Salmon burgers

1/2 C chopped onion
1 T butter
1/2 C bread crumbs (I toasted 2 bread ends and crumbled them)
2 eggs
2 T lemon juice
2 T parsley
2 - 6oz cans salmon (or leftover fresh salmon)
dash garlic powder (optional)
salt and pepper to taste

Saute the onion in the butter until clear.  Mix onion in a bowl with the salmon (drained and flaked), eggs, bread crumbs, parsley, lemon juice, garlic powder, salt and pepper.  Form mixture into burgers and cook on a skillet over medium heat (spray first) for 4 minutes, flip, and cook a few minutes longer.  Serve on a bun with lettuce, tomato, and condiments or just serve plain.

I also saw recipes that included bell pepper in the salmon mix, which sounds good.  So try it out!

Five-Fruit Crush

from Cooking Light Magazine, June 1999

3/4 cup sliced ripe banana
1/2 cup chopped peeled ripe mango
2 cups whole strawberries
3/4 cup pineapple juice, chilled
1/2 cup orange juice, chilled
1/2 cup ice cubes

Place banana and mango into freezer; freeze until firm (about 1 hour). Remove from freezer; let stand 10 minutes. Combine strawberries and juices in a blender; process until smooth. With blender on, add banana, mango, and ice cubes, one at a time; process until smooth. Serve immediately.

Penne with Five Cheeses

2 cups heavy cream
1 cup crushed tomatoes in thick tomato puree
1/2 cup grated Pecorino Romano cheese
1/2 cup shredded Italian fontina/Italian cheese mix
2 T. ricotta cheese
1/4 cup fresh mozzarella
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
6 fresh basil leaves, chopped
1 pound cooked penne
4 T. butter

Combine all ingredients except the penne and butter in aluminum pan. Mix well. Add penne to tomato and cheese mixture and combine well. Dot with butter. Cover with foil and put into extra large ziploc bag. Freeze.

Thaw in refrigerator for 24 to 36 hours. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Bake pasta until bubbly and brown on top, about 20 minutes.

Note:  If you don't want to freeze this, just put it into the oven instead of the freezer and bake as directed above.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 2/3 C (8 1/2 oz.) Cake Flour

1 2/3 C (8 1/2 oz.) Bread Flour

1 1/4 tsp. Baking Soda

1 1/2 tsp. Baking Powder

1 1/2 tsp. Coarse Salt (or less if you like)

1 1/4 C (2 1/2 Sticks) Butter

1 1/4 C (10 oz.) Light Brown Sugar

1 C plus 2 tablespoons (8 oz.) Granulated Sugar

2 Large Eggs

2 tsp. Vanilla Extract

1 1/4 lbs. Bittersweet Choc. Chips

Cream sugars and butter for 5 min. until very light and fluffy. Add one egg at a time until mixed. Turn mixer to low speed and add the rest of the wet ingredients. Add dry ingredients until incorporated. Stir in chocolate chips. Pre-heat oven to 375 and bake for 10-12 minutes. Tops of cookies should be slightly golden. Eat your heart out cookie lover!

(I usually store some in the freezer, wrapped into the shape of a log in wax paper....you never know when you need cookies!)

Southwestern Stuffed Peppers

I think these peppers tasted great, but for me the texture was a bit off (we like more crisp/juicy stuffed peppers than soft). I used brown rice instead of the white rice called for in the recipe, so that was probably the cause of my increased cooking time/temperature. In the future I would most likely use left-over rice to cut down on cooking time (for more crisp texture), but overall they were good!

I got my recipe from: http://www.momswhothink.com/crock-pot-recipes/southwestern-stuffed-peppers.html

Ingredients:

4 green bell peppers
15 ounces black beans, rinsed and drained
4 ounces shredded pepper jack cheese (I just used cheddar and mozzarella)
3/4 cup medium salsa
1/2 cup frozen corn
1/2 cup chopped green onions
1/3 cup uncooked long grain white rice
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
sour cream (optional)

Directions:

1. Cut thin slice off top of each bell pepper. Carefully remove seeds and
membrane, leaving pepper whole.
2. Combine beans, cheese, salsa, corn, onions, rice, chili powder and cumin
in medium bowl.
3. Spoon filling evenly into each pepper. Place peppers in crockpot.
4. Cover; cook on LOW 4 to 6 hours. Serve with sour cream, if desired.

Black Bean Soup

Recipe by Our Best Bites

1 T olive oil

4 large cloves garlic, roughly chopped

3/4 C diced carrots (about 2 med carrots)

3/4 C diced celery (about 2 ribs)

1 C diced onion (about 1 sm-med onion)

2 cans black beans, rinsed and drained

1 3.5oz can green chilies

2 cans low-sodium beef broth

1 t kosher salt

1/8 tsp black pepper

1/2 t chili powder

1/4 t cumin

1/2 t dry oregano leaves

1 bay leaf

Optional Toppings: sour cream, tortilla chips, grated cheese, chopped cilantro, etc.

