cottage recipes

After visiting family in Florida a few years ago, we came home with a need to have more of those Cuban-style black beans, and the delicious rice that accompanied it. So, after trying out a variety of different recipes, mashing some together and tweaking that further, we came up with the following recipe. It takes several hours (mostly in cooking time) but it is so worth it!

Ingredients

• 1 lb. dried black beans
• 4 cups water
• 2 Tbsp. oil
• 3 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 medium onion, peeled and chopped
• 1/2 lb. salt pork, chopped
• 4 cups chicken stock
• 1 lb. smoked ham hocks
• 2 tsp paprika
• 3 tsp cumin
• 2 bay leaves
• 1/2 tsp chili powder
• 1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
• salt & pepper to taste (we combine black and white pepper)

This can be used as a main course or as a side dish. In a large bowl soak beans overnight, or at least 6-8 hours. Reserve liquid.

In a large stockpot, bring oil to a med-high temperature. Add onions, garlic and salt pork. Cook until pork fat is dissolved.

Reserving the water, drain the beans and add to the pot. Pour in the chicken broth, and add all other ingredients except the salt, pepper and vinegar. Add enough of the reserved water to cover the beans.

Cover and simmer for about 2 hours. The beans should be just tender.

Take out the ham hocks and remove the meat from the bones. Return the meat to the pot.

Add the vinegar, salt and pepper. Simmer long enough to heat the vinegar.

For the rice:

3 cups chicken stock

2 1/2 cups uncooked rice

Wash the rice. In a rice cooker or medium pot, soak the rice in chicken stock for 1 hour prior to cooking. Begin cooking the rice just before you add back in the ham and vinegar to the beans.

Serves 6.

If you have some extra ham laying around, go ahead and add it. I often use a ham bone from a spiral ham, and make sure that we don’t cut all of that yummy-ness off until after it has cooked with the beans for a bit.

If you have the time, make this a couple of days in advance. Letting it sit in the fridge for 2-3 days gives the flavors time to really combine together. Just warm it on the stove and serve.

A friend sent me a link to a recipe for Pumpkin Bread Pudding that their family had liked. Never one to follow a recipe exactly, I made a few changes – starting with getting rid of the slow cooker. I did try that initially, but it took over 4 hours to bake, and never quite firmed up. I ended up taking it out & finishing it in the oven anyway. But what taste! I also think that some apricots would be divine in here, or possibly rhubarb… maybe next time?

Prep Time – 30 minutes
Cook Time – 1 hour

Ingredients

• 1 loaf Vienna Bread, Challah or Brioche, cut into 1-inch cubes
• ½ cup dried cherries, chopped
• ¼ cup dried peaches, chopped
• 5 eggs
• 1 ½ cups milk
• 1 ½ cups spiced egg nog
• 1-15 oz. can pumpkin puree
• 4 very ripe persimmons (when they are like pudding inside)
• ¾ cup brown sugar
• 1 Tbsp vanilla extract

the following to taste:

• cinnamon
• nutmeg
• cloves
• cardamom

Directions

Preheat oven to 325 F.

Coat the inside of a 9”x14” glass baking pan with butter or coconut oil. Mix the bread cubes and dried fruit together, and put into a very large bowl.

In a bowl, combine remaining ingredients, stirring well. Pour over the bread and fruit, stirring to coat everything.

Divide the mixture between the two baking pans, pressing down to make sure it is evenly spread out.

Bake for 45-60 minutes, tenting with foil if needed to keep it from browning too soon.  It is done when a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.

Serve topped with Egg Nog Whipped Cream, and a cup of tea!

This recipe is loosely based on a recipe for Pumpkin Bread Pudding for a slow cooker found over at http://crockingirls.com/recipes/pumpkin-bread-pudding/

This is a favorite in our household, and it’s SO easy to make!

- 1 pkg Italian sausage
- 2 cups chicken or turkey broth
- 2 cups kale – chopped or torn into small pieces
- 2 cups potatoes, cubed
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- water
- red pepper flakes, white pepper and nutmeg to taste

Fry sausage in soup pot. Set aside in a separate bowl. Pour the chicken broth and 1 cup of water into the pot and add the potatoes. Boil until soft. You may need to add some more water before this is done to make sure the potatoes stay covered.

