Lone Star Steakhouse Black Bean Soup

2 15 ounce cans black beans
1/4 cup diced red onions
2 teaspoons chopped pickled jalapeno slices
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon cider or wine vinegar
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon chili powder

Garnish
4 teaspoons chopped red onion
6-8 jalapeno slices
1 tablespoon sour cream

Pour the canned beans along with the liquid into a medium saucepan. Add the remaining soup ingredients and mix. Bring the soup to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and simmer, covered, for about 1 hour, adding water if necessary or until it's as thick as you like.

This makes enough for 2 generous servings, but we made a rice dish to go with it and it fed us for two days. It's also easy to double.

The soup itself isn't too spicy. So if you don't like things too hot, then don't garnish with jalapenos. The sour cream will calm down anything that's too hot for your liking. The recipe suggests adding fresh cilantro while simmering and/or as a garnish. You could also garnish with shredded cheese.

Basic Bread

Bread	Double	Dinner Rolls	Cinnamon Rolls
2 Cups lukewarm Water	4	"	"
1/2 Cup Sugar	1	"	3/4
2 TB Yeast	2	"	3 Tb when doubled
1/4 Cup Oil	1/2	1/2	"
2 t Salt	4	"	"
1 Egg	2	2	2
3 Cups Flour	6	"	"

Add 4 more cups flour while kneading
Mix together 2 C water, 1/2 C sugar, 2 Tb Yeast, 3 C flour to make sponge.
Let it raise.
Next add butter, then eggs.
Add 2 C flour
Put 1 C flour on counter
Dump dough on flour
Put 1 C flour on wet dough
Knead

Pepperoni Rolls use Mozzerella Cheese and Pepperoni
Cinnamon Rolls use Butter, Cinnamon and Sugar

This doesn't have any info about how long to raise, how hot to bake and how long. Maybe Mom can put that in the comments.

Puffy Crusted Chicken Pot Pie

Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 45 min
Serves 8

Filling
2.5 cups of cooked, shredded chicken. Canned works fine, but microwaving the chicken and putting it in the blender on a low speed a chunk at a time works great.
1 can of condensed cream of chicken soup
1 cup of chicken broth
2 bags of frozen vegetables, 1 lb each (peas, carrots, corn, and green beans), thawed
Seasonings to taste (salt, pepper, whatever)

Crust
4 cups baking mix
1.5 cups milk
.5 cup shortening
Seasonings (it's fun to try different spice blends in different quadrants of the crust)

Put the filling straight into an ungreased 9x13 pan or casserole dish. Cut the crust ingredients together until lumpy and moist, then pour on top of the filling, doing as little actual spreading as possible, since messing with it could make what should be a thick, airy crust come out flat and hard.

Bake at 375F for 45 minutes.

Rodgers' Belgian Waffle Cookies

I wrote down this recipe in the yellow book in December of 1979. I usually make only 1/2 recipe as it is rather time-consuming to cook them 4 at a time on a waffle iron! Remember to UNDERCOOK them: just barely golden. They will store in an airtight container for weeks.

1 lb. butter
2 cups white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
6 eggs
2 tsp real vanilla
1 full tsp salt

Cream all of this together and then gradually add 6 cups of sifted flour.
Use about 1 to 1 1/2 tsp of dough for each cookie.

Chicken and Egg Fried Rice

Rachel's mom made this while we were there for Thanksgiving. It tasted good and looked really easy to make, so we got the recipe from her. Enjoy!


Nicean's Favorite Fried Rice
Submitted by Holly Hanson

1 to 2 chicken breasts or 10 chicken tenders, cut into small pieces
8 baby carrots, finely sliced
1/2 white onion, chopped
3/4 cup frozen peas
3 cups cooked brown rice (use your favorite method to prepare this)
3 eggs, scrambled & chopped
1 to 2 garlic cloves, crushed or 1 teaspoon of garlic powder
1/2 stick butter, melted

Marinate chicken in soy sauce or if you don't have much time, mix chicken with soy sauce just before cooking. In a large fry pan, cook chicken in small amount of olive oil. Add carots and onion and saute until clear. Add frozen peas and cook until soft.
Add cooked brown rice to the fry pan mixture. Scramble 3 eggs, chop, and add to mixture.
Stir garlic into melted butter and add to the mixture.
Mix together well. Add soy sauce to taste.

