Healthy Black Bean Salsa

Today I took two different kinds of salsa's to work and asked my co-workers to taste them and let me know what they thought.  This salsa won the taste test.  Everyone seemed to love it.  (I know the photo isn't great...and don't you just love the container?) 

Try it and let me know what you think.

Healthy Black Bean Salsa

1/2 can of corn

1/2 can of tomato pieces 

1/2 can black beans

1/4 bunch of cilantro, cut into little pieces

1 or 2 green onions cut into small slices

1/4 cup red onion, diced

1/2 juiced lime

1 T. olive oil

Mix all the ingredients together and enjoy with your favorite tortilla chip. 

French Onion Soup

I did it. I finally made French Onion Soup. It's my favorite soup to get at restaurants and I've been wanting to try making it for years. It was an all day affair. Er, at least half the day. Not that I stood in front of the stove all day. And it wasn't hard. Just a process (cooking the onions in the oven and waiting and then a lot of stirring). But it was definitely delicious and very comparable to what I've had in restaurants.

Soup

• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter , cut into 3 pieces
• 6 large yellow onions (about 4 pounds), halved and cut pole to pole into 1/4-inch-thick slices (Make sure you get Yellow)
• Table salt
• 2 cups water, plus extra for deglazing
• 1/2 cup dry sherry
• 4 cups low-sodium chicken broth (They recommend Swanson Certified Organic Free Range Chicken Broth )
• 2 cups beef broth (They recommend Pacific Beef Broth)
• 6 sprigs fresh thyme , tied with kitchen twine (yeah, I didn't do this part--just added a little dried thyme instead)
• 1 bay leaf
• Ground black pepper

Cheese Croutons

• 1 small baguette , cut into 1/2-inch slices
• 8 ounces shredded Gruyère cheese (about 2 1/2 cups)

Directions:
For the soup:

1. Adjust the oven rack to the lower-middle position and heat the oven to 400 degrees.
2. Generously spray the inside of a heavy-bottomed large (at least 7-quart) Dutch oven with a nonstick cooking spray. Place the butter in the pot and add the onions and 1 teaspoon salt. Cook, covered, for 1 hour (the onions will be moist and slightly reduced in volume). Remove the pot from the oven and stir the onions, scraping the bottom and sides of the pot. Return the pot to the oven with the lid slightly ajar and continue to cook until the onions are very soft and golden brown, 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 hours longer, stirring the onions and scraping bottom and sides of pot after 1 hour.
3. Carefully remove pot from oven and place over medium-high heat. Using oven mitts to handle pot, cook onions, stirring frequently and scraping bottom and sides of pot, until the liquid evaporates and the onions brown, 15 to 20 minutes, reducing the heat to medium if the onions are browning too quickly. Continue to cook, stirring frequently, until the pot bottom is coated with a dark crust, roughly 6 to 8 minutes, adjusting the heat as necessary. (Scrape any fond that collects on spoon back into onions.)
4. Stir in 1/4 cup water, scraping the pot bottom to loosen crust, and cook until water evaporates and pot bottom has formed another dark crust, 6 to 8 minutes. Repeat process of deglazing 2 or 3 more times, until onions are very dark brown. Stir in the sherry and cook, stirring frequently, until the sherry evaporates, about 5 minutes.
5. Stir in the broths, 2 cups of water, thyme, bay leaf, and 1/2 teaspoon salt, scraping up any final bits of browned crust on bottom and sides of pot.
6. Increase heat to high and bring to simmer. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer for 30 minutes. Remove and discard herbs, then season with salt and pepper.

For the croutons:

1. While the soup simmers, arrange the baguette slices in single layer on baking sheet and bake in a 400-degree oven until the bread is dry, crisp, and golden at edges, about 10 minutes. Set aside.

To serve:

1. Adjust oven rack 6 inches from broiler element and heat broiler. Set individual broiler-safe crocks on baking sheet and fill each with about 1 3/4 cups soup. Top each bowl with 1 or 2 baguette slices (do not overlap slices) and sprinkle evenly with Gruyère. Broil until cheese is melted and bubbly around edges, 3 to 5 minutes. Let cool 5 minutes before serving.

Wallenbergare



I heated my oil & butter too soon and the crumbs burned, so make sure yours look like these & turn the heat down!