When the potatoes are done, add back in the sausage and the chopped kale. Add water to just cover (if needed). Warm everything through, adding seasonings to taste. Pour in the heavy cream about 2 minutes before serving.

Voila! Super easy, fairly quick, and oh, so tasty!

This is the mild version, we often make it with 1/2 a red onion and 1/2 a sweet white onion, and 1 Tbsp. garlic. That and I generally use spicy Italian sausage.

To make it dairy free, just use coconut milk in place of the heavy cream. That is really yummy too!

My daughter discovered these cookies while at her art class, and begged for the recipe. Her teacher’s wife was gracious and shared it with us, and I am sharing it with you… with one or two modifications.

• 2 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup butter or coconut oil
• 1/2 cup milk (or a nut milk)
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder

Combine these ingredients and boil hard for 5 minutes.

Remove from heat and add:

• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• dash of salt
• 3 cups oats*
• 1 cup coconut shreds

Immediately drop by spoonfuls onto waxed or parchment paper.

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Personally, I am not a fan of coconut flakes. Coconut water, milk, oil and fresh coconut are all fabulous, but the flakes? Ick. So, I am replacing the butter with coconut oil to get the flavor and upping the oatmeal content.

I do plan to try making these with fresh coconut, just to see how it would work. And I might tweak it just a tad and add some dried cherries. That just sounds good to me.

The original recipe calls for using margarine, so go ahead with that if it’s your preference.

*If you are gluten-free, please make sure that your oats are processed away from wheat and are certified gluten free!

To make these vegan, use coconut oil and almond milk instead of the butter & milk, and verify that your cocoa powder is dairy-free.

Thanks to Grace Engstrom for sharing her recipe with us!

** Edited November 2, 2011 **

I am happy to report that these can be made COMPLETELY vegan & gluten free and taste delish!

We made a batch using coconut oil and a mix of coconut milk and dark chocolate almond milk in place of the mutter & cow milk. Of course, I also swapped out some of the coconut for chopped dried cherries (I actually split the oats between the coconut flakes and the cherries as I don’t much like coconut flakes) and they may be my new favorite “quick & easy cookie” recipe!

Experimentation is a good thing in the kitchen!

I still remember my first experience with tapenade. It was in Phoenix, AZ, at a little restaurant called Mamma Mia’s near my office. They brought out some fresh bread with olive oil… with stuff in it.

I had no idea what it was… but it was sooo good.

And now I know that it is so easy to make. All it takes is a food processor and a small container of ingredients – all of which can be found in your nearest olive bar.

Our local Safeway has made a fabulous addition to their deli. An olive bar. Every couple of weeks I head down there, pick up a small container, and fill it with an assortment of olives, garlic and peppers. The usual suspects are pitted Kalamata olives, some yummy-looking garlic-stuffed green olives, and either hot peppers or sweet peppers – or both.

Bring these home, toss them into a food processor and grind them up.

Scoop the ground-up olives into a dish, drizzle with some olive oil, and voila! You have just made a delicious, nutritious snack in about 1 minute.

We keep ours in a glass jar in the refrigerator and use it on just about everything – sandwiches, in eggs and stir-fry, with pita and veggies, in wraps, we have even been known to eat a spoonful by itself!

Enjoy!

Hummus is one of those foods that most people either love or hate. Those that hate it often do so because the only hummus they have had is so bland and flavorless! I now offer you a hummus that has plenty of flavor, and a wonderful texture.

And it’s so easy.

Ingredients:

• 1 can chickpeas (aka garbanzo beans)
• juice of 1/2 lemon
• 1.5 Tbsp tahini
• 4 cloves of garlic
• salt & pepper to taste

Optional ingredients:

• roasted red peppers
• sun dried tomatoes
• marinated sweet peppers
• more garlic

Pour the chickpeas into a strainer and wash them until there are no more bubbles. None. Get all of that packing liquid OFF.

