Slow Cooker Sweet Potato Chili with Hatch Chiles, Corn, and Beef

Sweet and spicy chili that simmers in the slow cooker for an easy supper. This chili has beef, sweet potatoes, 3 kinds of beans, corn, peppers and Hatch chiles for amazing flavor

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When my friend Mary brought her Sweet Potato and Black Bean chili to the thrift shop for lunch, I spooned up that bowl of spicy comfort and was smitten.  Mary's chili, adapted from The Clueless Vegetarian (Amazon affiliate link) was spicy yet went down smoothly, and like all great chilies each person can customize their bowl with a variety of toppings.

I don't know about you, but I tend to become smitten with foods and cook them over and over.  Being a seasonal eater works well with this tendency, because I'm always moving onto what's up next, seasonally, and don't really have time to get into food ruts. At least it works well when fresh vegetables are appearing each week in our Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm share box!  During the winter months I tend to rely on the produce that can store longer, like the sweet potatoes and butternut squash in the Strategic Winter Squash Reserve, as well as vegetables I've canned or frozen.

I was so smitten with this chili that I made it several times. Each time I loved it even more.  My kids gobbled it up.  Shoot, it was even the first leftover my spouse scrounged out of the fridge when he returned from his most recent deployment.  The combination of colorful beans and sweet potatoes from this chili inspired my Harvest Sweet Potato Salsa.

Serving chili is a great meal for a variety of eaters--you can top it with a whole host of extras if you like.  Some of our favorite toppings:

• red and green salsas
• pickled peppers
• black olives
• shredded cheese
• sour cream
• tortilla chips

My friend Rebbie hosted a chili party which included an oven full of baked potatoes.  My kids created their own loaded baked potatoes from Rebbie's topping selections and missed out on her award-winning chili, but we all went home full and happy.

Orange-Spiked Beet and Walnut Spread

Toasted walnuts, roasted** beets, and a kick of orange juice brightens up this vegan spread

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If you read Wednesday's post and thought I sounded conflicted about posting so many meat-containing recipes in a row, you're very perceptive.  I've got a Guinness-soaked easy meal, a terrific Thai cold-busting soup, and a Fast From The Farm Share supper on deck--but they all involve meat.  And I feel the need to share a vegan recipe in the midst of all this meat so here's one that's been percolating on my mental back burner for a while.

Why do I say percolating?  Well, the recipe I wanted to make just wasn't working for me.  I kept trying variations within the parameters I'd established, and when I hit upon the final concoction that worked I realized I didn't have the exact proportions to share with you.  So I'm going to explain the concept, give you some measurements as a jumping off point, and leave it at that.  I mean, with 6 ingredients [including salt and pepper] there's plenty of 'taste and adjust' for each of us to do.

I'm always on the lookout for new ways to love beets from my CSA farm share, so when I got an email from goop including a recipe for beet and walnut spread I mentally filed it under the 'Beet Recipes to Try' section of my brain.

Don't tell me you don't have a Beet Recipes to Try area of your brain? Pity.

This Beet and Walnut Dip is my inspiration, and I am sure it is delicious, but I a) was running low on tahini and had some hummus to make and b) desired to have another tahini-free appetizer in my spread.  So I took the beets, walnuts, olive oil and salt from that recipe, and was trying . . .  trying . . . trying . . . to make something other than BeetyWalnutButter.  I failed. I was about to grab the goat cheese and de-veganify it when I remembered how well beets and oranges go together (hello, Beet Juice Mimosas!). I grabbed some freshly squeezed Hamlin orange juice from the Band Fruit Fundraiser, threw the concoction back into the food processor to incorporate the juice, and DONE!  The orange juice and olive oil emulsify to fluff up the BeetyWalnutButter into an Orange-spiked Beet and Walnut Spread.

As much as I love my Beet and Goat Cheese Spread, I was looking for a vegan addition to my Awesome Vegetable Apps and Snacks collection (link to my Pinterest board) and this one works great.  I like it on carrots or crackers and spread on toasted sourdough bread in a sandwich.  I think it would be delicious topped with sautéed mushrooms, as the earthy flavors of beets and mushrooms make a nice pairing in my favorite Danish smørrebrød:  liverpostej.

If you've got beets, walnuts, an orange and a bit of time to use the oven, as well as a food processor or amazing knife skills, you can enjoy this vegan spread today.  It makes a colorful addition to an appetizer table.