Brownie Truffles

One box of brownie mix- the kind with the extra fudge/syrup packet
2 Tbsp of light corn syrup
1/4 c of water

Mix brownie mix, fudge/syrup packet, corn syrup, and water together to form a dough. Roll in to bite size balls and then in to any coating that you please such as nuts, sprinkles, sugar, etc. Store in the refrigerator (or in the freezer if it is longer than a week).

Sam and I had these at a wedding reception we went to last weekend. We really liked them and asked for the recipe. On our way home we brainstormed more ways to make these.

TOPPINGS
cocoa powder
cinnamon sugar
crushed candy canes
chopped candy
chopped chocolate chips
toffee bits
fruit drizzle
powdered sugar

ADD TO MIX
peanut butter
mint extract
almond extract and chopped cherries
mint extract

Apple Cinnamon Pork Chops

4 boneless pork chops
2 tbls vegetable oil
1 jar (12 ounces) homestyle pork gravy
1/2 cup raisins
1 tbl honey
1 1/2 tbls cinnamon
dash allspice
1 tart cooking apple, thinly sliced
hot cooked rice

In a large skillet, cook pork chops in oil until browned on both sides; season with salt and pepper. Stir in gravy, raisins, honey, cinnamon and allspice. Cover and simmer 15 minutes or until pork chops are tender. Add apple; cook 5 minutes or until apple slices are tender. Serve with hot rice.

Single Cookies

Today Rachel thought she'd like to do some baking but didn't want to end up with a whole batch of cookies sitting around the house tempting us. So I got to thinking about how one would make a single cookie in a toaster oven, and decided to do some internet research. Here are a few preliminary results:

A basic chocolate chip cookie:
http://www.myfastrecipes.com/recipes/2005/09/single-serve-cookies.asp

A cookie that uses a shot glass as its only measure:
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20081009202014AAN7jQv

A step-by-step guide:
http://www.instructables.com/id/Chocolate-Chip-Cookie-The-Single-Cookie/

A video:
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/910348/cookie_dough_how_to_make_one_spoonful/

A good one made from pancake mix with no eggs:
http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/devouringseattle/archives/145699.asp

An instant oatmeal cookie:
http://megansmunchies.blogspot.com/2008/09/single-serve-chewy-oatmeal-cookie.html

The obvious solution is to make whatever cookie recipe you're craving and freeze the dough to use one cookie at a time. But sometimes the point of "doing some baking" is the preparation! And so these single-serving cookie recipes fit the bill.

Roasted Vegetable Soup

From Ina Garten's Barefoot Contessa Family Style: Easy Ideas and Recipes That Make Everyone Feel Like Family.

6 to 8 C chicken stock
1 recipe Roasted Winter Vegetables
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

For serving:
Croutons
Good olive oil

In a large saucepan, heat 6 C of chicken stock. In two batches,coarsely puree the roasted vegetables and the chicken stock in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade. Pour the soup back into the pot and season to taste. Thin with more chicken stock and reheat. The soup should be thick but not like a vegetable puree, so add more chicken stock and/or water until it's the consistency you like.

Serve with brioche croutons and a drizzle of good olive oil.

Roasted Winter Vegetables

From Ina Garten's Barefoot Contessa Family Style: Easy Ideas and Recipes That Make Everyone Feel Like Family.

