Lentils and Chorizo

Um, well I guess this isn't Legume Wednesday. It's more like Legume Friday... But really I made the lentils because I am so tired of listening to the news and hearing about how terrible the economy is. And I'm tired of unemployment being through the roof where I live and not being able to find a job. It's pretty depressing.

So I decided to revert back to the simple and delicious food I ate in college. Yes the cheap eats that I survived on for about 10 years. And NO I'm not talking about Ramen noodles which I hate with a burning hatred that I would rather literally starve to death than eat them again. Seriously the smell of them makes me gag. Ramen noodles are cheap, but they are far from delicious. I'm talking about lentils. Yummy in the tummy lentils.

The chorizo had been hanging out in the freezer for a while so I figured I might as well use it up. Then I sauteed up a bunch of veggies and added some cooked lentils and a can of tomatoes. It's cheap. It's delicious. It's filling. And it's just right for the economy right now. What more could you ask for? Perhaps something like my new and furry sous chef?

Her eyes are really brown, not glow in the dark creepy yellow....

Lentils and Chorizo
an original Shazamer recipe

1 cup dried lentils

4 cups water

2 links (about 6 ounces) fresh chorizo

1 red bell pepper, chopped

1 small onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1 large stalk of celery, chopped

1 (15 ounce) can of petite diced tomatoes

1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar

Bring the water to boil in a saucepan. When the water is boiling add the lentils and continue to boil for about 13 more minutes or until the lentils are tender.

Meanwhile, cook the chorizo in a frying pan until it is no longer bright red and is cooked all the way through. Add the vegetables to the pan and saute in the rendered fat until they are tender. Turn off the heat and wait until the lentils are finished cooking.

Once the lentils finish cooking, drain them and add then to the pan with the chorizo and vegetables. Add the can of tomatoes and cook over medium heat for another 5 minutes to blend the flavors and reduce the tomato liquid. Turn off the heat and stir in the balsamic vinegar. Add salt and pepper to taste.

And I'm off to rolling on the floor with my dog!

Trailer Park Beans

OK, I have been terrible at blogging. really really bad. But it's been a bad week overall really. We got the foot of snow that was, for the most part, expected. And they cancelled school. So I decided to check out the new Chinese restaurant in town. Unfortunately, I learned that although the Cadillac is a big heavy car that does well on slippery roads, it does not plow snow. I got the behemoth stuck in the driveway. So I called my friend to pick me up in what can best be described as a monster truck.

While waiting for her to arrive I decided that it would be a good idea to get the car all the way back into the driveway. In order to do that I had to shovel. SO my neighbor came over to help me and the two of us (and his little son) were all shoveling away when WHHHHHHHHHHHHHHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! I went flying. I should explain here that I have a gravel driveway that we normally don't shovel and so the snow pack under the fresh foot of snow was pretty much ice.

So there I was sitting on my butt in a foot of snow with Wilma the Knee twisted behind me. Wilma the Knee apparently does not like flying and flailing and has been swollen and crunchy ever since. The rest of the day was spent with an ice pack and some electric stim. See if you have 3 knee surgeries they let you have all kinds of fun toys. Fortunately nothing is ripped, because yes, I've seen the doctor. The doctor should be naming a wing of his house after me. Apparently I knocked loose some scar tissue or irritated my arthritis or something like that. He prescribed me some great anti-inflammatory medicine and my knee is slowly starting to recover. Whew.

Life hasn't returned to normal though because shortly before seeing the doctor I must have been sneezed on by a high school kid and I have come down with the worst cold ever. The congestion is truly amazing. I'm starting to sound like Fran Drescher even.

Fortunately I made these beans. Yes, the only thing I've cooked all week. These beans are killer spicy. And delicious. And really you should try them. But you may want to cut down on the pickled jalapenos! They were originally called Drunken Beans and the recipe called for a dark Mexican beer. But I'm not fancy like that and all I had were Bud Light and Tequila. Which makes me feel less than upscale with my beans....

And the winners of the Big Blog Giveaway Part Deux are....

The cupcake towels, napkins and spatula go to teresa!

The finger spatula, band aids, and bookmarks go to Standing Still!

and the apron goes to Siri!

So ladies, email me (at the bottom right) your address and I will get them sent out! By the way, I've been asked where I found the band aids. I found them at Borders.

Drunk Beans

adapted from epicurious

1/2 pound bacon chopped

1 large white onion chopped

1 Tbsp oregano

1 garlic clove, minced

1 pound pinto beans that have soaked in water for 6 hours

1 1/2 cups water

1/2 cup sliced jarred pickled jalapenos

12 ounce can of Bud Light

2 shots of Tequila

1/2 cup brown sugar (packed)

2 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350.

In a frying pan, cook bacon, onion, oregano, and garlic over medium high heat until onion is browned slightly. Scrape the bacon mixture into a bean pot (or Dutch oven) and add beans, water, jalapeno, beer, and tequila. Stir to combine. Bake mixture in covered bean pot for 2 hours or until beans are soft. Stir in salt and brown sugar and bake for 10 minutes more without the lid.

Lentil Soup (the non-Crock Pot version)

I have finished the first week back to school and I have come to the conclusion that although I think I usually plan things pretty well, I need to plan better. Apparently, substitute teaching all day and then driving an hour and taking graduate school courses at night leaves very little time for much else. Like making dinner. Or eating it. I think basically this week I lived off of this bread. (Which will be included in the weekly Yeastspotting over at Wild Yeast, seriously check it out, there's always a mouthwatering yeasty roundup over there.)