For more recipes using beets, please see my Beet Recipes Collection. It's part of the Visual Recipe Index by Ingredient, a resource for folks like me eating from the farm share, the farmer's market, or the garden abundance. More recipes! I'm pinning more recipes to my Pinterest boards, follow me there. If you like behind-the-scenes shots, please follow me on Instagram. When I encounter an article that makes me think or makes me laugh, I share it on my Facebook page--please follow me there. Want to know How to Use This Blog?

Open Faced Liver Paté LeverPostej Meatloaf Sandwiches

A traditional open-faced sandwich featuring meatloaf flavored with bacon and liver, topped with pickled beets, sautéed mushrooms, even crispy bacon and onions

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This open-faced sandwich is for the hard core carnivore out there.  Not those of you who dabble in boneless, skinless, chicken breasts.  Nope.  This is for those of you who will eat the whole cow, tongue to tail.  [I deliberately exclude myself from the head, though if someone presents me with a slice of head cheese I'll eat it.  I'm just not gonna make it and blog about it, okay?] It briefly passed through my brain to apologize to my vegetarian readers [thank you for stopping by! If you'd like a vegetarian open-faced sandwich recipe, here's my shaved beet one] for posting yet another meat-containing recipe, and then I realized that no, I'm going to own this.

In my opinion, it is disrespectful to the animal to cherry pick the handful of parts that you choose to consume.  I'm not saying to rush out and eat bung, instead I am saying to broaden your horizons and try more than just steaks and burgers or boneless skinless chicken breasts.  Beef tongue is pretty tasty, and the tail--man, I'm drooling just thinking about Elise's oxtail stew recipe.  But each bovine only has 1 tongue and, sadly, 1 tail.  There's a lot more to that animal--including the liver.

This, as you can tell from the head-scratching 'how do you pronounce it?**' title, contains liver.  If you like liver, you'll probably love it.  If you don't like liver, this smells like bacon while it's cooking and looks like meatloaf after it's baked, so give it a try.  My kids are not fans of the beets and mushrooms, so for them they are just eating a meatloaf sandwich, but you're welcome to make it your own. Try this, broaden your horizons, and respect the animal that you choose to consume.

This recipe is my adaptation of a traditional Danish open-faced sandwich or smørrebrød (literal translation is butter bread) using liver paté or leverpostej.  Like a Reuben sandwich is traditionally served with sauerkraut, swiss cheese, and thousand island dressing, the Danish leverpostej smørrebrød is served with pickled beets and sautéed mushrooms, sometimes crispy bacon or onions.

Red Cabbage, Leek, Brat and Beet Skillet Supper

A hearty satisfying skillet supper of cabbage, leeks, apples, and beets seasoned with bratwurst, maple syrup, apple cider and spices. I could say 'low carb' and 'real' if you like those words.

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If you're a regular visitor to the blog [thank you!] you know all about the Strategic Winter Squash Reserve in a cold corner of my breakfast nook.  That's where I store the pumpkins, acorn squash, butternut and buttercup squash from the Fall farm share, as well as the shorter-storing onions, potatoes, garlic and sweet potatoes. Corn gets blanched and frozen, summer squash and carrots get shredded and frozen, and beets get roasted and frozen. Turnips just get refrigerated until my spouse convinces me to make pasties again. This way I feed my family from our Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm share twelve months of the year, even though we only get fresh vegetables seven months of the year.**

Simon and Vincent (Oliver and Crystal the pig are missing) showing off the initial SWSR.

Even though I enjoyed a week of sunshine in Florida, last week during HashtagOrangeWeek, winter has its grip on my home and I still want crave hearty fare. This recipe is a hearty skillet supper combining many of the items in a typical Fall CSA share that can be found throughout the winter.  I was inspired by this CSA Cookoff segment done by Jennifer of Homegrown.org. I thought it would be a great way to stuff beets a bunch of veggies and a sprinkle of meat into my kids.  Score!  Today I'll share a skillet full of flavor we affectionally dubbed Hot Pink Mess.

Boy, if I were a young hip blogger, this would be the name of some over-the-top decadent dessert or fried appetizer that I'd make and eat after stumbling home in the wee hours. In reality, a humble fried egg sandwich appeals to me in the wee hours, more so than chocolate. Though Meghan's granola comes a close second for nighttime snacks. 

