Stuffed Green Peppers

Growing up, my mom had a "go to" recipe for stuffed green peppers. To be honest - I hated them. Peppers are not kid friendly. However, the rice mixture (I remember) being quite good. It was filled with onion and sausage, stuffed deep into the pepper. When Mom made this, I would eat the inside - and leave the pepper. Thanks, but no thanks.

As I've aged (29 in just a couple of months, YIKES), I've discovered a taste for peppers. Something made me think about Mom's recipe, which made me think I wanted to try a vegetarian version.

Stuffed Peppers:

4 Good-sized peppers (I just had a brainstorm to get one of every color for prettiness sake)
2-3 cups of cooked rice
About a cup of a chopped leek.
Around 12 (more is okay if you want to use up the package) Baby Portobello or wild mushrooms.
3/4 cup cooked Chickpeas
4 cloves of garlic
1 teaspoon rubbed sage
1 teaspoon ground thyme
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoons salt (or to taste)
Ground cracked pepper, to taste
Cheese for topping

(1) Wash and prepare leeks: Divide leek down the middle length wise and rough cut 4 inch pieces or so. Separate out all the layers and place in a LARGE bowl filled with water. Leeks are grown in a sandy dirt, and the sand gets trapped between the layers. If you let the leeks sit in water, the sand rinses off and settles to the bottom. Just gently lift the floating leeks off the top after 10 minutes or so. Then chop up into smaller pieces. If you skip this step - you risk grittiness.

(2) Cut the top off of each pepper. Pull out the seed pod inside and wash out thoroughly.

(3) In large pan (I actually used a dutch oven), heat some olive oil over medium heat. Add garlic and leeks, and sweat. Then add mushrooms and cook until soft.

(4) Add spices, cook for a few minutes more.

(5) Add rice and chickpeas, heat. If mixture starts to dry out or stick to the bottom, add a little water for steam. Taste to see if mixture is right - you want it almost too salty. As the salt seems less obvious when eaten with the pepper. In fact, your very flavorful rice might be not flavorful enough once in the pepper.

(6) Stuff each pepper, top with cheese, and cook in an appropriate pan at 375 for about 30 minutes. I used a couple of loaf pans, as I wanted something that would support the sides a little. It worked well. The most important part is to choose something with sides, as the moisture will spill off a cookie sheet. Also, the cheese you pick is flexible. The original recipe my mom used had Monterrey jack, which is a nice melty-type cheese. I envision a fresh mozzarella to compliment the thyme. Goat cheese would add some tang, and pepper jack some punch. I used some shredded cheddar and a Mexican blend that I had on hand - which did the trick. If you really LOVE cheese, add some in the middle for more cheesy goodness.


To eat, Go ahead and cut the pepper in half, then each half in half. The quartered pieces of the pepper will fall, leaving you a plate full of yumminess. This will allow you to get a bite of pepper and stuffing in every taste.
I really loved the brown color in the rice. It had pretty chocolate undertones.

Curried Quinoa Pilaf

It has been a crazy week in our home. The storms pushed us out of school just two days after we started, which means Monday I had to start all over again. This week has been a real bear. Which means I've had limited time in the kitchen, and even more limited time to document and blog. In fact, I made another quinoa dish this week that I just couldn't get a photo of. So now I will have to re-create and document that later.

Today's dish is a quick, easy, skillet meal that you can make as big or small as you want. The first time I made it, it was good. The second time, I added honey which made it MUCH better, and the third time I traded the lemon for lime. The end result? Something truly tasty that can be made from leftovers in minutes.

Curried Quinoa Pilaf

1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
1 small onion (or 1/2 medium), chopped
1 clove of garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon garam marsala
1/2 teaspoon yellow curry powder
The juice of 1/2 of a lime
1/4 cup diced tomatoes (fresh or canned)
1/3 cup cooked chickpeas
1/4 cup milk
1 Tablespoon nuts (I used pine, but walnuts, peanuts, and pecans would all be good)
1 Teaspoon honey
1 to 1 1/2 cup Quinoa

Heat olive oil in pan over medium to medium high eat.

Add onions and garlic, saute for a moment, until they start to turn translucent.

Add spices and lime. Continue to cook for a minute.

Add tomatoes, cook until the tomatoes start to juice. Then add the chickpeas, and cook for several minutes more.

Once everything has started to release moisture, add the milk. Stir and blend until the milk has been well combined and the sauce starts to turn a little thick.

