Cabbage, White Bean, and Potato Soup

Cabbage, White Bean, and Potato Soup

Somehow my two kids just ate six bananas. I don't even understand how it's possible for two boys to eat six bananas in ten minutes. When I went to the grocery store today I bought myself a bunch of fruit for smoothies. Apparently that was not a great idea. I bought two big banana bunches and my kids have already eaten an entire bunch. Now I get to go back to the store tomorrow to buy more. They also ate the entire can of smoked almonds I bought myself for snacks. My husband and I joke that we need to get our own cupboard and put a lock on it, I'm beginning to think it's not such a bad idea. I dread the thought of having two teenage boys, I think I throw in the towel already.

With it being the middle of winter I have been making a lot of soups and stews. I love having a hot meal when the weather is cold outside. Last week I tried a new recipe for Cabbage, White Bean, and Potato Soup from the January 2014 issue of Southern Living magazine.

This recipe has 9 ingredients. It takes 30 minutes of total time, all of which is active and makes 10 cups. I did make a few changes to the original recipe. First, I used small red potatoes cut into fourths instead of fingerling potatoes. Fingerling potatoes were overpriced at my local grocery store and would have cost 2 1/2 times as much as the red potatoes I bought. For the chicken broth, I used homemade. I have discussed many times about the benefits of homemade stock, it's cheaper, tastes better, and you can control the amount of sodium. I chose not to add Parmesan cheese as a topping for my serving, but my husband and two boys did.

If you are serving this soup for dinner it needs a sandwich served with it in order to be filling. Alone it doesn't have enough protein or fat to be filling for most adults. It would be great with grilled cheese or a grilled (or not) turkey sandwich. The flavors are great and with a sandwich it would be a quick evening meal.

For the recipe go to Cabbage, White Bean, and Potato Soup.

Cilantro Lime Marinated Chicken

Cilantro Lime Marinate Chicken

I had a weird relationship with chicken dishes growing up. I would love to say that I ate chicken and loved it, but I didn't. My mother was a great cook, but she favored beef, pork and seafood. She only made a few chicken dishes and most of the chicken that we ate was fried. I'm not taking about great homemade fried chicken, shaked in a brown paper bag, with delicious crispy skin. What I'm taking about is the fried chicken from the grocery store counter. It always had a slightly off flavor (I am sure they reused their oil) and my parents loved it. I couldn't stand it. When I met my husband I almost didn't marry him when he told me that he loved fried chicken. Yuck, I couldn't handle even looking at it, much less eating it. I have tried a lot of great fried chicken over the years and many people have tried to convert me, but I am sorry to say that I still can't stomach it. The grease does me in the same way that pancakes at a greasy spoon do, my stomach just says no thanks. Since I married a man that is big on any type of chicken and my two boys will eat chicken dishes before much of anything else I have learned to compromise. I make a lot of chicken dishes, just not fried. Every couple of months my family (without me) goes out and has fried chicken, they are happy and I am too.

Tonight was a chicken night in my household. I love using marinades on chicken. It keeps the meat moist and adds flavor without being over powering. Tonight I tried a new recipe for Cilantro Lime Chicken from Redbook Magazine.

This recipe has 9 ingredients. It takes 1 hour of total time, 10 minutes of which is active and makes 4 servings. I only made a few changes to the original recipe. First I used a yellow onion. I already had a bag and didn't see the need to buy another bag of white onions when I would only use one. For the honey I am lucky enough that my husband's cousin raises bees and gave us a jar of homemade honey. If you have never had homemade honey, it is so much better than the honey from the grocery store. Plus if you have allergies local honey is supposed to help you be more resistant to pollen issues. I found that I needed to flip my chicken approximately once every ten minutes, so four times total during the baking time. The chicken tended to start to burn and stick to the foil without this step (I had used canola spray and it still stuck from the honey).

The flavor on this chicken was delicious. I would suggest a couple of changes. The skin didn't crisp as much as I would prefer. In order to change this I would either take off the skin (which would also save a significant amount of fat) or broil the chicken the last 5 minutes. This way the skin would have a crisp outside while maintaining the delicious cilantro-lime flavor. My kids loved this recipe and my youngest ate two legs all by himself (which is a ton for a 4 year old!). It is definitely kid friendly and a good way to introduce your kids to cilantro and jalapeño.

For the recipe go to Cilantro Lime Chicken.

Cilantro Lime Marinated Chicken

Recipe Type: Main

Summary:

A simple roasted chicken recipe with a Cilantro Lime Marinade. Can be made more or less spicy by seeding or leaving the seeds in the jalapeño.