For more recipes using beets, please see my Beet Recipes Collection. For recipes using cabbage, please see my Cabbage Recipes Collection. For more recipes using leeks, please see my Recipes Using Leeks Collection. These collections are part of the Visual Recipe Index by Ingredient, a resource for folks like me eating from their farm share box, or from what's at the farmer's market, or on sale at the grocery store, or what grew best in the garden. I'm pinning more recipes on my Pinterest boards, follow me there. I'm sharing a carefully curated look at the world's most handsome Basset hound, Robert Barker behind the scenes on my Instagram feed, follow me there. Interesting articles get shared on my Facebook page, follow me there. Want to know How to Use This Blog?

Pepperoni and Orange Pizza

Sweet caramelized orange chunks and spicy pepperoni liven up this pizza

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I'm going to round out HashtagOrangeWeek with a pizza, because it's Friday and I frequently share pizza posts on Fridays [and nearly always fix pizza for my family on Fridays, even if I've just arrived home like today].  You may think that oranges on a pizza could only be on a dessert pizza.  You'd be at the wrong blog, my friend.  I'm not saying that I'll never do a dessert pizza, but I have not yet done one and have no plans to do so at this time.  Besides, I just shared a cookie recipe using oranges, Orange Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Secret Ingredient Cookies, and a sweet muffin recipe using oranges, Orange Olive Oil Date Muffins.  

Why am I sharing a week's worth of recipes featuring oranges from Florida?  I spent this week in Florida watching my son's high school marching band parade at Disney while soaking up sun and warmth.  Since the trip was financed, in part, by selling Florida citrus in the Band Fruit Fundraiser (link to my recipe round up featuring 156 Recipes Using Fruit, from 66 bloggers) I decided to take this week to share recipes I've been making using the fruit we bought in the sale.

The BLUF of this recipe is that it's good to have a broiler.  This pizza benefits from being hit from above with a direct heat source to finish it.  The cheese browns and the oranges caramelize, just a bit, and that is a nice touch.

The other weekend we were at a sled hockey tournament in Ft Wayne, Indiana and the TV didn't get any Olympic coverage. Boo. However they did have Food Network (I don't at home), where I saw a gal in Minnesota make a kimchi pizza in an amazing copper oven.  She'd lift up the pizza--with a super-long pizza peel--to the top of the oven to hit it with a final blast of heat.  Wish I had that set up.  In a second kitchen as there's no room in mine.

It is tricky, timing the amount of 'broilerage' required for the oranges without overdoing the crust and cheese.  If I had a creme brûlée [hey the spell checker automatically put all those hoodads on the letters. Wicked cool] torch I'd hit the oranges individually with that instead.

For general hints, tips, and photo collages please check out my Pizza Primer post, a brain dump of all things related to making pizza in my home kitchen.

For more recipes using oranges, please see my Orange Recipes Collection. It's part of the Visual Recipe Index by Ingredient, a resource for folks like me overwhelmed with Band Fruit Fundraiser citrus or who just like to stock up when it's on sale at the store or who live next to a citrus farm. You pick. 

For more pizza recipes, including an entire category of Savory Pizzas With Fruit, please see my Visual Pizza Recipe Index. I'm also pinning interesting pizza recipes I find to my Pinterest boards, follow me there. I'm sharing my latest pizzas in rough form on my Instagram feed, follow me there. I'll share articles that catch my eye on my Facebook page, follow me there. Want to know How to Use This Blog?

Orange Oatmeal Secret Ingredient Chocolate Chip Cookies

A tender and tangy twist on the classic chocolate chip cookie--with freshly squeezed orange juice and zest, some oats, and cream cheese.  This is a wonderful cookie.

Welcome back to HashtagOrangeWeek here on the blog.  While oranges aren't exactly a local, farm fresh, food to me in Ohio, we've been enjoying cases of citrus shipped up from Florida as part of the Band Fruit Fundraiser.  Why did the band sell fruit?  To raise money to travel to Florida and march in a parade down Main Street in the Magic Kingdom! Where am I now?  In Florida, watching the band march in a parade down Main Street. See how the circle comes around?

