Bean There, Done That

One of my most favorite things to cook is a pot of beans when the weather is cool. 1. It's easy. 2. You can make it healthy. 3. It's tasty. Please hold any 4th grade "magical fruit"/"good for your heart" jokes until the end of this blog post. 

Last week I put up a pot of black beans and they were fantastic. Someone asked me once what it means to "put up a pot" of something. I was kind of perplexed. I've always used that expression. I'm fairly certain it's southern if not Texan. I never really questioned its exact meaning and always use it to talk about cooking beans, peas, or other things you would cook for a long period of time in a pot on the stove. If someone has a proper history for this expression please fill me in... any linguist expert type people? No? Shocking.

The sorted life of black beans....

SO, I made black beans. I used dried beans, so they required some soaking. Step one in bean management involves sorting and picking through the dried beans to make sure there aren't any rocks or other non bean type items in there. Some people skip this step. I used to. Then I bit into a rock. Lesson learned. 

Bean Rinse aka Clean yo Bean

After you finish sorting, you want to give the beans a rinse in a colander. Then you have a few options.  All options start with you putting the beans in a pot (or large bowl) and covering them with LOTS of water. Specific amounts will likely be on your bean bag - mine said six cups. If you did the large bowl, make sure it is very large and cover it with a dishtowel to keep random mishmash from getting in there. Then leave the beans on the counter overnight or for at least 6-8 hours. You can do this same thing in a pot. I personally prefer the quick boil method. Mostly because I get tired at night and forget to soak the beans. For a quick soak, the beans need to be in a pot. Bring the water to a full, rolling boil, turn the heat of, cover them, and leave them to sit for 2-3 hours. 

 

Water Covered Beans

Boiling Beans

I did this first thing in the morning since I was making the beans for dinner that night. My plan was to have everything in the pot simmering by 4pm. When L went down for her nap I got to chopping. 

Back to the Grid Method.

Finished Product

I chopped one VERY large onion, sliced about six cloves of garlic (If you don't like garlic you should leave now before one of us gets hurt), and took the beans out of the pot to do one last rinse. I make this one a quick rinse so that I don't lose a lot of the goodness that is naturally in the beans. Next I got out my cast iron pot and turned the stove to medium to heat it up. Once it was nice and hot I added about a tablespoon of EV Olive Oil and tossed in the onions and garlic. 

My Garlic Friends

My lovely garlic press that has a slicing mechanism. Thanks wedding registry! 

Once in the pot, I stirred the onions and garlic until my house smelled amazing and the onions were soft and becoming "clear" in appearance. 

Clear Onions, Full Heart, Can't Lose...... it's late. shut up. 

I put a smoked ham hock in the pot and gave it a little browning on the sides before adding in about 4 cups of chicken stock. You can always add in water, but I prefer to use stock if I have it.  

Stock

Stock and Hock

 After bringing that up to a boil, I added the beans back in along with two more cups of water and two Goya Ham seasoning packets. It's like Ham bouillon. It's magical. 

Ham Flavah.

Full pot.

 I wanted the broth to cook off of the beans so they would be less like soup, so while I boiled them I left the top off and checked in on the broth level. I cooked them over a low boil for about 2.5 hours. You'll want to check the beans after two hours to check the consistency and see if they are getting to what you prefer. I like mine to still be firm, so 2.5 hour timing works well. 

Low boil, badly captured.

 After a couple of hours my beans looked like this. I took out a spoonful to sample.

Taste Test

 This is the point where I see if my beans need added salt. Because I am cooking with broth and a ham hock, and ham seasoning, I like to see how much natural flavor and saltiness I can get out before adding more in. I also (just to remind you again) don't really salt things that can be easily salted to taste after they are cooked. 

I love chopped tomatoes in my black beans. BUT tomatoes and cast iron are not friends. Also, if you put the tomatoes in too early, they wilt into nothing. I took about four roma tomatoes, gave them a rough chop, and put them in to cook for about 15 minutes with the beans. 

Tomato Party

Now  I want this again.

 The last thing I do, right before serving, is take an entire bushel of washed cilantro and tear it into pieces over the pot, dropping it all in but the stems. You have a couple of options with the ham hock. I usually leave it in and then add it to the leftovers, keeping it until all of the beans are gone. You can also pick all of the meat off of the hock and add it in with the beans and throw the non meat rest of the hock away. Do as you please. 

Up close and personal.

Finished product.