Preparation Time: 0h, 10m

Total Time: 1h, 0m

Yield: Serves 4

Curried Lentil and Rice Loaves from Martha Stewart

Curried Lentil and Rice Loaves

Today reminded me that I'm not in my 20's anymore. Since my oldest had the day off school I thought it would be a good day to paint the ceiling in our dining room. The last time I had painted a ceiling was 7 years ago when I was in my late 20's. This evening I am sore, very sore. What was relatively painless in my 20's is an entirely different story in my middle 30's. I'm positive tomorrow is going to be a day for painkillers and my neck and back are not going to be happy. It's days like today that remind me that I have gotten older. On a daily basis I tend to forget my age, but when a task that was easy 10 years ago takes twice as long and makes me feel twice as bad I remember that I'm not the same early 20 year old I was before kids. I also remind myself that that's okay. I might take a little longer and feel a little more sore, but I'm also smart enough to know how to do something right the first time due to the wisdom I have gained with age. I would much rather be where I am now, being in my 20's was confusing and tiring. In my 30's I am older, wiser, and happier. I know who I am and can stand up for myself with no qualms. My younger self was quick to judge, talked first, thought later and could be more than a little selfish. My 30 year old self is pretty great, I listen first, talk later, look at most situations from all angles and have the wisdom to know how to deal with most situations. So tomorrow as I take a few aspirin with my morning coffee I will smile knowing that even though I am older, I am also only getting better with age. Now on to the recipe! Tonight I tried a new recipe for Curried Lentil and Rice Loaves from the Martha Stewart website.

Cabell Huntington Hospital Huntington, WV

This recipe has 12 ingredients. It takes 1 hour 50 minutes of total time, 25 minutes of which is active and makes 1 large loaf or 3 mini loaves. I did make a number of changes to the original recipe. First I was out of curry powder. So instead I used a mixture of the spices I already had on hand to make homemade curry powder. I love making my own spice blends and they are oftentimes cheaper than the pre-made varieties. For the rice I used arborio and homemade black beans instead of canned. Make sure to let the loaf sit after cooking in order that the loaf doesn't fall apart when sliced.

Harris Riverfront Park Huntington, WV

My husband isn't a big fan of meatless meals. He did however, like this recipe. It had the right amount of salt and I added cayenne to my curry powder so the loaf had a nice amount of heat. Finding vegetarian recipes that my family will actually eat can be really hard. This recipe was nice since everyone in my family ate it without complaints.

For the recipe go to Curried Lentil and Rice Loaves.

Curried Lentil and Rice Loaves

Recipe Type: Main

Summary:

A vegetarian recipe for Curried Lentil and Rice Loaves. Full of lentils, black beans and curry powder.

Preparation Time: 0h, 25m

Cooking Time: 1h, 0m

Total Time: 1h, 50m

Yield: Serves 8

Turkey Burgers with Orange Mustard Glaze

Turkey Burgers with Orange Mustard Glaze

I have a horrible attention span. When I was younger it was much better. As I've gotten older it seems to have gone downhill. It's particularly bad with regards to books and television. I have a bad habit of watching part of a season of a tv show and then stopping. Since my husband and I rarely watch live television I am able to look up the ending to most of the past seasons of shows that I catch up on online. I tend to do the same with books. I will read 3/4 of a book and then skim the rest. Part of the problem is that I have very high expectations. I will read pretty much any book, but I get bored with bad writing very easily. Honestly, there have been only a handful of books, television shows and movies within the last 10 years that have been able to hold my attention for long. I'm not sure if it has to do with me getting older or plots getting worse. Either way my attention seems to be going rapidly downhill. Luckily cooking still holds my interest for hours at a time. That's part of the reason that I love it, it changes every time I make a recipe. Today I tried a new recipe for Turkey Burgers with Orange Mustard Glaze from the Food Network Magazine.

Marble Arch Huntington, WV

This recipe has 14 ingredients. It takes 40 minutes of total time, all of which is active and makes 6 servings. I did make a number of changes to the original recipe. First I did not make 6 - 1/2 pound burgers. That is a lot of meat and my two kids are in finicky eating stages currently. Instead I made 4 burgers and they were about 1/3 pound each. For the grilling I used my indoor electric grill, I am still waiting for my husband to fix our outdoor electric grill. I made my own hamburger buns and used heirloom tomatoes for topping. The only type of paprika I had in my cupboard was smoked paprika, so that is what I used.

Marble Arch Huntington, WV

The glaze for these burgers was delicious. It was a perfect combination of sweet and spicy. If you like your food on the mild side I would suggest seeding the jalapenos. You could also decrease or leave out the chili powder. My kids chose to eat their burgers with the pickles on the burgers instead of the glaze. It was a nice way to make the recipe kid friendly.

For the recipe go to Turkey Burgers with Orange Mustard Glaze.

Turkey Burgers with Orange Mustard Glaze

Recipe Type: Main

Summary:

A simple turkey burger recipe with orange jalapeno mustard glaze. A nice combination of sweet and spicy, plus lower in fat than beef burgers.

Preparation Time: 0h, 25m

Total Time: 0h, 40m

Yield: Serves 6

Baingan Bharta: Eggplant Curry

Eggplant Curry

For the last week my husband has been off work for vacation. Now for most people this would be a good thing. While I enjoy spending time with my husband I am ready for him to go back to work. I have a clear system to my weekdays. Everyday I get up and have my cup of coffee and spend about 1/2 just by myself until my kids wake up. Then the day goes pretty much the same until my husband gets home. Summers are harder since both of my kids are home all day. I prefer the school year where my oldest goes to the bus at 7:30 and it's just my youngest and I the rest of the day. I have always been this way. While some people like things to happen as they come, I'm a planner. I prefer things to be planned out and know far ahead of time before the event happens. All this ties in with my husband being on vacation. It spells more housework for me and a rift in my everyday flow. Most of all I am exhausted from his vacation and need a week to recover. I think I need a vacation from my husband's vacation. Since my husband has been home for the last week I have been trying to make a larger variety of foods. Last week I tried a new recipe for Baingan Bharta (Eggplant Curry) from the new All Recipes magazine.