Add the quinoa, heat. Then add the pine nuts and honey, stir well and saute for another couple of minutes.

Plate and eat. Top with fresh cilantro, if you desire.

This would be just as good with rice, if that is what you had on hand. Since rice is a bit more bland, you might want to reduce the amount of garam marsala slightly.

In a hurry...

The summer is coming to a close. Which means the kids are headed back to preschool, I am trying to wrap up loose ends around the house, and I'm pulling out all my materials for the school year.

I have some new tools that I desperately want to share with you, but for today I will simply share a find.

Furikake is a Japanese rice seasoning made with a variety of ingredients. I choose the one with no meat products in it - so nori (seaweed), flavoring, and sesame seeds. If you're like me, and never quite developed a taste for soy sauce over rice, or you just want something different, this is a great fine. It's sort of like sushi in a jar.

For the last couple of days, I've been taking a cup of rice (4 points) and chopping up things to go on top, then flavoring with furikake. Think of it like a sushi bowl instead of rolled. Tasty, healthy, and easy on the diet.

You can find it in many Asian food stores or online. Just Google "furikake" and you will see what I mean.

I have a work thing tomorrow, but maybe I will be able to scoot in and talk about this chunky, rustic homemade tomato sauce I created with two of my new favorite tools.

Disconnected.

So, I know I promised organic foods today....but I can't seem to find the words. You see, the wonderful petree dishes that I live with brought home their "end of the school year, aren't you going to miss daycare" cold. Yesterday I couldn't breath at all, and today my head feels about twice the size that it normally does. I ordered some eucalyptus and peppermint oils for my cleaning arsenal, but those won't be here until the end of the week (at best). So, today I will suffer in silence.

Yeah, me suffer in silence. Who am I kidding? I will suffer until my husband gets home. Then I will whine and make HIM suffer. (LOVE YOU BUNCHES HONEY!)

In the mean time, I also promised a post every day. Darn it, I'm at least going to deliver on THAT promise.

This last weekend, in an effort to counteract a recent unbelievably large grocery run, I made a couple pots of beans. I made black beans for later in the week, but I also made chickpeas. Chickpeas are also known as garbanzo beans.

Now, garbanzo beans/chick peas are often used in hummus (I believe that they are garbanzo beans when dry, chickpeas when cooked up). I have found them to be a very useful bean otherwise. They are quite flavorful, and have a different sort of consistency. They blend up quite nice in hummus, but they also mash for a chunkier texture, or can be eaten whole.

Here, I described the first steps in making your own hummus as actually making the beans.

"Start by soaking the beans all night or day. Wash and toss the ickies.When ready to cook, place beans in a dutch oven, with around a gallon of water.Bring to a boil, cook for 1.5-2.5 hours. You want a bean that can be mashed with a little effort, blended creamy easily, but isn't falling apart. When done, pour into a colander and drain."

When not making chickpeas for hummus, I highly suggest amending this by adding some olive oil, spices, and salt to the boiling beans. A friend of mine suggests the last hour, but I sometimes do it right from the start of cooking (not soaking, mind you) with success. I've tried thyme, sage, and fresh basil. I really love the way the fresh basil turned out recently. Basil has sort of a buttery flavor that worked with the beans. For me, salt is really important to bring out the flavor - and you need a surprising amount. Testing an underdone bean during the cooking process won't hurt you, and it will allow you to get a feel for what spices need to be adjusted. It's better to go light on a spice early, decide the flavor isn't full enough, and adjust. Better, that is, than adding too much of something. In the mean time, I would start with a tablespoon of whatever spice you want to try to start.

So, the beans are cooked, now what?

Chickpea Sandwiches: Mash them with a fork, and make an egg salad or tuna fish-like sandwich. I add mayo, mustard, and dill relish to mine. With my recent basil find, I tried just some balsamic vinegar and mashed it all together, then on a bun. AMAZING, a bit better than they mayo, and vegan if you lean that way.

Add to any salad for a protein burst

Eat with rice, for simplicity. Stealing an idea from a friend, I added some light sour cream to the beans and it worked. It seemed weird, but it worked. Not a ton, just enough to "dress" the beans a bit.

And, lastly, my new favorite - Chickpea Salad. I haven't given orangette any love lately, so here I go. Uber simple, and tasty. I just had this for lunch.

