Archive for the ‘Recipes’ Category

Today I wanted to share with you an easy, tasty recipe and a fun giveaway too. While in Napa with Bush’s Beans a few weeks ago, I enjoyed a quick chili/chowder recipe, Spicy Black Bean and Corn Chowder, with yummy Sonoma Pesto.

I know we’re moving into Spring and out of typical chili/chowder season but I think you’ll find that this one is a good year round version. Packed with peppers, black beans, sweet potato, corn and spinach it’s a satisfying and tasty meal. You could always change it up with your own fresh herbs and veggies from the summer garden.

A recipe for Sonoma Pesto accompanies the chowder recipe. The pesto, pretty similar to the Cilantro Roasted Pepper Pesto recently posted here, is a nice addition to the chowder but you could certainly top it with sour cream, or your favorite cheese – or both!

Be sure to keep this recipe in your back pocket for a quick, go-to dinner. It’s really an easy and tasty dish. Plus it’s healthy!

And while we’re on the subject of beans, my good friend Michelle at What’s Cooking has a post that discusses the…um…side affects, shall we say, from eating beans. Michelle explains, in a brief scientific way, what is happening to produce gaseous escapeous from eating beans, not to mention a great, kid friendly recipe called “Step on the Gas Baked Beans.” Be sure to check it out.

Oh yeah! The giveaway! Bush’s Beans has provided a fun mix of kitchen goodies for one (1) winner:

• The Sonoma Diet Cookbook signed by Connie Guttersen, R.D., PhD.
• Napa Valley specialty items like olive oil, a candle and chili spices
• Culinary Institute of America items including a dish towel, wooden spoon and decorative spoon rest
• Bush’s Beans items – apron, bean strainer and assorted Bush’s Beans.

To enter, leave a comment (only 1 per person please) with your favorite chili, chowder or soup recipe that uses beans. It can be a link to a favorite recipe form your own site or from a recipe site like Tasty Kitchen. Or maybe you can find one at the Bush’s Beans recipe site called The Vegetable With More. Also if you’d like, just type the whole recipe in the comments section (just be sure to credit where it came from if it’s not your own personal rendition).

All entries must be placed by Friday, March 19, 2010 by Midnight PST. One (1) random winner will be chosen and announced sometime on Saturday, March 20.

Can’t wait to check out your tasty entries!

For another chance to win, Sandy at Reluctant Entertainer is doing the same giveaway. There’s a different question for entering, but the same great prizes. So go by and enter over there too!

BUSH’S^® Spicy Black Bean and Corn Chowder
Created for BUSH’S^® Beans by Connie Guttersen, R.D., Ph.D., nutrition instructor at The Culinary Institute of America, mom and author of “The Sonoma Diet.”
Serves: 6 to 8 appetizer servings     Preparation time: 15 minutes     Cooking time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• ½ teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1 pinch favorite dry chile or chipotle powder, to taste
• 1 cup chopped red peppers
• 1 cup chopped green peppers
• 2 cans (15 ounces) BUSH’S^® Black Beans or BUSH’S^® Reduced Sodium Black Beans, with liquid
• 1 cup peeled, diced sweet potato
• 1 cup frozen corn kernels, thawed
• 2 cups cleaned baby spinach
• 1 teaspoon fresh lime juice
• salt and black pepper, to taste

*Optional Toppings

• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro
• 2 tablespoons salsa fresca (purchased)
• 2 tablespoons reduced-fat yogurt

Directions:

- Place olive oil in a sauce pot. Add onions and cook until caramelized.

- Add garlic and spices, cook until aromatic. Add peppers, sauté 5 minutes.

- Add beans with liquid. Bring to a simmer, cook 10 minutes. Add sweet potato; simmer 10 minutes or until tender.

- Add corn and spinach. Bring to a simmer until the spinach wilts.

- Adjust seasoning with lime, salt and pepper. Add *optional toppings (one option is the Sonoma Pesto; see below), as desired.

Sonoma Pesto
Created for BUSH’S^® Beans by Connie Guttersen, R.D., Ph.D., nutrition instructor at The Culinary Institute of America, mom and author of “The Sonoma Diet.”

• 1 bunch fresh cilantro
• 1 each serrano chile
• 1 tablespoon pine nuts or peanuts
• 1 clove garlic
• 2 ounces extra virgin olive oil
• 1 each lime juiced with zest
• salt and black pepper, to taste
• 2 tablespoons salsa verde (purchased)

Directions:

- Combine all pesto ingredients in a blender. Blend until smooth. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper.

