Chard-tastic Sausage and Black Bean Stoup

Trader Joe's was selling ten ounce bags of washed, chopped, and ready-to-cook Kaleidoscope Chard for $1.99 a bag. Of course, I bought two. And then I brought them home and realized there really wasn't room in the fridge for two bags of chard. So I made soup out of one of them. (The other one I keep patting and calling "pretty" ... as if it were a new pet and not something I will be eating soon).

This soup is based on the recipe for "Black Bean Soup with Sausage and Greens" from Beth Hensperger's Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker for Two. I made Hensperger's recipe a few years ago and, while it didn't turn out as well as I'd hoped (my own fault), I'd been meaning to revisit it.

When I made the recipe before I remember it came out too thin for my taste, so I threw in a diced sweet potato and some red lentils this time 'round hoping it would help thicken things up. I also used more chard and sausage, while reducing the amount of broth, and threw in a can of tomatoes for extra flavor.

Darlings, it was fabulous. Spicy, creamy, meaty ... fab. I ate it for breakfast. For lunch. For supper. And, yes, for a snack. It's been four days and the soup is gone and no-one helped me eat it. I ate it all, yum.

Chard, Sausage, and Black Bean Soup
Serves 4-6

Ingredients
2 tsp coconut oil
1 large carrot, diced small
1 large onion, diced small
2 celery stalks, diced small
1 large sweet potato, peeled and diced small
1 cup red lentils, rinsed, drained, and picked over
10 oz bag Trader Joe's raw washed chopped Swiss chard
12 oz package (5 sausages) Trader Joe's fully-cooked spicy jalapeño chicken sausage, halved lengthwise and sliced
1 ½ cups low-sodium chicken broth
15 oz can Trader Joe's refried black beans with jalapeño peppers
15 oz can Muir Glen Organic fire-roasted adobo-seasoned petite diced tomatoes

Directions
Heat oil in a large pot. Add carrot, onion, celery, and sausage and cook, stirring occasionally, until sausage is browned and onion is translucent. Add to slow cooker with chard, sweet potato, refried beans, tomatoes, and broth. Stir to combine. Cook on High for 3 hours. Stir and season to taste.

This is really thick soup -- much more like a stew -- so you might want to add more broth at the end. I like thick bean soups so left it as was.

Quinoa & Ham Salad

The Husband does not like ham. Therefore, I seldom buy ham. However, I like ham. And Dakin Farm was offering a 1.5 pound boneless smoked ham with free cob-smoked bacon and since I needed to stock up on Cabot cheese anyway ... well, it's no surprise there's a ham in my fridge.

I've been making ham-and-cheese microwave scrambled eggs -- beaten eggs, splash of milk, shredded Seriously Sharp, diced ham, cracked pepper all in the microwave for a minute or so -- a while that's a nomilicious combination, it's not very adventurous. Also, I neglected to go grocery shopping over the weekend, so I really needed something hammy to take to work.

Obviously, I made a salad. Salad-making has become my default cooking setting. When I don't know what to eat, I just start chopping all the things and then toss them in a bowl with random vinaigrette and call it a meal.

Quinoa & Ham Salad
Serves 4

Ingredients
1 cup quinoa, cooked according to packet directions, cooled
15 oz. low-sodium black beans, rinsed, well drained
1 small shallot, chopped
1 red pepper, chopped
1 carrot, shredded
8 oz cooked ham, chopped
½ cup vinaigrette of choice [Cindy's Kitchen Fresh Avocado Vinaigrette]
Chopped cilantro, as desired

Directions
Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and toss until vinaigrette is well distributed. Serve over salad greens with additional dressing on the side.

I served this salad over mache, my new salad green BFF. Not only is it tasty stuff, but mache is high vitamins A, C, K and omega-3 fatty acids. Yum.

Slow Cooker Curried Lentil & Kale Soup

Sunday, I cleared a freezer shelf with this surprisingly tasty slow cooked lentil-kale-everything soup. I used low-sodium organic chicken broth, but substituting vegetable broth would easily make it vegan. (Swapping half the broth for coconut milk might also be a good trade).