So, although getting paid for today would have been nice, I can't say I was disheartened to find out that I'd gotten the call at 5:30 this morning that school was cancelled. Actually, I was snoring loudly at 5:30 this morning and the Brain is awesome because he took the call and let me know there was no school when I did wake up. The nice thing is that this makes a 5-day weekend then. See, tomorrow is a teacher-in-service and I stayed late yesterday to grade all my exams so I don't have to go. And then Monday is Martin Luther King Day. And this 5 day weekend is going to be followed by a great and rewarding day. My birthday. Which I will be celebrating with a school double header. Whee. And a BIG HUGE blog giveaway. Make sure you check back here on the 20th to see what's going on.

Today was spent cleaning the house. Because once the house is clean, THEN I get to play. And I have loads of projects to play with. And it wouldn't be a frigid cold winter day at home without my brain turning to soup. Yummy lentil soup. It started off as a Cooking Light soup, but I got way sidetracked. Overall, it's pretty yummy. And yeah, I'm hoping it makes up for skipping Legume Wednesday. sorry.

Lentil Soup

a sort of original recipe

6 servings

2 Tbsp olive oil

1 large yellow onion, chopped

2 large stalks celery, chopped

2 carrots, peeled and chopped

1 small bulb fennel, chopped

1 tsp dried thyme

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 bay leaf

1 1/2 cups brown lentils

4 cups fat-free, low sodium, chicken broth

1 cup water

1 (15 ounce) can petite cut tomatoes

the juice of one lemon

1 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

Heat the oil in a large soup pot over medium high heat. Add the onions, celery, carrots, fennel, thyme, garlic, and bay leaf and saute for 12 minutes. Add the lentils and cook for 2 minutes stirring constantly. Stir in the broth, water, and tomatoes, and bring to a boil. Cover the pot and reduce the heat and simmer for 40 minutes until the lentils are very tender. Remove from the heat. Discard the bay leaf, add the lemon juice, salt and pepper and stir to combine.

Orzo with Chickpeas

I like to have the television on when I'm puttering about the house. I grew up in a big family and sometimes the house gets too quiet for me. I don't always pay attention to it, but the noise is soothing when I'm folding laundry or mopping floors. So, last Saturday, while I was cleaning our cozy little house, or knocking over liquor stores on facebook, I don't remember which. (I think I'm addicted to Mob Wars, but there's something fun about saying, "I just knocked over a liquor store!")

Anywho, I had the television on and all of the sudden there's Rachel Ray in all her EVOO, Yummo! and Delish! glory, making this really tasty looking orzo and chickpea salad. So then I had to sit down and watch and it looked pretty good. So I looked up the recipe and made it for lunch. It's really really good! I did lighten it up a little. I cut down the oil and added more zucchini. And ta-daa! Legume Wednesday starts 2009 on a light and healthy note. And yeah, this salad is good warm OR cold. Deeeeeelish!

Orzo with Chickpeas
adapted from Rachel Ray

1/2 pound orzo
1 Tbsp olive oil
2 medium zucchini, chopped
1 small red onion, minced
3 cloves garlic, minced
salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 (15-ounce) can chickpeas (garbanzo beans), drained
1/2 cup parsley leaves, chopped
1/4 cup mint leaves, chopped
2 ounces goat cheese

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add orzo and cook to al dente.
Heat oil in a skillet, add zucchini, onions and garlic, season with salt and pepper and cook 6 to 7 minutes until tender, add chick peas and heat through. Toss with herbs, orzo and cheese. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Vermont Baked Beans

Sometimes I feel like living in rural Ohio is similar to living in a Laura Ingles Wilder book. It's not quite the prairie, but it's certainly flat. Really. And as I drive back and forth to school I travel between huge fields of farmland. I see cows and sheep and deer and corn and wheat and soybeans. And there is a huge dead zone of probably 25 miles that I have no cellphone coverage. So when I travel the 30 miles back and forth through sleet and snow and rain, I become a very careful driver. And there has been a lot of sleet and snow and rain going on here.

This cold and dreary weather combined with Legume Wednesday, makes it the perfect time for baked beans. With salt pork. Yeah, salt pork is available in rural Ohio. Salt pork is actually a deliciously chewy addition to baked beans. The maple syrup is a nice tasty addition to the beans too. And the house felt all cozy and smelled so great as these beans cooked all morning. They really made such a cold and dreary snow soaked day much much better. And the urge to put twin braids in my hair passed nicely.
Vermont Baked Beans
from Cooking Light

1 pound dried navy beans (about 2 cups)
1 1/2 cups chopped yellow onion
1/2 cup diced salt pork (about 4 ounces)
5 1/2 cups water
3/4 cup maple syrup, divided
1 1/2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon hot pepper sauce (such as Tabasco)

1. Sort and wash beans; place in a large bowl. Cover with water to 2 inches above beans; cover and let stand 8 hours or overnight. Drain beans.
2. Preheat oven to 325°.
3. Heat a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add onion and pork to pan; saute 5 minutes. Add beans, 5 1/2 cups water, 1/2 cup syrup, mustard, salt, and pepper sauce; bring to a boil. Cover and bake at 325° for 2 1/2 hours or until beans are tender, stirring occasionally. Uncover and bake an additional 30 minutes or until mixture begins to thicken. Stir in remaining 1/4 cup syrup.

Country Lima Beans

Call me nutty, but all week I've been craving baked beans. I even went on line and starting searching for good baked bean type recipes. This week I was determined to make some kind of baked beans for Legume Wednesday. Then I got sort of sidetracked playing Scramble in Facebook. It's like playing Boggle. Remember Boggle where you have to shake the thing up and you get a grid of letters and you have to write down all the words you can find where the letters are all connected? My sister M. is a whiz at it. I am not. But I find it far more addictive than solitaire (which any given day you can find my mom playing when she's not quilting or sewing or blogging.)