- Drizzle the pesto on top of the chile verde and finish with salsa verde, as desired.

For more family favorite recipes, visit www.VegetableWithMore.com.

Sugar, butter, chocolate, Dr. Pepper…

Nuf said?

Almost.

My daughter is a big Dr. Pepper fan, so I had to try my own version of the chocolate cakes I’ve seen here and there with either Coke or Dr. Pepper added. And boy am I glad I tried it. This cake? It’s a must do. Rich and moist, and oh, so easy – there’s no excuse not to try it at least once. Just make sure you’ve got a group to bake it for, ’cause it’s dangerous to have leftovers hanging around.

Look giant chocolate cake. Ooooooh. Ahhhhhh. Ohhhhhhh.

One of the things I like about this cake is the ease at which it comes together. Seriously simple. It bakes in 20-25 minutes – it’s gone in 10. All ingredients are combined in a saucepan and poured directly into a 13×9x2″ baking pan. Speaking of ingredients, see the brown sugar pictured?

I’ve baked this cake a few times, both using 1 c. brown sugar + 1 c. regular ‘ole white sugar, as well as all 2 c. of white sugar and I couldn’t tell the difference. Maybe I’m missing something, but if you need to combine, or just want to, go ahead. Just make sure at least 1 cup of the sugar is white. You probably would be able to tell a difference if all sugar used was brown. But I dunno.

Also, for both the cake batter and frosting, I used Hershey’s Special Dark Cocoa powder. It’s good stuff. Hope you can find some.

Begin by combining the Dr. Pepper, oil, butter and cocoa powder in a saucepan over medium heat.

When it comes to a simmer, mix well and turn stove off.

Mix dry ingredients together (sugar, flour and baking soda), add to saucepan and mix well.

You don’t need to beat the heck out of it. It will be a little lumpy at first but just mix well until combined.

In a separate small bowl lightly beat the eggs and buttermilk together then add them to the saucepan.

Combine batter well and pour into a greased baking pan and bake at 350° for 20-25 minutes or until toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Be careful not to over bake.

(Extreme cake bokeh – sorry folks.)

The frosting works the same way. Combine butter, cocoa powder and milk together in a saucepan, over medium heat, stirring occasionally until melted and smooth. Add in the powdered sugar a little at a time, combining after each addition until smooth.

Pour over warm cake. Yuuuum.

While the frosting is mighty yummy, I think the cake is quite tasty without it, or maybe just with a little dusting of powdered sugar and a tall glass of milk.

So what are you waiting for? Go grab a Dr. Pepper and get to work!

Dr. Pepper Chocolate Cake Recipe
(makes one 13×9x2″ baking pan)
(adapted from “Cracker Barrel Double Fudge Coca-Cola Cake Recipe” found at thatsmyhome.com)

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cup Dr. Pepper soda
• 1/2 cup vegetable or canola oil
• 1 stick salted butter (8 tablespoons)
• 4 tablespoons cocoa powder (again, I used Hershey’s Special Dark cocoa powder)
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup buttermilk

Directions:

- Preheat oven to 350° F and grease or spray with cooking spray a 13×9x2″ baking pan.

- Begin by combining the Dr. Pepper, oil, butter and cocoa powder in a saucepan over medium heat. When it comes to a simmer, mix well and turn stove off.

- Mix dry ingredients together (sugar, flour and baking soda), add to mixture in saucepan and mix well. Don’t over beat.

- In a separate small bowl lightly beat the eggs and buttermilk together, then add them to the saucepan and combine batter well.

- Pour into a greased baking pan and bake at 350° for 20-25 minutes or until toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Be careful not to over bake.

Chocolate Frosting Recipe

Ingredients:

• 1 stick salted butter (8 tablespoons)
• 4 tablespoons cocoa powder
• 8 tablespoons milk
• 4 cups confectioners sugar (powdered sugar)

Directions:

- In a saucepan, combine butter, cocoa powder and milk together over medium heat, stirring occasionally until melted and smooth.

- Add in the powdered sugar a little at a time, combining after each addition until smooth.

- Pour over warm cake.

- Lock all the doors, draw the shades, don’t answer the phone and get the milk.

