|quick and cheap black bean soup|

My husband and I were craving some black bean soup the other day, so I invented this little recipe. So easy. It came together in less than 10 minutes and probably cost less than $3 to make.

FAST BLACK BEAN SOUP
Makes 3 servings.

1) Saute half an onion (diced) with some minced garlic.
2) Add about 1/2 teaspoon cumin, 1/4 teaspoon chili powder, and 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika, and some cilantro. If you don't own smoked paprika, you should. It's amazing and adds this great adobo-like flavor to things.
3) Dump in a can of Rotel (undrained) and a can of black beans (undrained).
4) Heat through. Top with shredded cheese and/or plain yogurt (or sour cream). Enjoy!

|vegetarian comfort food|

Fall is here and that means comfort food. I did a google search for "vegetarian comfort food" and found a great website with a huge list.

This was a recipe that I picked out and tried. It is amazing. I highly recommend checking it out.

Noodles and Cheese

|on the importance of frozen rice|

I don't remember where I learned that you can freeze cook rice, but it has truly changed my life. Every time we make rice, I almost always make extra and then I freeze it in those snack-sized zips (they hold about a cup). When I come home and am starving and we have "nothing to eat" I always use those frozen bags of rice as a fall back.

Today, I thought we had "nothing to eat" for lunch, but I popped a bag of rice in the microwave for a couple of minutes. Then I rummaged around in the fridge and found a few leftover veggies from a crudite platter. In less than 10 minutes I had super awesome stir fry....broccoli, celery, carrots, garlic, tofu, sesame oil, soy sauce, and frozen rice. Tasted better than any of the local Chinese places and it was faster, too.

I love frozen rice.

| bowl of fall goodness |

Sweet potatoes abounded at the market on Saturday, so I picked some up. I wanted to find a way to make them into a complete meal (which, in my world, basically involves adding grains and protein). Here's what I came up with. It is tasty, if I do say so myself.


BOWL OF FALL GOODNESS
3 medium sweet potatoes
2 tablespoons butter
½ cup orange juice
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon corn syrup (or maple)
½ cup raisins
½ cup walnuts, chopped
Cinnamon and nutmeg
Salt and pepper
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
Quick cook barley

Combine all ingredients except the black beans and barley in a large casserole. Bake at 350-375 until the sweet potatoes are tender (about 30-45 minutes). Meanwhile, cook up about 4 servings of quick cook barley according to the package directions. Once the potatoes are done, add the can of black beans and stir. Serve the potato mixture over the barley.

NOTE: you could probably use another grain, like rice, but boy is the chewiness of the barley a good choice.

| more potatoes from the CSA|

Believe it or not, we don't cook with potatoes too often. It's hard to do because so many of our entrees are built around a starch already - rice, pasta, quinoa, etc. And then when you make potatoes as a side, you don't want all that starch, you know? Well, I WANT the starch, but probably shouldn't.

Anyway, I made this recipe up earlier today to use up some of the tiny, delicious red potatoes from the CSA. It was tasty and provided more support for an important cooking theory - everything is better with cream of mushroom soup.

LAZY WOMAN’S SHEPHERD’S PIE

Small red potatoes (about 3 cups)
1 cup dry lentils
1 large carrot, diced
Small onion
2 cups sliced mushrooms
Whatever other veggies you want (yellow squash, green peppers, green beans?)
½ cup or so of jarred red peppers, diced
2 cans cream of mushroom soup
Seasoning – pepper, garlic, Italian seasoning (or whatever kind you prefer)

1) In a large pot of boiling water, boil potatoes, lentils, and carrots for about 10 minutes with some salt. Drain.
2) While that’s cooking, mix together everything else in a big bowl. Add the drained potato/lentil/carrot mixture when done.
3) Spray the bottom of a casserole. Spread the mixture in the dish and bake at 350 for about 30 minutes. You may want to top it with some bread crumbs or crackers, too.

|what up, vivanno?|

So, I pretty much can make a chocolate banana Vivanno at home. It's awesome and every time I do it, I smile because I'm saving 4 bucks. Also, it's faster than going to Starbucks.

MAKE YOUR OWN VIVANNO

Combine in a blender:
1 cup skim milk
1/2 cup light vanilla ice cream
1 banana, previously frozen and cut into large chunks
1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tablespoon protein powder

Blend. Eat. Smile.

NOTES:

• I use the ice cream to help with the consistency. I also think you could probably add a second frozen banana and get the same thing.
• If you don't have protein powder, I'm sure it wouldn't affect the taste. I just add it to help with my protein consumption. I use the big canister kind in all my smoothies/milkshakes. It helps.
• To freeze bananas, just take ripe ones, peel them, cut into thirds and put on a cookie sheet in the freezer overnight. In the AM, take them off the sheet and put into a plastic baggie. They make your smoothies have a fabulous consistency. This works with pretty much all kinds of smoothie fruits (berries, peaches, nectarines, pineapple, mango, etc).

|crockpot cheesy potato soup|

This is a recipe from a lady who went to my church when I was growing up. Actually, I think it was her grandmother's. When I got married, my mom gave me a recipe card box full of some of my favorite recipes. This was definitely in there.

CROCKPOT CHEESY POTATO SOUP

• 4 cups veggie or chicken broth (or 4 cups water and 4 cubes of bouillon)
• 1 cup water
• small onion, diced
• 8-9 potatoes, cubed (you can peel if you prefer)
• 1-2 carrots, diced small or shredded
• dried parsley, salt, and pepper to taste
• 1 can fat-free evaporated milk
• 8-12 slices deli-style American cheese (these are the thick slices that come in a big block but aren't individually wrapped)

Combine broth, water, onion, potatoes, carrots, and seasonings in a crockpot. Cook on high 3-4 hours or low 8-12 hours. About an hour before serving, cool it down a bit (just take the lid off and put your crockpot on warm). Add the evaporated milk (the cooling is so it doesn't curdle the milk). Take the slices of cheese and slice them into little strips (or just pull them apart). Add to the mix and stir. Just before serving use a potato masher to mash up the potatoes a bit. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Makes about 6-8 servings.

NOTE: This isn't the world's healthiest recipe (especially with the amount of bread I prefer to dip into it) , but it's not horrible. It's also AMAZING comfort food.