So while working my way through some of the three pound bag of tortilla chips that we got as part of our Costco bounty and we've been nibbling on pretty steady for the last 2 weeks, I decided I didn't want a sweet baked bean recipe. I wanted something warm and comforting and mushy, but not sweet and still really tasty. Et VOILA! I found these lovely Country Lima Beans from the good people at Cooking Light. Whew! I sort of just happened to have big dried Lima beans in my bean cupboard and I didn't actually have to go out and buy any ingredients. Which undoubtedly would have taken away from my Scramble playing time...

Country Lima Beans

from Cooking Light

2 cups dried large Lima beans

1 tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

3 bacon slices, chopped

1 medium onion, chopped

2 medium carrots, finely chopped

3 1/2 cups water

2 Tbsp butter, softened

Sort and wash beans; place in a large Dutch oven. Cover with water to 2 inches above beans; cover and let stand 8 hours or overnight. Drain the beans. Return beans to pan.

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.

Cook bacon slices in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat until crisp. Remove bacon from pan with a slotted spoon; set bacon aside. Add onion and carrot to drippings in pan; saute 5 minutes or until golden. Add onion mixture, bacon, 3 1/2 cups water, and butter to bean mixture in Dutch oven; stir well. Cover and bake at 300 degrees for 2 1/2 hours or until beans are tender. Stir every half hour adding more water if necessary and adding salt and pepper in final half hour.

Bacon, Onion, and Brown Lentil Skillet

So besides using the slow cooker a lot (seriously, it rarely goes back in the cupboard), I'm also finding speedy recipes super handy. And lentils are a legume that leans on the speedy side of life. I won't call it the Ferrari of legumes because c'mon, a lentil is not exactly a sexy bean. I'm not sure which bean would be the "sexy" bean, but a lentil isn't it. And yes, it's Legume Wednesday! Whoopee! This would be the late-night version of Legume Wednesday. OH boy. Pillow talk with the lentil. Maybe it is a sexy bean.

This recipe popped off the page of October's Cooking Light at me. It's a big-time pantry recipe for me. Really, in recent years it's been rare for me to be without bacon, and with Chester in the freezer I've got almost enough bacon to last until next summer. So yeah, bacon, lentils, carrots, celery, onion and stock. And the whole thing took definitely less than 30 minutes. And it's one of those seriously damnass good recipes. The portion size is pretty big and it's a nice smoky dinner with a great mouthfeel. Oh look! I used a "foodie" word! It's basically nice and chewy and delicious.

And joining me this Legume Wednesday is Zylo with her Mashed Black Eyed Peas with Garlic Puree. It sounds super delicious! Go check it out. Would you believe I've never had a black eyed pea? It's something I've been meaning to try out.

Bacon, Onion, and Brown Lentil Skillet

from Cooking Light October 2008

4 servings

6 slices bacon

1 cup chopped onion

1 cup chopped carrot

1 cup chopped celery

1 tsp chopped fresh thyme

6 garlic cloves, minced

4 cups fat free, reduced sodium chicken broth

1 cup dried brown lentils

2 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley

1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Cook bacon in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until crisp. Remove bacon from pan, reserving 2 tsp drippings in the pan. Crumble bacon and set aside. Add onion to drippings in pan. Saute 5 minutes or until lightly browned. Add carrot, celery, thyme, and garlic and cook for 5 minutes or until crisp-tender. Add broth and lentils. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer for 15 minutes or until lentils are just tender. Uncover and increase the heat to medium-high. Cook for 6 minutes or until the liquid is almost completely evaporated. Remove from heat. Stir in the parsley and pepper and sprinkle with bacon.

Remember to make sure your ID, Voter Registration, and Social Security card all have your name typed EXACTLY the same way so that your vote will count too!

Farafalle with Sausage, Cannellini Beans, and Kale

Have you ever been so angry you walk around your house completely useless because you're muttering to yourself about how angry you are? Well, I've had a rough morning and as a result I'm just about angry enough to spit (like spitting would help). In the interest of not leaking that anger (or mentioning the person with which I'm angry), today's Legume Wednesday will be fairly without commentary.

All I can say is it's a truly delicious dinner and I'll definitely be making it again. Yum!

Farafalle, with Sausage, Cannellini Beans, and Kale

adapted from Cooking Light

16 ounces uncooked farafalle (bow tie pasta)

1/4 cup oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes

1 1/2 cups chopped onion

1 pound pork sausage

6 garlic cloves, minced

1 tsp dried Italian seasoning

1/4 tsp crushed red pepper

1 (14 oz.) can fat-free less-sodium chicken broth

1 (16 oz.) package fresh kale

1 (15 oz.) can cannellini beans, rinsed and drained

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Cook pasta according to package directions, omitting salt and fat. Drain, reserving 1 cup cooking liquid. Keep warm.

Drain tomatoes in a small sieve over a bowl, reserving 2 tsp oil; slice tomatoes. Heat a large Dutch oven over medium heat. Add sliced tomatoes, reserved 2 tsp tomato oil, onion, and sausage to pan; cook 10 minutes or until sausage is browned, stirring to crumble. Add garlic to pan. Cook 1 minute. Add seasoning, pepper, and broth to pan. Stir in kale; cover and simmer 5 minutes or until kale is tender. Stir in pasta, reserved 1 cup cooking liquid, and beans. Sprinkle with cheese.

Country Lentil Soup

I've decided to bring it back. It's Legume Wednesday! See I got to thinking. Part of the reason I was doing Legume Wednesday was to show how easy and versatile legumes are. For example, I think the entire prep time for this lentil soup may have been a whopping 5 minutes. It would be less if you are speedier at chopping 1 onion, 2 carrots and 2 celery stalks and used dried herbs. I was out of thyme. Oh the irony! And seriously, there are so many people out there who are far busier than I am and they're still blogging regularly, and besides they might appreciate an easy and hearty bean meal.