It is time for me to nurse my head cold, but before I go, I wanted to give all of Miranda's friends and family a quick shout out. Miranda told me that she My Spaced you all - and I wanted to say thanks for stopping by. I hope to see you again real soon!

Meal and cooking plan for the week of 5/22-5/30

This week, I was tasked with the job of feeding our family, with minimal sales and ingredients, so we can make budget. We've got $40 left (after this week's shopping). That should be plenty, even with a mid-week run for milk.

Sale items: shredded cheese (we go through TONS of this stuff), mushrooms, corn, blueberries, and not much else. Pretty disappointing sale day. So much for the "BOGO" sale my store was advertising. The best BOGO product was probably the Goldfish. And, if you have toddlers, you understand that Goldfish are probably the perfect food.

Already have: All the "standards" (flour, sugar..), lots of cheese, and salad fixin's (good for lunches on the long weekend).

Thursday (5/22): We ended up having the tomato soup that I (oops) left out the last serving of. Darn. It would have made a nice lunch. We had some store-bought bakery bread too.

Friday: Out to dinner.

Saturday: philly cheese 'shrooms. Caramelize onion (a little bit of vegan organic smart butter melted, cook onions until soft and turning a beautiful caramel color. Medium heat works best). Remove from heat and replace with large portobello mushrooms with stems removed, tops facing up. Toss in a couple of tablespoons of water to steam, and cover. Allow a few minutes, then flip mushrooms, replace the onion inside the caps, and top with cheese of choice/available. Season with salt and pepper. Replace lid and let cheese melt. Dab sandwich rolls with mayo, and place mushrooms on mayo. Squish around a bit to even out the mayo.

Sunday: Shrooms in "gravy" with cous cous.


Monday: Grilled Pizza, with plain 'ole shredded mozzarella.


Tuesday: Rice and chickpeas. I will cook the chickpeas up tomorrow following the instructions, and adding some EVOO, thyme, salt, and garlic.


Wednesday: BBQ beans and rice, inspired from this. I say "inspired" because once you make this recipe, you find that you don't need it any more and can just "kitchen sink" it. In other words, as long as I have the beans and BBQ sauce...I can make do with whatever I find in the fridge and pantry.


Thursday: Spaghetti, with the sauce probably thinned out with carrot puree. Added vitamin boost.


Friday: A big fat "?". I've got plenty of stuff in the freezer and pantry, so we won't starve. Friday is my "cleaning" night - I won't want to get too fancy anyway. My accountant (you know, the guy I am married to) said that shopping on Saturday would effectively push us into next month's budget, so that means I need to come up with something on Friday. Whatever, this will be the first month in ages we won't have gone over budget (a collective HOORAY!) I'm doing what I need to make it!

Also this weekend:

Pumpkin pancakes - tried and tossed. My griddle is dead. I thought I could make them in a pan, and the sides wouldn't cook up right. A new one should be here from Amazon within 7-10 days.

blueberry muffins - made and freezing. Adapted from the Deceptively Delicious cookbook.

Sweet potato puree - unmade, for DD recipes. Need to steam, blend, and freeze the potatoes.

chickpeas - tomorrow.

banana bread - I just discovered that I have failing bananas, need to look up a low fat recipe.

breakfast cookie of some sort - I have nothing to feed the kids for breakfast, with the failed pancakes.

I know I've been MIA lately - but given it's the end of the school year...it happens! I promise during the summer I will be posting (nearly) daily, save a vacation planned in July! Just two more weeks of school!

Mama said there'd be days like this.

There are two main ways for the frugal cook to save a buck. These are the stockpile and meal planning methods. Of course, there is a third option of starvation - but this is a FOOD blog so let's not go there, okay?

The stockpile method involves buying hefty amounts of on sale ingredients all at once, so as to have a sort of "grocery store" right in your own home. Meal planning involves making a menu for a specified amount of time, and then shop only according to those needs. I happen to do a mixture of both these - and I will walk y'all through the entire process later this week.

However, even with my meal planning extraordinaire skills, it will happen that I run out of meals for the week. In the present case, it's because I (a) failed to plan that the tomatoes purchased Thursday might not make it to Tuesday (I will only eat very fresh tomatoes) and (b) forgot to get cabbage for the Moroccan Stew. SO, that left me with a hungry husband and no dinner.

Oh dear.

This is when having a firm grasp in the culinary saves the day.