Slow Cooker Curried Lentil & Kale Soup
Serves many

Ingredients
8 oz bag frozen chopped onions
8 oz bag frozen mixed pepper strips
10 oz bag frozen cubed sweet potatoes
16 oz bag frozen cubed butternut squash
2 14.5 oz cans low-sodium chicken broth
1 tsp salt
1 Tbsp Penzeys Maharajah curry powder
½ tsp ground turmeric
½ tsp smoked paprika
30 oz bag chopped frozen kale
17.63 oz package Melissa's steamed lentils

Directions
Combine everything but the kale and lentils in your slow cooker insert and cook for 5 hours on High.

Puree with an immersion blender until smooth.

Add lentils and kale. Stir well. Cook for another 15-20 minutes.

Adjust seasonings to taste -- I added a little lemon juice and sriracha for brightness.

I've been eating this for breakfast, of course, and a big bowl with some fruit on the side keeps me comfortable (and happy) until lunch time -- not surprising as the soup is full of dietary fiber and protein!

Easy White Bean & Basil Salad

My herb pots and raised vegetable beds experienced a tremendous growth spurt the week we were away and, among other things, the basil already needs pinching back. Harvesting basil in the first week of June? Amazing. And delicious.

As I also suffered a surfeit of tomatoes, red onions, and white beans, I thought I'd make a bean salad to go with pan-seared tuna steaks I'd planned on making for supper. I hadn't really had a clear idea what I was going to serve with the tuna, anyway, and white bean salad seemed more exciting than my usual parslied rice and garlicky green beans.

Put chopped seeded (slice off an end and squeeze out the seeds) Campari tomatoes, red onion, capers, and fresh basil in a bowl.

Add drained, rinsed white beans and your vinaigrette of choice (I used Marie's Greek vinaigrette leftover from May's Alphabet Challenge).

Give everything a good stir. Leave on the kitchen side for an hour or so to let the flavors mingle. Season with salt and black pepper to taste.

My First Kabobs

Several years ago, when my parents were moving house, my mother gave me her old set of stainless steel kabob skewers. I didn't really know what to do with them, having never made kabobs, but I was loathe to refuse them as I had fond memories of using them to toast marshmallow/fence with my cousins at many family picnics.

I was the Errol Flynn of marshmallow toasters, I tell you.

Anyway, the skewers sat, unused and unloved, in the back of my kitchen's junk drawer until last week when I decided it was darn well time to skewer something or let them go.

There was a pound of thawed beef chunks in the fridge I'd intended for stew, before the marvelous spring weather we've been having persuaded me that stew was the last thing I wanted to eat. Why not, I thought, skewer and broil 'em?

I marinaded the beef for two days (it was supposed to only be overnight, but ...) in McCormick Grill Mates® 25% Less Sodium Montreal Steak Marinade prepared with vegetable oil, water, and zinfandel vinegar. Sunday afternoon, I threaded the meat onto two metal skewers, lay them on a broiler pan, poured some of the remaining marinade over each skewer, and let them sit for about 20 minutes on the kitchen side.

Then I heated the broiler and broiled the kabobs about four inches from the element for about 4 minutes on each side.

I served the kabobs on a bed of Southern Living's "Basmati Rice and Pigeon Peas" and it made for a rather nice Sunday dinner. The kabobs were tender and peppery with a good hit of garlic and the lemony basmati rice paired well with them.

Overall, I'm feeling pretty pleased with myself and expect we'll be eating a lot of meat-onna-stick this summer!

Eating the Alphabet: C is for Chickpeas

I knew I wanted to use chickpeas in this month's Eating the Alphabet Challenge and so was pleased to find Oxmoor House's "Lemony Fusilli with Chickpeas, Raisins, and Spinach" posted on myrecipes.com. This was a warm pasta salad made from whole wheat pasta, lemon juice and zest, chickpeas, baby spinach, and golden raisins. With all that yellow and green, it seemed like an excellent recipe to welcome Spring!