Pour the chickpeas into a food processor. Add the garlic, tahini, lemon juice and a pinch of salt. Begin to process in short bursts.  If needed, add a drizzle of olive oil to smooth things out.

I often add some marinated swet peppers at this point – you can find them in most olive bars (like Safeway has recently started offering) or in a jar in the pickle section. I put in about 8.

Once it starts to smooth out, taste it to see if you need any salt or pepper to brighten the flavor.

Process it until it’s smooth. ou can serve it immediately, or seal it and put it in the refrigerator to chill.

We eat it on sandwiches, with pita and veggies, with chips or crackers… I even recently heard of using it in potato salad (although I haven’t tried it yet)

It’s so easy to make, I don’t buy the bland stuff at the store anymore. It only takes 5 minutes to have a tasty, healthy snack.

I very often serve it alongside a fresh olive tapenade – so tasty, and so easy!

I came across the idea of Cholent purely by accident, but I’m so glad I did! It’s a perfect dish for those days that you want something warm and yummy, but you aren’t going to be around to fix it.

But it’s the eggs that really make it.

Cholent came about due to the restrictions on the Jewish people on the Sabbath. As I understand it, no fires could be started – which generally meant that no cooking would be done. However, if a fire was already going it could be used. Wanting to feed their families a hot meal on the Sabbath, Jewish housewives devised this stew that could be slow cooked over low heat. The variety of recipes is nearly endless, as it traveled with the Jewish people as they were spread out around the world, taking on the flavors of the varios regions.

After reading numerous recipes, I found one that looked do-able with the current diet restrictions we are living under (gluten- & dairy-free) with few modifications, and used the foodstuffs I already had on hand. I found this recipe over at JewishMag.com, and have since modified it to fit the diet and tastes of our family. My modifications are in italics. I hope you enjoy it!

CHOLENT

• 1 ¼ cups dry mixed beans- I used chickpeas, pinto beans and small turtle beans
• 2 Tbsp vegetable oil
• one large onion, coarsely chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 ½ Tbsp sweet Hungarian paprika - didn’t have it, so I used chili powder
• 1 ½ tsp salt
• 1 ½ tsp pepper
• 1 ½ cup roasted buckwheat groats- recipe called for barley, but that has gluten
  
• 2 large sweet potatoes, peeled, cut into large chunks
• 1 lb beef brisket- I used rib eye steak
  
• 1 smoked beef bone or marrow bone
• 6 eggs in shell, washed

Ingredients I added to the original recipe:

• cumin
  
• spicy Mexican oregano
• garlic powder
• white pepper
• more chili powder
• Herbes de Provence
  
• 3 large carrots, peeled, cut into large chunks
• 2 stalks celery – cut into large chunks

1. Rinse beans then soak for 5 to 8 hours in enough water to have three finger-deep water over top of beans. When soaked, drain. I soaked mine overnight, drained them & soaked them again until that evening – I had to pick up one or two ingredients yet.
2. Heat oil in a large heavy skillet over medium heat and sauté onion until transparent. Add garlic, stir for several minutes over heat then add paprika, salt and pepper, and continue to cook for a minute. Remove from heat.
3. Combine beans, onion mixture, grain, potatoes, brisket and bone in a large baking dish or dutch oven with a tightly-fitting lid. Carefully slip in raw unshelled eggs and bury them under cholent mix. Add water to cover.
4. Place tightly covered pot in oven (seal lid with aluminum foil if not absolutely tight) and bake at 200 degrees F for at least 6 hours and up to 18 hours. Check liquid level occasionally to prevent cholent from drying out and replenish if needed.*see notes below.
   

When ready to serve, dig out eggs, shell them and serve in quarters as first course with fresh raw vegetables or crackers. Remove brisket and slice. Serve brisket and cholent family style on serving dish. The best accompaniment with cholent is an assortment of good pickles and sauerkraut. Yields 6 to 7 generous servings.

My notes & changes:

Most of the recipes I found had you cut the meat into 1-inch chunks, so I did that before cooking it. It the future I think I may coat these pieces with seasoned flour and brown them slightly. Or I may lessen the cost and use stew meat that has been browned. The steak was soooooooo good though!