I had some cilantro lime rice, green peppers, and corn on the cob that needed consuming before they went bad. I had some onions, pita pockets, mayo, and cheese that didn't need consumption - but were available for my use. So, I whipped up some quick fajita veggies with some lime juice, cumin, onions, peppers, and salt. I boiled up the corn, and nuked some cheese inside the pitas. Then I stuffed each pita with a teaspoon of mayo, rice, and topped with vegetables. Corn was on the side.

It was wonderful!

The mathematician in me takes great pleasure in creating something out of nothing. It's like a giant puzzle that only I can find the answer to.

What puzzle lives in YOUR pantry?

Good Day, Sunshine.

I've had the most fantastic weekend. It was perfect,wonderful, happy, and joyous.

What did I do?

Well, I stayed home, of course!

My life is really hectic. I work early (7 AM), and leave work at any point between 3-4:30. Then I pick up the kids and do the Mommy thing until about 10 PM. I'm not saying this to gain sympathy - I know I'm right in the thick of it with all the other Moms out there. I'm more trying to get the proverbial "amen, sista!" My day is almost more hectic when I get home. As soon as we walk in the door we wash our hands (who knows what kid came to school with which virus that day), get milk, then dinner, then I start dinner for the ball and chain. Oops, someone spilled their applesauce. Oh wait, no you cant have any fruit snacks until you finish those chicken nuggets. Then Daddy walks in the door and it's like I don't exist, until they realize they're hungry again. Then it's playtime, an apple, playtime, an orange, more playtime, clean time, more apples? Nope. Too late. Then baths, books, bedtime, lunches, laundry, cleanup, and a "do I know you?" to my husband.

So, a weekend like this, where I went no where (except for Lowe's), got some sun (tan lines to prove it, my dermatologist would NOT approve), and watched the kids play in their new kiddie pool, seems like a trip to the Bahamas. Well, maybe that's an exaggeration, but it's close.

Now, we did do some productive things. I finally got around to planting my herb garden (two kinds of basil, dill, chives, and mint). I got caught up on laundry (we took a weekend away recently and I haven't been caught up since!) And, I did some cooking.

On Friday I made these, which is yet another wonderful thing to do with rice. Excellent, excellent, and totally modifiable. I ended up adding some lime juice and cayenne pepper. Made some fresh guacamole to go on top, along with some Newman's Own salsa, the husband was a happy camper. I also ended up making this rice dish, which is now 48 hours old (in the fridge) and tastes better each day.

Saturday I made these cookies, which will forever be called the cookies that I will never make again. Oh, don't get me wrong, they were excellent. I just can't have them in the house ever again. The frosting was screaming to be used on scones. I will have to remember it for that. I'm thinking a nice cranberry walnut scone (or muffin) with the orange frosting/glaze.

Today, I made pizza on the grill and pasta salad. Usually, I like to make a good leftover dinner on Sunday. However, the nice weather just screamed for our grill, so I gave in. We still have some rice pilaf but we needed something else for lunches. So, I made my pasta salad.

Practically Fat free Pasta Salad:

(1) Boil 1 lb of pasta (as instructions dictate). I like tri-colored rotini, but monotone and bow ties will do fine. I don't care for macaroni or ziti-like pasta for this, it doesn't grab the dressing as well. Drain in colander, rinse with cold water, and place in large bowl. Add 1/8 cup olive oil.

(2) Chop and add your vegetables. Now, this is where YOU can get creative. In today's bowl, I added:

• 2 small tomatoes, seeded and chopped.
• 1 large cucumber, seeded and chopped
• 1 small red onion, finely diced
• 1 large green pepper, seeded, and finely diced
• 1 1/2 dill pickles chopped
• 1 can large black olives, cut in half

YOU can add whatever you like and have on hand. Some ideas include carrots, celery, baby corn, corn kernels, feta cheese, Parmesan cheese, artichoke hearts, sun dried tomatoes, black beans, kidney beans, ham, turkey, shrimp, the sky is the limit! I just wouldn't add chickpeas as they tend to get dried out and not good. I also would caution the tomatoes and cucumbers - do NOT add without seeding first. Those "innards" of the cucumbers and tomatoes just bleed water into the salad. This will make it uneatable in the coming days.

(3) when all has been incorporated, add 1/4 cup water and two packets of zesty Italian dressing mix. Toss together, and add red wine vinegar to taste. If you want to add to the flavors, consider Brags Amino Acids, Chipotle Tabasco sauce, salt, pepper, garlic, and cilantro.