 We are usually a brown rice family. I like brown rice and if it's better for me, then bonus. I happened to have the brown and wild rice I used with the chicken soup that is fantastic, so I decided to try that out with the beans. WINNER. Here is a photo op in case any of you want to seek it out and try it. 

You know it's good because it says "Arroz"

Cooked to perfection, even though I need a new rice cooker. Suggestions appreciated. 

Things that are great to serve with this meal include: sliced avocado, Mexican cotija cheese, sour cream (or non fat plain greek yogurt), salsa, or pico de gallo. We did avocados and Cotija cheese. 

The final product. Perfection in a bowl! 

Because I was making this for us AND Landy, I didn't add jalapenos, which I usually do and love. If you want to do that, I like to add in one jalapeno (deseeded then chopped) with the onions and garlic, and then take a second jalapeno, chop the top off of it to expose the seeds and insides, and drop it into the water to boil with the beans. I remove the remaining whole jalapeno before serving. 

Cooking in pots is the best thing about cool weather. And if you happen to be home with the kids or on a Saturday or Sunday, you can work on it little by little throughout the day and still have plenty of time with your kiddos. This is also something you might be able to adapt to a slow cooker if you work during the day. I'm not great at slow cooking, but it's one of my goals to figure that out this cool weather season. Here's a quick recap of my ingredients:

1 16oz package of dried black beans

1 T EV Olive Oil

1 very large white or yellow onion

6 cloves of garlic

1 smoked ham hock

4-6 cups of chicken broth or water

1-3 packets of goya ham seasoning (to taste)

4 large roma tomatoes

1 bunch of cilantro

rice

Optional:

Jalapeno

Avocado

Cotija Cheese

Sour Cream (not really optional)

pico de gallo

This is one of my absolute favorites. I think I make it twice a month during the fall and winter. It is another warm, filling dish that is actually pretty healthy and simple. It is also EXTREMELY cost effective. On the health front, just remember, you are in charge of your own sour cream intake. I love sour cream, so I try to sub it out for plain, non fat greek yogurt. Can't even tell. Share your beans with someone you love. They are magical, after all. 

-RT

Winner Winner, Pork for Dinner!

The fancy people at Cooking Light have redeemed themselves! You really can't go wrong when you cook whatever is on the cover of a cooking magazine. The thing is, usually what is on the cover is not quick, inexpensive, or easy. This time it was all of the above, and delicious!

I dogear pages.

Last night we made Pork Chops with Roasted Apples and Pearl Onions and a side of Green Beans with Mustard Vinaigrette.  The recipe was from our newest Cooking Light. To recap, chosen because it was fast, easy, and inexpensive. 

Assembled Ingredients

For the mustard vinegarette we just needed EV Olive Oil, Fresh Pepper, Kosher Salt, Cider Vinegar, and Mustard Powder. I couldn't find frozen Haricots Verts so I just went with some extra fine whole green beans.

Part of the speed of this recipe that I really enjoyed was that it used frozen pearl onions and frozen green beans. It saved time in washing and prepping and often times frozen vegetables taste better than what is in the produce section. The things you buy fresh at grocery stores are picked before they are ripe to make up for the travel time. Frozen vegetables are picked at the peak of their ripeness and then frozen right away to preserve their state. A great time saver all around and I use them ALL of the time with Landon.

I preheated the oven to 400 degrees, took out the pork chops to come to room temperature, chopped the apples, thawed the onions, and measured out the flour and oils. I put a pan on the stove to warm up with the olive oil. Then added the onions. It's important to only stir them once while they cook so that they get nice and brown bringing out a bit of carmelization. You use canola oil in this pan because it is going in the oven and unlike olive oil, and some others, will not go rancid at very high temperatures.

Then we added the apples and stirred before putting the pan in the oven for ten minutes. 

While the apples and onions cooked, I chopped the thyme and put a pan on the stove to warm up for the pork chops.

Pork Chop pan. Sprinkled with Salt and Pepper and the pan is coated with Olive Oil.

The thyme mixture ready to stir in the onions and apples.

The apples and onions came out perfectly and I stirred in the thyme mixture while S finished the pork chops. 

With everything mixed in together. Smelling fabulous!

Pork chops ready to come off.

Here's a handy tip... try not to forget that the pan that is currently on the stove with the apples and onions was formerly in the oven. I grabbed the handle. Smart girl. It hurt. So if you can remember, my advice is to put one of those handy little oven mitt sleeves on the handle. Then when you grab it you won't burn your hand off. I don't have one of those, so I used this:

Hard to tell, but it's just a giant regular valentine's day oven mitt. Not a gift from S, don't worry.