Roses at Ritter Park Rose Garden Huntington, WV

This recipe has 11 ingredients. It takes 50 minutes of total time, 20 minutes of which is active and makes 3 servings. I did make a few changes to the original recipe. First, I doubled the recipe. One eggplant would not have been enough to feed my family of four. I did only use one seeded jalapeno, instead of doubling the amount to two since my two boys aren't fans of spicy foods. I allowed the onions to fully caramelize before following the remainder of the recipe. Caramelized onions have a great taste and I love using them in recipes. I allowed my veggies to cook on medium with the lid on for 10 minutes. The eggplant that I used was large and it didn't fully cook during the oven baking time so the additional cooking time allowed it to soften. 

Roses at Ritter Park Rose Garden Huntington, WV

My husband and I really enjoyed this recipe. While it does not photograph well, it tasted delicious. The eggplant taste was mellow and not overpowering. My two kids tried it, but they weren't too impressed. The recipe is definitely more adult friendly. It's a nice way to have curry at home without having to pay for expensive take out or restaurant food.

The rose pictures are from the rose garden at the park by our house. My kids love visiting it and my husband and I actually were married in it 10 years ago in August. It really is a beautiful place to visit!

For the recipe go to Baingan Bharta (Eggplant Curry).

Sweet Chili Rolls with Homemade Hamburger Buns

Sweet Chili Rolls with Homemade Hamburger Buns

I am finally feeling back to normal after having strep throat. Luckily I got antibiotics this weekend and after being sick for almost two weeks, I am feeling somewhat back to normal. I don't think that winter and me get along, I never seem to get a little sick, I get very sick. Last winter it was pneumonia and this winter it was strep. I promise that my posting schedule will be back to normal this week, things have been a little crazy while I was sick. When I get sick I rely heavily on my crock-pot to cook, I love it. There is nothing easier than taking out the ingredients in the morning, putting them in the slow cooker and by dinner it smells and tastes delicious. Last week I tried a new recipe for Sweet Chili Rolls from the October 2012 issue of Family Circle magazine.

Sweet Chili Rolls with Homemade Gluten Free Hamburger Buns

This recipe has 12 ingredients. It takes 8 hours 15 minutes of total time, 15 minutes of which is active and makes 8 serving. I did make a few changes to the original recipe. First instead of using store bought buns I made my own. For my family I made regular hamburger buns and for me a gluten free version. For the ketchup I used the kind that uses real sugar. I try to limit the amount of high fructose corn syrup that my family consumes and a lot of brands of ketchup are full of it. I am a big proponent of label reading. Instead of canned pinto beans I made them from scratch. It is much cheaper to buy beans dried and prepare them. I make big batches at a time and then freeze them in small containers that are equal to the amount in 15 ounce cans. Finally, since it isn't Vidalia season I used a regular sweet onion.

My two boys really loved these sandwiches. They left off the cheddar cheese for their servings and my husband used pepper jack on his. The recipe claims that it makes 8 servings, but it made more than enough for my family of 4 with a large number of leftovers. The sandwiches are a little sweet, which could be adjusted by adding a spicier chili powder.

For the recipe go to Sweet Chili Rolls. (registration required)

Easy Homemade Tomato Soup

Homemade Tomato Soup

I love comfort food. There is something so great about a home cooked meal that can completely turn my mood around or make me feel better after I have been sick. Everyone has their favorite comfort food. My two boys prefer macaroni and cheese, while my husband loves pinto beans and cornbread. I love a number of different comfort foods, but my favorite combination is grilled cheese and tomato soup. There is something so delicious about a great bowl of tomato soup and a perfectly cooked grilled cheese sandwich. Canned soup just doesn't do it for me, for tasty tomato soup I must have homemade. Fresh tomatoes made into a simple tomato soup are easy and perfect. The taste of the tomatoes shines through and just makes me feel great. Last week I tried a new recipe for Tomato Soup from the February issue of All You magazine.

This recipe has 9 ingredients. It takes 60 minutes of total time, 30 minutes of which is active. I did make a number of changes to this recipe. First I just made the soup and not the cheddar croutons. Second I pureed the some while it was still warm. Just make sure that the lid is firmly attached and place a rag over the top to ensure that you do not get burned. I did allow the soup to cook for an additional 10 minutes after it was pureed to ensure it was the proper thickness.

If you want to make the soup a cream of tomato soup you can add half and half or heavy cream instead of the water. You could also add the half and half or heavy cream at the end of the recipe before serving and allow it to cook for an additional five minutes. I like that this soup is simple and lets the flavor of the tomatoes shine through. Make sure to adequately salt the soup, it will need it. Overall, a great recipe that worked well as a side for grilled cheese sandwiches and I would definitely make again.