This makes a LARGE bowl of pasta salad that you can eat off for days. It is low in fat, diet friendly, and a great way to use up unused vegetables.

Now I must go back out and enjoy the last few minutes of my weekend. If your weekend was even half as wonderful as mine, you are lucky indeed. Hug your family, they're what you do this for.

101 uses..

All 8 of you regular readers may take note that I have a new tag: 101 uses for cooked rice.

One regular leftover item (that regularly gets tossed) is rice. With my whole "waste not, want not" philosophy - this has become a major thorn in my side.

So, I've decided to make it my mission to find all the possible uses for cooked rice. Good, bad, and ugly. Make-able and un-make-able. Tasty...and...well...you get the picture.

I've re-labeled the appropriate prior posts (wow, say THAT five times fast), and to kick off the official "grand opening", I'm posting tonight's dessert.

In a previous post, I mentioned that I had made far more rice than necessary. This weekend, I am attempting to use up said rice in my meals. I made a fabulous dinner (which will be saved for another post), and a wonderful (very unexpected) desert.

I kept this recipe very much the same. I added about a teaspoon of vanilla to the rice and milk, and I went ahead and added ALL the Cinnamon and sugar to the top of the peaches. The result? Well, I've eaten a quarter of it, so you be the judge. I'm not sure what a one quart baking dish is, but I used a glass eight by eight pan. I also had to add an extra can of peaches to cover the top, not quite sure how one can would have ever accomplished the task.

I ended up making the dish with 2% milk, but with the starchiness of the rice, I think fat free would have been fine. Moreover, I think you could have gotten away with egg whites instead of full eggs. I will be trying that next time. Those changes would make this a very waist-friendly dessert, indeed.

So, ladies and gents, get out those rice pots, We have some experimenting to do!

I don't wanna...

Plan my menu for the week, that is.

Here's what I do every week:

On Thursday or later (that's when the ad comes out) - I go ahead an surf through the sales at the store. I take note of anything in my fridge, and I come up with recipes that will best utilize both lists. For example, at my store they have some eggplant, peppers, squash, tomatoes, pears, and corn on sale. In my fridge, I currently have a bunch of rice left over due to a planning error on my part. Too bad I already made fried rice this week.

I have a few recipes: sweet and sour kidney beans, beans and rice burritos, and a peach rice dessert that I am planning to try out. As always, I will share with my review and relevant changes. I think that will use up all my rice. If not, I've got some leftover black eyed peas in the freezer that I am sure the husband wouldn't mind me defrosting. I think I'll be out with a friend on Saturday night - so the ball and chain will definitely be on his own.

I also plan on cooking up some vegetables for puree for the freezer. Always like to keep some of that around, and I am running LOW.

As far as the recipe for tonight, Cashew Asparagus Rice Pilaf was excellent. Definitely a "will make again." However, next time I will reduce the fat in half, change from butter to EVOO, and replace the the cashews with cooked garbanzo beans. I also, very last minute, added about 6 or 7 shakes of Cayenne pepper for heat. Nice flavor (note that I also made a double batch).

We've got some family plans, so I don't have anything major planned in the way of cooking this weekend. Should be quiet! Hope yours is too!

Southern Comfort

I’m not a true Southerner. Although I’ve lived in a few different places, I primarily consider myself a Pacific-North-Westerner. However, since having lived in the south, I have picked up a few traits. Words like “y’all” and “fixin’” have been slipping into my vocabulary more and more. I’ve caught myself with a definite drawl, especially in the company of other Southerners. Plus, many of the foods have snuck into my repertoire.

One such dish, I got from a good friend at work. A new vegetarian, I immediately picked up on the beans and rice. “what is that?” I asked. “Some black-eyed peas, cornbread, and rice.” “Ah,” I responded, “how did you cook it?” She explained, “well, it’s got some onion, garlic, and ham hocks.”

Ham hocks, darn. Maybe not.

The next day, in my geometry class, I was relaying a story from one student to another. It was about my black beans and rice from the prior day. Another student insisted that I MUST try black eyed peas. They were so much better. She also insisted that I didn’t have to cook it with ham. So, I thought about it some more. Perhaps I could go ahead and cook it without the ham? I would need some other flavor to accent the beans. What would be a good substitute?

Bullion. Yes, vegetable bullion.