On Monday I showed you how I treated myself--and the kids--to Orange Olive Oil Date Muffins. On Friday I'll throw oranges on a pepperoni pizza--and live to tell the tale.  But for now, while I bask in the sunshine of the Sunshine State . . . I present you with Orange Oatmeal Secret Ingredient Chocolate Chip Cookies.

I'm realizing that I treat my son's sled hockey teammates, and their families, better than I treat my own family.  I'm sure that's a symptom of something--taking those closest to you for granted and being kinder to complete strangers.  In addition to eating more avocados in 2014, I shall resolve--at this late date--to make more treats for my family.

I had it in my head that I wanted to make chocolate chip cookies with cream cheese in the batter.  I tried a few cookbooks looking for recipes without success, but a couple of minutes on the laptop and Boom! I found Kelly's Secret Ingredient Chocolate Chip Cookies.  I wasn't content to merely make a tried and true recipe to share at the team dinner.  No, I had an idea to use one of the Band Fruit Fundraiser oranges to add an orange-chocolate twist to the cookies.  Apparently cooking something for the first time for an audience--who don't have to like it--is getting to be a habit.  Oopsie.  Thank goodness for amazing food bloggers!

Kelly's directions are clear and easy.  I was able to make her recipe, including my orange & oatmeal adaptations, one afternoon while dinner was in the oven.  Then, like I always do with cookies and often do with pizza dough, I stuck the dough in the fridge to bake the following day.

Imagine my surprise when I got online for Chef Dennis Littley's weekly Good Day Google Plus Hangout on Air--and one of the panelists is Kelly!  It was pretty cool to be able to say "hey, I've got your dough chilling in my fridge".  I know whenever someone tells me they've made one of my recipes it makes me feel good!

Orange Date Olive Oil Muffins

Sunny orange juice and zest, sweet dates, and a splash of olive oil make these muffins a treat made from things my grandma could have found in her pantry

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This week I am in Florida, watching my son's high school marching band parade down Disney's Main Street and enjoying some warmth and sunshine. I thought a good theme for the week would be recipes featuring oranges, so I'm calling this week HashtagOrangeWeek.  See, the oranges I'm using came direct from Florida as part of the Band Fruit Fundraiser (link to my round up of 156 fruit-filled recipes from 66 bloggers). Why was the band fundraising?  To go to Disney and march down Main Street . . .

Today I'm sharing muffins, because it's a Monday and I like to share muffin recipes on Mondays.  That whole alliteration thing.  Wednesday I'm sharing Orange Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Secret Ingredient Cookies, and Friday I've got an Orange and Pepperoni Pizza. If you are in a cold area, I can't bring you warmth but I can share some sunny citrus.  [And rub it in, a wee bit.]

You ever do something just for yourself?  I made these muffins just for me.  Normally I make muffins for the kids' breakfast or after school snack, or to bring to a function, or--rarely--to eat with dinner.

Not this time.  Not these muffins.

I had a hankering for Orange Date Muffins even though I'd never tried them.  Probably due to repeated exposures to the Orange Date Muffin recipe page in Muffins: A Cookbook (Amazon affiliate link) written by friends of my mom.  Every time I'd read the recipe over the years, though, I was missing some vital ingredient [like oranges or dates].  Since the Band Fruit Fundraiser Citrus Recipe Round Up, though, I've had cases of citrus at the ready, and as it is sled hockey season I have been to Costco and have dates aplenty.

Quick Pickled Beet and Herring Salad

A quick side dish or simple lunch of roasted beets tossed with picked herring in wine sauce. Two ingredients and a few minutes to throw it together and you have a vibrant bowl of flavor.

You didn't think I'd let a Valentine's day go by without beets, did you?

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There are many ways to show love.

Even though this is a food blog, I do other things besides cook to show my love.  Earlier this week I showed my love for my spouse by cleaning out the refrigerator.  True, I did get a side bonus by having a clean refrigerator, free of unknown items science experiments moldering about in the back.  But, if left to my own devices, I would have spent that time working on a different project.

I chose to show love instead.

Last year, while writing about the holiday of love, I encouraged you to show your love to  your family and friends by preparing a pizza for vegans, vegetarians, or omnivores.

On Monday, I asked you to show your love to hungry children you'll never meet by donating $10 to #feedsouthafrica.  If you didn't have a chance to donate, you can still do so here.  We're more than halfway to our goal of providing 100 kids lunch for an entire year, and if each of the participating food bloggers could get just one reader to donate--we'd be there!