I made this salad twice and the second time through I changed up the amounts of seasonings (the first iteration was a bit bland) and subbed fresh goat cheese crumbles for the shredded fontina as, while fontina is a tasty cheese, I thought this salad needed a tangy-sweet creaminess to balance the lemon. Also, I really like fresh goat cheese crumbles!

Pasta With Chickpeas, Spinach, and Golden Raisins

3 cups uncooked whole wheat rotini
2 lemons
2 tablespoons olive oil
½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
½ teaspoon salt
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 (9-ounce) package fresh baby spinach
1 (15-ounce) can chickpeas (garbanzo beans), rinsed and drained
¾ cup golden raisins
¼ cup (1 ounce) goat cheese crumbles

Cook pasta as directed.

While pasta cooks, zest lemons and squeeze juice from lemons to measure 4 teaspoons zest and ¼ cup juice. Whisk zest, juice, olive oil, red pepper flakes, salt, and garlic together in a really big bowl. Add spinach, chickpeas, and raisins; toss well. (I think you could do this an hour or two ahead of time to really let the spinach, raisins, and chickpeas pick up as much flavor from the dressing as possible).

Drain pasta and return to hot pot. Immediately add the spinach mixture, stirring until spinach wilts. Taste for salt. Serve warm sprinkled with goat cheese crumbles. Serves 4.

Pantry Raid: Tuna, Capers, & White Bean Salad

Restlessly pacing the kitchen at eleven o'clock Thursday evening, eager to slap together something fast and (hopefully) tasty to take to work in the morning, my gaze fell upon a small golden tin of oil-packed tuna and I had the most delicious brainstorm. I would make tuna and white bean salad! Why not?! I had tuna. I had beans. I had capers. And shallots. And lemon. Mmm, lemon! It was going to be the most awesome tuna salad ever.

And, you know, it pretty much was. If you're sensible, this recipe serves two. I am not sensible and went omnomnom until it was all gone and then I wished for more.

Tuna & White Bean Salad

5 oz tin oil packed tuna, undrained
15.5 oz tin white beans, drained and rinsed
1 small shallot, minced
2 tsp capers, drained but not rinsed
Lemon juice
Black pepper
Parsley
Baby spinach

Mix undrained tuna, beans, shallot, and capers together. Season with lemon juice, black pepper, and parsley to taste. Serve on a bed of baby spinach.

I'm thinking this would be awesome in the summer with chopped garden tomatoes and fresh basil or tarragon.

Kale Is For Stew

I stopped in a Trader Joe's last weekend and bought a big bag of washed chopped kale on impulse, which is the kind of thing that always happens to be when I go shopping without a grocery list. Officially, I'm the only one who eats kale in this household so I knew I was free to do with it whatever I liked. Being traditionally-minded, I made a big pot of Bon Appetit's "Kale and White Bean Stew." I had to make some changes based on what I had in my pantry, but tried to stick pretty close to the original recipe where I could. The stew came out really well and I took forward to making it again.

Modified Kale & White Bean Stew

10 oz bag Trader Joe's Kale
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 cup chopped peeled carrots
1 cup chopped celery
2 shallots, chopped
1 small red onion, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup Beringer 2009 Californian Chenin Blanc (or whatever you're drinking)
1 15-ounce can Goya Habas Grandes (large butter beans), drained and rinsed
1 15-ounce can Muir Glen Organic fire-roasted diced tomatoes, not drained
1 cup slightly wrinkly cherry tomatoes, halved
2 cups turkey broth (more if you like broth-y stews)
2 tsp thyme
1 bay leaf
Really good sherry or red wine vinegar
salt and pepper to taste

Blanch kale in boiling salted water for 1 minute or until brilliant green. Immediately drain and plunge into a ice water bath to stop the cooking process. Drain well. Wrap in a tea towel and squeeze out as much water as possible. Set aside for later.

Heat oil in a French/Dutch oven over medium heat. Add carrots, celery, shallots, red onion, and garlic. Cook until tender, stirring, about 15 minutes (vegetables will probably brown a little -- I liked this but Bon Appetit said not to).