Wallenbergare (Swedish Recipe)

1 lb. ground veal

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. pepper

4 egg yolks

1 c. heavy cream

Mix everything together adding one egg yolk at a time.  Shape into patties and chill at least ½ hour.  Heat 2 T. butter and 2 T. oil in an electric skillet.

Take chilled patties and pat with: 2 – 4 T. white bread crumbs

Cook until done (I used a meat thermometer and it took about 12 minutes to cook, turning once.)

This recipe made about 8 burgers so I froze some of the uncooked patties to cook later separating each burger with waxed paper.

Serve with mashed potatoes.  The Swedish recipes call for cream and butter to make your potatoes amazing!  I used 2% and had Dad mashed the potatoes the old fashion way.

Stuffed Zucchini

This is the kind of dish that dad would squirm over, if you made it for him.  But to me, (and I'm guessing every other girl in the family) it looks DELICIOUS!  I haven't tried it yet, but I will.  But if anyone else beats me to it, please let me know how it is:

For a step by step picture guide. Click here.

Ingredients:

1 tbsp sour cream
1/4 to 1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp curry powder
1/2 tomato
1 tsp thyme
2 zucchinis
1 onion
cheese
pepper

Optional: bacon (or I would imagine ground sausage would be good too)

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 400 (200C). 

Cut the zucchini in half lengthwise. Spoon out the guts of the zucchini. Now give the zucchini pulp a good chop, also chop a small onion and 1/2 a tomato while you’re at it. I’m only using half a tomato (more for color than flavor, really) otherwise things will become a teeny bit too fluid. Sautee the onions in one tbsp oil or butter. When the onions are almost done, add 1/4 tsp curry powder and cook everything for an additional 30 seconds. No longer or the curry powder will turn bitter. When they’re done, transfer them to a big bowl.


Now (in no particular order), add 1 tsp dried thyme, 1/4 to 1/2 tsp salt, 1 heaping tbsp sour cream, a good pinch of pepper, the zucchini pulp, the tomato and crumble the bacon (optional) in as well. Lightly butter a baking dish and put the zucchini boats in. Grab a spoon and fill the shells with the mix. Sprinkle some aged cheese on top.


Put them in a preheated oven, give them about 20 minutes and then turn on the grill until the top is golden brown. Sprinkle some coarsely chopped curly leaf parsley (the most underrated herb there is) on top and you’re done.

Ginger Teriyaki Lettuce Wraps

1 T. oil
1 lb. ground turkey
1 pouch Simply Asia Ginger Teriyaki Stir-Fry Sauce
large lettuce leaves.

Heat the oil and cook the turkey until cooked.  Add the sauce.  Serve in lettuce leaves with shredded carrots, chopped peanuts, chopped chives or green onions.  If you like water chestnuts, chops those up fine and add to the cooked meat.

SUPER EASY AND GOOD (recipe from Brittany's Simply Asia Party).

APPLE BRICKLE DIP

APPLE BRICKLE DIP

Anna Loye Vance

1 8 oz. pkg. Cream Cheese, softened                   ½ Cup Brown Sugar

¼ Cup White Sugar                                               1 teaspoon Vanilla

1 -7½ oz. pkg. Almond Brickle chips (Use half of the package.)

                             OR

1 -8 oz. pkg. English Toffee Bits (Use half of the package.)

3 medium tart apples, unpeeled and sliced (treat with fruit fresh to avoid going brown.)

We had this dip at book club Thursday night and it was really good.

Bloomin' Onion Bread

Mmmm. This bread was tasty! I served it last night with dinner and everyone loved it. I didn't have poppyseeds (I'm not really sure what that would add to it), but I don't think it needed them. I will definitely be making this again.



1 unsliced loaf (round is preferable) sourdough bread.
1/2 pound Monterey Jack cheese, thinly sliced
1/2 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup finely diced green onion, with tops
2-3 tsp poppy seeds

Directions:
Cut the bread lengthwise and widthwise - without cutting through the bottom crust. Place on a foil-lined baking sheet. Insert cheese between cuts. Combine butter, onion, and poppy seeds. Drizzle over bread. Wrap in foil; place on a baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. Unwrap. Bake 10 more minutes, or until cheese is melted.