Ergo. It's back! SO today for Legume Wednesday, I brought out the kickass cookbook, 1001 Best Slow-Cooker Recipes. I have to admit this is the first recipe I've made out of this cookbook, but it was so easy and delicious that I'm sure there will be more. And the Brain can tell you that I have a bunch of cookbooks that I haven't cooked anything out of. Or maybe only one or two things anyway. It's his prevailing logical argument against me buying more cookbooks.

So yeah, this is a delicious Country Lentil Soup. Super easy to make. I mean really, there's minimal chopping and then it all just gets thrown into the slow-cooker and 8 hours later you have some really yummy soup. What better way to enjoy a rainy day in fall?

Country Lentil Soup

adapted from 1,001 Best Slow-Cooker Recipes

6 entree servings

3 cups vegetable broth

2 cups water

1 cup dried lentils

1 can (14.5 oz) petite diced tomatoes, undrained

1 medium onion, chopped

2 medium carrots, sliced

2 stalks celery, sliced

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 tsp fresh thyme, chopped (or 1/2 tsp dried)

1 tsp fresh marjoram, chopped (or 1/2 tsp dried)

1 tsp fresh oregano, chopped (or 1/2 tsp dried)

salt and pepper, to taste

6 Tbsp grated Parmesan cheese

Combine all ingredients, except salt, pepper, and Parmesan cheese, in 6 quart slow-cooker; cover and cook on low 6-8 hours. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Sprinkle each bowl of soup with 1 tablespoon cheese.

Butternut Squash and White Bean Soup

OK, I know I said I wasn't going to be focused on Legume Wednesday on Wednesday anymore. But this Wednesday I happened to make this really great Legume dish and so I'm going with it. I think I'll clarify the whole Legume Wednesday to be Mostly Legume Wednesday. Or should that be Sometimes Legume Wednesday? Oh I don't know.

I can tell you that I had my first exam yesterday. In Adolescent Psychology. And it just figures that the test, like adolescence, was pretty much taken up by puberty. And I can also let you know that having to write letters to my imaginary son and daughter about what will happen to them in puberty as I desert them for the next five years was almost as painfully awkward as puberty itself. I hit the bare facts and then told my imaginary son to go ask his dad. I know, not all kids have active and involved dads, but as long as we're dealing with imaginary kids, I thought it perfectly reasonable to have this imaginary kid have a good imaginary relationship with the Brain. I also imagined that they were gifted children with an extensive vocabulary. I mean of course my imaginary children are brilliant. Geniuses really. Socially adept, popular, well behaved geniuses anyway.

Today in school we sang songs about means and averages. I'm not kidding. Yeah, this is graduate school. I'm not sure how to handle it all to be honest. But every day I drive down to the next county through rolling hills of farmland. The farmers are starting to plow the crops under. The corn is ready to be harvested and there are some huge golden soybean fields. Even the cows are starting to look furrier. Sooner rather than later it's going to be fall. I'm so ready. I love fall. And I think my drive is going to be beautiful when the leaves change colors. I just hope I'll be able to get that song out of my head by then.

SO in honor of fall, I made this healthy and delicious squash and white bean soup. It really took very little time. I mean I wouldn't beat out Rachel Ray and her 30 minutes business, but I don't think it took an hour and she has a prep team so that's just not fair. But the soup was mighty tasty and the bacon added a delicious smokiness to it. If you're a vegetarian you could probably substitute some fake bacon or just leave it out. There were some surprises too. Adding such a little bit of cream still made it so wonderfully creamy and it's not a sweet soup as most squash soups tend to be. This was a really flavorfull warmly spiced soup. It was a great lunch. Happy Wednesday.

Butternut Squash - White Bean Soup

lightly modified from Cooking Light

3 bacon slices

1 medium onion, chopped

4 stalks celery, minced

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 (1/2 pound) butternut squash, peeled and cut into 3/4 inch cubes

1/4 cup dry white wine

4 cups fat-free, less sodium chicken broth

1 tsp ground cumin

1/4 tsp ground red pepper

1/8 tsp ground cinnamon

1/8 tsp ground cloves

1/4 cup whipping cream

1 Tbsp chopped fresh oregano

1 tsp salt

1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper

2 (15 ounce) cans Great Northern beans, rinsed and drained

Cook bacon in a Dutch oven over medium heat until crisp. Remove bacon from pan, reserving 2 tsp drippings in pan. Crumble bacon and set aside.

Add onion, celery, and garlic to pan. Cook 3 minutes or until tender. Add squash and cook for 3 more minutes. Add wine and cook until most of the liquid is evaporated. Stir in broth, cumin, red pepper, cinnamon, and cloves. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes or until the squash is tender. Stir in the cream, oregano, salt, black pepper, beans and bacon. Bring to a boil and then remove from heat.

Yields 6, 1 1/2 cup servings.

Tuna and White Bean Salad

For a while there I thought Fall was just around the corner. Apparently it was a trick. No sooner had we pulled out the air conditioner for the end of the summer than we get to have 90 degree F. weather. Yay. And I don't know about you, but when it gets hot, I get stupid. Like really, not too bright. A prime example was today. I reached for a can of garbanzo beans. I thought I grabbed a can of garbanzo beans. I opened a can of cannellini beans. Oops.

SO today's Legume Wednesday selection is, yet again, not what I had planned. However, this is a really good dish for today. It's packed with protein so it's a great stand alone lunch. And there's no mayonnaise so it doesn't have to be vigilantly refrigerated. And it's a really satisfying and tasty dish. I changed the spices up from the original Bon Appetit recipe. Mostly because my parsley plant has finally bit the dust, and for some reason I don't have any sage in the cupboards. Don't worry, I didn't have a meltdown.

