Vegetarian Black Bean Soup with Cilantro-Lime Cream

This just has a wonderful flavor. I will definatly be making this one again!!

Vegetarian Black Bean Soup with Cilantro-Lime Cream
This recipe serves: 8

2 cups dried black turtle beans, soaked (Iused canned beans and it worked)
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 cup diced onion
1/2 cup diced celery
1/2 cup diced green pepper
1 tablespoon minced jalapeño pepper
freshly ground black pepper
1 clove garlic, minced
1 bay leaf
2 tablespoons finely chopped cilantro stems
6 cups low-sodium canned vegetable broth
salt to taste

1/4 cup chopped cilantro leaves
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
4 tablespoons non-fat sour cream

1. Drain the beans and set aside.

2. Heat the oil in a 4-quart pot over low-medium heat for 2 to 3 minutes. Add the onion, celery, green pepper and jalapeño pepper, season lightly with black pepper and cook until the vegetables begin to soften, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 1 more minute.

3. Add the bay leaf, cilantro stems, beans and broth and bring to a boil quickly over high heat.

4. Lower the heat and simmer until the beans are completely tender, about 30 to 40 minutes.

5. Remove and discard the bay leaf, puree half of the soup in a blender and then add it to the rest of the soup. Season with salt and pepper and keep warm.

6. Blend the cilantro leaves, lime juice and sour cream together. (i put them in a blender)

7. Serve the soup in warm bowls with a dollop of cilantro-lime cream.

NOTE: Do not add salt until the beans are fully cooked because salt will prevent them from becoming tender.

I didnt' have enough stuff for the whole recipe, all I added was 2 cans black beans and 1 can Kidney beans both rinsed, and it worked well. I think you can tweak this recipe and it still turns out great.
Serving Size: about 1 cup Number of Servings: 8
Per Serving Calories 203 Carbohydrate 34 g Fat 2 g Fiber 12 g Protein 13 g Saturated Fat 1 g Sodium 250 g

Honey Oatmeal Cookies

I've been wanting to start subsituting honey for sugar because of the health benefits and such. (there is so much more to read, but this is a good site to just break it all down) But I have been sort of hesitant, so I found this on the internet and thought it a great place to start. They seem a little soggy before baking, and I was surprised how well they turned out and made a really soft cookie. Some of them were really crumbly, they definatly need time to cool. They were way fast to make too. I think next time I make them I would add less brown sugar so they aren't so sweet. But that is personal preference.

Ingredients
3 tablespoons butter, room temperature
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup honey
1 egg
1 tablespoon water
1/2 cup whole wheat flour(all-purpouse is good too)
1/2 teaspoon salt (i usually never add salt to my recipes)
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 cups rolled oats (aka oatmeal)

I also added some cinnamon and vanilla

about 1/2 cup chopped dates or fig or raisins or currant or chocolate or cinnamon chips or chopped nuts, etc (optional)

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a cookie sheet with nonstick cooking spray (just for convenience).

2. Using a mixer with the paddle attachment, mix together the butter, brown sugar, honey, egg and water thoroughly.

3. Sift together the dry ingredients then stir in the oats. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix. Add any additional ingredients you've chosen.

4. Drop by heaping teaspoonfuls onto the cookie sheet. Bake 12 to 15 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.

I figured out the calories for these cookies:

If you make 21 cookies it is 70 calories per cookie, and only 1.9 g of fat.

Soft Pretzels

This is a recipe I was hesitant to try, but it turned out GREAT!! I tried to make them with reagan and zack but with reagan trying to eat the yeast and getting dough in her hair and all over her face...let's just say my patience level was falling...dramatically...so once she was in bed zack and I finished up and they are so yummy!

I was hesitant to try these because of the part where you have to boil them in a baking soda bath, but it wasn't as bad as I had originally thought it would be. So if you have some time, it really was a fun recipe. Zack like to roll the "snakes" and thought it was kind of like playdough.


Ingredients
2 tablespoons warm water, plus 1 1/3 cups warm water
1 package dry yeast
1/3 cup brown sugar
5 cups flour
1/2 cup baking soda
Kosher salt

Directions
In a large mixing bowl, mix 2 tablespoons warm water with the yeast to dissolve it. Then stir in the remaining warm water and brown sugar. Place bowl on a mixer and using a dough hook, gradually add the flour and continue mixing until it forms a ball. Turn it out onto a work surface and knead the dough to make it smooth. Use enough flour on your work surface so the dough is not sticky.

Preheat oven to 475 degrees F.

Butter 2 sheet pans. Bring 2 quarts of water and the baking soda to boil in a large saucepan*. Cut dough up into golf ball size pieces(mine were more like tennis balls). Then roll them into 1/2-inch thick worms. Form a U then cross the ends, twisting at the middle. Fold the ends back down to meet the U and press to secure the dough.

Drop it into the boiling water for 30 seconds then fish it out and place it on the greased sheet pan. Sprinkle with kosher salt. Repeat with the rest of the dough. Bake for 8 minutes or until golden brown.

*I had read on another recipe not to use an aluminum pan, but not sure why.

Banana Bread

This is a great recipe when your bananas go bad. And the kiddos will love to help smash the bananas.

2 oz soft butter

1/2 cup sugar

1 Tbl Vanilla

2 Tbl Cinnamon

1 lg egg

1 1/2 cup self rising flour*

125 ml or 8 Tablespoons milk

3 smashed bananas

Bake at 350 F for 45 minutes

Grease the loaf tin with lots of butter. Cream the sugar and butter together, add vanilla and cinnamon and blend. Then add the egg and milk, mix well. Next, add the flour once mixed, fold in the bananas. You can also add chopped walnuts at this point.

*If you do not have self rising flour simply add 2 1.4 tsp of baking powder and 1/2 tsp salt to the flour before mixing. You can also use 50% wheat 50% white flour to make it healthier.

a very basic cheese sauce

I halved this recipe and it was plenty for our little family.

4 tbsp. butter
2 c. milk
1/4 c. flour

Cheese: I added 4 slices of cheese when I halved this. But the directions say: Remove basic sauce from heat. Add 1 1/2 cups diced cheese 3 minutes before serving. I just think that is way too much cheese.

In frying pan melt butter, add flour over medium high heat. Mix until mixture looks like dough - "RUE". Slowly add milk stirring rapidly. Cook until mixture is same texture, add more milk, continue until thickness desired. Serve over noodles.

Homemade Syrup

I have just never bought syrup, it is so simple to make and tastes so much better. So here is my mom's recipe which was her mom's recipe and so on.

bring to a boil
1 c Brown Sugar
1 c White Sugar
1 c Water

then add
1 capful of vanilla
I sometimes add both vanilla and maple flavorings.

If you want more then just double. So simple!

Perfect Pancakes

Bisquick is really expensive here in the UK so I had to improvise and found this yummy way easy recipe for pancakes. This was enough to serve the kids and me, so I suggest doubling it.

Mix dry ingredients
4¾oz plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
2 tbsp caster sugar

then add:
1 large egg, lightly beaten
2 tbsp melted butter (allowed to cool slightly) or olive oil
enough milk to make it a pancake batter.