Place a large stock pot on the stove-top and set to medium-high heat.  When pan is warm, add olive oil.  Add carrots, celery, onion, and garlic and saute 4-5 minutes.

Add in the black beans, chilies, and beef broth. Stir to combine and then add the salt, pepper, chili powder, cumin, oregano, and bay leaf.

Simmer uncovered for about 20-25 minutes or until carrots are tender.

Remove from heat. Remove bay leaf from soup. 

Place soup in a blender. (You could use an immersion blender in place of this step) Place lid on blender, but remove the stopper in the lid to let heat escape. Place a paper towel over the hole to avoid splatters. 

Puree soup until completely smooth.  Optionally you could pulse until a semi-chunky soup is achieved. Squeeze in the juice from one lime and pulse to combine.

Ladle into bowls and top with desired toppings. Serve with extra lime wedges.  Makes about 8 C soup.

Cuban Black Beans & Whole Wheat Tortillas

I will write this as a pressure cooker recipe, because that's the way I do it...but you can definitely use a crockpot and just cook however long you need until the beans reach your desired tenderness.

For pressure cooking, if you're ever curious how long to cook beans, I like to use the bean chart on this website: http://fastcooking.ca/pressure_cookers/cooking_times_pressure_cooker.php

I tend to mostly soak my beans...so I still need to cook them longer than truly soaked beans. :) And I usually do a half natural/half quick release on the pressure...just depending on when I started them cooking and when we're actually eating. I will throw in a shout out at this point to my electric pressure cooker. I think that it is amazing. If you're ever in the market, let me know and I can tell you more about it. :) All that being said, I usually cook my beans on high pressure for about 15 minutes. But different pressure cookers cook differently and it all varies depending on how soaked your beans are...so play around with it until you find what works for you. :)

Onto the recipe: Cuban Black Beans

• 2 c. dry black beans
• 5 c. water
• 2 bell peppers, chopped (I never do that much...I just do however much I feel like)
• 1 lg. onion, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 tsp. pepper, or to taste
• 1 tsp. oregano
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 T. sugar
• dash of olive oil

Add ingredients together and mix, cook on high pressure until done. If you want to add salt (I never do) wait until after they are cooked, otherwise you will end up with hard beans.

As an option, if you'd like when they are done you can take out a cup of cooked beans, and blend it with 2 T. vinegar and 2 T. red wine (or broth) and then return it to the pot and mix with other beans. I have never done this, but the original recipe calls for it, so I figured I'd throw it in there. :)

We love these beans on burritos with cilantro lime rice, but they're good with just rice too. :)

I didn't actually serve these tortillas at the recipe group, but I do make my own whole wheat tortillas and I think they're pretty good, so I'll throw that recipe in here too:

Whole Wheat Tortillas

• 2 cups whole wheat flour (you can obviously use white flour if you're not into whole wheat stuff, but I prefer the whole wheat ones :) )
• 1 T. vital wheat gluten (if you don't have gluten around, you can substitute 1/4 c. white flour for wheat flour and that should do the trick)
• 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. salt
• 2 tsp. vegetable oil (I use canola)
• 3/4 c. warm milk

Mix together the flour, gluten, baking powder, salt and oil.
Slowly add the warm milk.
Stir until a loose, sticky ball is formed.
Knead for two minutes on a floured surface. Dough should be firm and soft.
Place dough in a bowl and cover with a damp cloth or plastic wrap for 20 minutes.
After the dough has rested, break off eight sections, roll them into balls in your hands, place on a plate (make sure they aren’t touching) and then cover balls with damp cloth or plastic wrap for 10 minutes. (It’s very important to let the dough rest, otherwise it will be like elastic and won’t roll out to a proper thickness and shape.)
After dough has rested, one at a time place a dough ball on a floured surface, pat it out into a four-inch circle, and then roll with a rolling pin from the center until it’s thin and about eight inches in diameter. (If you roll out pie crusts you’ll have no problem with this.) Don’t over work the dough, or it’ll be stiff. Keep rolled-out tortillas covered until ready to cook.
In a dry iron skillet or comal heated on high, cook the tortilla about thirty seconds on each side. It should start to puff a bit when it’s done. (I do this on my electric griddle or a frying pan.)
Keep cooked tortillas covered wrapped in a napkin until ready to eat.
Can be reheated in a dry iron skillet, over your gas-burner flame or in the oven wrapped in foil.
While you probably won’t have any leftovers, you can store in the fridge tightly wrapped in foil or plastic for a day or so.
Makes eight tortillas.

(I always double the recipe.)

To give credit where credit's due, I got the tortilla recipe from this blog: http://homesicktexan.blogspot.com/2007/03/and-end-to-my-quest-flour-tortillas.html and tweaked it.