I had already mixed up the chicken broth and flour so when Seth pulled off the pork chops, we were ready to make the gravy/sauce in the pan. 

Boom. Gravy.

Gravy is best when you are supposed to "scrape up the bits" from the bottom of the pan. YUMMMMM! 

Then we got to the green beans. I had already thawed them in the microwave and patted them dry. I eyeballed the vinaigrette and probably shouldn't have. They were too "mustardy" for S and the flavors weren't exactly subtle. I think it was just fine though and would have been better if I would have used the correct measurements. 

Vinaigrette

Coated Green Beans

Finally we assembled the plates. Prior to the gravy:

 And with added gravy deliciousness:

This was fantastic. The onions and apples were so sweet and flavorful with the thyme. The gravy on the pork chops was so savory. The green beans were a nice added crunch and vegetable. It was also very fast and very easy. Also, again THE GRAVY... OMG. Fantastic. When is gravy not fantastic?

There are lots of different ways you could do this. Possibly with a pork loin all baked at once. While eating I was thinking mostly yum yum yum, and nom nom nom, and how can we cook fast, easy and gravy every night. It was really a wonderful flavor combination and something that would taste delicious year round.

Here is an update on the Orzo from Monday: Even Landon won't eat it. She tried it and cleaned off her tongue with her hands. I have decided to give it up. No use trying to reinvent the plain, boring, orzo pasta that had no flavor. 

So go ahead and cook this. NOW or next week. But soon. It was delicious. If you cook as a couple it will only take you 30 minutes from start to finish. If cooking as a couple makes you want to murder each other, then it will take you 40 minutes and tell your second chef to leave you alone. 

We had the leftovers today. Then I had a skinny cow cookies and cream ice cream sandwich. Sorry. Just needed to get that off of my chest. 

- RT

PS Shameless self promotion: Have you "liked" the Raising Texas facebook page yet? You should!

Pork Chops with Roasted Apples and Pearl Onions

Ingredients:

    2 1/2 teaspoons canola oil, divided
    1 1/2 cups frozen pearl onions, thawed
    2 cups Gala apple wedges
    1 tablespoon butter, divided
    2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves
    1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, divided
    1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, divided
    4 (6-ounce) bone-in center-cut pork loin chops (about 1/2 inch thick)
    1/2 cup fat-free, lower-sodium chicken broth
    1/2 teaspoon all-purpose flour
    1 teaspoon cider vinegar

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 400°.

2. Heat a large ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat. Add 1 teaspoon oil to pan; swirl to coat. Pat onions dry with a paper towel. Add onions to pan; cook 2 minutes or until lightly browned, stirring once. Add apple to pan; place in oven. Bake at 400° for 10 minutes or until onions and apple are tender. Stir in 2 teaspoons butter, thyme, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper.

3. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Sprinkle pork with remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Add remaining 1 1/2 teaspoons oil to pan; swirl to coat. Add pork to pan; cook 3 minutes on each side or until desired degree of doneness. Remove pork from pan; keep warm. Combine broth and flour in a small bowl, stirring with a whisk. Add broth mixture to pan; bring to a boil, scraping pan to loosen browned bits. Cook 1 minute or until reduced to 1/4 cup. Stir in vinegar and remaining 1 teaspoon butter. Serve sauce with pork and apple mixture.

What's for Dinner?

Lately I have felt like I'm letting my Cooking Light subscription go to waste. It is easier for me most times to not follow a recipe, or maybe just less time consuming. I also feel like when I am following a recipe I end up spending more at the grocery store. I tried to challenge all of that and looked for recipes that were inexpensive (or that I had most of the ingredients for) and that took an hour or less to cook. Cook along with me and compare experiences, or wait and see how it goes before you try these out. I picked three recipes knowing that they would provide leftovers for at least one to two nights. 

Here is what we are up to this week:

Chicken and Orzo Skillet Dinner

Photo from Cooking Light

Pork Chops with Roasted Apples and Onions 
served with Haricots Verts and a Mustard Vinaigrette

Photo from Cooking Light

Roasted Chicken Thighs with Mustard-Thyme Sauce
with Roasted Potatoes and Green Beans

Photo from Cooking Light

In sickness updates, after a quick dr visit this morning, Landy is on the mend and it has been officially confirmed that there is still not a cure for Tantrums. If you discover one, let me know. I'm just going to keep working with general lack of attention even though it gets difficult when a small person is clinging to your legs. Motherhood. So glamorous (flossy, flossy.)

