Archive for the ‘Recipes’ Category

All ingredients except the optional ham hock and pork shoulder.

I’m a soupie.  Is that a word?  Well nevermind. It should be.

I’m finally getting around to posting my favorite bean soup recipe.

Why?

Because I was late yesterday, that’s why.  You know, school, dishes, laundry, toddler—broken down car.  These things can make a girl go half-crazy in the dinner making department.

{enter pressure cooker}

“Welcome, highly-favored kitchen appliance!”

Electric pressure cookers save time and money!

I.love.my.pressure.cooker.  Period.  And it got me out of a jam last night. At 4:4o I arrived home from the mechanic shop, tired and frustrated.  {yes, you heard me right.} I looked in my pantry.  BEHOLD! A bag of beans.  Fifteen different kinds of beans to be exact.  Dinner!  By 4:55 I had all the ingredients in my pressure cooker and by 6:15 we were eating yummy, healthy soup.

YES it works in a crock pot too. Just put this same recipe in your slow cooker and give it 6-8 hours on low.

The magic is found in the spices so here you are:

15 Bean Soup

9 cups chicken broth
15 bean soup mix (1 lb) – this mix is in most grocery stores. It’s about $3.20/bag.
1 large onion, diced
1 can diced tomatoes
4 stalks diced celery
2 bay leaves
2 tsp diced garlic (from a jar is fine)
1 T thyme and rosemary
1.5 T parsely
1 tsp ham base if you don’t have a ham hock, or leave it out.  It’s good with or without.
Black pepper to taste
Alternative:
If you’re in the mood for a more meaty bean soup, add about a pound of pork shoulder, diced into bite-sized pieces. I didn’t use it this time. When using ham base, I LOVE Penzey’s.  Here’s a picture … a little goes a long way!

Directions:

Place all this stuff in your pressure cooker. Set it to “soup” and set your timer for 35 minutes. When it’s done, allow the pressure to go down on it’s own. This will add about 15 more minutes to your total time.

When you’re ready to serve, take out the ham hock and the bay leaves. Voila!  No more waiting all day for your beans to cook.  Pressure cooking is a busy moms best friend.  Give it a try!

Mmmmm.  Split-pea soup. It’s one of my favorite ways to make our Christmas ham last through the new year.

Normally, I use my crock pot. But this year, I used my pressure cooker—just to see how it would turn out.  I warned my family in advance that it might not be amazing but I decided to give it a try anyway. Hey, what are they gonna do?  They’re stuck with my kitchen adventuring ways!

Wouldn’t you know it?  It turns out that using my pressure cooker turned out the creamiest, yummiest split-pea soup I’ve ever made.  I was able to serve it straight out of the pot, without adding anything to thicken it.

If you like this yummy soup, give this recipe a try.  And let me know how it turns out!  I’ll also post the slow cooker version at the bottom for those of you who like slow cookers.

Split Pea Soup {pressure cooker version}

Serves 6-9

6 cups of water or broth (I used ham broth, but you can use chicken broth, too.)
Ham bone if you have it
2 1/4 cups split peas, rinsed
2 cups chopped celery
1 whole onion, chopped

Delicious and nutritious!

4 cloves of garlic, diced
3 carrots, diced
2 tablespoons organic, no-salt seasoning (from Costco if you have it)
pepper
2 bay leaves

—ham—  as much as you like.  But do not add until the soup is finished in the pressure cooker.

Instructions:

Put all in ingredients except ham into pressure cooker.  Set timer for 15 minutes. Allow pressure to come down on it’s own. This will take another 15 minutes or so.

When pressure is released, remove bay leaves and stir.  Add ham if you are so inclined. (I am always inclined this way if I have ham in the house!)
Salt and pepper to taste.  Serve with corn bread or salad.  Enjoy!

{slow cooker version}

as above, except: cook on low for 6-8 hours
Remove bay leaves
Add ham

Stir.  To thicken, I usually add a mixture of milk and flour that I’ve prepared in my salad dressing shaker).  I don’t honestly know how much I use.  I would guess it’s about 1/2 cup of milk and 2 tablespoons of flour mixed very well. You can also thicken with instant potato flakes, or cornstarch and water.  Be sure to mix the cornstarch well, one part starch to two parts COLD water.

Enjoy!

heidi 

I love soup.  Seriously. LOVE. So when Old Man Winter knocks on my door, I head to the kitchen to heat things up!