Tuna and White Bean Salad

adapted from Bon Appetit

1 6 ounce can tuna

3 Tbsp olive oil

2 Tbsp red wine vinegar

1/3 cup chopped onion

1 Tbsp dried oregano

1 15 ounce can cannellini beans, rinsed and drained

salt and pepper to taste

Whisk olive oil and vinegar together in a medium bowl. Add onion and oregano. Mix in beans and tuna. Season to taste with salt and fresh cracked pepper.

Party Beans!

Seriously, that's the name of this recipe. This morning when I woke up I suddenly remembered it is Legume Wednesday. Caught off guard again. To explain, school started this week and I'm a little overwhelmed. The other donut girl took a vacation, so I worked a ton of hours this weekend. And the Brain is hurt and I'm a little preoccupied with that. So when I woke up this morning it became clear that I have been neglecting my blog. (Sorry!) And that I needed to find a legume recipe.

Maybe I'm fickle, but I really didn't feel like digging in any of my usual cookbooks to find this weeks legume recipe. I thought about making something legumey out of my favorite Indian cookbook. Something in a Dal maybe. But then I realized that whatever I made for dinner had to be eaten by me after class, and by the Brain when he got home from work. That's a 3 hour time difference. So I needed something that reheated well.

Fortunately for everyone, my mom at one point in time used to go to St. Columban Catholic Church in Birmingham, Michigan. She has since gone back to the parish I was raised in, but for a brief time she went there and really liked it. What does this have to do with anything? Well, in the brief time she went to this church, they put out a cookbook. And my mom bought and gave me a copy. SO in this cookbook is this recipe for Party Beans. Down here in Ohio, these beans are also called Calico Beans, but I've never had a recipe for them and have only eaten them at pot lucks. I have a feeling, and I would love it if you lovely readers would check and leave a comment, that these beans are like Pretzel Salad, it's a recipe that's in every church / fundraising cookbook.

So I took this recipe for Party Beans and I adjusted it a bunch. Most importantly, I substituted pork sausage for ground beef. A large portion of the pig in my freezer, we'll call him Chester, is in sausage form. I also like this recipe because I can put some of the bacon from Chester in it too. Then I altered the recipe some more because I just didn't feel like going to the store to get a can of pork and beans (which I think are fairly gross anyway) or Lima beans. I decided to just go with a variety of beans I have in the pantry. And finally, I'm no dummy. I recognized an opportunity to zing things up a bit and I used a fair amount of Country Bob's All Purpose Sauce. Yummy. So yeah making this meal cost me no additional dollars. It was made completely out of things I already had in the house. It's made in the slow cooker so it was nice and warm for the Brain and it reheated great. And it tasted good. That's a winner on every level!

Party Beans

loosely based on a recipe submitted by Pat Costigan to the St. Columban Catholic Church Cookbook (sometime around maybe 1994)

1 pound pork sausage

1/2 pound bacon, cut into small pieces

1 medium onion, diced

1 (15oz.) can black beans with liquid

1 (15oz.) can garbanzo beans with liquid

1 (15oz.) can kidney beans with liquid

1/2 cup Country Bob's All Purpose Sauce

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon mustard

1 teaspoon vinegar

2 tablespoons ketchup

Brown bacon, onion, and sausage; drain. Place in a crock pot with all the remaining ingredients. Cook on LOW setting for 5 to 6 hours.

"Makes a nice supper served with hot bread and fruit. Great for working mothers."

Red Beans and Rice

It's Legume Wednesday! Believe it or not, I really look forward to my weekly legume meal. The majority of Legume Wednesdays have been vegetarian or easily adaptable to vegetarian (use vegetable broth instead of chicken broth sort of thing), but this week there's meat in it. In continuing to clear space in the freezer, I found a package of frozen ham shanks. And still no one has guessed correctly why I'm clearing space out. One guess per comment please. And there will be a cool prize. I promise.

So not knowing what to do with ham shanks, except knowing vaguely that they can be used to flavor beans, I turned to The Joy of Cooking. Whoooey I'm glad I did! In leafing through the vegetable section I came across a recipe for Red Beans and Rice. Red Beans and Rice, or my bastardized version of it got me through that poor decade of college. Of course back then Red Beans and Rice meant some cooked rice mixed with salsa and a can of kidney beans. It was fairly tasty and fairly cheap. I wish I knew then what I know now.

These Red Beans and Rice would have easily lasted me a week. The ingredients (minus the cost of the spices) come to a little less than $11. It's definitely a tasty meal and not some of the college "cheap" food that needed to be choked down (ahem, yes, I mean Ramen noodles). It's chock full of proteins and carbohydrates. And it's a stick to your ribs kind of meal that's perfect before a night of hitting the bars. Please, that's definitely a requirement for college food. I spent a decade in college. I'm pretty much an expert here.

Besides all that, these beans are really really good. They make a simple yet hearty meal. I'm sure the Brain and I will gobble up the leftovers. The Brain lived for a little bit in New Orleans and I'm hoping these beans bring back some happy memories for him. He's been a little swamped at work and I'm hoping these humble, yet delicious beans cheer him up.

Red Beans and Rice

from The Joy of Cooking

1 pound dried light red kidney beans

8 cups water

2 pounds smoked ham shanks

1 cup finely chopped celery

1 cup finely chopped green bell pepper

1 cup finely chopped onion

3 garlic cloves, crushed through garlic press

2 bay leaves

1 tsp dried thyme

1 tsp dried oregano

1 tsp black pepper

1/2 tsp ground red pepper

1 pound smoked sausage cut into 1/2 inch slices

cooked white rice

Soak the beans overnight.

