Recipes We Love

After going to my nephew Max's farewell last weekend (plenty of photos of that on Instagram here!), I've been thinking a lot more about the fact that we only have two and a half years left before Ashton can go on a mission - or until he leaves for college - not sure which will come first! I'm feeling a real urgency to get moving on all the trips we want to take together as a family and building my relationship with him. And on a practical level, I'm feeling like I need to teach this boy to cook and get going on typing up and posting tried-and-true recipes on this blog so that wherever my kids are in the world, they can always come here to find a recipe that will be healthy and inexpensive and easy to make - and that will hopefully bring a little taste of our home to them wherever they are.

I posted a bunch of recipes a while back (I was trying to post one a week).

Breakfasts

Breads

Snacks and Appetizers

Soups

Main Dishes

Desserts

Special Events

Then I sort of fizzled out on posting recipes. But it's time to get going again. So whenever I make something that fits the bill (a family favorite that is generally healthy, inexpensive and simple), I'm going to get it posted here. 

Halloween Recipes

Here are the Pumpkin Pancakes and Black Bean Soup recipes I promised on my Halloween post (our family tradition is to have these things for breakfast and dinner on Halloween but we have them a lot of other times too!).

Enjoy! (and if you missed yesterday's post on sisters, click on over - you won't want to miss it)
______________________________________________

Pumpkin Pancakes
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups milk (add little more at the end if the batter is too thick)
1 1/4 cup pumpkin puree (cooked mashed pumpkin or canned pumpkin)
1 egg
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 tablespoons vinegar
2 cups all-purpose flour (or one cup white flour, one cup whole wheat flour)
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon salt
(optional – add chopped walnuts or pecans)

Directions
1. In a bowl, mix together the milk, pumpkin, egg, oil and vinegar. Combine the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, allspice, cinnamon, ginger and salt in a separate bowl. Stir into the pumpkin mixture just enough to combine.
2. Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake. Brown on both sides and serve hot with maple syrup or apple butter.

Makes about 24 pancakes.
___________________________________________

Black Bean Soup a.k.a. Ghoul Goulash

(Loosli Traditional Halloween Dinner - and a soup we eat year-round)

4 16 oz cans of black beans (or 8 cups cooked-from-dry black beans - see how to do this here)

2 cups chicken broth

2 small onions or one large one, chopped

2 tsps crushed or minced garlic

2 16 oz jars of chunky salsa (mild, medium or hot – will determine how spicy the soup is – can use 2 15-oz can of petite diced tomatoes and 1-2 cans of diced green chilis instead of salsa if desired, may want to use more onion if not using salsa)

8 tsp lime juice or the juice of 4 limes (optional)

4 tsp ground cumin

½ crushed red pepper (optional – adds heat)

Directions:

1. Place 1 can of beans with liquid from can (or 2 cups of cooked beans and ½ c of liquid they cooked in) as well as the chicken broth in a blender. Blend until smooth.
2. Coat large sauce pan or soup pot with cooking spray or a bit of olive oil. Heat over high heat and saute onion until tender.
3. Add blended bean mixure, remaining un-blended beans (with liquid), salsa, lime juice, cumin and crushed red pepper (if desired). Mix together.
4. Reduce heat to simmer and cook for 25-30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
5. Serve garnished with plain yogurt or sour cream, chopped cilantro, shredded cheese, crumbled totilla chips.

Makes 8-10 servings  

Sweet Potatoes

So although I love cooking healthy stuff, this'll never be a recipe blog because there are already plenty of wonderful bloggers out there blogging up excellent recipe and food ideas.  But every so often, I just have to share some favorite food tidbits.

Lately I'm into orange foods. Maybe it has something to do with the season. I crave pumpkin and sweet potatoes and squash. A few posts back, I shared my favorite pumpkin cookie recipe (I'll have to do pumpkin bread and pumpkin curry soup one of these days...).  I've been really into sweet potatoes the last couple weeks and wow, they're good (and way better for you than regular potatoes - and my kids love them).  I've enjoyed  sweet potato chips and fries, sweet potato curry - and my new favorite - sweet potato and black bean chili - sort of perfect for Halloween with the black and orange involved...  Here's the recipe I got from a neighbor after loving the dish she brought to a pot-luck (original is here but I changed a few things to make it better - to me at least):

Looking for a delicious and healthy chili recipe for Super Bowl Sunday? When the winds turn blustery and the dark draws in, we need zesty, spicy flavors to wake us up, and good solid nourishment to see us through the winter months. This richly-colored, flavorful chili is the perfect answer.

Immune-boosting garlic and onion, along with red pepper and lime, combine with black beans and nourishing sweet potatoes to make one very satisfying autumn one-pot meal. You can serve it on rice, or with Pumpkin Biscuits, taco chips, or corn bread. Either way, it makes a whole-foods, healthful answer to the perennial question, “What’s for dinner?” Here’s the recipe:

INGREDIENTS

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium red onion, chopped
1 red pepper, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons sea salt
2 large sweet potatoes, cut into 1/2-inch cubes (or 3 sweet potatoes - I like more)
Zest and juice of 1 lime (can just do lime juice if you don't want to mess with the zesting)
1 28-can diced tomatoes
4 15-ounce cans black beans, rinsed and drained (or 6 cups freshly cooked)
1 jalapeno chile pepper, seeded and chopped
1 tablespoon cumin
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon cocoa powder
1 lime, cut into wedges
1 cup chopped cilantro leaves, washed and dried

1. Warm the oil in a large pan over medium heat and add the onion, red pepper, garlic, and salt. Saute until soft, about 4 minutes.

2. Add the sweet potato and lime zest, and cook 10 to 15 minutes more, continuing to stir occasionally.

3. Add the tomatoes, black beans, jalapeno, lime juice, cumin, chili powder, and cocoa, bring to a simmer, cover, and cook for 10 minutes.

4. Serve over brown rice, if desired, with lime wedges and cilantro, or with corn bread, biscuits, or taco chips alongside. (I just serve with chopped cilantro and lots of fresh-squeezed lime juice)

Serves 6.

photo credit: flyzipper via Flckr