1 lb carrots, peeled
1 lb parsnips, peeled
1 large sweet potato, peeled
1 small butternut squash (about 2 lbs), peeled and seeded
3 Tbsp good olive oil
1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper
2 Tbsp chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Preheat oven to 425

Cut carrots, parsnips, sweet potato, and butternut squash in 1- to 1 1/4- inch cubes. All the vegetables will shrink while baking, so don't cut them too small.

Place all the cut vegetables in a single later on two sheet pans. Drizzle them with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Toss well. Bake for 25 to 35 minutes, until all the vegetables are tender, turning once with a metal spatula.

Sprinkle with parsley, season to taste, and serve hot.

Serves 8

Use left overs to make Roasted Vegetable soup

*Heather's note: This is one of the tastiest ways I've ever eaten these vegetables. They also look pretty and smell great. I probably used more olive oil and completely forgot the parsley and it was still yummy.

Creamy Macaroni and Cheese

From the New York Times

Time: 1 hour 15 minutes

2 tablespoons butter
1 cup cottage cheese (not lowfat)
2 cups milk (not skim)
1 teaspoon dry mustard
Pinch cayenne
Pinch freshly grated nutmeg
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 pound sharp or extra-sharp cheddar cheese, grated
½ pound elbow pasta, uncooked.

1. Heat oven to 375 degrees and position an oven rack in upper third of oven. Use 1 tablespoon butter to butter a 9-inch round or square baking pan.

2. In a blender, purée cottage cheese, milk, mustard, cayenne, nutmeg and salt and pepper together. Reserve ¼ cup grated cheese for topping. In a large bowl, combine remaining grated cheese, milk mixture and uncooked pasta. Pour into prepared pan, cover tightly with foil and bake 30 minutes.

3. Uncover pan, stir gently, sprinkle with reserved cheese and dot with remaining tablespoon butter. Bake, uncovered, 30 minutes more, until browned. Let cool at least 15 minutes before serving.

Yield: 6 to 8 servings.

Dinner in a Pumpkin

1 large pumpkin
1/2 lb fusilli (spiral) pasta -- I used the dyed kind for a more festive, fall look
1 yellow onion
1 zucchini
1/2 lb ground beef
1 can Italian seasoned diced tomatoes
mozzarella
cheddar
parmesan
basil
oregano
black pepper
crushed red pepper
garlic powder

1. Preheat oven to 350. Cut the top out of the pumpkin and remove the guts. You can carve something into the skin of the pumpkin or draw a face on it with permanent marker.

2. Put top back on pumpkin, cover with foil. Put pumpkin on cookie sheet and bake for 45 min to 1 hr.

3. Cook the pasta for 1-2 minutes less than the package directions call for. It should be underdone.

4. Saute ground beef, onion, and zucchini in a frying pan. Season to taste with spices. Vegetables should also be undercooked.

5. Mix pasta, drained tomatoes, and beef mix in a large bowl.

6. Grate LOTS of cheese into it. Dump the whole mix in the pumpkin.

7. Bake for another 30-60 min, until dinner inside is hot, and pumpkin is tender.

Enjoy!

Make sure you buy a pumpkin meant for eating. When I made this, the pumpkin I bought was all stringy inside and tasted disgusting.

Chicken Paprikas and Quick Potato Dumplings

[This recipe is taken from June Meyer's website: http://homepage.interaccess.com/~june4/hunchicpaprikas.html and the picture is from some flikr account.]

June Meyer's Authentic Hungarian Chicken Paprikas
(Csirkepaprikas)

Every country household had a yard full of chickens. Chicken dishes that could be slow cooked on the stove for supper were plentiful and cheap to make. Paprikas was a weekly dish for supper. A pot of potato dumplings, and perhaps a platter of pickled hungarian peppers and a loaf of crusty home baked bread was all that was need for ones well being. Every meal was eaten with gusto.

Regards, June Meyer.