Bring the water, ham, celery, onion, green pepper, garlic, bay leaves, thyme, oregano, black pepper, and red pepper to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer, covered, stirring occasionally, for 1 hour. Remove the ham shanks and let them cool.

Drain the beans and add them to the pot. Return the liquid to a boil. Reduce the heat and continue simmering until the beans are tender, about 1 hour. Add water if necessary to keep beans covered.

Remove the meat from the ham shanks and add it to the pot with the smoked sausage. Bring to a boil to warm the meat through. Serve over rice.

Chickpea Salad with Parsley, Lemon and Sun-Dried Tomatoes

OK, so Legume Wednesday is happening on Thursday this week. I have a good excuse for being late though. I got two days off and realized that if I didn't zip up to Michigan to visit some friends and family, then I wouldn't get to see them until after the school semester ended. I'll be in school Monday through Friday and I rarely get a weekend off from frying donuts.

I figure that you don't want to hear about the 6 loaves of bread I brought back from Zingerman's, or how much fun I had sampling cheeses at Morgan and York. How the Queen Geek and I hung out together, or how delicious lunch at Sweet Lorraine's was with my best friend T and her son. And really, did you want a play by play of my stay at my mom's house? I've seen their new vegetable garden they're putting in next year and it looks pretty big. And their cats are crazy as always.

But I'm totally off subject. Let me tell you about tonight's legume dish, Chickpea Salad with Parsley, Lemon, and Sun-Dried Tomatoes. I have to admit, when I woke up today it was with a little bit of dread because I had no idea what I was going to post on today. The day started to wear on and my mind kept running because I just was drawing a complete blank on bean dishes. Finally, I sat down with my Bon Appetit cookbook. I knew I wanted a salad. I knew it couldn't involve dried beans because it was already noon. And I wanted something different and tasty. Yowza did I get it! This chickpea salad has the strong sun-dried tomato flavor balanced by some pungent cumin oil and mellowed by the coolness of the cucumber and zing of the lemon juice. It's served at room temperature and with no mayonnaise it would be perfect for a barbecue or a picnic. I think this salad makes a lovely lunch all by itself.

Chickpea Salad with Parsley, Lemon, and Sun-Dried Tomatoes

from Bon Appetit

1/4 cup olive oil

1 Tbsp cumin seeds

2 15oz. cans garbanzo beans rinsed and drained

1 cucumber, seeded and chopped

1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley

1/3 cup drained oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, thinly sliced

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

1 garlic clove, crushed in a garlic press

1/4 tsp dried crushed red pepper

Combine oil and cumin seeds in heavy small saucepan. Cook over medium heat 5 minutes to blend flavors, stirring occasionally. Cool completely.

Combine remaining ingredients in large bowl. Add cumin oil and toss to blend. Season salad to taste with salt and pepper. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate. Bring to room temperature before serving.)

Black Bean, Corn and Cabbage Salad

I know you were probably shocked last Wednesday that I had posted about a cake. Well, okay, you probably weren't shocked when you realized that 70 billion other people posted very similar versions of the same cake. It was Daring Baker Day and thus Legume Wednesday was on hiatus. But never fear, Legume Wednesday is still going strong. I haven't managed to tire of legumes yet and I'm still finding interesting recipes to post about.
Tonight's recipe is for a common summer salad of corn and black beans. I've been making and eating this salad for years. And when I saw that Grace over at A Southern Grace was having a Beat the Heat Event (deadline is the 9th so you still have a little bit of time), I knew it was time to post this lovely and delicious salad. Mine does have a little twist in that there's some shredded red cabbage in it. I find it soaks up the lime juice nicely and provides some good crunch. The red cabbage twist actually was inspired by this recipe over at Eating Well.

This salad is high in fiber and potassium and it's fairly calorie dense, so it's really good for you. It's also slightly addictive, so you may want to go into another room and do something else while you're waiting for the flavors to blend. Like grill a pork chop or something. Although that shouldn't take an hour.

Black Bean, Corn, and Cabbage Salad
inspired by Eating Well

2 cups frozen corn kernels
2 (15oz) cans black beans, rinsed and drained
2 cups shredded red cabbage
1 cup diced tomatoes
3 large scallions sliced
Juice of 2 limes
2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Let stand for 1 hour so that corn thaws and flavors meld. Serve cold.

Kidney Bean Salad

Once upon a time when I was in college, I had a very bad breakup with a boyfriend who happened to be a raging alcoholic. I quit my bartending job, and moved home to my mom's house where I promptly decided to clean up my life. I quit drinking completely and I became a vegetarian. It lasted about 3 months. I discovered that I can't do soy and that makes vegetarianism difficult, and just because he was an alcoholic didn't mean that I was.

During that brief period of vegetarianism, my mom made me this delicious kidney bean salad which was passed down from her mom. It's super easy and I had to call my mom today to get the recipe (becaues, yes, it's Legume Wednesday!) I just couldn't bear to cook anything in the oven and the stove after slaving all day on the July Daring Baker Challenge. In fact, the Brain and I are ordering pizza in tonight. We're celebrating that I passed my math test. Woohoo!

But I digress. This lovely kidney bean salad is cool and refreshing. When my mom made it for me I knew it wasn't super duper healthy, but I also knew I was getting protein from the beans and it wasn't going to make me sick like the tofu, soy milk and vegetable protein stuff was. And best of all, it can be made from pantry items. Although truth be told, I didn't have any sweet pickles in the house, so I just substituted a couple spoonfulls of sweet relish. Delicious.