So, I went to work at home. A la Paula Deen, I started with a stick of butter. I chopped up an onion and minced a couple of cloves of garlic, and added them to the melted warm butter in a dutch oven. When translucent, I added 1-2 tablespoon of better than bullion and cooked it up for a minute or two. Just long enough to incorporate and get bubbly.

Then I added my SOAKED and sorted beans to the pot (instructions should be on the package), a one pound bag. Stirred it around with the hot butter, and then added water. You probably want to start with a water level that is half to three quarters above the bean line. There’s no exact amount, as depending on your climate, that can affect evaporation rates. Through the cooking process, you want to check the beans for doneness and flavor by tasting! They are done when the water is well cooked down, leaving behind a sort of starchy-broth resembling a very thin gravy. Oh, and the beans should be soft too. If the water has cooked down before the beans are done, add more water. The beans won’t keep their pretty shape very well, but you want some of them to break open to get the starch in the liquid.

Go ahead and cook some rice, and corn bread. Assemble by layering: cornbread, rice, and beans. The sweetness of the cornbread balances the salty of the beans.

Now, I repeated this dish last night. I decided that the taste would be fine with olive oil rather than butter (it was), so I started with a quarter cup. I also bought the bigger bag of beans (and thus added more onions, garlic, bullion, and water) and made a couple of bowls to freeze. I’ll let you know another day how they freeze up, but I would imagine they would do as well as the black beans I make.

I also want to plug the cornbread recipe. You want a sweet, cakey, dish to balance the beans. I almost always want butter on my cornbread, but this dish was phenomenal and needed none. My family recipe uses Bisquick, and turns out great, but I was glad to find a good recipe that uses basic ingredients. The only downside is the buttermilk, which is not something I usually have on hand .

So, I hope you enjoy one of my favorite Southern comfort foods. My mom laughed when I shared this idea with her, as she swore that she tried to get me to eat black eyed peas in my early days – to no avail. Now I act like I invented it. My Grandmother was from Alabama, so I suppose I have a little bit of the south in my blood. I reckon that when the day comes that my family and I return to the Pacific Northwest, I will be sipping my lattes with a hunk of cornbread and some honey butter.

Better n' takeout.

Hello, my name is Hollee, and I am a carboholic.

No, really, I am.

Atkins...it can kiss my white flour loving behind. I love all carbs, but especially those that are "bad" for me: white rice, white pasta, white bread. One of life's simple pleasures is a PBJ made with my strawberry jam, all natural peanut butter, between two heavenly slices of plain 'ole white bread. Yum-O!

Now, clearly I can give up other things in favor of carbs - namely meat. I could give up dairy before I gave up carbs. Easy.

Why am I talking about carbs? Well, it leads me to my favorite part of Chinese takeout: fried rice. I love the stuff. But there's a certain flavor that seems elusive to most westerners in their cooking. And that, my food lovin' friends, is oyster Sauce.

We were out and about this weekend, and I did feel like cooking tonight. I had to run to the store, as we were out of items like milk and butter. So, while there I grabbed a bag of frozen vegetables. I had a big bowl of leftover rice unused. I also had (at home) eggs, soy sauce, peanut oil, garlic, and (optional) fresh tomatoes.

In a dutch oven (it's easier to stir in the rice), put down a couple of tablespoons of peanut oil and some garlic (a clove is sufficient), heat over medium to medium-high heat. Then toss in the entire bag of vegetables. Cook until warm. You really want the vegetables to be crisp-tender to contrast with the rice.

If you really MUST add meat - go ahead and cook that up before you add the vegetables. It's really not necessary in this dish.

Add 2-3 cups of leftover white rice. It depends on your preferred ration of rice to vegetables. Stir in, break up clumps.

While this is happening, go ahead and scramble 3 eggs in a pan. You can do this without dirtying another dish. Put down a Tablespoon of peanut oil, then drop in three eggs. Once the whites have turned opaque, but before the yokes have really begun to set, break the yokes and begin the scramble. No, these won't be the prettiest scrambled eggs, but they will be fine camouflaged by the soy and oyster sauces.

Now add soy and oyster sauce. Oyster Sauce is pretty thick, and it depends on how flavorful you like your rice. I added about 1/4 cup. I then added about 1 Tablespoon of Soy Sauce. Toss in the eggs, stir together, taste, and adjust flavor. Do NOT add salt, all the sodium you need will come from the soy. If there is not enough flavor, add more soy or oyster. Taste each to see which you prefer, and that way you can add more of what tastes good to you.