Add wine and simmer until liquid is slightly reduced. Add beans, broth, tomatoes, thyme, and bay leaf and bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer 20 minutes. Add kale and simmer 5 minutes longer. Remove bay. Add more broth if stew is too thick for you. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Ladle into bowls and served drizzled with sherry or red wine vinegar. Have a bit of crusty bread on the side for dunking.

(I didn't have any sherry vinegar to mix into the finished stew, but used the really delicious, fruity Katz Late Harvest Zinfandel AgroDolce Vinegar in its place and ... wow! It just made the stew sing).

Lunch by Bush's Beans

I was pokin' 'round the internetz, looking for black bean soup recipes, when I found Bush's Black Best Bean Soup Meal and thought "there is nothing on that page I do not want to eat and cannot make rightnowthisminute" so I did.

Best work lunch since I made that delicious curried pumpkin-vegetable soup a few weeks ago!

I did end up modifying the black bean soup a bit to keep with the pantry challenge, but it still came out pretty darn delicious.

Pantry Challenge Black Bean Soup

Ingredients
1 (15 ounce) can organic black beans, undrained
1 (15 ounce) can organic black beans, undrained and pureed
1 (15 ounce) can organic black beans, drained and rinsed
2 cups reduced-sodium fat-free organic chicken broth
½ cup Green Mountain Gringo Roasted Garlic salsa
1 Tbsp Penzeys salt-free Arizona Dreaming seasoning blend

Directions
Add beans, chicken broth, salsa, and seasoning blend to pot. Bring to a boil and then simmer for 10 minutes or until some liquid has evaporated and soup is thickened to your liking. Serve topped with a sprinkle of dried cilantro.

I like to crumble the corn muffin into the soup and stir them together, but I am bit of a barbarian.

Pantry Challenge: Clean Out The Cupboards With Soup

Trying to stay on track with the Pantry Challenge, I made a couple soups. There's nothing as comforting or forgiving as soup, after all, and it's always an excellent way to use up odds and ends.

First I made a batch of Pillsbury's "Curried Pumpkin-Vegetable Soup." It was a really tasty, easy soup with lots of good curry flavor. I admit I used 1 tsp more curry than called for and I bloomed the spices with the sauteed onions before adding the remaining ingredients, because that's what I learned from Cook's Illustrated -- always bloom spice blends like curry powder to help develop their rich, complex flavors. I wanted a flavorful soup, so I bloomed.

Did it work? I think so. Certainly, I was so interested in eating it that I never stopped to take a picture of the finished soup! This is one of the best recipes ever! Simple and healthy and yet also so rich and flavorful.

Ingredients: pumpkin, frozen mixed vegetables, broth, curry powder, paprika, onion, garlic, diced tomatoes, salt, black pepper.
Pantry challenge items used: 1 can pumpkin, 1 can diced tomatoes, 1 can turkey broth.

Emboldened by my success, I went on to make a big pot of Taste of Home's "Vegetable Bean Soup" which not only allowed me to use pantry challenge ingredients, but also some limp celery and ancient frozen chopped spinach.  Unfortunately, this soup was not quite as tasty as the pumpkin soup. Rich and hearty, yes, with lots of vegetable goodness and I'm sure I'll make it again, but ... the pumpkin soup was just the bomb, you know?

Ingredients: black beans, onion, garlic, celery, carrots, diced tomatoes, garlic powder, black pepper, salt, no-salt powdered beef bouillon, quick-cooking barley.
Pantry challenge items used: 1 can black beans, 2 cans diced tomatoes, partial box of quick-cooking oats.

Tasty Chard & Bean Soup

For work this week, I made a black bean, Swiss chard, and sausage soup based on Beth Hensperger's recipe for "Black Bean Soup with Sausage and Greens" from Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Recipes for Two. Hot soup in August may sound crazy to you, but my work's staff room is so cold in the summer that hot soup is just the ticket!