Kidney Bean Salad

from Grandma Shazam

1 (15oz.) can light red kidney beans, drained

2 stalks celery thinly sliced

several sweet pickles, chopped (to taste)

a little less than 1/2 cup Miracle Whip

Mix everything together in a bowl. Chill well, and serve.

Pasta with Lentils

It's Wednesday. That means more legumes! Today's variety is lentils. No fancy French lentils. Or Indian lentils with other names. Well they could go by another name, but I don't know what it is. These are those very cheap lentils you can buy in the grocery store at something like 3 pounds for $1. These are the lentils I ate all the way through college.

They may be cheap college food, but they are in a class way above Ramen noodles and boxed macaroni and cheese. Lentils are a fine source of protein. They have very little fat. They're high in fiber which is very filling and doesn't spike your blood sugar and keeps you full longer. It is actually possible to eat healthy while existing mostly on lentils too. I know, I know, there are those people who say that Ramen noodles are very versatile and are only something like 10 cents a bag. But they are wrong. Ramen noodles are crap. I lived on them for a while in college too. And I'd rather go hungry than eat them ever again.

Today's lentil dish is not the lentil dish I was planning on. We've had such nice moderate weather here that when I made the meal plan for the week I was aiming for a lentil chili. But then today is a full 10 degrees hotter than yesterday and any urge for chili died. So I searched the Internet and found this interesting Pasta with Lentils from Epicurious.com. I tweaked the recipe quite a bit, and I am really pleased with the result. The meatiness of the lentils really comes through, as well as the zing of the turnip. It probably would have been more glamorous if I had any other small pasta besides macaroni, so I garnished with some edible Nasturtium blossoms. Yes Kittalog, that's what's blooming in my garden.

Pasta with Lentils

inspired by Gourmet

2 small onions, finely chopped

1 tsp fresh thyme leaves, chopped

2 Tbsp olive oil

1/3 cup lentils

1 2/3 cups chicken broth (or vegetable broth to make it vegetarian)

1 carrot, peeled and chopped fine

1 turnip peeled and chopped fine

6 oz. elbow macaroni (or other small pasta)

1/4 cup minced fresh parsley

In a heavy large skillet cook the onion with the thyme in the oil in moderate heat, stirring, until the onion is golden and lightly carmalized, about 10 minutes. While the onions are cooking, combine the lentils with broth and bring to a boil. Simmer the lentils, covered, for 12 minutes. Add the carrot and turnips and simmer the mixture, covered, for 3 minutes, or until the carrots, turnips and lentils are tender. Transfer the lentil mixture with the liquid to the skillet, season it with salt and pepper, and keep it at a bare simmer while cooking the pasta.

In a large saucepan of boiling salted water, boil the pasta until it is al dente. Ladle out and reserve about 1/2 cup of the pasta liquid, drain the pasta, and add it to the lentil mixture. Simmer the pasta mixture, tossing it to combine it and adding some of the reserved pasta liquid to moisten the mixture if necessary, for 1 minute. Stir in the parsley and serve.

Bacony Baked Beans

Saturday night the Brain and I went over to a friend's house for dinner. They are a young couple with the cutest 2 year old daughter EVER. Very very very cute little girl. But I digress, the wife, A. made some very delicious baked beans that inspired tonight's Legume Wednesday.

I had a completely different recipe in mind though. But today was a sort of comedy of errors. First it turns out that the recipe I wanted to cook took 4 hours to cook, and I apparently ran out of dried navy beans. Ooops. Then I was going to doctor this recipe differently by adding different types of beans, but like Old Mother Hubbard, my cupboard was bare. I had 2 cans of "seasoned" black beans (bought by mistake), 3 cans of garbanzo beans, a can of refried beans, and 2 cans of navy beans. I may need to stock up the pantry fairly soon.

So tonight's recipe comes from the Joy of Cooking, except I doctored it a bit. I made it spicy. It's super delicious. I did learn a very important lesson though. Don't wipe your eyes while chopping jalapenos. Ouch. These beans probably can be made vegetarian with a fair amount of success by omitting the bacon.

Bacony Baked Beans

Adapted from The Joy of Cooking

3 cups canned great northern beans

1/4 cup ketchup

1/2 small onion minced

2 Tbsp molasses

2 Tbsp brown sugar

1 minced, seeded jalapeno

1 Tbsp cider vinegar

3 shakes of Frank's hot sauce

9 slices bacon, chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 9x9 inch baking dish with cooking spray. In a separate bowl, mix all ingredients reserving 1/3 of the bacon. Sprinkle the bacon on top. Bake, covered, for 30 minutes. Uncover and bake for another 30 minutes.

White Beans with Tomatoes, Garlic, and Sage

Yes it's time for another installment of Legume Wednesday! Hooray! Tonight's recipe is excellent. Tonight we travel to the home of some of my husband's family's roots. Italy. Apparently white beans, tomatoes and garlic are ubiquitous in Florence. And most of my cookbooks have some recipe for "Tuscan White Beans". The recipes were mostly similar and some weren't very appetizing. Also, as I've never had these beans before, I wanted to make sure I made something fairly authentic. So I turned to my giant The New Best Recipe Cookbook. According to this cookbook, the traditional way for these beans to be made is for them to be stuck in an empty Chianti bottle and stuck in the embers of the fire overnight. Fortunately for me, and for you dear readers, the cookbook modernized the process for today's cook.

Although it took a long time to make these White Beans with Tomatoes, Garlic, and Sage, the effort level was small and the rewards were tremendous. I realized at about 3:00 this morning in the middle of glazing some donuts at work that I forgot to soak the beans overnight. This was a little unnerving as I was determined to do another dried bean recipe. When I got home I immediately checked the recipe and found to my delight that there is no soaking required. Yay!

