Not Baked Beans

This is easy, but sort of involved. I use dry beans, so I have to soak them overnight (I don't like the "quick soak" method), which is why I say involved. It usually takes me three or four days to make beans because I forget to put them in water for the first few days. I suggest reading your cookbook, the package instructions and watching Alton Brown's episode on beans to decide which way you think you aught to soak your beans. You can also use canned beans that you have drained and thoroughly rinsed, but I think using dry gives you more control of the flavor of the final product. And you get some bragging rights for cooking old school. I make a 1/2 pound when I do this, and it makes enough to feed hungry company. (I've never measured exactly how many cups this makes.)

After my beans have finished their long soak I treat them like rice and cook them in broth for an hour (do not cook your rice for an hour please). What I mean is that I cover the pot, bring them to a boil, then reduce to a simmer so they can slowly cook. This will cook the flavor of the broth into the beans and bring them to a properly squishy state, nobody likes crunchy baked beans.

After the hour is up, drain the beans but reserve about 1/2 cup of the broth. In your non-stick pan or pot (I use a pot, it just seems like a good idea), add 1/4 of one vidalia onion, chopped along with 1 T of Worcestershire sauce, 1 T of dry ground mustard and 1 T of your favorite vinaigrette (I am loving Pomegranate Blood Orange lately, I don't even remember where I bought it but it is amazing!) Cook that until your onions have taken on the color of the liquid, I cover the pot during this portion of cooking as well.

Measure up 1/4 cup of each of the following: ketchup, brown sugar, and barbeque sauce. Add all this to the pot and stir until well combined. Allow it to cook for a while longer and it will thicken and bubble. Add the beans and reserved broth and stir well. Cover and boil on medium heat for 10 minutes more.

Do be careful of the steam and mind that these beans are boiling, give them a minute or five to cool before serving. Nothing ruins dinner like 2nd degree tongue burns.

Serve at a barbeque, potluck or any old dinner! This is a great side dish with plenty of protein, if you don't mind the salt from the processed condiments. I try not to think about it, and it tastes so good that you may not care!

We've had this with burgers, meatloaf, chicken and also rice. It is an every-meal kind of food (meaning it can fit in with any sort of meal).

This Sounds Good Rice

Sometimes when I cook I just add whatever sounds good and is at hand. I made rice this way a couple days ago.

I cooked the rice regularly and while it was steaming I got out some frozen chicken. I used my Micro-Cooker to thaw the chicken, I love that thing! I diced the chicken and then cooked it in a non-stick pan with pressed garlic - when it was fully cooked I added a splash of Pomegranate and Blood Orange Vinaigrette. It's light and fruity and goes wonderfully with many things, even if it does turn your chicken sort of purple.

When the rice was finished I mixed in the chicken. I melted a little butter in the pan that the chicken was in and then added back half the rice and chicken. I added soy sauce, Buffalo Rub (spicy!) and parmesan cheese and gave it a good frying. In the pot where I had steamed the rice I added more Pom Vin (I appreciate a nice abbreviation every now and then). When both were cooked to my satisfaction I mixed them together. It was amazing!

To this add any vegetables that sound especially delicious - onion, broccoli, carrots, green beans, I'm sure many others as well!

The lesson we learn here is that if it sounds good, most of the time it also tastes good. So experiment and make your own version of "This Sounds Good" rice :D

Peanut Chicken with Firecracker Green Beans

I'm wandering around the kitchen, trying to decide what to make. I ask Shane, "What do you want to eat?" And he says, "Oooh make that spicy peanut-y chicken!" So I did.

This is VERY easy to make. You need a non-stick pan and a spatula (NOT a turner) that will not melt. And tongs that won't damage your non-stick pan. And measuring spoons. Yeah, that's it for hardware.

So we start by heating less than 1 T of sesame oil with more than 1 tsp of crushed red pepper in the non-stick pan. Add the chicken and cook on low-med for about 5 minutes before flipping, don't fiddle with it and don't poke it and don't flip it early, it ruins the process. (By the way don't use frozen chicken, that's just silly.)

After your chicken has cooked on the second side for another 5 minutes, remove it from the pan and put in as many green beans as you feel like eating and cook them for about 5-6 minutes. They will absorb the flavor of the sesame oil and the crushed red pepper. Very yummy!

Now remove them from the pan and we shall make the peanut sauce! This is a basic sauce, so you won't have to do anything special. In the pan add 2 T each of sugar, peanut butter, water, and soy sauce. 1 T of your choice of oil (I use olive) and 1 clove of garlic crushed. Stir all this as you cook it over medium heat. The peanut butter will melt and then you need to let it cook unstirred until it starts to bubble (NOT boil) the sauce will look dark brown and thick like molasses. Give it another stir and then remove from heat. Add the chicken back to the pan and use the sauce to coat both sides. This is when you use that spatula by the way.

I serve this chicken on toasted buns with lettuce. That's it. It is so flavorful and delicious that any extras would be a distraction rather than a lovely addition. Of course, I have my green beans on the side :D

I have also diced the chicken and stirred it into white rice with this sauce, but for some reason that really brings out more of the peanut flavor. If you love that, it's amazing, if you do not, then just don't do it.

Turkey Apple Meatloaf

I can't believe I didn't blog at all in June! It's been so hot that I haven't been cooking much, we've been grilling and sandwiching.

So yesterday I put my central air to the test by baking a meatloaf. When we were at the store I was amazed by this new touch screen recipe printing kiosk - I LOVE it! (Family Fare in Midland if you want to play with it) And came across this interesting recipe for Turkey Apple Meatloaf.

When I told Shane I was making it he said, "I don't know about that, don't put in very much apple, if you have to use it." I sent him to play Fall Out New Vegas while I played with the food.

The recipe called for stuffing which I left out and did not call for banana pepper, which I added. The recipe was intended to feed a family but since I'm cooking for a couple I made it smaller. I used 1/2 pound ground turkey, 1 egg, 1/2 an apple diced (the other half became an appetizer), 1/4 cup rolled oats, 1/4 of an onion chopped, 1 banana pepper finely chopped, 1 1/2 T cherry mustard, and sea salt and coarse black pepper.

As I was chopping this variety of produce I said to Shane, maybe I'm not clumsy after all, maybe I've just always had terrible dull knives - which are the leading cause of kitchen cuts. Now that I have a set of quality knives, I never cut my fingers. I'm so happy that my finger tips no longer garnish our meals :D

I stirred and then rolled it into a giant ball, since I never seem to make meatloaf in a loaf pan, and put it into a round casserole to bake for 45 minutes at 375 degrees F.

When it was done we topped it with Raspberry Habanero sauce (so sweet and so spicy) from the Pampered Pantry. We ate it with my homemade "baked" beans (which I did not bake, I'll have to blog them as well).

Short but sweet, I've been on a long break after all, can't go right into novel blogging. :D