It’s a “thing” I have, this obsession of good soups.  Happily, my husband shares my love of soup. In fact, he is the driving force behind most of my obsessive behavior.  ;)

 Years ago, my husband and I discovered this delicious winter soup when we were invited out to Olive Garden with friends.  Jay looked at me over his soup spoon with this sort of  ”If you will make this soup for me I will think you are even more amazing than I already do” look in his eyes … and with incentive like that, I had to figure out how to make my own version.  I figured it would save us some money too while allowing us to stay snuggly warm at home with our soup.

I worked hard to lose about 30 pounds two years ago, so I’ve lightened this up just a bit to cut out calories and fat … but really … you can’t skimp on things like bacon and sausage and still keep the wonderful flavor of this yummy winter soup.  Mostly what I did to cut calories was skip the butter and use regular 2% milk with half and half instead of heavy cream.

I like to get bacon at the local butcher shop if I remember.  This is the key for me. (The remembering part, that is.)  Tonight we were lucky to have peppered bacon from our local butcher.  ’nuf said.  YUM.

I use about this much bacon when I make my sausage, kale and potato yumminess.

Bacon is one of my love languages.  I don’t know why BACON is not in “that” Love Languages book.  Anyway.

This is about enough for a batch of soup that feeds my tribe of ten.

I cut it into bite size pieces and cook it while the water is heating up in the stock pot.

Cook up some Italian sausage. I did two pounds for my purposes.  (I feed 10 and I want leftovers for lunch the next day).  Two pounds is perfect.  Drain off the grease  and set it aside.

While your sausage is cooking … rinse and tear a bunch of kale into bite-size pieces. Set it aside.  You won’t need to add it until the very end.

BONUS… this stuff is really good for you

5 quarts of chicken stock

Saute onions and garlic before adding potatoes

I made this last night in the MIDDLE of all the Un-decorating FALL and finding Christmas decoration madness.  AND did I mention I am potty training our almost two-year-old.

My pictures reflect this.  Do NOT use the pot I’m using for your soup.  When I’m thinking, I do everything in my stock pot.  But whatever.  This still worked. It just made my life a teensy bit harder than it had to be.

Add red pepper flakes and your cooked bacon and sauté the potatoes until they are just a little on the brown side.  YUM. Man, this smells good.

When they look and smell irresistable, you’re ready to pour the chicken stock in.

Add your cooked italian sausage.

Add 2 cups half and half and 1 cup 2% milk.
Heavy cream in you would rather be naughty than nice.

Add your kale and cream at the end and simmer, adjusting flavors as you go.  (You know, a sip for you, a sip for your friends, a sip for your husband, etc.)

Here’s the recipe, all summed up and pretty for you “print in out and post it” people..

Sausage, Kale and Potato Soup

• 1 bunch of kale, rinsed and torn into bite sized pieces
• bacon, cut up and cooked (about as much as you see in the photo above)
• 3 large russet potatoes (about enough for six cups), peeled with some skin left on
• 2 pounds Italian sausage
• 1 T red pepper flakes
• 5 quarts chicken stock (remember I feed a tribe!)
• 2 onions
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 cups half & half
• 1 cup 2% milk
• pepper to taste

Put chicken broth on stove to simmer.
Cook bacon. Drain and set aside.
Cook sausage. While sausage is cooking, rinse and prepare kale. Set aside.
Drain sausage. Set aside. Drain grease but leave the pan as is, you’ll love the flavor it will give the onions.
Saute onions and garlic in  same pan you just cooked bacon and sausage in.
When onions are slightly browned and soft, add red pepper flakes, bacon and potatoes.
Cook until potatoes are slightly browned.
Add chicken stock. DO NOT BOIL. It makes the potatoes mushy.  And nobody wants that.
When potatoes are soft (not mushy), add the cream, milk and kale.

Simmer, adjusting flavors as you go.
Serve with warm, rustic garlic bread… you’ll be glad you did.

Gather ’round the dinner table and enjoy!

Easy, delicious, CHALUPA!

We LOVE Mexican food around here!  Happily, one of my favorite Mexican recipes is also a slow cooker recipe!  Chalupa is an awesome meal—it freezes well, is awesome in a bowl with tortilla chips on the bottom and cheese on top with sour cream.  It can be made ahead and re-heated. What I like to do is make it up and then freeze half of it.  Great meal after a long day.  Enjoy!

Put ingredients into the crock pot in this order:

1 pound pinto beans
1 large pork shoulder roast
7 cups water
1  onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 small can of dice jalapeños  (if you like it spicy)
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons chili powder or chipotle seasoning
1 tablespoon cumin
2 teaspoons oregano (mexican oregano if you have it)
pepper to taste

Put all ingredients in slow cooker, dutch oven or a . Cover and simmer (on low)  at least 5 hours, or until the roast falls apart and the beans are done. Uncover and cook about 1/2 hour, until it is as thick as you like it.