* 2 onions chopped
* 4 Tbsp. shortening, corn oil or lard
* 3 Tbsp. Hungarian paprika
* 1/8 Tsp. black pepper or whole pepper corns
* 2 Tsp. salt
* 4 to 5 lbs. chicken disjointed, use legs, thighs, breast and back for best flavor
* 1 1/2 cups water
* 1/2 pt. sour cream

Brown onions in shortening. Add seasonings and chicken, brown 10 minutes. Add water, cover and let simmer slowly until it is tender. It will smell wonderful!
Remove chicken, add sour cream to drippings in pan and mix well. To thicken gravy, mix into a paste 1 Tbl. soft butter with 1 Tbl.of flour and stir into drippings.
Add dumplings and arrange chicken on top. Heat through,but do not boil, and serve.

Modern Potato Dumplings
Yes, I know this is not traditional. But it is easy, fast and delicious.

* 1 cup of instant potato flakes
* 1 egg
* 1cup of flour
* 1cup of water

Mix in a small bowl.
Drop by spoonfuls into salted boiling water. cook until dumplings look done when cut in half, about 5 or 6 minutes. Drain and place into sour-cream gravy and serve. Serves 6 to 8.

June's Note: If you do not like dumplings, you can serve this with some cooked wide egg noodles.

[Steve's note: We cut the recipe in half and ended up with about four full servings. It took an hour to make, but could probably be streamlined from how we did it. Also, we served it with a frozen cauliflower/carrot/broccoli mix that added a lot of color. It was a easy recipe and very tasty, sort of like a kissing cousin to beef stroganoff.]

Nana's Turkey and Stuffing

Lay out 1 1/4 loaves of white bread on cookie sheets and let the slices dry overnight. Turn them over if you think about it.

Also the night before (to make things go faster in the morning) chop up two big onions and at least 6 stalks of celery. Saute both in about ½ cup of butter in a big pan. Add 2 cups of water and 1 heaping TBSP of chicken soup base (you can substitute chicken broth) and simmer 2-3 min. Let cool and then add 3 eggs and mix well. Pour this into a big pitcher and put in the fridge until morning.

Stack the bread 4 slices deep and slice into long ½ inch thick slices. Dump those in a bowl to be hand torn into pieces (to keep the kids busy and involved: you can also just cut them into cubes with a knife). Divide the bread between two big bowls (to give you room to stir and lift the bread). Sprinkle the bread very generously with sage, generously with thyme and dried parsley, less generously with black pepper. If the bread is so dry the spices won’t stick, you can spritz it with a bit of water.

Slowly pour about ¼ of the celery/onion/egg/broth mixture over the seasoned bread in each bowl and mix well; if the bread is still really dry, repeat. If the bread is fairly moist, pour off some of the liquid and add the rest of the onions and celery to the bread. You want the bread to be moist enough to hold together, but not soggy.

Meanwhile, wash out the thawed turkey (be sure to remove the neck and giblets!) and tip it so the inside drips dry. Start at the head end (the smaller cavity) and fill with stuffing. Slide thin slices of sacrificial apple or potato between the skin and the stuffing (so the stuffing won’t burn). Use thread (about 4 strands in a big needle) and sew the skin closed or use big poultry pins to secure the skin.

Turn the bird over and fill the bigger cavity. Place slices of apple/potato over the exposed stuffing.

Hook the legs back together (usually there is a plastic leg holder on the turkey already. If not, use thread to lash the legs together). Set the bird on a rack in the roasting pan. I then like to pull the wings up and stitch thru the tips, leaving about 4 inches of thread between the wings resting on the breast of the turkey. This keeps the wings from touching the sides of the pan and burning.

Baste the turkey if you want to and bake it. I preheat the oven to 375 then turn it down to 325 and cook it longer than recommended since it is at a lower temp. You may want to cover the breast, wings and legs with foil the last hour to keep them from overcooking.

These amounts are for a 12-14 lb turkey. Leftover stuffing gets put in a foil lined pan and is wrapped in the foil like a tin foil dinner. Bake it for only one hour, not the whole time the turkey is baked.