For the recipe go to Tomato Soup. 

Flavorful Low Fat Moroccan Lentil Soup

My youngest son went the dentist today and for the first time he had a cavity free appointment. While this is routine for my oldest son, my poor youngest son has had serious problems with his teeth since they came in. He never drank cows milk and still had to have two dental surgeries before his third birthday. Since then he has had fillings every six months. My dentist was determined that it was the food that he was drinking, but has finally been convinced that is has to mostly be genetics. My youngest eats healthier than any other child his age that I know and drinks a ton of water, very little carbs and a high protein diet. Luckily our pediatrician agrees with me and thinks it's 100 percent genetic and not my fault. I still hate the mommy guilt when he has to have another filling. I decided to make one of my son's favorite meals this week in order to calm him down before the dentist. My youngest absolutely loves soup, chicken noodle, vegetable you name it. This week I tried a new recipe for Moroccan Lentil Soup from the February 2013 issue of Eating Well magazine.

This recipe has 18 ingredients. It takes 1 1/2 hours of total time, 30 minutes of which is active and makes 12 servings. Since vegetable stock is so expensive pre-made I made my own. It costs a lot less money and tastes so much better. I used fresh spinach since the taste of frozen spinach always seems off to me. Thanks to my forgetfulness I failed to add the lemon and cilantro to the finished soup. I did add it to the leftovers and the flavor was delicious. I added a little more time to my overall cooking time to ensure that the lentils were fully soft. For soup I prefer my beans very soft, I find the texture more pleasing when eaten. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

I love that this soup is only 152 calories and 1 gram of fat per serving. Since it is full of vegetables and lentils it is filling and can either be used as a side or a main dish. I served it as a main dish and it was a perfect option for our vegetarian meal night. My youngest loved the cauliflower and ate all the pieces out first. This soup also makes a large batch so their are plenty of leftovers.

For the recipe go to Moroccan Lentil Soup.

Indian Spiced Chicken with Chickpeas and Spinach

At the grocery store last week I needed to find chicken legs. I looked all over and then found them. In a large scary looking plastic bag. I have no problems buying large amounts of chicken, but this chicken looked like something that I would rather feed my animals than myself. Someone must be buying it, just not me. This experience got me thinking. It seems that the quality of a lot of grocery products has gone down, not up. It used to be that you could go to the store and expect to find quality products, now even if you want to buy something of higher quality it isn't even available. It is a little disconcerting especially given that there are so many problems in the state that I live in, it would be nice if there were healthy, high quality products available to everyone that wanted them. In the end I substituted all-natural chicken thighs, but it would have been nice to have at least had the option to find the product that I wanted. I digress, on to the chicken recipe that used the chicken legs that were no where to be found. Last week I tried a new recipe for Indian Spiced Chicken with Chickpeas and Spinach from the January 2013 issue of Bon Appetit magazine.

This recipe has 15 ingredients. It takes 2 hours of total time, an hour of which is active and makes 6 servings. As I stated in the intro I had to substitute chicken thighs for almost all the chicken legs. I had two chicken legs left from a previous recipe (that I was lucky enough to find at the store the one time they seemed to actually have them, never to be seen again).  For the remainder of the chicken I used chicken thighs. I found that I had to use more broth than the two cups suggested by the recipe. Two cups just wasn't enough to partially cover the thighs. I left off the cilantro at the end. Honestly my kids aren't fans and I forgot to add it to my serving. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

The braise on this chicken turned out very well. I'm not sure that I liked the amount of spinach. I think it needs to be doubled. The sauce was also a little thinner than I prefer as well and if you like spicy foods I would suggest increasing the amount of cayenne. I would also suggest adding a small amount of flour or cornstarch in order that the chickpea sauce has a better consistency. The chicken turned out well and was the best part of the dish, tender and flavorful.

For the recipe go to Indian Spiced Chicken with Chickpeas and Spinach.

Slow-Cooker Tomatillo Pork Stew

Pork is very popular in my house. As I have talked about before my two boys and husband love bacon. If they could eat it everyday, three times a day they would. However, I am not going to let that happen. As a compromise I make pork frequently. One of my favorite cuts of pork is pork shoulder. It is tender and delicious and can be made a variety of different ways. The crock-pot is a great way to cook pork, it is simple and always turns out well. Yesterday I tried a new recipe for Slow-Cooker Tomatillo Pork Stew from the February issue of Family Circle magazine.

This recipe has 11 ingredients. It takes 8 hours and 15 minutes of total time, 15 minutes of which is active and makes 6 servings. I had no problems finding any of the ingredients at my local grocery store and made no ingredient modifications. Since all the pork shoulder at my store was 6 pounds or more I bought a larger shoulder and cut it down to size. I would recommend increasing the salt or adding additional at the end since it wasn't salty enough as written. I normally serve brown rice to my family, but for this recipe I used basmati and it worked very well. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

I was really pleased with how tender this stew turned out. It was flavorful enough for my husband and I without being too spicy for my two boys. If you want the dish to be more spicy use a less mild salsa. I chose to use mild salsa since I was serving it to my two boys. For my serving I used just cilantro, for my kids I served the stew with sour cream and cilantro.

