Cuban Black Beans & Rice

This recipe comes from The White Dog Cafe cookbook by Judy Wicks & Kevin Von Klause. The White Dog Cafe is located near the campus of the University of Pennsylvania and is the most "Obie" like restaurant in the West Philly neighborhood in that Judy tries to get all of the food on the menu from local, organic and humanely treated ingredients. When she started the restaurant she was ahead of her time!

Cuban Black Beans & Rice (Moros y Cristianos--translated as Moors & Christians--a Cuban staple).

Ingredients
1/4 cup olive oil
1 large onion, minced
1/4 cup minced garlic
1 green bell pepper, finely diced
2 celery ribs, finely diced
2 T dried oregano
1 T ground cumin
1/2 tsp coriander seeds, crushed
1/2 ground allspice
1 pound dried black beans, picked over for stones and rinsed well
2 bay leaves
1 smoked ham hock (optional)--I don't know where I would get a ham hock in Oberlin so I used 1/4 lb of Betty's bacon instead.
8 cups water
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves and stems
2 T fresh lime juice
Salt and freshly ground pepper

1. In a large pot set over medium heat, heat the oil until it ripples. Add the onion and cook until soft, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic, bell pepper, and celery and cook until soft, about 5 minutes. Stir in the oregano, cumin, coriander and allspice and cook for one minute more.
2. Add the beans, bay leaves, bacon or ham hock and water. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to medium, cover, and simmer until the beans are very tender, about 1 hour. If necessary, add a little water during the cooking to keep the beans from scorching.
3. Remove and discard the bay leaves (I often leave mine in the dish and whoever gets the bay leaf in their serving knows that good luck is coming their way!). Remove the ham hock and reserve. Ladle 1 cup of beans into a small bowl and mash them with the back of a fork. Return the mashed beans to the pot along with the cilantro, lime juice, and salt and pepper to taste. Remove the meat from the ham hock and finely dice. Add back to the beans. Keep the sop warm until ready to serve or let cool to room temperature, cover, and refrigerate for up to 3 days.
4. Serve with brown or white rice. When serving top with any of the following--grated cheese, sour cream, scallions, tomato salsa or cooked egg.

Beef, Potato, Onion Soup

I call it being resourceful, you might call it being lazy...
I challenged myself to make a meal for 10 people with only the food I had in the house. I should mention that we hadn't been to the grocery store for at least a week. After taking stock of what we had it seemed we had the largest portions of pasta, potatoes, and beef. Since we have had a good bit of pasta in the last couple of weeks, I thought potatoes and beef sounded like good choices. I didn't have enough ingredients to make a thick stew, so soup it was!

Ingredients:
12-16 cups of water
2 cubes of vegetable bullion
beef stock
one packet of french onion soup
onion
rib roast, cooked and cubed
5 large potatoes

Chop, throw together, simmer. Ta da! Unfortunately, the soup simmered a little longer than perhaps it should have, and the potatoes started to mush. It's tasty anyway!

Pasta with Sun-Dried Tomatoes

I adapted this from an Ina Garten recipe (Barefoot Contessa Family Style). And I will admit that I had a major cooking FAIL tonight. I made way too much pasta in one pot and I thought it was all cooked and then I mixed together the pasta, dressing, olives, and tomatoes and realized that the pasta was not just al dente, but it was chewy and nasty. So, I actually went through and picked out all the good stuff and started over! So a really quick and easy recipe became a nightmare!!!

1 pound pasta (I ended up using little shells. The rotini got tossed, sadly.)
kosher salt
olive oil
5 carrots, sliced (not in Ina's recipe)
2 red bell peppers, chopped (not in Ina's recipe)
1.5 cups kalamata olives, pitted & diced
1 container feta cheeses (Ina calls for 1 lb. fresh mozzarella but I was feeling like Feta)
12 sun-dried tomatoes in oil, drained & chopped

for the dressing:
10 sun-dried tomatoes in oil, drained
4 tablespoons red wine vinegar
12 tablespoons good olive oil
1 garlic clove, diced
kosher salt, to taste
freshly ground pepper, to taste

Cook the pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water with a splash of oil to keep it from sticking together according to directions on box. Drain well & allow to cool. Place pasta in a bowl and add olives, veggies, tomatoes.

For the dressing, combine the sun-dried tomatoes, vinegar, olive oil, garlic, salt, and pepper in a food processor until almost smooth.

Pour the dressing over the pasta. You can garnish with parmesan cheese or fresh basil if you like! She also calls for fresh tomatoes in the recipe but I left those out. Oh, and she calls for 1 teaspoon of capers in the dressing but I didn't have any on hand (and I don't really like them!) Serve cold. This is kind of a summery recipe in hopes that all this snow will soon melt.

Darlene's Gateway Cafeteria Mac 'n Cheese

This is my mom (Darlene's) recipe and I have never had a batch that didn't call for seconds...