As the bone I had was HUGE, it took up half of the cooking pot. Make sure your dutch oven is large enough to hold all the ingredients and the bone! To get the water to cover I had to fill it almost to the rim.

I started it around 7:00 pm, and we tried it for lunch at 1:00 pm the next day. The eggs were simply divine. Wow. I have never had an egg that tasted so creamy and delish! The beans, however, were still very crunchy and the flavor was similar to gruel (jokes were abounding around the table).

At that point I added the other veggies and seasonings, turned the heat up to 275 degrees F, and put the pot back into the oven for another 8 hours. As the kids didn’t want stew a second meal in a row, we put it all in the refrigerator overnight.

I took the leftovers for lunch the next day and all I can say is “Wow!” What a difference a day makes. This stuff was amazing. The flavors melded together beautifully. The carrots actually held up to long, slow cooking, the steak was full of flavor and so tender.

And the leftover egg? Perfection.

I will be making this again, most definitely. And next time, I just might try sealing the edges of the lid with bread dough. Some Challah would have been a divine addition. Gluten-free, of course.

**Update**
I submitted this for the “Go Ahead Honey, It’s Gluten Free” blog carnival over at GlutenFreeHomemaker.com – if you are gluten-free or looking for recipes to cook for someone who is, I HIGHLY recommend heading over there to take a look.

My mom was here over Christmas, and we had picked up a box of sweet potatoes to use for our Christmas dinner. I think we used one, maybe two spuds… that left me with a rather large box to use up (did I mention it was from Costco?)

Due to having a few extra sweet spuds laying around, I have been trying to come up with new ways to use them… and I remembered the mini sweet potato pies that we had once while visiting the Apple Festival in Cedaredge, CO years ago. So I set my mind to figuring out how to make them.

But I wanted to make it a tad more healthy than most of the recipes I was finding. Then I found this one over on VeganBaking.net – and I am so glad I did!

But of course I made a couple of changes. Don’t I always?

(Mostly) Vegan Sweet Potato Pie

9 inch pie crust (pre-baked if using a homemade crust – I recommend this one or this one if you aren’t looking for vegan crust)

2 cups sweet potato puree (1-2 large roasted sweet potato)
¾ cup cashew butter
1/3 cup sugar
¼ cup sucanat
2 Tbsp corn starch (don’t judge, it’s what I had!)
½ tsp salt
½ tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp ground ginger
¼ tsp ground nutmeg
¼ tsp ground cloves

To make the sweet potato puree, line a baking sheet with foil. Preheat oven to 400F, or broil on low. Put the sweet potatoes in the oven until the tops are dark and skin has separated from the flesh. They will start to go just past smelling sweet to smelling slightly over-done. Roasting the potatoes brings out their natural sweetness, which means you don’t have to use as much sugar.

Take them out and gently peel the skins off. Put the potatoes in a blender or mixing bowl to cool.  Lower the oven temp to 350F.

Once they aren’t hot anymore, cream them to a smooth consistency. A blender works really well for this, but the mixing bowl would, I’m sure, work equally well.

Measure out 2 cups of potato puree into your mixing bowl., and add cashew butter, sugar, sucanat, corn starch, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves. Process until smooth.

Pour this into your pie crust and bake at 350F for 45 minutes.

I found that the center was still a bit jiggly so I left it in for an extra 15 minutes, but I think that was a mistake. Take it out by 50 minutes and let it finish baking on the counter top.

We served it with fresh agave whipped cream – sooo yummy. As my daughter said: “Mommy, I don’t like this pie. I LOVE it!!!” I take that as a good sign.

Next time I’d like to try it with a homemade coconut oil pie crust (yes, it does work!) to make it fully vegan. All I had on hand this time was a ready-made pie crust, so that’s what I used.

The original recipe recommends this vegan flaky pie crust – I haven’t tried it yet, but it sure looks good!

I know, how often do you need something like cashew butter anyway, right? Well, I needed 3/4 cup for the pie I made yesterday, and I just couldn’t see any reason to go buy some when I had perfectly good cashews sitting in the pantry.