For the recipe go to Tomatillo Pork Stew. (registration required)

Thai Chicken Curry

I hope everyone is having a great New Year's Eve. In my twenties I loved going to friend's parties and ringing in the New Year. Now that I have two kids and am in my mid-thirties (we aren't talking about what age I am turning this year :) I prefer to stay at home and enjoy the beginning of the New Year with my family. 2012 had a lot of ups and downs for my family. My health for the first 6 months was all over the place with pneumonia, low potassium levels and a high heart rate. Luckily everything seems to be better now, but I am definitely ready for 2013 to be rung in. I will be surprised if my two kids make it much past 10 pm, but they might surprise me and stay up until midnight. I think I will make it to midnight and not much farther. When I was in college I could stay up all night and still be at work the next morning at 7 am, now I need my beauty sleep. My cooking this week has been easy. I haven't been motivated to spend a lot of time in the kitchen since my oldest is home for winter break until Thursday. This weekend I tried a new recipe for Thai Chicken Curry from the January issue of Bon Appetit magazine.

This recipe has 10 ingredients. It takes a total of 45 minutes, 30 minutes of which is active and makes 4 servings. I did have to make a few modifications based on ingredient availability. First I have never seen yellow curry paste at any of my local grocery stores so I substituted green curry instead. Additionally, instead of regular Yukon gold potatoes I used baby Yukon potatoes. I prefer the baby Yukon potatoes when cooking since they are smaller and cook much quicker than their larger counterparts. I had no problems finding any of the other ingredients and made no further ingredient modifications. The recipe states to cook the curry on a simmer for a total of 20 minutes. I let my curry cook for closer to 30 minutes to ensure that it had thickened adequately. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

I wasn't sure what my kids would think of this curry. They can be hit or miss with ethnic foods. Sometimes they love them and other times they won't even try a bite before they decide that they don't like the dish. However, I am happy to report that they loved this recipe. My oldest was especially fond of the chicken. The chicken turned out very tender and the potatoes were a nice addition. I chose not to serve the dish with fresh herbs since my kids were eating it, but it would be delicious either way.

For the recipe go to Thai Chicken Curry.

Stewed Beans

As I have talked about before we eat a lot of beans in our house. I love that beans can be used in so many different ways and that they are a great source of protein. It doesn't hurt that they are also inexpensive and make for numerous leftovers. When I first met my husband he had really only eaten pinto and black beans. Pinto beans are very popular in West Virginia and almost any home cook has a recipe. Having grown-up in Seattle I had never really made anything other than chickpeas and kidney beans in vegetarian chili. Luckily after we got married I learned that there are a vast array of beans that can be used in so many different recipes. One of my favorite ways to prepare beans is stewed, it is easy and delicious. Last week I tried a new recipe for Stewed Beans from issue Number 152 of Saveur magazine, which looked like a great vegetarian meal option.

This recipe has 17 ingredients. It takes 2 hours of total time, 30 minutes of which is active and makes 10-12 servings. I had no problems finding any of the ingredients at my local grocery store. I did adjust some of the cooking times on the recipe. I cooked the onion mixture for a full twenty minutes to ensure that the onions fully caramelized before adding the spices. Additionally, my total cooking time was 1/2 hour longer than suggested. I tasted the beans as the recipe was written and I felt that the chickpeas needed a longer cooking time so I put them back on the stove for an additional 30 minutes. Finally, this recipe will need a lot of salt added once it is completed. The flavor is delicious, but it definitely needs salt to bring out the flavors fully. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

While this recipe takes a bit of planning and cooking time the results were worth the time spent. The beans were very flavorful and my whole family, including my two boys enjoyed them. My husband added hot sauce to his serving and it really did make the beans taste even better. I would suggest this addition if you like spicier foods as it really did bring out the taste of the beans. Overall a great vegan recipe full of protein and makes enough for multiple meals. 

For the recipe go to Stewed Beans.

Beef and Apricot Stew

You are probably tired of me talking about stews. In the fall and winter months I make soups and stews at least once a week and I must say they are one of my favorite foods. If you read my blog regularly you know that both by how much I talk about my love of soups/stews and how many recipes I post. I promise that come spring I will be back to lighter fair, but until then stews will be a staple. It helps that both of my sons are huge stew eaters. So much so that my son's birthday was this past weekend and that was what he requested for his birthday dinner. Love that kid. Beef stew is probably my favorite type of stew. It is comforting and re-heats well for lunches. Last weekend I tried a new recipe for Beef and Apricot Stew from Everyday Food (the last issue-boo!), which looked simple and perfect for fall.

