Tag Archives: onion

Refried Beans

19 Feb

Last summer, I posted about getting pinto beans at a local bean company, Bonita Bean.  I had used some previously to make refried beans for a potluck, but never got around to sharing how I made them.  These beans are pretty good that they mostly just need to be cooked and mashed, with a little bit of seasoning, if you like.  We thought that was a little bland, so I made them this time with some additions, and it came out better for us.

Refried Beans

 

Refried Beans

What you need:

1 cup dry pinto beans
1/4 cup lard or olive oil (I used olive oil)
1 cup onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon salt
Dash cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon oregano

How to make it:

First, cook the beans one of 1 ways:

Stove top:
Rinse beans and put in a heavy pot.  Add enough water to cover beans with 1-2 inches of water.  Bring to a boil, then cover and reduce heat to a simmer.  Cook for 1 1/2 to 2 hours.  Beans are done when they are soft and skins have begun to break.

Slow cooker:
Rinse beans and add to slow cooker.  Add 3 cups water.  Cook on high for 8 hours until beans are soft and skins have begun to break.

Strain beans from the cooking water.

In a large skillet, heat lard or olive oil over medium-high heat.  Add onions and cook until soft and translucent.  Add garlic, chili powder, cumin, salt, and cayenne pepper.  Continue cooking and stirring about a minute, until fragrant.  Add in the cooked beans and 1/4 cup fresh water.  Mash with a potato masher or back of a heavy spoon until a rough paste is formed.  Continue to cook for 5-10 minutes, adding more water 1 tablespoon at a time as needed to keep beans from drying out.

 

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Sloppy Joe Turnovers

9 Jan

Sloppy Joe Turnovers

 

Yum, yum, yum!  My husband had been talking about having sloppy joes for dinner, so I started looking up recipes for them.  I remembered that Lori at My Kinda Rain had a recipe for Sloppy Joe Turnovers, and since I had a can of Grands biscuits in the refrigerator, I decided to give them a try!  I did use a different filling than she did, but then made them turnovers.  Eventually, I would like to come up with  my own biscuit recipe to use instead of biscuits from a can, but I have some work on my bread and biscuit skills to do first.   I like the turnovers because they aren’t as messy….which I know pretty much defeats the purpose of them being “sloppy” joes, but it’s nice when you have small kids.  I paired this with Broccoli Cheddar Cheese Soup, and it was a great, filling meal!

 

Sloppy Joe Turnovers

What you need:

1 pound ground beef
1/2 cup onion, chopped
1 cup ketchup
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon yellow mustard
Salt and pepper to taste
1 can biscuits (I used Grand biscuits, but regular biscuits can be used as well)

How to make it:

Preheat oven to 375 F.

In a large skillet, brown the ground beef.  Drain any fat.  Add chopped onion and cook until onions are soft.  Stir in ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, brown sugar, yellow mustard, salt, and pepper.  Simmer over medium-low heat for about 10 minutes to let it thicken.

Roll out each biscuit to about 1/4″ thickness.  Scoop about 1/4 cup of meat mixture onto each biscuit.  Fold in half and press edges together well.  Place all on a baking sheet.

Bake in the preheated oven for 15-20 minutes, or until biscuits are golden brown.

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Roasted Vegetable Medley

16 Dec

Roasted Vegetable Medley

 

I have made a vegetable medley in the past, but it was a different mix, sweet potatoes, carrots, red peppers, parsnips, Mexican grey squash, and asparagus.  This time, I used what I had just gotten from Bountiful Baskets and some things I had in my fridge, red potatoes, rainbow carrots, radishes, red onion, Mexican grey squash and yellow squash.  It ended up really good this time too, the veggies got a very sweet taste to them.

 

Roasted Vegetable Medley

What you need:

2-3 red potatoes, cut into 1-inch pieces (I left on the peels)
2-3 carrots, sliced into thin rounds
1 bunch radishes, cut in halves or fourths, depending on size
1/2 of a red onion, cut in larger wedges
1 zucchini, or Mexican grey squash, sliced into thin rounds
1 yellow squash, sliced into thin rounds
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
Olive oil

How to make it:

Preheat oven to 425 F.

Line a baking sheet with foil and spray or brush with olive oil.  Place potatoes, carrots, and radishes on the baking sheet.  Drizzle or spray with olive oil and season with half of basil, oregano, garlic salt, and pepper.  Bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes.  Then, add the zucchini, yellow squash, and red onion to the baking sheet.  Drizzle or spray with olive oil, and season with the remaining spices. Bake again for 30 minutes, or until the vegetables have all softened.  If desired, splash vegetables with balsamic vinegar before serving.

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Spinach, Feta, and Bacon Mini Quiche

20 Nov

 

I got a chance to try out a recipe from the 2012 Taste of Home Cooking School show that I recently attended.  These are delicious!  The original recipe calls for brie, but since I had feta cheese on hand, I used it instead, knowing it is a good combination with spinach and bacon.  It also says to use 2 pie crusts, but I found that 1 pie crust and the filling filled the 12 muffin cups in my pan.  So, since I had both pie crusts ready to go, I doubled the amount of filling and got 24 mini quiches.  Yum!