Boiling the beans with the onion, carrot, garlic, and bay leaves add tremendous flavor too. I have to admit, I tasted the beans several times while the tomatoes were cooking. The cookbook says you can use canned beans instead, but I can't imagine how you would get canned beans to taste so good. The recipe does use two pots, but I managed to do the dishes while making it so it all came out even in the end!

So yeah, this is one of the tastiest bean dishes I've ever had. It totally hit the spot tonight. I even helped myself to seconds. Fortunately it makes a lot of beans and I can have them for lunches for the rest of the week. These beans are also ridiculously good for you, low calorie, high in protein and fiber. They also are crazy cheap to make provided you have a well stocked pantry and an herb garden. And they are so very delicious.

White Beans with Tomatoes, Garlic, and Sage

courtesy of The New Best Recipe Cookbook

1 pound dried white beans (navy, great northern or cannellini) rinsed and picked over

1 medium onion, unpeeled and halved through the root end

1 medium carrot cut into 2 inch chunks

1 garlic head, top quarter cut off and loose papery skin removed

salt

2 bay leaves

6 cups water

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling

4 medium garlic cloves sliced thin

1/4 cup roughly chopped fresh sage leaves

2 (15oz) cans diced tomatoes, drained

2 Tbsp minced fresh parsley leaves

ground black pepper

Bring the beans, onion, carrot, garlic head, 1 tsp salt, the bay leaves, and water to a boil in a large saucepan or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat to low, partly cover, and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the beans are almost tender, 1 to 1 1/2 hours, adding more liquid if necessary. Remove the pot from the heat, completely cover, and let stand until the beans are fully tender, 30 to 60 minutes. Drain the beans, reserving 1 cup of the cooking liquid. Remove and discard the onion, carrot, and bay leaves. With a slotted spoon, transfer the head of garlic to a cutting board. Using the tongs, squeeze the cloves out of the skins and return the softened cloves to the pot with the beans; discard the skins.

Heat the olive oil, sliced garlic, and sage in a 12-inch skillet over medium heat. As the oil begins to sizzle, shake the pan back and forth so that the garlic does not stick (stirring with a wooden spoon will cause the garlic to clump). Cook until the garlic turns very pale gold and the sage darkens, about 4 minutes. Add the tomatoes and 1/2 tsp salt and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the tomato juices have evaporated and the tomatoes look shiny, about 10 minutes.

Stir in the beans and reserved cooking liquid. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until the liquid has evaporated. 18 to 20 minutes. Off the heat, stir in the parsley and season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately, accompanied by extra virgin olive oil for drizzling.

Black Bean Patties with Pineapple Rice

For today's installment of Legume Wednesdays I turned to Cooking Light's Annual Recipes 2008 and their oh so delicious Cuban Black Bean Patties. That's what they named them, although I'm not exactly sure what makes them so Cuban.

I worked with a Cuban woman while bartending in Chicago. She was a tiny little coked up dynamo that had an eerie similarity to Yzma from the Emporer's New Groove. She could be downright scary. But when you're all of 5 feet 3 inches I guess that's how you maintain control of a big noisy dive bar. I'm not sure she would agree with the assessment that these are Cuban tasting.

They are delicious though. A little slimy to put together and they took a bit of effort. But darn tasty. They are also very nutritious and pretty cheap to make. Pineapple happens to be on sale this time of year and I picked mine up at 2 for $5. A can of Great Value (the Walmart brand) black beans is less than a dollar. Although the recipe calls for boil in the bag white rice, a cup of regular white rice would work just fine. My cilantro plant decided to die on me and I had to substitute Italian parsley. I think cilantro would have tasted better.

The only problem I had was that the recipe was that it called for one 15 ounce can of black beans and that should hold 2 cups of beans. I measured my beans three times and although I had one bean make a run for freedom and I had to throw it out, my beans did not equal two cups. I had a touch more than 1 1/2 cups.

Black Bean Patties with Pineapple Rice
from Cooking Light

Rice:
1 (3 1/2 ounce) bag boil-in-bag long grain rice
2 tsp butter
1 cup diced fresh pineapple
2 Tbsp chopped fresh cilantro
1/4 tsp salt

Patties:
1 1/2 cups rinsed, drained, canned black beans (contents of one 15 ounce can), divided
1/2 tsp bottled minced garlic
1/4 tsp ground cumin
1/8 tsp salt
1 large egg white
1/2 cup (2 ounces) shredded Monterey Jack cheese with jalapeno peppers
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup cornmeal

Prepare rice according to package directions, without salt or added fat. Drain, place rice in large bowl. Melt butter in a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add pineapple and saute for 4 minutes or until pineapple just begins to brown. Add pineapple mixture, cilantro, and 1/4 tsp salt to rice in bowl. cover and keep warm. Wipe pan clean with paper towels.

To prepare patties, place all but 1/2 cup beans in a bowl with garlic, cumin, and 1/8 tsp salt; partially mash with a fork. Place 1/2 cup beans and egg white in a food processor; process 30 seconds or until well combined. Add bean puree to bean mixture in bowl, and stir until combined. Divide bean mixture into 4 equal portions, shaping each into a 1/2 inch thick patty. Place cornmeal in a shallow dish. Dredge both sides of each patty in cornmeal. Heat pan over medium high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add patties; cook 3 minutes on each side or until browned.

Spoon about 1/2 cup rice onto each of 4 plates; top each serving with 1 patty.

Per Serving: Calories 294, Fat 8.7g (sat 5.4g, mono 1.7g, poly 0.2g); Protein 10.2g, Carbohydrates 45g, Fiber 3.5g, Cholesterol 28mg, Iron 2mg, Sodium 532mg, Calcium 155mg