I find I like fresh turkey, rather than frozen. If you brine a thawed out frozen turkey, that is good and moist as well.

Peanut Butter Crispies (our own recipe)

by Daniel

1/2 cup corn syrup
1 tbsp molasses
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup peanut butter
3 cups crushed graham crackers

Melt the sugar into the corn syrup, molasses and salt over low heat. Mix in the peanut butter. Pour over crushed graham crackers. Stir until it all clumps up. If it's still sticky, add more graham crackers. If it's crumbly, take graham crackers out.

Tastes delicious with chocolate melted on top or mixed into a good brand of vanilla ice cream. We all ate it until we felt sick.

Curried Shrimp

Ingredients:

1-2 lbs Shrimp, the more the better. Use big ones as the little salad shrimp get lost in the sauce. Precooked and frozen are fine. Thaw them out and dry them off before cooking.

½ cup White Flour (skip the flour or use corn starch for GFCF)

2 C uncooked Rice : 4 cups of water : 1 tsp salt

1 large Onion, diced

1 large Green pepper, coarsely chopped up

2-3 cans Tomato Soup

Curry Powder (Red Hot Chili Powder is optional: add this to the tomato soup if you want the curry to be spicy)

1-2 T Sugar

4-6 T Butter

Start the rice cooking first.
Melt the butter in a large frying pan. I use one with a non-stick coating. Add onions and cook just until golden. Meanwhile, dredge the shrimp in flour and then LIGHTLY fry in the butter with the onions. Sprinkle the shrimp liberally with curry powder and lightly with sugar. Fry a bit more, turn over and sprinkle second side with the curry powder and sugar. Add the green peppers just before you add the cans of tomato soup so they are not overcooked. Add water as needed to keep the sauce saucy. Taste the sauce and add more curry and hot sauce if wanted. Cook only until the sauce is all hot and bubbling. Serve over the rice.
You can make this more of a curry by serving it with small dishes containing finely chopped fresh green pepper, raisins, coconut, chunk pineapple, etc.

Mom's Orange (Lemon) Thyme Chicken and Rice

Time: 45 min.
Serves: 2-6 (depending on how much rice you make and how big the people are who eat it)

Chicken: 1 to 1.5 lb boneless or 2-3 lb w/ bones
Flour for dredging chicken: 3-4 Tbs for boneless or more for boned
1 medium onion, diced
5 long sprigs of lemon thyme. Pull off all the leaves to get about 1 Tbs of fresh thyme (use 1 to 2 tsp if it's dried). Set aside 1/2 tsp of it (1/4 tsp if dried) for the rice.
1 c. rice for every two hungry adults you want to serve
1 tsp of orange peel zest (optional)
1 cup of milk (optional)

Start the rice cooking. Use a 2 to 1 ratio of water to rice BUT substitute 2-3 Tbs of orange juice concentrate for 2-3 Tbs of the water. Mix in the reserved 1/2 tsp of thyme leaves.

Sautee the diced onion in about 1 Tbs. of butter or oil.

Dredge chicken in flour mixture (consisting of the flour, the majority of the thyme and the optional orange zest). If you want it to stick well, dip the chicken in milk first.

Add the dredged chicken to the sauteed onions and brown the chicken on all sides (but don't cook it all the way through). Add about 4-6 oz. of concentrated orange juice (from a can of frozen juice) and a cup or two of water (depending on how much gravy you want at the end). Simmer chicken until it's tender and cooked through (about 20 min. for boneless, 5 minutes longer for boned). Put a lid on it if you want more gravy when you're done.

You can make this recipe substituting concentrated lemonade and lemon rind if you prefer, and it will come out much more sour and bitter. But you may like it!

No Knead Bread

Karen and I attended a class on making bread and rolls at our RS SuperSaturday.
We got to sample this bread: nice and chewy with a tough crust, spongy texture and a slightly sour taste. It would be wonderful toasted and dipped in flavored oil. Use it as the basis of your own artisan bread.