 

Spinach, Feta, and Bacon Mini Quiche
Original recipe here

What you need:

4 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
1/4 cup red onion, finely diced
1 cup fresh spinach leaves, washed & diced
2 slices bacon, cooked & crumbled
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 refrigerated pie crust

How to make it:

Preheat oven to 350 F.  Spray a 12-cup muffin tin with non-stick cooking spray.

In a medium-size bowl, whisk eggs together with milk, salt & pepper.  Add spinach, bacon, onion, and feta to egg mixture and blend well.

Roll out pie crust and cut in 3 inch circles (I used a juice glass to cut the circles); line muffin tins with circles.

Spoon egg mixture into each muffin cup, filling 3/4 full; place in oven and cook for 25 minutes or until eggs are set.

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Loaded Baked Potato Soup

12 Nov

 

So, I usually make potato soup in the slow cooker, but I didn’t really think far enough ahead of time to get it going.  So, I decided to try a stove top version instead.  I looked up a few recipes, and came up with a mix between my normal recipe and some others I found.

 

Loaded Baked Potato Soup

What you need:

1/2 pound bacon
1/2 onion, finely diced (I used a red onion)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/3 cup flour
1 quart chicken broth
2 1/2 pounds potatoes, diced, peeled or unpeeled (I used a mix of red and white potatoes, and left the peels on)
1 8oz package cream cheese
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

How to make it:

In a large stockpot, cook bacon until crispy.  Remove from pot and crumble; set aside.

Keeping the bacon grease in the stockpot, add onions and minced garlic.  If there is not enough bacon grease, melt 4 tablespoons  of butter in the stockpot.  Cook onions and garlic until caramelized.  Stir in flour.  Pour in chicken broth while stirring constantly to avoid any lumps.     Add the potatoes, and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to a simmer and cook for 20 minutes, or until potatoes are tender.  Use a potato masher or immersion blender to mas potatoes to desired consistency (I prefer my soup to be a little lumpy).  Stir in bacon, cream cheese, and shredded cheddar cheese, and continue to cook until cheese is melted.

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Guacamole BLT on Sourdough

12 Nov

 

This is one of the best lunches I’ve had at home in a while!  I had a sourdough loaf from Bountiful Baskets in my freezer that I thawed, sliced, and toasted.  Then, I had green leaf lettuce from Sunizona Family Farms and tomatoes from Grammy’s at our Farmer’s Market.  The bacon was from my recent Zaycon Foods bacon event, yum!  The guacamole was made with $.83 avocados and $.20 limes from my Safeway just for U personalized deals (plus a little garlic salt!).  Finally, I added some swiss cheese, which was also a just for U personalized deal at Safeway, $1.68 for an 8oz package of slices.  So, not only delicious, but cheap for me to make too!

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Gyros Burgers

10 Nov

 

I love, love, love gyros, but lamb can be rather expensive and difficult to find.  So, I usually just use ground beef instead, and it still tastes great.  I shape the meat into patties and grill them.  Since I didn’t get them as thin as I wanted, I cut the burgers in half lengthwise to be thinner in the pita and to better simulate the gyros meat at restaurants.  Now, my brother and his wife did this a little different.  Instead of making patties to grill, they put it in a loaf pan and cooked it in the oven, I think at 325 F for about an hour.  Then, the sliced the loaf thinly, again, like gyros meat is in the restaurants.  Some day, I will figure out how to make my own pita, but for now, I buy it.  I added lettuce, tomato, and red onion, and I was wishing I had made tzatziki to go with it, but I didn’t have Greek yogurt to make it.  So, we used ranch dressing instead.  This was a great dinner, and I hope that I think to make it again soon since it was a long time in between the last times I made it!

 

Gyros Burger
Based on recipe here

What you need:

1 pound lean ground lamb, or 1 pound lamb, or 1/2 pound ground beef and 1/2 pound ground lamb
1/2 onion, grated, or 2 tablespoons dried chopped onions
2 tablespoons bread crumbs
1/2 teaspoon dried savory
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 dash ground cumin

How to make it:

Preheat grill to medium-high heat, and spray the grate with non-stick spray.

In large bowl, combine ground beef/lamb, onion, and bread crumbs.  Add savory, allspice, garlic salt, pepper, and cumin. Combine well and shape into 4 very thin patties.

Cook patties for 5 to 7 minutes on each side, or until cooked through.

Serve with pita bread, lettuce, red onion, tomato, and tzatziki.