Ingredients: precooked organic spicy chicken sausage, Swiss chard from my garden, low-sodium organic chicken broth, organic fat-free refried black beans, red onion, garlic, low-sodium organic black beans.

To make this soup, I heated the sliced sausage with red onion and garlic until the sausage was a lovely brown and the onion was translucent. Then I dumped the chopped chard into the pan with the sausage and gave everything a good stir 'round until the chard started to wilt. Hensperger's recipe said to discard the stems and use only the leaves, but I used the stems and leaves -- just chopped the stems very finely as if I was chopping celery for tuna salad.

Once the chard was wilted, I dumped the broth, refried beans, and chard-sausage mixture into my slow cooker and cooked everything on HIGH for 2½ hours. At the end, I decided the soup was too thin and stirred in a can of mashed up black beans and let everything sit at WARM for thirty minutes or so. This helped somewhat, but I still feel the soup was not thick enough. Especially as Hensperger's recipe indicated this soup would come out so thick that I might want to thin it with a little boiling water!

Still, this soup turned out really quite tasty and I recommend you give it a try.

Tabouli(ish) Lentils

I planted a wee pot of sorrel in my vegetables garden about a month ago and the plant is now quite enormous. I had planned make soup with my sorrel Sunday afternoon, but it just didn't work out. I had the recipe all picked out -- "Sorrel and Potato Soup (Potage à L'oseille)" -- and was ready to go. Just needed to pick up potatoes and heavy cream at the market. Well, wouldn't you know, the market was out of heavy cream. Yes. Madness. The rest of my groceries couldn't stay in the hot car while I scouted other markets for heavy cream so I just went home and sulked a bit.

Then, I made a lentil-sorrel salad by modifying Robin Asbell's recipe for "Sorrel-Freekeh Tabouli." I used a 17.63 ounce package of cooked lentils instead of cracked freekeh, because I was in the mood for lentils. The mint and sorrel flavors work well together -- the mint mellows the sorrel's tartness while the sorrel keeps the mint from taking over.

I served this salad over lettuce greens from my garden and sprinkled it with some goat cheese crumbles. It makes for a filling lunch and I've found it will carry me through the afternoon without a three o'clock snack binge. Yay, for soluble fiber?

Quick & Easy Lentil Stew

While shopping at Trader Joe's a few weeks ago, I was thrilled to pick up a packet of refrigerated steamed ready-to-eat lentils since I love lentils but almost never think about cooking with them since I lapsed from vegetarianism all those years ago.

Of course, you know what happened once I got the lentils home. Yes, I stuffed them in the fridge and would probably have never thought about them again except they (eventually) started being in the way. It seemed as if every time I reached for something, the lentils were there in its place. It was obvious I need to use the lentils and, happily, the Internetz was full of good ideas for soups and salads. When I found "Easy Trader Joe’s Recipe: Lentil Stew" over at Rookie Moms I simply knew I had found the dish for me.

Because I didn't want to do any extra shopping, I made a few changes to Rookie Moms' recipe based on the ingredients I had on hand -- basically, I swapped Campbell's V8 Tomato Herb Soup in for Trader Joe's Tomato & Roasted Red Pepper Soup and added file powder with the cumin. Using file powder might sound a bit weird, but it's a traditional stew thickener and I quite like the flavor.

To make this stew I combined the following in a soup pot and brought it to a low simmer for about ten minutes or so:

• 1 18.3 oz carton Campbell's V8 Tomato Herb Soup
• 1 package pre-cooked steamed lentils
• ½ tsp cumin
• ½ tsp file powder
• 1 baked sweet potato, cut into small chunks

Of course, if you want to be fancy, you could saute chopped onion, celery, carrots, and garlic in a little olive oil before adding the other ingredients to the pot. Also, if you'd like a thinner stew, simply dilute it with a little broth.

Finicky About Fennel

Monday, I made Eatingwell's "Seared Salmon with White Beans" for supper and learned something important -- neither The Husband nor I particularly enjoy the taste of cooked fennel bulb. I've cooked with fennel seeds before and find the raw green fronds pretty tasty (kinda-sorta like dill), but the bulb? Off-putting. It's a sad thing, because this dish was otherwise delicious. I will certainly make this recipe again, but I will omit the fennel bulb or replace it with very thin slices of leek.