Please note that you have to start the yeast sponge about 18 to 24 hours before you want to eat the bread.

No Knead Bread


Makes one 1 1/2-pound loaf


3 cups all-purpose or bread flour, plus more for work surface

1/4 teaspoon instant yeast

1 1/4 teaspoons salt

Olive oil, as needed

Cornmeal or wheat bran, as needed (optional)

1. In a large bowl, combine flour, yeast, and salt. Add 1 1/2 cups water, and stir until blended; dough will be shaggy and sticky. Coat a second large bowl with olive oil. Transfer dough to oiled bowl and cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest at least 12 hours, but preferably up to 18, in a room about 70° in temperature. When surface is dotted with bubbles, dough is ready.

2. Lightly flour work surface. Place dough on work surface and sprinkle with more flour. Fold the dough over on itself once or twice. Loosely cover with plastic wrap and let rest about 15 minutes.

3. Sprinkle just enough flour over work surface and your fingers to keep dough from sticking; quickly and gently shape dough into a ball. Generously coat a cotton, non-terry cloth towel with flour, cornmeal, or wheat bran; place dough seam side down on towel and dust with more flour, cornmeal, or wheat bran. Cover with a second cotton, non-terry cloth towel and let rise until it has more than doubled in size and does not readily spring back when poked with a finger, about 2 hours.

4. After about 1 1/2 hours, preheat oven to 500°. Place a 6 to 8-quart heavy covered pot, such as cast iron or Pyrex (a dutch oven is great), in oven as it heats. When dough has fully risen, carefully remove pot from oven. Remove top towel from dough and slide your hand under the bottom towel; turn dough over into pot, seam side up. Shake pan once or twice if dough looks unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes. Cover, and bake 20 minutes. Uncover, and continue baking until browned, about 20 minutes. Cool on a wire rack. (My oven bakes this at 475 degrees.)

Note: Recipe courtesy of Jim Lahey, Sullivan Street Bakery, and New York Times

Breakfast Omelet

6 eggs
2 tsp Vanilla
1/2 tsp salt
some other spice
2 tbsp Maple Syrup
1/2 cup milk
sliced Swiss cheese
sliced Cheddar cheese

Mix ingredients (except cheese) and beat with a wire whip until fluffy. Pour into pan and heat on medium low until nearly cooked. Don't stir in the pan. Top with the cheese, wait for it to melt, and it's done.
Serve with vegetables on the side.

Zucchini "Pasta"

By MARTHA ROSE SHULMAN

If you miss pasta, because you don’t eat wheat or you’re on a low-carbohydrate diet, this dish makes a nice stand-in for fettuccine. Be careful not to overcook — it will be al dente with a few minutes of cooking, after which it will quickly fall apart. When made just right, it’s silky and wonderful. You can serve as is, or toss it with a fresh tomato sauce. Use a vegetable peeler or mandolin to make the thin zucchini strips.

2 pounds zucchini (or a combination of yellow and green zucchini)

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

3/4 cup fresh tomato sauce (optional)

1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan, for serving (more to taste)

1. Using a vegetable peeler, cut the zucchini into lengthwise ribbons. Peel off several from one side, then turn the zucchini and peel off more. Continue to turn and peel away ribbons until you get to the seeds at the core of the zucchini. Discard the core. You can also do this on a mandolin, adjusted to a very thin slice.

2. Cook the zucchini strips in two batches. Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. When it is hot, add the zucchini ribbons and 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt. Cook, tossing and stirring the zucchini, for two to three minutes, until softened and beginning to turn translucent. Adjust salt and add freshly ground pepper to taste, and transfer to a serving dish. Repeat with the remaining olive oil and zucchini. Serve, topping with tomato sauce and freshly grated Parmesan if desired.

Yield: Serves four

Advance preparation: This dish is best served right away. But you can enjoy leftovers, which I like to eat cold, doused with lemon juice and a drop of olive oil.

from NYTimes