Today, I want to talk about showing love to yourself.

I am the only one in my household who likes pickled herring and pickled beets.  Sure, my family will eat the herring with me on Christmas Eve, and they eat beets in a variety of dishes, but they don't like it like I do.  So I very rarely eat this, even though I enjoy it.

This dish is one way I treat myself, perhaps a winter version of my Sautéed Beet Greens and Spring Onions with a fried egg.  I can roast [technically, I'm oven steaming] a bunch of Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm share beets at once, freeze some for later use, and chop up one to make myself a bowl of this salad.  I like to eat it for breakfast, lunch, or a snack.  The rich red color delights me as much as the briny, tangy taste, and I thought it would be pretty for a Valentine's day recipe.

If you've never tried pickled herring in wine sauce--only buy a teeny tiny jar to start, or get a bit at a deli counter.  It's a taste I acquired after many years of starting our Christmas Eve smorgasbord glaring at the pieces of fish I'd been served, and daintily eating a bit of lettuce and some pickled onion while impatiently waiting to ditch the first plate and get to the good stuff--Swedish Meatballs.  My palate and I have matured, though, and now I buy giant jars of pickled herring at Costco and I treat myself to the whole jar--one bowl at a time.

For more recipes using beets, please see my Beet Recipes Collection. It's part of the Visual Recipe Index by Ingredient, a resource for folks like me eating seasonally from the farm share, the farmer's market, garden abundance and grocery store sales. For more recipe inspiration I'm pinning good stuff on Pinterest, follow me there. I'm sharing articles that catch my eye on Facebook, follow me there. I'm showing a carefully curated peek behind the scenes on my Instagram feed, follow me there. Want to know How to Use This Blog?

Cheesy Leeks and Orzo

Let your leeks shine in this simple and quick side dish of orzo pasta, leeks, and cottage cheese. 

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After a busy AppetizerWeek last month where I really buffed up my appetizer section, I poked around on my recipe index by category (on the right side bar, not to be confused with the recipe index by ingredient up along the top) and thought that I ought to be sharing some more simple side dishes that I feed to my family, using the vegetables from our Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm share. Wow--that was a run on sentence. My apologies. The unrelenting cold numbs my fingers and brain. Perhaps after a week in Florida I'll be coherent? Gotta get through this week first.

Today's recipe came about because I wanted a side dish that would appeal to the whole family and my CSA farmers had grown a stupendous crop of fat and sassy leeks.  I generally wash, slice, spin dry, and freeze my leeks for use over the winter (in soups, stews, etc) but I like to use some fresh, too.

While leeks are usually supporting players in my dishes, I've seen gorgeous ways to showcase them like Kristy's Crispy Leeks.  I wanted a softer leek (my son had recently had his wisdom teeth out) and to let that nice mild flavor shine through.  We had this side with spicy salmon, but it would go equally well with chicken or pork.  Leftovers reheated well the next day.


For more recipes using leeks, please see my Leek Recipes Collection. It's part of the Visual Recipe Index by Ingredient, a resource for local seasonal eaters like myself who want to make the most of their farmer's efforts. I'm pinning all sorts of recipes to my Pinterest boards, follow me there. I'm sharing recipes and articles that catch my eye on my Facebook page, follow me there. For a carefully curated behind the scenes (complete with howling Basset hound) please follow my Instagram feed. Want to know How To Use This Blog?

Multigrain Sourdough Bread (in a bread machine)

Multigrain sourdough bread--sounds hard, but use the bread machine to easily make this loaf!

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Today I am joining with my fellow food bloggers to encourage our readers to donate to The Lunchbox Fund, an organization that provides daily meals to South African children.

Why am I asking you to help feed kids in South Africa when there are hungry kids in our own communities?  It's simple.  I feel everyone who can help has a responsibility to help others.  In my community, I give my time and my food to my local Foodbank.  With 65% of all kids in South Africa living in poverty, nearly 20% of them orphans, it is clear to me that my help is needed outside my own community.  By participating in this campaign with The Giving Table, we are hoping to raise enough funds to provide a daily meal to 100 South African children for a year.

There's strength in numbers, people.