So I made it.

Wow.

It’s a good thing that I don’t need this around more often, because if it was here… I would eat it. All of it. It’s that good.

Sweet, nutty and coconutty all blended together. Bliss.

The only problem? I didn’t measure ANYTHING. Oops.

Anyhow, this is how I made it:

• cashews – I’m guessing it was around 1-1/2 cups
• honey – 1/4 cup or so I’m guessing – I just poured it in.
• 2 Tbsp coconut oil – the UN-refined kind if you want the coconut flavor.
• drizzle of olive oil

I have a mini food processor, so I just dumped in enough cashews to mostly fill it. Then I drizzled some honey over those and scooped out some coconut oil and put it on top. Grind, grind, grind. You may have to stir it from time to time. If yours don’t want to mix and grind like they are supposed to, drizzle some olive oil over it to loosen it up.

Or put the coconut oil on the bottom (we learn from our mistakes, right?)

Grind it until you get the consistency you want – chunky or creamy. I’m usually a creamy girl, but I got tired of waiting & left a few chunks in it. Doesn’t matter – they are muy delicioso.

** I used raw cashews, but if you prefer the flavor of roasted ones, go for it. I would stick to unsalted though, then you can control the saltiness to your tastes by adding some if you want it.

I received an email this morning from the Green Smoothie Girl… with a recipe that I hesitated to try.  But, as I happened to have the key ingredient on hand (and no other way I could fathom to use them) I decided to give it a try.

And what was this key ingredient?

Beets.

Beautifully vibrant red, but a vegetable that is often avoided by the masses – myself included.

However, it is also something that is purported to be exceedingly healthy for you, and something that shows up at farmer’s markets and CSA farms with regularity.

And I am pleased to say that this chocolate beet cake was a raging success.  The kids liked it.  The hubby liked it, and I (even knowing what was inside it) liked it.  Quite a bit too.

The kids even got past the “Yuck!  You put BEETS in this?” factor to nearly lick the plate clean!

So, here is the recipe for a very moist, very delish chocolate cake.

Chocolate Beet Cake

• 3 eggs (organic, free range) or 9 Tbsp. water with 3 Tbsp. chia soaked in it
• 1 1/2 cups unrefined coconut sugar
• 3/4 cup coconut oil
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1 3/4 cup pureed, steamed beets (about 3-4 medium size)
• 1/4 cup baking cocoa (non-alkalized) or raw powdered chocolate
• 2 cups finely ground whole-wheat flour (soft white wheat is best)
• 1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. sea salt

Puree beets (cut up and steamed about 15 min.) in a VitaMix or BlendTec untill you have 1-3/4 cups. Add eggs, sugar, oil, and vanilla and blend until smooth. Add chocolate and other dry ingredients, and mix until combined. Bake in 9″x13″ greased pan at 350 degrees for 30 min.

Fudge Frosting

• 1 cup unsweetened non-alkalized cocoa or raw powdered chocolate
• 2 cups coconut cream concentrate (soft, room temp or slightly warmed)
• 2 cups coconut sugar, blended in dry blender container until “powdered”
• 1/4 – 1/2 cup warm water (to make it spreadable)

Cream together by hand until smooth. This frosts a 9″x13″ cake and leaves some extra for a treat.

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My changes:

I used gluten-free baking mix instead of the white flour.  It worked quite well, but the crumb was a bit larger than a fine white flour would have been.  Although I can’t imagine it much more moist!

I didn’t have coconut sugar (in fact, I had never heard of it before today!) so I used evaporated cane juice sugar in it’s place. For the frosting I just used powdered sugar.

I used an extra dark cocoa powder, which made it a bit more rich and dark than normal cocoa powder would have.

I added a touch of coconut oil to the coconut cream in the frosting, as my coconut cream had most of it’s oil removed a couple of days ago.

I baked it in two 9-inch round cake pans instead of a 9×13.  Then I made it into a layer cake.

When I bake it again – because it is very much worth baking again – I will most likely add a layer of whipped cream in the middle between the layers.  We added a dollop on top to help cut the richness, but I think a layer in the middle would be very good.