Time to mentally prepare for cooking through a tantrum. Nap time is a survival gift from God. And a BIG Happy Birthday to L!

-RT

Pretending to be an Indian Olympian 101

It's Sunday y'all. I am pooped. BUT THE OLYMPICS ARE HERE!!!!!!!!! THAT is amazeballs. I am psyched and at random times in the day I swear people are chanting "USA USA USA"... The Olympics make you crazy. So, in honor of them we are going to do a recipe based on my favorite event from the games so far. It happened before the flame was even lit, when some "mystery woman" or rather, a volunteer from the Opening Ceremonies, decided she would just walk next to the flag bearer of the Indian delegation. Just cause. You know. Whatevs.

One of these things is not like the other.

At first I was like, how did NO ONE notice her?? Apparently India didn't make for a big appearance on the tv coverage of the parade of nations. Or maybe it was because Meredith Viera and Matt Lauer were SO TERRIBLE commentating the ceremonies that I zoned out of everything else. But this is really AMAZING. To be fair, this woman is an Indian woman who is currently living in London. She was cleared for security as a volunteer who danced during the ceremonies. She was probably backstage and was like "hey buddies, I'm Indian" and the officials were like "everyone from India, walk through this door" so she just went with it. Too bad she didn't have a yellow sari. Indian volunteer Madhura Nagendra sure has some GIANT lady balls.

So maybe you want to make it to the Parade of Nations and walk with the Indian delegation. Oh, you do? Fantastic. We are making easy Indian at home, and that has to be at least one step on your way there. Another step, surely, involves watching Englishmen Sir Ben Kingsley play Indian lawyer turned leader Gandhi in the 1982 movie. I'm sure this will get you half way there. Let's hurry.

Tan in a can, Sir Ben... Tan in a can.

I picked up some pork loin chops last week and wasn't really sure exactly what I was going to do with them. I got home from work and took them out of the fridge and looked around. We had kale, so I considered grilling the pork with some sauteed kale and garlic... then I saw this deliciousness hiding in the back.

Hello, friend.

Usually when I need an Indian/Pakistani food fix we head over to Himalaya. Chef Kaiser, a wonderful Pakistani man and his wife run the show. It is always amazing and deliciously spicy in all the right ways. BUT we can't always get away and sometimes it's nice to have something easy at home. Maya Kaimal makes all natural preservative free Indian Simmer Sauces that do not disappoint. I prefer them in medium because I think the flavor of the spices comes through much better than the mild. They also stay good for a really long time so you can stock them in your fridge for cooking emergencies. Go to the website above to find it in a store near you. 

I cut the pork into one inch cubes and let it come to room temp. Sprinkled a little salt and pepper over them and coated them in olive oil. 

I set the pan on the stove over medium to let it warm up and coated it with olive oil. Then I tossed the pork in with some shaved garlic.

Next I got out the kale and washed and rinsed it. Here is a photo of kale just for fun. You know, because kale is fun. 

Party.

I cooked the pork over medium heat and made sure the sides had started to cook evenly. It started to look like this:

Next I tore off the kale and added it into the same pan as the pork. 

I tossed everything in together and let it cook until the kale started to wilt and shrink. Then I added in the simmer sauce a little at a time. 

Once everything was coated I let it sit and cook and absorb the sauce. While it was cooking I came to a sad realization, I had NO rice. I had never cooked anything like this before, and again, I had no rice. That's pretty much a staple, especially for what I was craving. Soooo I took another risk. I found some Soba noodles in the pantry. 

So then I cooked the noodles while my pork and kale simmered in the butter sauce. Time to assemble the bowl.

Step one: Noodles.

Step Two: The Rest

And it was FREAKING DELICIOUS! Like AMAZING. I am making it again. The kale stood up really well to the simmering and the added sauce and held the flavor. The noodles were also a really great extra. Not as overly starchy as rice and a nice little addition. I kind of wish I had some more right now.

After you have your Indian meal and watch Gandhi a few times, run out to the store and pick up some blue plants and a red zip up hoodie. You are basically there. Or you could always take up a sport and spend the next few years of your life training. That might be more admirable. Maybe. 

Many wishes for a week filled with 100m relays and gymnastic floor shows!

- RT