Black Bean Sweet Potato Burritos

from the Simply in Season cookbook
Photos came from Blogger Cara Hall and her post: http://www.failedfeminist.com/2009/02/sweet-potato-and-black-bean-burritos.html

Yield is 5-8 Burritos (I think i tripled the recipe to get enough for our supper club.. but I also made fairly large burritos) If you make too much you could just serve it as a side dish or toss it all into a pot of chili.

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
3 cups sweet potatoes, peeled and diced
1/2 onion, chopped
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 teaspoon cumin
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
8 whole wheat tortillas
1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
Taco sauce, if you like it




Heat the oil in a skillet over medium heat. Saute the onions for a couple minutes, then add the sweet potatoes. Put a lid on your skillet and let the potatoes cook/steam for at least 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. About halfway through, add a little water to keep the onions from sticking to the bottom.




Once the potatoes are soft, add your black beans and spices and mix well. Spoon this mixture into tortillas, sprinkle on cheese and a bit of taco sauce and roll them up. If you like you can bake them in a 350 degree oven for a few minutes, but I usually skip that step.

Swiss Steak

I think that the next time I do this, I'll use the crock pot. There was a lot of legwork, steaming the veggies separately and all that, that I just don't think needs to be done. Yummy, though.

Swiss Steak

Ingredients
One 2 to 2.5 pound round or top round steak, about an inch thick

A couple tablespoons of flour
Salt and pepper

3 Tbsp grapeseed oil, or other high smoke point oil for browning (I used about half butter, half coconut oil)
1 onion, roughly chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
2 cups puréed tomatoes (canned or fresh)
2 teaspoons each of fresh thyme, sage, marjoram, or 1/2 teaspoon each of dried

Optional: Vegetables such as potatoes, carrots, or green beans (I used mushrooms, carrots, parsnips, pearl onions, and potatoes)

Method

1 Rub flour into both sides of the steak. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Heat a wide, shallow (3 inches), covered pan to medium high heat. Add 2 Tbsp of oil to coat the pan. Place the steak in the pan, and cook for approximately 10 minutes on each side, enough to brown the steak.

2 Remove the steak from the pan and set aside. Add onions and garlic to the pan and another tablespoon of oil. Cook the onions and garlic for 3-5 minutes, using a metal spatula to scrape up any steak drippings, mixing them in with the onions. Add half of the herbs to the onions. Return the steak to the pan, placing it on top of the onions. Crowd the onions around and on top of the steak. Sprinkle the rest of the herbs on top of the steak. Add the 2 cups of puréed tomatoes to the pan.

3 Cover the pan with a tight fitting lid. Use a high lid if available. A high lid will help circulate the steam and moisture from the cooking juices and keep the steak moist. Bring the steak in the tomato purée to a simmer and then lower the heat to the lowest heat possible to maintain a low simmer (we use the warm setting on our electric range).

4 Cook for 1 1/2 hours. While the steak is cooking, you may want to slightly pre-cook vegetables that you want to serve with the steak. For example, for this dish we steamed 4 small, peeled, quartered russet potatoes and 2 carrots, quartered lengthwise and cut into 2 inch segments, for 5-10 minutes. (You could use other vegetables, such as green beans, or no vegetables at all.) After 1 1/2 hours of cooking time for the steak, we uncovered the pan, turned the steak over, added the potatoes and carrots, covered the pan and cooked the steak and vegetables for another 30 minutes.

The reason that you might want to pre-cook the vegetables a bit first is that the steak is cooking at a very low heat. You'll have more control over how cooked the vegetables are if you pre-cook them a bit first.

5 The steak should be done after a total cooking time of 2 hours. To check it, you can poke it with a fork. The meat should be quite tender. To serve, remove the steak and slice it on a carving board. Alternatively, you could have started with individual steaks that were smaller. Spoon the sauce over the steak.

Serves 4-6.

Spiced Butternut Squash & Apple Soup

I loved this easy and satisfying twist of butternut squash soup. It came from nourishingdays.com.

Spiced Butternut Squash & Apple Soup

• 3 tablespoons butter
• 3 1/2 c. butternut squash puree
• 1 large onion, quartered
• 1 tablespoon sucanat (I used raw sugar)
  
• 3 large garlic cloves, thickly sliced
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 3 cups chicken stock (I used leftover turkey stock from Thanksgiving)
  
• 1 1/2 cups half-and-half (I used raw whole milk, and didn't shake it to mix in the cream)
• Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
• 1 1/2 chopped apples (about 1/4 – 1/2″ dice)

1. Heat butter over medium-high heat in a large, deep saute pan until shimmering.
2. Add onion; saute until translucent.
3. Reduce heat to low and add sucanat and garlic; continue cooking until all vegetables are a rich spotty caramel color, about 10 minutes longer.
4. Add squash puree, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and cayenne pepper; continue to saute until fragrant, 30 seconds to 1 minute longer.
5. Add stock; bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to low and simmer, partially covered for about 10 minutes.
6. Using an immersion blender, traditional blender or potato masher, puree until very smooth, 30 seconds to 1 minute.
   
7. Return to pot; add enough half-and-half so the mixture is souplike. Add chopped apples. Taste, and add salt and pepper if needed. Heat through, ladle into bowls, garnish and serve.

chicken marbella

5 lbs chicken thighs and breasts (or pheasant if the season dictates) (do not remove all skin as it will add to flavor, moisture and pan juices at end)
1 head of garlic, peeled and finely chopped
1 tsp dried oregano
coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 cup olive oil
1 cup pitted prunes
1 cup dried apricots
1/2 cup pitted Spanish green olives
1/2 cup capers with a bit of juice
6 bay leaves
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white wine
1/4 cup Italian parsley, finely chopped

1. In a large bowl combine chicken and next ten ingredients (through bay leaves). Cover and let marinate, refrigerated, overnight.
2. Preheat oven to 350.
3. Arrange chicken in a single layer in two large, shallow baking pans and spoon marinade over it evenly. Sprinkle chicken pieces with brown sugar and pour white wine around them.
4. Bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour, basting frequently with pan juices. Chicken is done when thigh pieces, pricked with a fork at their thickest, yield clear yellow juice (rather than pink).
5. With a slotted spoon, transfer to a serving platter. Moisten with a few spoonfuls of pan juices and sprinkle generously with parsley. Pass remaining pan juices in a sauce boat.
**makes 10 or more servings

a real hot pocket

we used this recipe from Alton Brown to make one of our favorite one dish meals!
i used talapia, instead of red snapper
it calls for 2 tsp salt, which seemed like a lot to me. i only used 1tsp and it turned out salty enough
i omitted the oregano, because i forgot it!
instead of the halved grape tomatoes, i used canned roasted tomatoes
instead of artichoke hearts, i used kalamata olives

the cous cous around the edges tends to dry out, so i removed the fish, added a bit of hot water, tossed the cous cous, and baked it just a bit longer.

i have made the recipe and followed the directions, and found it to be great, but i think i liked this version better. it is nice to be able to switch out ingredients for what i have around, or what is in season

My version of Shelley's Better Burgers

2 two lbs of ground beef

Shred, dice, mince or whiz in the food processor:
1 large carrot
1/2 onion
1 medium sized clove of garlic
1 egg

Blend together well with raw grass-fed beef in bowl using your bare hands or a masher tool.

Make six patties and sprinkle both sides with salt and pepper.

NOTE: Shelley's version adds ketchup and mustard and flax meal to the vegetable mix.