This recipe has 11 ingredients. It takes a total of 1 hour 55 minutes, 25 minutes of which is active and makes 6 servings. I had no problems finding any of the ingredients at my local grocery store with the exception of the lamb which was supposed to be the main ingredient. I have a horrible time finding lamb in my area. I am hoping that since we now have a new International market that I might have more luck. Since lamb was non-existent I substituted beef. Two things that I would change about this recipe. The ginger sticks weren't popular in my house. Instead of making sticks I would suggest grating the ginger on a micro plane. This would allow the flavor, but not make large sticks of ginger which my kids pretty much hated. Additionally, I would cut down on the amount of apricots to 1/2 cup. Using 3/4 of a cup of apricots was just too many. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

With an hour and a 1/2 in the oven this recipe takes a little bit of pre-planning. However, any good stew is worth the wait. If you implement the changes that I made above  I think this stew could be a great fall and winter staple recipe. Plus it's gluten free which works great for my dietary needs.

For the recipe go to Beef and Apricot Stew.

Creamy Turnip Soup

I love soup. There is something very comforting about sitting down with a nice hot bowl of great homemade soup. Growing-up my mother made a ton of soup. As I have talked about before we never had a lot of money so my mother did the most with what we had. We were always getting garden vegetables from friends and my mother would make delicious soup from them. While most kids would turn up their noises at turnips and parsnips, I feel in love with these root vegetables. My mother could turn a hated vegetable into something spectacular. A basic great soup is something to be savored. I am lucky that my two boys will pretty much try any type of food I put in front of them. I started giving them all the foods that my husband and I eat when they were still toddlers so they have never had a fear of new foods. I think this is an important way to teach your kids not to be afraid of trying new foods and new experiences in general. Recently I tried a new recipe for Creamy Turnip Soup from the December issue of Eating Well magazine, which looked like a great winter soup.

This recipe has 11 ingredients. It takes a total time of 45 minutes, 30 minutes of which is active and makes 6 servings. I had no problems finding any of the ingredients at my local grocery store. The turnips sold at my grocery store don't have the greens attached so I followed the suggestion in the recipe and used spinach. I found that when I tried to use my immersion blender on this soup the turnips were not soft enough. They needed to either by sliced much thinner or cooked longer than the time suggested. I let my turnips cook ten minutes more and then used my blender to puree the soup fully. This methods worked much better. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

I loved how creamy this soup turned out. The salad topping was the best part of the recipe. It allowed the soup to be less bitter and bring out the flavor of the turnips. Make sure to fully salt the soup at the end. It needed a good amount of salt to taste correct. If you want to make this soup vegetarian you could substitute the chicken stock for vegetable stock. I frequently substitute broths in recipes especially if I am cooking for vegetarian/vegan friends and family.

For the recipe go to Creamy Turnip Soup.

Slow Cooker Apricot Chicken

Being a food blogger is a unique online task. When I first started this blog I had no idea what I was doing. I knew that I loved cooking and hated trying lots of recipes that didn't turn out as I expected. I'll admit the first year was rough. It took me over six months to get a rhythm and blogging style. My pictures the first year were hit or miss as well. Some photos turned out great, others not so much. Then over the summer I decided that I needed to up my blogging game. I started spending more time on my photos and making a commitment that I would post regularly. I also accepted that food blogging can be very trying. Not only do I have to prepare the meal plans, cook the recipes, and take the food photos, but I also have to find a way to relate everything back in a blog post that I hope someone will want to read. A food blog can definitely lead to burnout. It can also be a lot of fun and I love it. I think the one thing that readers often are confused by is why I don't have photos of myself online. I never have even on my private Facebook page. I prefer to keep my online and offline lives separate. The rise of television cooking shows has made foodies overly personal image driven, which to me defeats the purpose of the food. At the end of the day I am the food that I cook and the words that I write. Hopefully that is enough to make a few people keep coming back. Now back to the point, the food! Last week I tried a new recipe for Apricot Chicken from All You magazine, which with only 7 ingredients looked simple and delicious.

This recipe has 7 ingredients. It takes 4 hours and 10 minutes of cooking time, 15 minutes of prep and makes 4 servings. I had no problems finding any of the ingredients at my local grocery store. As I have talked about numerous times before I used homemade chicken stock. It took me longer to brown my chicken than the suggest 3-5 minutes per side by the recipe. I prefer my chicken to be decently browned to prevent sogginess in the crock-pot. My total time for browning was approximately 15 minutes. I also allowed the onions to fully brown before placing them in the slow cooker. My husband has a thing against non-caramelized onions in the crock-pot and won't eat them. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

My family really enjoyed this recipe. The taste is simple and great for picky eaters since there aren't any spices. If you are looking for a dish with a lot of spices and undertones this recipe isn't for you. However, if you are looking for a recipe that is simple enough for a weekday meal and pleases even young picky children this dish is perfect. I also like that it has 32 grams of protein per serving, which is great for my two growing boys.

For the recipe go to Slow Cooker Apricot Chicken.

