Menu Plan

Borscht
Fish Chowder
Lasagna
Citrus Sticky Chicken
Tacos
Mulligatawny Soup

Down Home Baked Beans

Ingredients:

1 pound bacon
2 (28 ounce) cans baked beans
1 (12 ounce) bottle chili sauce
1 large sweet onion, chopped
2 cups packed brown sugar

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees cup).
2. Place bacon in a large, deep skillet. Cook over medium high heat until evenly brown.
3. Drain, crumble and set aside.
4. In a large bowl combine beans, chili sauce, onion, brown sugar and bacon.
5. Pour into a 9x13 inch casserole dish.
6. Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes to 1 hour.

Apple Butter Pork Loin

Ingredients:

2 (1 ½ pound) pork tenderloins
seasoning salt to taste
2 cups apple juice
½ cup apple butter
¼ cup brown sugar
2 Tablespoons water
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground cloves


Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Season the pork tenderloins with seasoning salt, and place them in a 9x13 inch baking dish or small roasting pan.
3. Pour apple juice over the pork, and cover the dish with a lid or aluminum foil.
4. Bake for 1 hour in the preheated oven.
5. While the pork is roasting, mix together the apple butter, brown sugar, water, cinnamon and cloves. 6. After the hour, remove pork loins from the oven, and spread the apple butter mixture over them.
7. Cover, and return to the oven for 2 hours or until fork tender.

White Bean and Kale Soup

2 cups kale, finely chopped
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
2 large cloves garlic
3 cups cooked cannelloni beans
2 1/2 cups stock
1 tablespoon tomato paste
4 fresh sage leaves
1 teaspoon sea salt
black pepper, freshly ground
1-2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
pecorino cheese, freshly grated

Wash kale, remove stems from leaves. Roll up leaves and cut in thin ribbons. Set aside. In a soup pot, heat olive oil and briefly sauté garlic. Add about half the cooked beans and part of the stock. Purée remainder of beans and stock in blender, along with tomato paste and sage. Stir puréed beans into soup. Add salt and pepper to taste. Mix kale into soup and simmer until kale has wilted (10 to 15 minutes). Add lemon juice and enough water to give soup the desired consistency. Season to taste. Serve topped with grated pecorino cheese.
Preparation: 30 minutes
Makes 3-4 servings
Note: 3 cups canned or previously cooked beans can be used instead. This will cut total preparation time to 30 minutes.

Borscht

Peggy O'Mara is the Editor and Publisher of Mothering.

Borscht


4 quarts of water
1 ½ pounds stew meat (optional)
2 medium onions, sliced into rounds
2 stalks celery cut in 1-inch lengths
4 medium beets, peeled and sliced
1 head of green cabbage cut into wedges
1 bay leaf
1 tablespoon salt
2 beets coarsely grated
1 six-ounce can of tomato paste
2 tablespoons vinegar
2 tablespoons honey
Sour Cream (optional)

Into  4 quarts of water Add
stew meat (optional)
onions,
celery
sliced beets
cabbage
bay leaf
salt

Simmer for 2 hours

After simmering add

grated beets
tomato paste
vinegar
honey
Simmer for another 20 minutes.

Add salt and pepper to taste.
Serve each bowl with a dollop of sour cream (optional).

 

 

Menu Plan

Mulligatawny Soup
Corned Beef and Cabbage
Steak and potatoes
Pork Chops and Sauerkraut
Red Beans and Rice
Tacos

Creole Red Beans and Rice

Two ways: crock pot or stove top.

Brown some smoked or andouille sausage in a heavy bottomed pot, add in diced onion and garlic (You can also use green peppers at this point) and brown. Today I added my spices in this step: a homemade version of

Emeril's Bayou Blast

2 1/2 tablespoons paprika
2 tablespoons salt
2 tablespoons garlic powder
1 tablespoon black pepper
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon dried thyme

and some Worchestershire sauce. After mixing in the spices, I added a bit of veggie stock to deglaze the pot, then added in the beans. You can presoak them overnight, but sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. Cover the beans with stock/water, and bring to a boil. After a good 10 minute boil, turn them down and simmer them until supper time. A good 3-4 hours. Keep checking your water level, you want to keep the beans covered. When it's time to eat, take a spoon and mash up some of the beans in the pot; this will give you a nice creamy texture.

Crock pot:

Presoak beans overnight. Put diced onions, garlic, browned sausage, soaked beans, bay leaf, salt pepper, whatever spices you want. You can also use ham hocks or salt pork in your beans if you don't want sausage. Cover the beans with stock/water, cook on low for 9-10 hours. Mash up some of the beans to thicken.

That's how I do it!