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Slow Cooker Chicken and Rice

21 Oct

 

A couple of weeks ago, I picked up a 40 pound case of Zaycon Foods boneless, skinless chicken breasts like the case I got in March.  A friend of mine came over with her case, and we worked on processing the cases together.  She cut the butterfly breasts into 2 pieces, while I cooked dinner (bacon wrapped chicken stuffed with cream cheese and chives, with sweet potato chips as a side), grilled about half of each case, and got the FoodSaver bags ready.  5 hours later and we had 80 pounds of chicken processed!  As she was cutting the breasts and removing extra fat, there were small chicken pieces that we set aside, my guess it was about 4 pounds worth.  We decided it would be best for some kind of stew, so I decided on chicken and rice.  I had onion, carrots, and corn in the freezer, so after a long night of prepping chicken, it was easy to throw this all in the slow cooker and let it cook overnight.  It turned out perfect!

 

Slow Cooker Chicken and Rice

What you need:

4 pounds fresh chicken, diced
2 cups carrots, sliced
2 cups onion, diced
2 cups kernels of corn
8 cups water
6 chicken bouillon cubes (gluten-free)
1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 1/2 teaspoons dried basil
Salt and pepper to taste
2 cups cooked rice

How to make it:

Add all ingredients, except rice, to the slow cooker.  Cook on low for 8-10 hours, or high for 3-4 hours.  After it is done cooking, stir in the cooked rice.  Serve hot.

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Borscht

21 Oct

 

I had heard of borscht, but never actually had it.  Beets are regularly available in Sunizona Family Farms FarmBoxes, so when my husband requested that I make this, I knew where I could get beets.  I also had gotten a head of cabbage and a bunch of carrots from them, then I had onion and potatoes from Bountiful Baskets and ground beef from Zaycon Foods.  Who needs the grocery store anymore?!?

In my search for the recipe, I discovered that everyone makes this a little different.  Even I varied some from the recipes I mainly used.  I only had ground beef on hand, so I used it instead of stew meat.  I also didn’t have tomato paste, so I used ketchup instead of the tomato paste and cider vinegar.  This does take a little time and effort, but it’s worth it!  It does have a little beet taste, but not really.  It’s more of a stew taste with all the different veggies in it.  And, fair warning, this makes a LOT, so be prepared to eat it for a few days or cut the recipe down.

 

Borscht
Based on recipes here and here

What you need:

16 cups water
2 large potatoes, peeled and sliced in 1/4″ rounds, then cut in fourths
1/2 head of cabbage, shredded
1 pound ground beef
2 carrots, cut in matchstick pieces
1 pound beets, peeled and cut in matchstick pieces
1 small onion, finely diced
1/3 cup ketchup (or 1/3 cup tomato paste and 1 tsp apple cider vinegar)
6 beef bouillon cubes
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 bay leaves
1 tablespoon fresh dill or 1  1/2 teaspoons dried dill
Salt and pepper

How to make it:

In a large soup pot, add the water and potatoes, bring to a boil and cook until potatoes are softened, about 15-20 minutes.  Add cabbage and cook another 5-10 minutes.

While the potatoes and cabbage are cooking, brown the ground beef over medium-high heat in a large skillet.  Add carrots, beets, and onion, and cook until the vegetables have softened, about 15-20 minutes.  Stir in the ketchup (or tomato paste and vinegar).

Add the vegetable mixture to the soup pot.  Add bouillon cubes, lemon juice, bay leaves, dill, salt, and pepper.  Cook for about 5 minutes at high heat to dissolve the bouillon, then reduce heat to a simmer for 5-10 minutes, or until all vegetables are tender to eating.  Serve hot, with a dollop of sour cream, if desired.

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Green Chile Mac and Cheese

29 Aug

With the guacamole pack I contributed for a couple of weeks ago, there were some green chiles.  I had been craving some macaroni and cheese, and thought it would be great to add green chiles as I had before.   My older daughter loved this, as did my husband and I.  It’s spicy, but not overly spicy.

Green Chile Mac and Cheese
Original recipe here

What you need:

1/2 pound elbow macaroni
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 small onion, chopped
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups low-fat milk
1 4-oz. cans chopped green chiles, drained OR 1/4 cup fresh, roasted green chiles, peeled, stem and seeds removed, and diced
2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1 1/2 cups crushed corn chips, optional (I omitted)
Salt and pepper

How to make it:

Preheat oven to 375 F.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook macaroni until al dente, about 8 minutes, or as the box directs. Drain; rinse under cold water.

Melt butter in a large skillet over medium-low heat. Add onion and sauté until soft, about 10 minutes. Sprinkle in the flour and cook, stirring constantly, 3 minutes. Slowly whisk in milk. Raise heat to medium and slowly bring to a simmer, stirring constantly. Cook for 2 minutes. Stir in green chiles. Add 1 1/2 cups of the cheddar cheese to skillet, stirring, until all cheese has melted. Season with salt and pepper.

Add cooked pasta to the skillet; stir.

Spray an 8-by-8-inch baking dish with cooking spray and pour in pasta mixture.

In a small bowl, combine corn chips with remaining 1/2 cup cheddar cheese; sprinkle over pasta.

Bake in the preheated oven for 40 to 45 minutes, until pasta mixture is bubbling and top is golden. Let sit for 5 minutes, then serve.

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