Triple Bean Bake with Bacon

My mother cooked a lot of great meals growing-up. We never had a lot of money, but she was always able to make something delicious. The one food that she never really made was beans. She would occasionally use beans in chili or soup, but it wasn't a huge stable in our diet. I think a lot of it had to do with my dad being a huge meat eater and the local church by our house giving out meat every week to families. It was also the 80's when everyone ate more meat than they do now. Even when I moved out on my own and was a vegetarian I ate a lot of tofu and nuts, but beans were always an after thought. None of my friends seemed to eat a lot of beans either, so maybe Seattle in the 90's had a bean aversion. When I moved to West Virginia, beans were everywhere. Restaurants, grocery stores you name it beans were there. It took me a long time to adjust to eating beans on a regular basis, but eventually they became a stable in my diet. My two kids have always eaten beans and absolutely love them. They become very excited when I make a recipe with their favorite type of bean. Last week I tried a new recipe from the June/July issue of Taste of Home magazine for Triple Bean Bake with Bacon, which looked sweet and full of one of my family's favorite foods, bacon.

This recipe has 8 ingredients. It takes 30 minutes of baking, 15 minutes of prep and makes 8 servings. I had no problems finding any of the ingredients at my local grocery store. My husband is very particular about the type of bacon that we buy and insists on thick-cut. I do admit that thick-cut bacon is delicious and works very well in recipes. I prefer to keep my bacon whole when frying and then cut it into pieces when finished. The texture is better and the bacon is crispier when fried in this manner. I let my beans bake for an additional 15 minutes after the suggested baking time in the recipe. This additional time allowed the beans to fully thicken. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

These beans turned out very sweet with a bit of a kick from the horseradish. My two boys really loved these beans and ate their whole servings. The level of sweetness could be adjusted based on the strength of the horseradish that you use. Milder horseradish will make for sweeter beans. I do suggest the additional baking time in order for the beans to thicken completely. This dish would be a great side dish for roasted or fried chicken.

For the recipe go to Triple Bean Bake with Bacon. (registration required)

Mexican White Bean Soup

I grew-up in a working class family. Both of my parents worked very hard to provide the small amount of things that we had. We were lucky that my parents had lived in the same very small two bedroom cottage in Seattle since the early 1970's and the rent had never been raised. When they finally moved out in 1998 they were still only paying 300 dollars a month rent (which is unheard of in Seattle). Both of my parents barely graduated high-school and they worked jobs that most people would turn down. There were many months when my poor mother took me to the food bank line at the local church holding back tears. I was oblivious to most of the problems. I thought the fact that my mom was a great Tupperware dealer and got us a brand new television was neat. I didn't know that that the only way that my parents could afford anything when my dad was working at less than great nursing home was for my mother to sell Tupperware at night. I also didn't realize that the bean soups that my mother made so frequently were because beans were the stable that came from the food bank. I do know that my mother was a great cook. She could take three common ingredients and make food that I would pay money for at a great restaurant. I wish that I had half the cooking skills that she had in one hand. She is also the reason that I love to cook. I never learned to cook from my mother, I learned to love food. Cooking was an experience, there were no cookbooks just tasting, pinching and perfecting. She owned her kitchen. So when I go through my magazine recipes the ones that always catch my attention tend to be simple and make something great out of minimal ingredients. Last month I tried a new recipe for Mexican White Bean Soup from the November issue of Better Homes and Gardens magazine, which looked like a recipe that would have fit perfectly in my mother's kitchen.

This recipe has 12 ingredients. It takes 1 hour and 10 minutes of cooking time, 30 minutes of prep and makes 6 servings. I had no problems finding any of the ingredients at my local grocery store. As I normally do I made my own vegetable stock. I decided to make vegetable stock instead of chicken since I make at least one vegetarian dinner a week and this was a perfect fit. I used the whole 1/4 teaspoon of cayenne pepper, my family likes food with a little kick. Instead of doing a quick soak on the navy beans, I let mine soak overnight. I find the overnight soaking method less time consuming and is the method I almost always follow. Finally, I let my beans cook for slightly longer than the 1 1/2 hours suggested. I cooked the beans for 1 1/2 hours then blended with an immersion blender (a blender would also work just as well) and then cooked for an additional 1/2 hour. I like my bean soup to be very tender and the additional time helped to accomplish the right consistency. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

My husband and I really liked this soup. If I wasn't making this for my kids I probably would have increased the cayenne pepper even more, maybe up to a full teaspoon. I did top the soup with sour cream and cilantro and added additional cayenne to my husband and mine's servings. This recipe is great for the colder months to come and would be perfect served alongside a crunchy and crusty bread.

For the recipe go to Mexican White Bean Soup. (registration required)

Squash and Lentil Stew

This has been a long day. Not for the reasons you might think. Don't get me wrong, I love the excitement of election day, but this year it has taken a back seat to the rest of my day. This afternoon my two boys were in the kitchen together. I should have known right there that something was wrong. When my two boys are being quite together something is brewing. I walk in and my youngest son is partially bald and surrounded by his cut hair. You guessed it, my oldest son had given his baby brother a haircut. Now on most boys this wouldn't be a huge deal, but my son had very long beautiful hair. He has always loved his hair long and cried as soon as he realized it was gone. Of course I was trying to figure out what my oldest son's reasoning was. When he finally told me I had to try not to laugh. Apparently my youngest son had been saying 'potty' words and my oldest decided that he needed to be punished...by cutting off all his hair. Gotta love kids! So tonight's blog post goes back a couple of weeks to a great stew recipe I tried. Last month I tried a new recipe for Squash and Lentil Stew from the October issue of Family Circle magazine, which looked perfect for fall.