Ingredients: salmon fillet, fennel bulb, white beans, diced cherry tomatoes, fennel seed, Dijon mustard, white wine.

The fennel mixture was very simple to prepare -- simply heat a little olive oil in a skillet and cook the thinly sliced (I ran mine through my food processor to get wafer-thin pieces) fennel until it starts to brown, then stir in white beans, diced tomatoes, and white wine. Cook everything until the tomato starts to go smooshy, then remove from heat, throw in some chopped fennel fronds, a splodge of Dijon mustard, and some fresh cracked pepper. Cover and pop into a warm oven while you cook the salmon.

I usually bake salmon, but this recipe's method bears repeating as yields very crispy salmon -- an interesting texture change. Just heat a little olive oil in another skillet until the oil is all shimmery. Add two 4-oz pieces of salmon salmon, skinned side up, to the skillet and cook until you can see the edges have gone golden brown. Turn the salmon over, cover and remove from the heat -- the residual heat will cook the salmon through (took about 8 min for mine, but they were very thick pieces). Serve the salmon on the fennel mixture.

Beanie Beans

Doesn't that look delicious? This is only the second time I've made baked beans and I'm pretty pleased with the results. (I did end up baking them a lot longer and lower than directed, but that seems to have done them no harm).

I made these using a kit I picked up at Rogers Orchards -- basically a sack of navy and soldier beans with a seasoning packet and a wee jug of maple syrup. While I baked the beans as directed in a 300°F oven for five hours, they still weren't quite perfect so I stirred in about six ounces of Lamothe's Maple Farmhouse Barbeque Sauce, turned the oven down to its lowest setting, and left the beans baked while I slept. In the morning, the beans were, indeed, perfect.

Ingredients: navy & soldier beans, water, brown sugar, onion, Granny Smith apple, bacon, salt, pepper, and spices.

Cheesy Rice & Bean Goodness

Halloween, I made "Corn, Black Bean, and Rice Burritos" from Good Housekeeping's Family Vegetarian Cooking for supper. These "burritos" were quite tasty and dead easy to make. I think they would serve well as a work night supper -- prepare them the night before and then pop them in the oven upon arriving home from work.

Ingredients: brown rice, low-sodium black beans, low-sodium corn, diced chiles, shredded Cabot Monterey Jack, Green Mountain Gringo Roasted Garlic salsa, reconstituted dried cilantro, flour tortillas.

Good Housekeeping says that it serves four, but I found one burrito per person worked just fine. I must admit I did tweak the recipe a little -- stirred the salsa into the rice filling, and topped the assembled with the remaining jar of salsa and shredded block of cheese as more cheese is always better. With less cheese, however, you might want to eat two?

(I think The Husband suspects there's something up as I served him three yummy meatless suppers last week. Oh, The Husband, if you only knew ...)

Time for Soup

Last week, since it was starting to feel a little like autumn, I dusted off my slow cooker and made Taste of Home's "Mexican Chicken Soup." It was a pretty quick (four hours!) and tasty recipe (mmm .... spicy, tomato-y, bean-y goodness) and I will definitely be making it again -- especially when I'm looking for something to do with leftover roast turkey.

Since the recipe called for pre-cooking the chicken, I really think you could just as easily substitute leftover cooked chicken or turkey rather than going to the extra effort of cooking chicken specifically for this recipe. Personally, I am not a big fan of slow cooker recipes that require a lot of pre-cooking. I put stuff in the slow cooker. It cooks. I eat it. It should not be more complicated than that.

Anyway, as I didn't have any leftover chicken, I did precook a pound of diced boneless, skinless chicken thighs. Because I don't buy envelopes of taco seasoning, I used four tablespoons of Penzeys Bold Taco seasoning (four tablespoons is, according to jar, the amount you'd use for a pound of ground beef when making tacos).