Last thing, remove from heat and add tomatoes. Let sit, covered, for just a moment. That will heat the tomatoes through. Tomatoes in fried rice? It's a Thai thing, but I really love it. Even in Chinese-inspired fried rice.

Another variation? Those of you who like yoke-y eggs can go ahead and fry one or two on the side, keeping it REALLY runny. Toss those eggs on top of your rice, break the yokes, and let that be a sort of gravy. This is very "Hawaiian style" and is actually a common breakfast in the islands.

This goes together so quick, and was a very easy "I don't want to cook tonight" dinner from my kitchen. I'm even going to get some more of those frozen vegetables the next time they go on sale, just to go on hand.

Beans, beans...the glorious food...

The more you eat...

Those of you who have young children (or remember your own childhood), will know the rest of this diddy.

This morning I was listening to Bob and Sheri, and they were asking listeners to call in with what they plan on doing with their IRS "economic stimulus check." One guy called in and claimed that after 6 years - he and his wife were completely debt free and buying their new home on cash. Bob and Sheri seemed interested, until he mentioned the name Dave Ramsey.

The ball and chain is a huge fan of this guy. He read the book shortly before Christmas (joy and rapture), and we have been in total money makeover land since the year started. We have made some headway on bills, and the headway does seem to make the ball and chain happier. Still, he's pretty much the turd in the proverbial punch bowl when you want to do something FUN with your money. He's also a supreme traditionalist. I don't mind this so much, as I am a pretty traditional gal. However, I can see why this may turn some off. Regardless, while radical and seemingly unreachable, his money beliefs make sense. My sister declared herself debt free (except for her home) - and they couldn't be happier about this.

The reason this comes up, is that one thing he tells people to do (to cut back on food costs) is eat rice and beans, beans and rice. Perish the thought. Beans are so BORING, right?

Au contraire.

Beans are a wonderful, cheap, easy, and satisfying meal. Did I say cheap? I meant to say cheap.

They've also been a staple in the diet that has completely changed my husband's health.

Tonight, since we are nearing the end of our Easter leftovers, I plan on making up some chickpeas to eat on for the rest of the week. However, since I promised this ages ago, I thought I would share my fantastic Black Beans. These were made up through trial and error over time in my own kitchen. Feel free to adjust to your tastes.

Stewed Seasoned Black Beans.

One medium onion
One green pepper
2 t. Cumin
1 t -2 T. Cayenne Pepper
Salt to taste
2 T. cilantro
1 lb back beans
2 T olive oil
2 cloves chopped garlic

Soak beans all night or all day, or follow quick soak method on package.

When done soaking, drain and sort out ickies.

Heat olive oil in pot, and add chopped onion, green pepper, and garlic. Cook until onions begins to get translucent.

When done, add the rest of the spices. Cook for thirty seconds.

Add beans, cook for 30 seconds.

Add enough water to cover the beans with 2-3 inches of space to the top.

Cook for 1.5-2.5 hours, adding water when needed (uncovered). As the beans get close, taste to adjust seasoning.

You know the beans are done when there is a very thick/starchy broth that would be good with rice, along with the beans being cooked just to the point of breaking easily. You want a broth just a bit more runny than gravy. With the water, you are basically looking to cook the beans and boil the water off.

Mt favorite way to serve is over Cilantro Lime Rice, topped with chopped avocado, tomatoes, red onions, and a dollop of sour cream.

Out of the fire, and into the frying pan.

Well, we’re all slowly recovering from the weekend de flu. The ball and chain found himself roasting from the insides on Monday morning, as did my pretty little 3 year old. Somehow, the young man of the house has avoided this. I am thankful, as he is the one with the nasty asthma secondary to RSV.

So today, my first day back at work since Friday, seemed like a great day to make the fam something tasty from the kitchen. Aside from reheating and pressing “go” on the coffee pot, I’ve not been domestic in nearly a week. I feel like I’m going through withdrawals.

A cold front just pushed through down here, and while it’s sunny and beautiful, it’s also COLD. When you’ve been living in the 101-102 range all weekend, and you find yourself in the “normal” range of the 97’s, cold just seems colder or something. I wanted something hearty, stick to your ribs, and flavorful enough to penetrate my stuffy nose.

Ah…a curry for the non curry lovers – Massaman.