Enjoy! And let me know how it turns out.

Spring is right around the corner. Can you believe it?

Last week I went for a stroll through our pitiful garden plot that needs tilling and a bunch of attention before spring. Of course the only thing that’s looking alive is the cilantro (and the damn mint – damn you mint). The cilantro is only a few inches tall but it’s held its own through the winter and in a few weeks will be going strong until the summer heat zaps it.

In hopes of a bumper crop of fresh cilantro I began thinking of how to use it up. Pesto is a favorite that I love to make with fresh basil throughout the summer but I’d never tried a cilantro pesto.

After some thought I threw together a combo of a bunch of green things hoping for the best. Cilantro, roasted peppers with pisatchios pesto is now on my list of regulars.

Yum.

That’s all I’m gonna say.

I served it with pasta and shrimp but it certainly could be used for bruschetta, added to chili, or thinned for a sauce over chicken or what have you. As far as the pistachios, I had some leftover from the holidays so that’s what I used. You could certainly substitute the traditional pine nut or walnuts.

The ingredients for the pesto are simple: cilantro, poblano peppers (roasted), a jalapeno pepper (roasted), pistachios, garlic, parmesan cheese, olive oil, salt and pepper.

Begin by roasting the peppers. Everyone seems to have their favorite way to roast peppers but here’s one way to do it. First cut the peppers in half lengthwise and remove the seeds and seed knob.

Coat them inside and out with olive oil then place them, cut side down, on a baking sheet and bake in a 500° oven for about 15 minutes.

They turn a deeper color and look a little shriveled but, oh, they smell so good! For the pesto, I removed the skins but if you were using them in a soup or sandwich the skins on would be fine I think.

To loosen the skins on the peppers for easier removal, put the roasted peppers in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap or foil and let sit for another 15 minutes or so.

To remove the skins, lay the peppers skin side up on the cutting board and with a knife or your fingers peel the skins off.

Now you’re ready to put the pesto together.

It’s basic. Basic. Basic.

Basically, you put all the ingredients in a food processor and process until smooth.

I usually process the garlic and nuts alone first so they’ll be more finely chopped, then add the cilantro, peppers, olive oil (streaming in slowly) and ending with the cheese. Salt and pepper to taste. The recipe that follows makes roughly a cup of pesto.

To proceed with the pasta dish, I used half of the pesto to about 4-5 oz. of pasta. I’ve been looking into making pasta by hand for the first time but haven’t yet. I did buy some good quality egg pasta though. It’s not cheap.

This box, which serves 5-6, was $7-8. But it’s so worth it. If you’ve never had egg pasta before, go find some. It’s good. Really good. Tagliolini is my favorite noodle size. It’s like linguini but thinner.

(FYI – The pesto plus pasta recipe is not posted below, just the pesto recipe but I thought I’d show you how I add the pesto to the pasta for perfection on a plate.)

Okay, so prepare the pasta as directed on package – don’t forget to salt the water! Hold back some of the pasta water – about a 1/2 cup.

Saute your shrimp or chicken in a little olive oil and salt and pepper.

When the shrimp or chicken is done (this is where I probably break every rule of Italian cooking), I push it to one side of the pan and tilt the pan so the remaining olive oil drains to the other side of the pan, then add the pesto and 1 tbsp. of the pasta water.

Whisk the pesto and pasta water together over low-med. heat until blended smooth.

Next add the pasta right into the pan, and gently (gently, don’t squish the pasta) toss the pasta with the pesto sauce and shrimp/chicken.

You’re ready to serve!

Cilantro, Roasted Pepper & Pistachio Pesto
(makes about 1 cup)

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup pistachios; roasted (pine nuts or walnuts may be substituted)
• 2 whole garlic cloves
• 2 poblano peppers; roasted, seeded and peeled
• 1 jalapeno pepper; roasted, seeded and peeled
• 1 cup cilantro; loosely packed
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 cup parmesan cheese; shredded
• pinch(s) salt and pepper (to taste)

Directions:

- Process nuts and garlic in a food processor until finely minced.

- Add peppers and cilantro and process while slowly streaming in the olive oil until smooth.

- Add cheese and pulse a few times until blended.

- Salt and pepper to taste.

- Refrigerate covered until ready to serve.

Enjoy!

I’d love to hear back if you try this one to see if you enjoyed it as much as we did.