Ingredients: chicken, low-sodium vegetable juice, Penzeys Bold Taco seasoning, black beans, corn, farmers' market salsa.

Here's a little kitchen chemistry weirdness for you: straight out of the slow cooker, the soup was almost unbearably spicy. The next day? Rather mild. Where did the heat go? I've never had soup mellow like that before.

Fake Chili

Last week, I made "Mexican Beef and Black Beans" from Betty Crocker's Cook It Quick! as a speedy post-physio supper. Unfortunately, I didn't think this dish was very good when I sampled it and ended up dumping in a bunch of extra ingredients to make it taste better. Did I succeed? Well, it was better ... but I'm not dying to make it again.

The Husband called this "fake chili" and would not eat the leftovers. I did eat some of the leftovers rolled in tortillas with shredded cheese and salsa -- it was pretty good that way -- but a bunch of it went to the cats.

Fake Chili

1 pound ground turkey
1 tsp parsley flakes
1 Tbsp white wine vinegar
1 tsp grated lime zest
3 Tbsp Penzeys Bold Taco seasoning
½ tsp red pepper sauce
1 red bell pepper, diced small
1 15 ounce can low-sodium black beans, rinsed and drained
8 can oz low-sodium tomato sauce
4 green onions, thinly sliced

Cook turkey and peppers in large skillet until turkey is browned and peppers are tender; drain if necessary. Stir in remaining ingredients. Cook about 5 minutes or until heated through. Sprinkle with onions.

Unfortunately, this was the third dish I've made from Cook It Quick! that needed doctoring up so I will be donating this cookbook to my library's Friends sale. May some other cook have better luck with it!

Easy Corn & Black Bean Salad

Made a lovely side salad for to accompany this week's turkey tacos using leftover roast corn, tinned black beans, diced red onion, halved cherry tomatoes, fresh parsley and basil. It was really yummy and making it got me over my fear of stripping ears. Williams-Sonoma wouldn't try to sell me a special stripping gadget if it weren't hard, right?

Maybe ... because it's easy and painless. Just take a small, sharp knife, hold the ear steady, and make long, smooth downward strokes, separating the kernels from the cob. The trick seems to be lie in mastering the depth of your cut -- too deep and you'll end up with woody bits of cob mixed in with your corn. Too shallow and you're leaving half the corn behind. Personally, I err toward shallow cuts as I can always go back and "milk" the cobs by flipping the knife over and running the blunt side down the length of the cob.

Easy Corn & Black Bean Salad 

15.5 oz can low-sodium black beans, rinsed and drained
1 ear leftover roast corn, stripped and milked (or about 1 cup thawed frozen corn)
2 cups cherry and pear tomatoes, halved
¼ cup minced red onion
¼ cup chopped fresh parsley
¼ cup basil chiffonade
garlic vinegar, to taste
olive oil, to taste
fresh ground pepper, to taste

Combine all in a large bowl and let sit on the counter for about an hour so the flavors marry.

Going back to the tacos, for a minute, I used Eatingwell's no-fry recipe for "Crispy Taco Shells" to make my own "homemade" taco shells. As the recipe's description says, they are surprisingly easy to make and do taste better than the store bought ones. I will definitely use this recipe again and recommend you try it, too!

Refreshing summer salads!

Spinning Blades of Death

Why is it I am incapable of cleaning food processor blades without slicing myself open? I made two soups with my food processor last weekend and, each time I washed the blades, I managed to slice my thumb open. How clumsy can I be?

The soups were pretty tasty, though, and almost made up for the bloodshed. First, I made an easy black bean soup by running two (drained) cans of low sodium organic black beans through my food processor with a jar of Green Mountain Gringo's roasted garlic salsa, a little ground cumin, and enough low-sodium organic vegetable broth to make it soupy. The soup was quite good -- spicy, garlicky, and very hearty.

My second soup, alas, was not so good. I made "Pumpkin Soup" using a recipe from Stonewall Kitchen and, while the recipe was very simple and straightforward, I was not enamoured of the soup. The jar of maple pumpkin butter made the soup just too sweet for me.