I first discovered it at my best friend’s house. She insisted that I try their favorite Thai dish. I happily ordered my Pad Thai, but then gave the Massaman a whirl. I was set to hate it – I’ve hated all curry that I’ve ever tried. But Massaman is different. Smoother, less pungent. Sort of sweet, but savory enough to feel like a real meal. The spices make your nose and mouth happy all at the same time.

Because of this love of Thai, I really wanted to master my favorite dishes. Curry was the first (and only, thus far) that I have been at all successful with. It seems exotic and scary, but it’s basically a stew with coconut milk.

2 - 2½ cups diced protein source (chicken, beef, pork, or tofu. Traditional is beef)
3-4 ounces of massaman curry paste (just less than a can). This is totally to taste, and the variety of paste you use. If you like things more flavorful, add more, if you like subtler Massaman, add less. I prefer less.
1 small onion, finely diced/minced
2 small-medium cloves of garlic diced/minced
1/8 cup vegetable oil
4 small potatoes, peeled and diced.
1 ½ cup peanuts
2 T. Lemon juice.
2 T. Sugar
Salt (original recipe calls for 2 T., but I found that to be WAY too salty. I would stick with no more than 1 T.)
2 Cans of coconut milk (full fat has more flavor, but light is okay if you insist).

In a soup pot or Dutch oven on the stove: Begin to heat oil over medium heat. Add garlic, onion, and paste. Let cook for 5 minutes, reduce heat if necessary to prevent burning. Add oil if it gets too dry.

Add Lemon Juice, sugar, and protein source (raw). Cook until done.

Add coconut milk, peanuts, and potatoes. Cook together until potatoes are soft.

Add salt to desired taste.

This is most traditionally served over Jasmine rice. You should be able to find that in any grocery store.

The above batch is LARGE; it will make at least 8 meals (and those are 8 big meals with the rice). I make them big because (a) we don’t eat meat so I don’t worry about the meat going bad before we eat the leftovers and (b) Massaman gets better the day after. I had a wonderful dinner, and I now look forward to lovely lunches today and tomorrow! I’ve never tried freezing this, I might if I have too much and it’s getting ready to go bad. I’m not sure how the coconut milk and potatoes will hold up in sub-zero temps.

So, the idea above is that if you want a smaller batch to try, go ahead and half the recipe. It should divide out just fine.

The best laid plans....

So, last night, about 5:15 I started to feel weird. Shaky, tired, just off. Earlier in the day, I'd noticed a wheeze, but blew it off as nasty yellow pollen. My husband's ears have been so bad he hasn't been able to fly. However, as I started to feel so awful, I realized this was NO allergy.

So, instead of heading to the grocery store, I sacked myself out on the couch and watched the latest episode of Lipstick Jungle and Big Shots (TIVOed from AGES ago). My temp was slightly elevated, but not too bad. At bedtime I took my shot of NyQuil and passed out into never never land. At about 3 or 4 AM I started to get really cold, and at 7 AM my husband points out that I am now "radiating heat." Two Motrin and two more hours of sleep, and I am feeling good enough to make a smaller run at the grocery store for the necessities.

Alas, my grand plans of Strawberry Jam and Eggplant galore are dashed. C'est la Vie. No, C'est la FLU.

So, this weekend I get to go through my magazines, think up plans for NEXT week, and do a few more lazy-woman jobs.

I do want to say how HAPPY I am that I froze all those meals! I so don't want to stand for hours, so instead I whipped out a bowl of frozen chili and spicy black beans. A little rice, and we'll be good to go! I might even have J try to whip up some Chipotle Basmati rice to go with the beans. I found it on an Internet forum that I frequent. VERY tasty!

1tsp Vegetable oil or butter
2 tsp fresh cilantro
2/3 cup white basmati rice
1 cup water
1/2 tsp salt
1 lime
In a 2 quart heavy saucepan heat oil or butter over low heat, stirring occasionally until melted. Add rice and lime juice, stir for 1 minute. Add water and salt, bring to a full rolling boil. At boiling, cover, turn down and simmer over low heat until rice is tender and the water is absorbed, about 25 minutes.

I have successfully doubled the recipe, but when I tried to quadruple it, I burnt the bottom of the rice. I also usually end up adding a little bit of water towards the end, as I find the water dissipates before the rice is cooked.

Very good with some spicy black beans. Orangette (gosh, I just LOVE her) has a great "in a hurry" version. I will save my full batch for another day!