4 Recipes

The last few days in Houston it has been unseasonably cold,(even though we were promised snow, but only got some ice on our houses and on the roads), which has made me want to try out some new cold weather recipes.  So, I thought I'd share--all of these were keepers in our household! :)
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Crock Pot Black Beans (adapted from a recipe from www.thefeastwithin.com)

This is the first time I've tried cooking my own dried beans, rather than buying them canned and it was so easy and good and SO much cheaper--for about $2 I bought 2 pounds of beans and it made the about 10 cups of cooked beans.  I used some of it to make beans and rice for us for dinner, with leftovers for another night, and then froze the rest of it in 2 cup portions to use later.

• 2 pounds dried black beans, picked over and rinsed.
• water to soak
• 1/2 medium onion, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 cups home made salsa (or 1 jar canned salsa)
• 6 cups broth- chicken or vegetable to cover soaked beans
• a couple shakes of Tony Chachere's Creole Seasoning
• a couple shakes of Taco Seasoning
• salt and pepper to taste

All you need to do is pick over the beans for small stones or any other foreign matter, rinse them and soak in about four times the volume of water to beans for about eight hours. If you do this before you go to bed you can throw the beans in the crock pot in the morning to cook away all day. Once the beans are soaked, drain them and put them in the pot with the other ingredients.  Cover the lot with the broth- the beans will soak up a lot of the liquid as they continue to soften and cook. Set the pot to whatever time you want the beans ready- or if your pot doesn’t have set times use high for about three hours or low for six.  

White Bean Chicken Chili (from www.allrecipes.com) 

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 (14.5 ounce) can chicken broth
• 1 (18.75 ounce) can tomatillos, drained and chopped
• 1 (16 ounce) can diced tomatoes
• 1 (7 ounce) can diced green chiles
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander seed--left out, because I did not have any
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin--left out, because I did not have any
• 2 ears fresh corn
• 1 pound diced, cooked chicken meat
• 1 (15 ounce) can white beans
• 1 pinch salt and black pepper to taste

Directions

1. Heat oil, and cook onion and garlic until soft.
2. Stir in broth, tomatillos, tomatoes, chilies, and spices. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 10 minutes.
3. Add corn, chicken, and beans; simmer 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste. 
4. Optional--top with a sprinkle of cheese, some crushed tortilla chips and some salsa.

 

Basic Pizza Crust (from Pioneer Woman Cooks)

Ingredients

• 1 teaspoon Instant Or Active Dry Yeast (I used the kind specially made for pizza dough)
• 1-½ cup Warm Water
• 4 cups All-purpose Flour
• 1 teaspoon Kosher Salt
• ⅓ cups Olive Oil

Preparation Instructions

Sprinkle yeast over 1 1/2 cups warm (not lukewarm) water. Let stand for a few minutes.

In a mixer, combine flour and salt. With the mixer running on low speed (with paddle attachment), drizzle in olive oil until combined with flour. Next, pour in yeast/water mixture and mix until just combined, and the dough comes together in a sticky mass.

Coat a separate mixing bowl with a light drizzle of olive oil, and form the dough into a ball. Toss to coat dough in olive oil, then cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and set it aside for 1 to 2 hours, or store in the fridge until you need it.

Note: it’s best to make the dough at least 24 hours in advance, and 3 or 4 days is even better.

When you are ready to make the pizza, grab HALF the pizza dough (recipe makes 2 crusts) and squeeze the dough toward the bottom to form a nice, tight, pulled ball. You can roll out the pizza with a rolling pin if you’d like, but sometimes it’s just as easy to throw it around and pull and stretch till it feels right. And when the crust is nice and thin, lay it on an oiled baking sheet or pizza pan. Drizzle a little olive oil on the dough and spread it with your fingers. Very lightly sprinkle some salt on the crust.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Top your crust with your toppings of choice. Then bake for 15 to 17 minutes, or until crust is golden brown and toppings are bubbly.
                                                                                                                                                     

Cajun Yam Fries (from www.chefchloe.com)

 photo from chefchloe.com

Serves about 3 people
Ingredients:
1 large yam, peeled and cut into ¼ thick fries (I had some regular potatoes too so I used one of those as well, following the same recipe, and they were delicious also!)
2 tablespoons olive or canola oil,
1 teaspoon sea salt
2 teaspoons Cajun seasoning

Procedure:
1.    Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
2.    Toss yam sticks with oil, salt, and Cajun seasoning. Spread out evenly on a half sheet tray. If multiplying the recipe, use a separate sheet tray for each yam.
3.    Bake for 15 minutes then flip fries with a spatula. Rotate pan and bake for another 10-15 minutes until nicely browned and crisp looking.

Happy eating! :)