I just donated $10 to help feed kids in South Africa, it took me about 2 minutes, and you know where I coughed up the money from?  I spent the weekend at a sled hockey tournament in snowy Ft Wayne, Indiana.  Instead of picking up drinks and snacks on the road/at the venue, I packed from home.  That saved me easily $10, and other than a bit of planning ahead it was painless. And better for us.


I'll tell you more after the recipe, but first--a bit about this bread.  When Nicole asked me to share a lunch recipe I was stumped.  I mean, more often than not my daughter comes home from school and we eat leftovers for lunch. "Remove container from fridge.  Reheat in microwave." is a pretty short recipe, you know?  Then I started thinking about my son, and how I forced him to he's been making his own lunch this year, which is usually a sandwich.  The foundation of his sandwiches is usually this bread.

I started making bread 6 months ago after reading Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation (Amazon Affiliate link) while participating in the HOMEGROWN.org summer book club.  Learning about what all goes into a loaf in a Wonderbread factory left me unsettled.  [Not that I'd been buying Wonderbread, mind you.]  I had a packet of dried sourdough starter so I decided to go for it.

Over the months I've tweaked the recipe I started with, from Best Bread Machine Recipes (another Amazon Affiliate Link), adding flax meal and oats, adjusting the amount and kind of flours originally specified.  Because I started making this bread in August, when my kitchen is crazy hot (it's crazy cold in the winter) I chose to dust off my bread machine.

Rant: Some folks may say that this is a cop out, that I am not really baking bread.  You know what?  When I load dirty clothes, washing soda, vinegar, detergent and fabric softener into my washing machine, close the lid, and push the start button I say I'm doing laundry.  And I'm not even controlling the amount of water used to wash the clothes!  Use the tools available to you, if you like.  At the thrift shop where I work, I see bread machines each month--usually in the $10 to $20 range. /rant

Fast Creamy Honey Wheat Pizza Dough

Use prepackaged 'pizza yeast' with your own additions of honey & cream cheese to make a quick and flavorful whole wheat pizza dough.

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This is a teaser post, and I utterly own up to teasing you with a delicious-yet-unattainable-today pizza.  See, the sauce is made of garlic scape pesto, and you can't find fresh garlic scapes right now.  Not in the grocery store, not in the farmer's market, not off the internet.

Garlic scapes are one of those items that are only available for a brief time, and after that:  poof.  Unlike asparagus (another actually seasonal item that's nowadays available in the grocery store year-round because it's shipped from other countries during the off-season) garlic scapes are a get-them-before-they-are-gone item, else you're out of luck.  One of the reasons I enjoy eating seasonally is because I get to look forward to different foods throughout the year.

So why am I sharing this pizza while my garlic bed out in the garden looks like this?

Simply because, again unlike asparagus, you can put up garlic scapes when they are plentiful and enjoy them later.  Garlic scape pesto freezes well, and provides a lovely mild garlic flavor and gorgeous color any time you use it in a dish.  I'm partial to pizza.  

Now, I've already written (and scheduled for Spring, in anticipation of garlic scapes in our Community Supported Agriculture [CSA] farm share) a post about how to make the pesto I used in today's pizza.  Instead I'll share the recipe for dough.

Yes, yes, I know I said in my Pizza Primer that I make my dough days ahead.  I usually do.  But not always--sometimes it's Friday afternoon and I've got nothing prepared.  That's when I grab a packet of pizza crust yeast [This is not a sponsored post, I buy my own packets--with coupons, always--and Fleischmann's doesn't know I exist. I'm just sharing the name of a product that I buy, use, and love--and if it inspires you to be successful in making pizza at home I'd love to hear it in the comments below.]

The inspiration for this pizza crust came from my friend Kim, who said she often makes a honey wheat pizza on her family pizza nights.  Never having tried honey wheat dough, I decided to adjust the recipe on the pizza crust yeast packet to make my own fast honey wheat dough.  I also threw in some cream cheese in lieu of oil just because I had some sitting on the counter from my son's post-braces removal Everything Bagel after school snack.  I can't call this a fat-free dough because I used regular cream cheese, and I can't call it oil-free dough because I did put it in an oiled bowl and used oil on the parchment paper.  So Fast Creamy Honey Wheat Pizza Dough it is.

