Tips & Tricks

A common question I get "what is the quickest & easiest way to get the meals made?"
Keep your pantry full of the things that you can grab and make something, so your don't have to run to the store.
I always have a fresh lemon and lime on hand. If I don't use it before the weeks end I will freeze the juice in small tupperware type containers. One lemon = approx. 1/4 cup juice. Next I freeze the zest and use the rind to clean out my garbage disposal. I also have canned and dried beans on hand.  Garbanzo beans for hummus, roasted red peppers in a jar (from the Dollar Store), canned tomatoes, fresh herbs like basil, rosemary & thyme. If I don't use all of them, fresh herbs are one of the simplest things to preserve in the freezer. I have found 2 different ways to preserve them.  I chop them up and put them in an ice cube tray:
1. with a small amount of water. After they are frozen I place them in a freezer bag, now I have 2 tbs.  herbs cubes to add to any recipe.
2. in Olive Oil! I had read a post this summer in The Gardeners Eden.

Steps for Freezing Herbs in Oil

1. Choose firm, fresh herbs, ideally from the market or your own garden.
2. If you wish, you can chop them fine. Or leave them in larger sprigs and leaves. Here I froze a combination of finely-chopped and whole herbs such as rosemary, fennel stalk, sage, and oregano.
3. Pack the wells of ice cube trays about 2/3 full of herbs.
4. You can mix up the herbs, too; think about freezing a bouquet of sage, thyme, and rosemary to add to winter roast chickens and potatoes!
5. Pour extra-virgin olive oil or melted, unsalted butter over the herbs.
6. Cover lightly with plastic wrap and freeze overnight.
7. Remove the frozen cubes and store in freezer containers or small bags.
8. Don't forget to label each container or bag with the type of herb (and oil) inside!

I use a lot of beans in our diet.  This is one of our regular recipes:

Refried Beans Without The Refry

Ingredients:

1 onion, peeled and halved 3 cups dry pinto beans, rinsed 1/2-1 fresh jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped 2 tablespoons minced garlic

5 teaspoons salt 1 3/4 teaspoons fresh ground black pepper 1/8 teaspoon ground cumin, optional 9 cups water = I like to use chicken broth

Directions:

1.	Place the onion, rinsed beans, jalapeno, garlic, salt, pepper, and cumin into a slow cooker. Pour in the water and stir to combine. Cook on High for 8 hours, adding more water as needed. Note: if more than 1 cup of water has evaporated during cooking, then the temperature is too high.
2.	Once the beans have cooked, strain them, and reserve the liquid. Mash the beans with a potato masher, adding the reserved water as needed to attain desired consistency.

  *** You can also eat them without mashing or draining. 

 

Southwest Bean Soup

 A couple of weeks ago, I realized that I didn't have anything made for dinner and I had to work 12 hours.  I looked in the freezer and found a 1 pound package of ground turkey. In the cupboard I took out a can of black beans, kidney beans and great northern beans.

I chopped up 4 stalks of celery and a sweet onion. I browned the ground turkey in a stock pot, added 1 tsp. each, salt and black pepper, the celery and onion. Continued to cook it until the ground turkey was no longer pink. I opened and drained & rinsed the beans, added them to the browned turkey along with a can of diced tomatoes with chilies and a 32 oz. box of chicken broth. I added added 2 cubes of frozen basil.

Next I just started seasoning it. I used Tony's Creole Seasoning and Wildtree Cajun Seasoning. I started with a tablespoon and work on it from there.

I took the soup to work and that's how I had to figure out what a recipe should be. Several people wanted to make..........so, here it is.

Southwest Bean Soup

I have done a variation of this recipe. Brown the ground turkey, onions, celery, sweet peppers together until the ground turkey is no longer pink. Add a can of sauerkraut, a can of black beans (drained & rinsed) and a can of diced tomatoes with chilies. Season and simmer for 20 min. This recipe reminds me of cabbage roll-ups. 

Enjoy! Let me know what you think :)