I serve this over chips, or with rice or quinoa.  It’s a GREAT fall recipe that is sure to please your whole family!

Best.Salsa.Ever.

So … I am a HUGE salsa fan. I like it HOT. (Can you imagine?)

I started making salsa years ago and when I started I did things the “purist” way … even fire-roasted tomatoes! Well, five children later, I’ve graduated to canned tomatoes and I have to say that they taste every bit as good because all the other ingredients really “make” the salsa!

Here’s my recipe for my favorite salsa, and a few tips for those of you with more “mild” tastes:

1. If you don’t like SPICY salsa, you can cut down on the heat by taking out the seeds in the jalapenos and all the white membrane that holds the seeds. **word to the wise** Be careful with jalapenos! I’m here to tell ya, I made the mistake one time of taking out my contacts with jalepeno still on my hands.  It.Wasn’t.Pleasant.  WASH YOUR HANDS THOROUGHLY after handling jalapeno peppers.
2. Chipotle peppers are just smoked jalapeno peppers in yummy sauce. They can be hot. If you want a more mild recipe, simply cut the amount of chipotle pepper but don’t cut it out entirely. That yummy smoked flavor is AMAZING in salsa.
3. Use fresh ground pepper if you can. It’s the best.

So without further adieu, here’s my secret recipe! Enjoy!

1 large white onion
1 red pepper
2 cans diced tomatoes – drained
3 jalapenos – seed them to remove the “heat” (I like mine HOT)
4 cloves of garlic
1 bunch of cilantro (yes the whole bunch)
1 or 2 canned chipotle peppers
2 tsp liquid smoke
1 T white vinegar
1 T lemon juice
salt & pepper to taste

Adding these first helps keep the tomatoes from becoming “soupy”

Add these to your food processor and blend FIRST.

• Onion
• Cilantro
• Jalapeno

Add the tomatoes last and pulse your food processor. The trick is to get it the consistency that you like it. It might take a few tries but keep at it. It’s worth it!

After you have blended those, add your liquid smoke (Optional if you don’t have it. Don’t run out to the store, just buy it for next time.), vinegar, lemon juice, garlic, red pepper & chipotle pepper.

Blend. Add the drained cans of diced tomatoes LAST. Taste for salt and pepper. Remember to PULSE your food processor. You want salsa, not soup.

This will make a whole lotta salsa! Enough to feed a crowd. Maybe it’s time to have some friends over… !

Enjoy!
Heidi

Put the red pepper, chipotle peppers, garlic cloves, salt and pepper in at the same time.

Pulled Pork Sandwiches

I am a huge fan of using my CrockPot!  I just love easy-peasy yummy meals that will feed a crowd – mostly ’cause that’s what I’ve got at my house. A crowd.

This is one of my favorites.  Enjoy!  Thanks to my sweet friend Lisa over at Simply This That and the Other for the picture!

Heidi’s Crockin’ Pulled Pork Sandwiches

*make ahead in your slow cooker

Ingredients:

• Shoulder Pork Roast (a loin roast is fine but it will take longer)
• Whole cloves if you have them
• Salt
• Pepper
• ¼ cup chili powder
• ½ cup water
• 1 bottle of your favorite BBQ sauce
• Hoagie rolls or hamburger buns

Let your slow cooker do the work for you!  Start this recipe in the morning or cook it overnight!
Directions:

Poke small holes in roast with a knife and insert whole cloves into the roast. Do this as many times as you like.

Place water and chili powder in the slow cooker and add the clove-studded roast. Add salt and pepper. Cover.

Cook on low for 6-8 hours. When done, the meat should shred very easily.. Take the roast out of the slow cooker. Remove the cloves and discard. Cut away any fat. Shred the remaining meat and place into large bowl.

Dump BBQ sauce into the bowl and add some leftover broth (fat skimmed off) from the slow cooker to the meat until it the shredded pork is the desired consistency.

Serve on hoagie rolls or hamburger buns.

This is an excellent recipe to make ahead. When you’re ready to serve, simply add a little water and reheat. Freezes well.

CROCK POT ARTICHOKES

Ingredients:

5 artichokes, remove stalks and tough leaves
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
8 peppercorns
2 stalks celery, cut up
1/2 lemon, sliced
2 cups boiling water

Directions:

1. Combine all ingredients in crockpot.

2. Cook on High 4 – 5 hours.