Sherried Black Bean and Broccoli Stem Soup

A smooth and elegant vegetarian soup made from humble ingredients--black beans and broccoli stems--finished with sherry and egg yolks. Unpretentious? I'm not talking 'bout wine here . . .

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If you want to be technical, I have had a teeny tiny smidgen of formal culinary training.  When I lived in Richmond, Virginia I took a class at a local cookwares store. The class was taught by Nancy Maurelli and was all about Bean and Grain Cooking. That's where I first tasted this soup--and I'm a packrat kept most of the class handout through seven moves.  Key word--most.

The internet is an amazing thing.  From that stapled class handout I'd removed the page with this recipe since I kept fixing it for my spouse during our early years together.  I had the rest of the handout, which included Nancy Maurelli's name, so I started a quest to find Nancy and see if she still had the recipe.  In 2008 that quest paid off (interestingly, through the Local Harvest website where you can find Community Supported Agriculture [CSA] farm shares and other local foods near you) and now that the recipe is back in my clutches, or at least the clutches of my Recipes email folder, I won't lose it again.  This post is merely planned redundancy.

Since I've been reading about Julie's experiments with Roasted Broccoli Stem Dip and Meghan's experiences with Broccoli Stalk Pesto, I thought I'd share this soup.  It tastes wonderful and presents so beautifully.  The idea of garnish on a soup was awfully high falutin' to me at the time, and still is to be honest, but I do it anyway--it's easy and fun. I can't say that my kids love it--though they do eat a small bowl when we have it--but that's OK.  Coupled with a mushroom appetizer such as my Skillet Mushroom Dip for Two or Soy Sriracha Roasted Mushrooms, this makes for a lovely "just for adults" Valentine's meal at home.  Add a steak and/or a salad if you like, though don't get too full for Love!


If I suggested one of the desserts from my recipe index and intimated that we'd be eating it this year for Valentine's day I'd be lyin'--my spouse wants Killer Brownies and I love him so that's what I'll get for dessert.  Perhaps with some Salted Caramel Ice Cream.


For more recipes using black beans, please see my Beans (Legumes) Recipes Collection. For more recipes using Broccoli, please see my Broccoli Recipes Collection. These collections are part of the Visual Recipe Index by Ingredient, a resource or folks like me trying to use up every last stitch (does this metaphor work?) of produce from the farm share box. I'm sharing soup recipes on Pinterest, follow me there. I'm sharing articles that catch my eye on my Facebook page, follow me there. For a curated look behind the scenes of the blog, follow my IG feed. Want to know How to Use This Blog?

Grapefruit Honey Bran Muffins

Filled with bright citrus and packed with fiber, these muffins are a sweet way to start the day

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I've got so many muffin recipes piling up I'm thinking about making an ebook of them.  I've got a baker's dozen of banana muffin recipes sitting in a pile of papers right in front of me, all wholesome enough for my kids to eat for breakfast--and easy to make.  Note to self--investigate the genre.  I've seen Lydia's ebooks (like her zucchini recipes and her meatball recipes) and I'm thinking along those lines.  But first--another sunny citrus muffin recipe, right here, free, for you!

When I shared the Candied Grapefruit Peel recipe, I mentioned that it's an acquired taste.  My kids will eat it--in small doses, especially combined with something else.

Isn't it funny how sometimes a picky eater can pick out even the tiniest portion of an undesired food in a melange, and sometimes it's easier to deal with an unwanted food if it's combined with other things?  Oh dear, now I'm talking about undesirable food when I'm supposed to be enticing you. Fail (if I used hashtags, this would have been an appropriate place for one).

Chocolate Cherry Almond Magic Layer Bars

Tooth-crackingly sweet, these rich bars combine chopped almonds, dried cherries, and chocolate chips on a buttery graham cracker crumb base--perfect for you, for your Valentine . . . 

or maybe just because you got your braces off . . . 

or maybe because it's Friday?

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Sometimes, for no reason, you need to treat yourself.  Sometimes you need a reason to treat yourself. Sometimes you need to treat others.  Either way, these bars fit the bill.  They are made with shelf stable pantry ingredients [um, plus butter] so you can whip up a batch whenever the mood, or an occasion, strikes.  I had a couple of reasons to make these (primarily a band concert, but secondarily a desire to use what I've got in the pantry without venturing out into the snow and #3 [tertiarily? thirdly?] just plain having a hankering for them.