This recipe has 12 ingredients. It takes 56 minutes of cooking time and 20 minutes of prep and makes 6 servings. I had no problems finding any of the ingredients at my local grocery store. I have never seen French green lentils locally, so I used brown lentils instead. Instead of store bought chicken stock I used homemade. I don't salt my homemade stock, but instead salt the stew itself once it's finished. For the carrots I used baby carrots. I find baby carrots easier to deal with, especially since they are already peeled. I let my onion, celery and carrot mixture cook longer than the suggested 5 minutes by the recipe. Instead I allowed the mixture to fully soften. Make sure to fully salt the stew once it has completed cooking. Even with store bought stock this recipe will need a good amount of salt. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

With 8 grams of fat and 17 grams of protein this recipe is a great low-fat meal. My two boys really liked the butternut squash and ate all of it in their servings. I liked that this stew is full of vegetables and beans and has a great flavor. I would suggest letting the stew cook slightly longer than the 40 minutes suggested in the recipe. I think it would allow the lentils to be even more tender and the flavors to fully incorporate. Overall, a great fall recipe.

For the recipe go to Squash and Lentil Stew. (registration required)

White Bean Burgers with Spinach

As a teenager and into my early twenties I was a vegetarian. I have always loved vegetables and beans, but I have appreciated meat more as I've gotten older. When I was growing up I was never a big fan of meat and would eat all my vegetables and side dishes, leaving the meat completely untouched. Finally when I was a teenager my mother agreed to let me give meat up entirely and become a vegetarian. As a vegetarian I ate a ton of veggie burgers. Bean burgers, rice burgers, tempa burgers, you name it I loved them all. In my middle twenties I started eating meat again and then met my meat loving husband. I'm pretty sure that he thinks that bacon is a separate food group. My two boys are somewhere in the middle. While they love bacon and meat in general they are also huge veggie fans. This week I tried a new recipe for White Bean Burgers with Spinach from the July issue of Better Home and Gardens Magazine.

This recipe has 10 ingredients. It takes 8 minutes of cooking time and 25 minutes of prep and makes 4 servings. I did make a few changes to this recipe. First I left off the parsley. My two boys won't really eat parsley in anything, so I rarely use it. I have no idea where the recipe was finding 19oz cans of beans. All the beans I have ever found at the grocery store have been 15.5oz. So I used one 15.5oz can and it worked perfectly. I was unable to find country Italian bread, so I used French bread instead. I toasted it as the recipe suggested. Don't make my mistake and use a small pan. Using a small pan made it hard to flip the burgers, I would suggest using a large pan making the flipping and cooking easier. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

These veggie burgers were very popular in my house. My two boys at first were skeptical, but after tasting them they ate their whole servings. I like that they are served open faced, it makes the burgers easy to eat and makes for a beautiful plate. This would be a great recipe for a meatless Monday meal or any day of the week.

For the recipe go to White Bean Burgers with Spinach.

Chicken Enchiladas with Tomatillo Salsa

My oldest son starts school on Monday and I thought that everything was going well. That is until he started crying last night because there apparently was a boy last year that was mean to him. It broke my heart. I wish that he had felt comfortable enough to tell me last year instead of dealing with it on his own. Today he told me that he is nervous about his new teacher, classmates and that he won't have any friends in his new class. I wish that I could make him feel better, but I know that after his first day of first grade on Monday everything will be fine. He is very smart and everyone loves him once they meet him. I just need to make him feel better until then. So yesterday I decided to make enchiladas. Both of my sons love enchiladas and I found a great recipe in the August issue of Southern Living for Chicken Enchiladas with Tomatillo Salsa which looked like perfect comfort food for a nervous soon to be first grader.

This recipe has 11 ingredients in the enchiladas and 7 in the salsa. It takes a total of 2 hours and 45 minutes, 25 minutes of which is active and makes 6 to 8 servings. I made a few major modifications to this recipe. When I went to the grocery store I believed that I had bought reduced fat cream cheese. When I started to make this recipe I realized that I had accidentally purchased full fat cream cheese. So I decided to make a substitution. Instead of cream cheese I used a combination of smashed canned reduced sodium black beans and goat cheese. In total I used approximately 2/3 of a can of black beans and 2 ounces of cheese. I mashed the beans and cheese together with a fork and added them instead of the cream cheese in the recipe instructions. For the shredded cooked chicken I grilled chicken thighs with a paprika rub, cooled them and then shredded. Instead of using all mild or hot green chilies I used a can of each. Finally, I forgot to spray the tops of the tortillas with cooking spray, but they came out fine. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

If you like your enchiladas mild I would suggest using two cans of mild green chilies. With one can of hot and one can of mild this recipe had a slight kick. However, these were delicious. The modifications worked perfectly and I love the added nutrition from the black beans instead of cream cheese. My two boys ate more than half of the enchiladas and even though they drank milk since they were spicy, they loved them. I would definitely make this recipe again and the salsa was great as a steak topping the next day.

For the recipe go to Chicken Enchiladas.