Ingredients:
2 lbs macaroni pasta
1 T oil
1 cup flour
2 T worcestershire sauce
2 lbs cheddar cheese
1 T. salt
1.5 sticks butter
1/2 tsp dry mustard
1/2 gallon skim milk

Topping:
8 oz. dry bread crumbs
3 oz. butter
1/4 lb shredded cheddar

To do:
1. Cook macaroni in boiling water with salt and oil according to the directions on the box. Drain and set aside.
2. In large stockpot, melt butter, stir in flour and seasonings eliminating lumps.
3. Cook 5-10 minutes stirring frequently.
4. Gradually add milk, whisking constantly and cook until thickened (about 10-15 minutes)
5. Add cheese to sauce and stir until cheese melts.
6. Put cooked macaroni in one or two large buttered casserole dishes. Pour cheese sauce over macaroni.
7.Mix breadcrumbs with melted butter Sprinkle evenly over casserole. Sprinkle with shredded cheddar and bake at 350 degrees for 35-45 minutes.

Makes 12 servings

Mexican Lasagna

Ingredients

6 whole wheat tortillas

1 lb chicken breast - sliced or diced

1 4-oz can green chilies

1/2 can fat-free refried beans

1 can black beans (drained & rinsed)

1 can no salt added corn (drained & rinsed)

4 cups reduced-fat mexican cheese

2 cups salsa

1 small green onion

Herbs & spices to taste: cumin, chili powder, oregano, garlic powder, salt, pepper

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees
2. In a skillet, cook the chicken with the herbs and spices. Once the juices run clean, add the green chilies. Set aside.
3. In a large glass baking dish, lay two tortillas flat to cover the bottom and spread the refried beans over them. Spread half of the chicken over the bottom and cover with one-third of the cheese. Lay down two more tortillas and cover with the black beans and corn. Add remaining chicken and another one-third of the cheese. Cover with the remaining two tortillas. Spread salsa over the tortillas and then cover with the rest of the cheese. Sprinkle green onions on top.
4. Place in oven and bake until cheese browns and it is warmed throughout (about 35 minutes).

Asian-inspired Vermicelli

I got this recipe from my Godmother, who makes this dish often for her family. I had it the first time and fell in love with it. It's a nice meal because the turkey is lean and there are so many flavors in the sauce. This is the basic recipe (with my tweakings), but I've also made it and added in vegetables which is tasty too. Enjoy!

Ingredients

2 Tbsp olive oil

1 onion, diced

3 cloves garlic, diced

1 tsp ground ginger

1 lb ground turkey

1/4 c white wine

1/3 c Hoisin sauce

1/4 c soy sauce, reduced sodium if possible

1/2 c chicken broth

3 Tbsp cornstarch

1/2 c green onions, chopped

1 lb vermicelli, cooked and drained

Process

Medium hot pan (I used a dutch oven, but you could also use a wok or a large saute pan). Add olive oil, onions, garlic and ginger. Saute until translucent. Add meat and cook thoroughly. At this point I remove the excess grease and dispose of it. In a bowl, mix all liquid ingredients (not cornstarch) and add into pan/d.oven. Cover and let cook about 20 minutes. Uncover and remove some of the sauce to a small bowl and mix it with the cornstarch. Pour back into meat mixture and stir. When sauce has thickened to your liking, it is done. Add chopped green onions and vermicelli into mixture, stir until combined and serve.

This recipe serves between 2-4, depending on how hungry you are. ;-) Generally you'll have enough for 4 servings, and maybe even leftovers!

Sandra's Barbecue Brisket & Hashbrown Casserole

This is another recipe from my family's yearly beach vacation. My aunt Sandra makes this and I look forward to it every year! It's great for a crowd and it's not too expensive. She usually serves it with cooked broccoli and/or a salad.

Oven Barbecued Brisket

5-6 lb brisket (first cut - has the fat cut off but you may need to trim it some more)

3 oz. liquid smoke

Celery salt

Onion salt

Garlic salt

Salt and pepper

Worchestershire sauce

6 oz. barbeque sauce

2 T. flour

1/2 c. water

1. Remove fat before cooking. (Bettie's brisket comes in 2 lb. and 4 lb. packages. The 4 pounder was really lean. I had to trim the 2 pounder for what seemed like forever and still couldn't get it all!)
2. Pour liquid smoke over brisket placed in baking dish. Sprinkle meat on both sides with celery salt, onion salt, and garlic salt to tenderize. Salt generously, but not too generously! Place in fridge overnight.
3. Next morning allow 5 hrs. for cooking, 1 hr. to bake with barbeque sauce, and a final cooling period of 1 hr. When ready to bake in a 275 degree oven, sprinkle both sides of meat with salt and pepper and a little Worchestershire. Cover pan tightly with aluminum foil.
4. After 5 hrs. uncover the meat and pour on barbeque sauce. Continue baking 1 more hour.
5. Remove meat to a platter and let sauce cool. Remove fat. (Since I remove fat before cooking, I don't worry about fat in sauce.) Pour sauce into small pot, add the flour and water and cook til thickens a little. Add more barbeque sauce to taste. Serve sauce hot. Serves 10.

Hash Brown Potato Casserole

2 lb. bag frozen has brown potatoes

Melt 1 stick butter or margarine in 9 X 13 dish and place potatoes over the butter. Mix and spread on top of potatoes:

2 c. shredded sharp cheddar cheese

8 oz. carton sour cream

1 can cream of chicken soup

1/4 c. chopped onions

1 t. salt

1/4 t. pepper

Melt 1/2 stick butter and mix with 2 c. crushed corn flakes. Spread over top and bake at 325 to 350 for 45 min. Remove from oven 15 min. before serving.