and try some of the more exotic kinds and colors out there. You also promote the availability of these types if we use them.

All that being said, it's still very helpful to have a really yummy recipe to use them in. I made this pot last week and it was delicious. Everything in it has a bright flavor, and it's easy with very little clean up. It is also very filling, so take a little breather after your first bowl and assess the situation before you reach for seconds. You can always freeze the leftovers.... And there's a link at the bottom to a wonderful black bean soup.

Puerto Rican Style Red Beans

1 1/2 tbsp oil

3/4 cup minced onion

i clove minced garlic

2 cups chopped tomatoes

1 1/2 cups dried kidney beans (I used 3 cans red beans) soaked and drained

Broth or water as needed

2 cups peeled and diced butternut squash

1/2 cup coconut milk

1/2 bunch green onions chopped, white and green parts

2 tsp chopped fresh thyme

1/4 cup fresh cilantro (do not skip or skimp)

salt and pepper

Sauté onion and garlic until soft. Stir in tomatoes and cook until thick, about 20 minutes.

Stir in beans and cover with liquid til about one inch if using dried, or just until covered if using canned. Simmer 45 minutes for dried, 20 minutes for canned.

Add squash and coconut milk, simmer 10 minutes.

Add herbs, simmer 10 minutes.

Taste for salt and pepper.

Serve with white rice.

Also would be good with sourdough cornbread.

http://www.abeautifulmess.com/2012/11/black-bean-tortilla-soup.html

Local Business - BrewBakers

In the Keene, NH we have so many great local businesses I thought I should feature some. I decided to start with this breakfast/lunch cafe, BrewBakers, because I used to work there. It was hands down my favorite job. Ever. It's just busy enough, just cool enough with out making you uncomfortable if you forgot to wear your cool hat that day, and it serves locally roasted organic coffee and espresso.



Window Seat Doodles/Rooibos Tea

The front window seats are the most sought/fought passively over. The cafe sits half a story up from street level so you get a wonderful view of whats going on in town.

Also, the owner of the cafe originally started out by making this brick oven sourdough bread that is coveted! They use it for they're lunch sandwiches, so you need to buy a whole loaf to get a taste...
Signing off in the bathroom mirror!

Cocoa Banana Bread

 This morning was beautiful! The sky was bright, the sun was big and yellow, and it was just breezy enough to keep things awake. Which was good because it was 7:30 and I had until 9:15 to make breakfast for us girls, eat it, make this divine bread, clean up the living room, fold the clean diapers and pack up dinner and the vacuum for a friend that just had a baby. I left the dinner, brought the vacuum back...

I'm sure you've probably made banana bread before. It's kind of sticky, very sweet and pretty much every other banana loaf you've had. Which is fine! If that's what you want. But if you want something else, let me propose you try Dorie Greenspans Cocoa-Nana bread. Recipe to follow. Let me ramble first.

If you're like me you never have ripe bananas when you need them, and the bananas are always brown when you have no time. So freeze them. I use the bags on the left in the above picture to freeze two bananas together and then I'm ready. It makes about 1 cup of mushy banana. Also, save your butter wrappers. Room temp butter leaves plenty on the paper to grease your pan...

 This particular recipe uses a delightful ratio of cocoa to flour. 1 cup of cocoa to 2 cups of flour! You must try. You just have to. So take your butter out of the fridge and come back in a couple hours to bake this bread.

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup semisweet cocoa powder (I used unsweeetened and it was deliciously bold)
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 stick of room temp butter, and wrapper
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 large bananas, mashed, ripe
3/4 cup butter milk, or yogurt, plain

(optional)
additions: 3 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped walnuts, toasted hazelnuts, pecans, more chopped chocolate(!)

Preheat oven to 350. Butter a 9x5 loaf pan and place on two baking sheets stacked to keep the bottom from cooking too fast.
Mix the dry stuff.
Beat your butter at medium speed until light. Add sugars and beat a couple more minutes. Add eggs and between after each one. (It may look lumpy or curdled, it's ok, it will come together).
Turn mixer to low and mix in the bananas. Add dry stuff in three additions, mixing until it's barely incorperated. Add buttermilk or plain yogurt and mix. Stir in additions, and scrape into pan.

Bake for 30 minutes. Loosely tent with aluminum foil to keep from getting too dark and bake another 40 or 45 minutes, until a sharp knife comes clean. Transfer to a rack and cool at least 20 minutes before running your knife along the edges and carefully inverting to remove and cool right side up.

Fast Dinner Ideas for a Busy March!

Here's my little souz-chef helping me with the dinner prep. She's got a mean stirring arm!

We just sat down and made up our aux pioneer schedule for March, and it includes two afternoons a week from 3:30pm to 5:00pm. That means I am on the look out for some good easy but legitimate dinners! I thought I'd share some of my current stand-bys, and I hope you share some back...:)

Gussied up Macaroni and Cheese

We like to use Annie's boxed Mac n Cheese wihen we're sqeezed for time. But I add some extras.
My favorite additions are half a head of kale torn up and added to the pasta water for 5 minutes, along with some chopped up mushrooms that I can sautee while the pasta and greens are cooking. Hardboil some eggs while everything else is going on and it all comes out done at about the same time. Salad on the table and dinner done in 15 minutes!

Sweet Potatoes (thanks to Mom and Dad for this idea)

We started doing this dinner in December and it's been a great winter meal. The potatoes bake for about 1 1/2 hours, so if I put them in at 3:30 they're done when we get home.
I put a bag of spring salad mix on the table with some cottage cheese and it's warm, filling. Plus, very two year old friendly. Nice at the end of a long day.

Loaded Nachos

The title says it all. For our house, one half is vegetarian, and there's that salad mix on the table again. Add some fresh salsa and you're done.

 

Quiche (of all sorts)

Quiche is basically scrambled eggs and cheese baked in a crust. Crustless if it's a really crazy day. Quiche is one of those things that you can always throw together (because you always have eggs!) and it's usually amazing. If you have left over vegetables from another meal, throw them in. A small amount of meat that isn't enough to do anything else with? Chop it up and add that, too. Just remember one thing: you need as least one flavorful ingredient.. Add lots of sauteed garlic, or use parmesan or feta instead of cheddar or mozzarella. Sprinkle some extra cheese on top and when that's slightly browned you know it's done.