I could call these Chocolate Cherry Almond Hello Dolly Bars, because growing up our family called the traditional bar cookie made with sweetened condensed milk, chocolate chips, and graham cracker crumbs Hello Dolly Bars.  I think they may be better known, outside of my family, as Magic Cookie Bars or Six Layer Bars.  I'm calling my version Chocolate Cherry Almond Magic Layer Bars to cover a number of bases.

Whenever I see dented cans of sweetened condensed milk I always pick one up, because they can hang out in the pantry until I'm ready to bake. The regular, non-dented, cans work just fine as well.

Because I've become a homemade granola maker, thanks to Meghan, I have giant bags of nuts in my fridge.  I was looking for something Valentine-ish (because, you know, a Valentine's beet crust pizza needs a dessert) and chocolate and dried cherries seemed like a good combination.  And cherries go with almonds [at least in Jergens hand lotion, love that smell] so I decided to try it in these bars.

While these bars are pretty rich, the addition of the dried cherries means that I used half the amount of chocolate chips I'd usually put in a bar cookie, so there's a little fruit & fiber for ya with your chocolate.

Where's my usual Friday Pizza Post?! New rules for 2014--I'm not going to go crazy trying to ensure I've got a pizza post ready to go every Friday. When I've got pizzas to share (and believe you me, I've got some pizzas to share. Take a gander at this Chicken BBQ Peach pizza below) I'll share them on Fridays.  Like I share muffins on Monday.  But I'll be mixing it up with other recipes as well. Need a pizza fix?  Check out my Visual Pizza Recipe Index for ideas--I've broken my recipes down by pizza dough type, vegetarian pizzas, meat pizzas, and even fruit on pizzas--all savory, all good.

Chicken BBQ Peach pizza--made last year during peach season, you can find the recipe here.

Confetti Turkey Enchiladas with Slow Roasted Tomato Sauce

Turkey, carrots, and zucchini make a colorful filling for enchiladas in a hearty dish covered in an easy to make slow-roasted tomato enchilada sauce

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This is a recipe showing how I use put-up summer produce during the winter months when we are not receiving a weekly box from our Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm share.  If you don't have a package of slow-roasted tomatoes in your freezer (link to Alanna's tutorial), please refer to Andrea's inspiring Easy Homemade Enchilada Sauce recipe below which uses canned tomato sauce.  And put this idea in your back pocket--if you get a glut of tomatoes in the early fall (and have some room in the freezer) consider slow-roasting some.  It's ridiculously simple and the end product is nearly as handy to use as the quarts of crushed tomatoes I've got in the pantry.

I was going to share this recipe during the summer, because it calls for tomatoes and zucchini and I'm all about the seasonal eating, but it's here today for a couple of reasons.
I'll list them, just for kicks.

• I've got a backlog of enchilada recipes (technically, 4) that I need to post, and there's no time like the present to start sharing them.
• I made a pan of Creamy Avocado Enchiladas today and it reminded me of these.
• I'm still reeling from the shock of posting a savory appetizer every day last week for #AppetizerWeek, and I realized I didn't have anything scheduled for today.

While my belly is full of Creamy Avocado Enchiladas, I bring you Confetti Turkey Enchiladas.

Other enchilada recipes I've posted:

Butternut Squash and Caramelized Onion Enchilada Casserole

Fish Taco Enchiladas

Green Pork, Corn, and Zucchini Enchiladas

Zucchini, Refried Bean, and Corn Enchiladas

In fact, I've gone and made a Clickable Collage of Enchiladas. You can see it here.

Breakfast Salad

Roasted potatoes, sautéed cabbage and shallots, and puffy scrambled eggs combined for a tasty morning--or evening--meal in one. A tasty way to start off your day--with vegetables.

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I'll be among the first to admit that my family is weird about breakfasts.  The kids don't like cereal (except for when they love cereal, geez, Mom, why didn't you buy more?), my spouse would happily eat oatmeal every single day, and I'm not hungry for hours after I wake up.  I'm very glad my kids are happy to eat leftovers and my spouse is self sufficient.  We do like muffins, eggs, and waffles a lot around here, though, and like to have big family breakfasts on the weekends. You'll find many breakfast or muffin options in my recipe index by category to your right --->

This is not a fast meal, and would be terrific for a weekend breakfast, or lunch or even Breakfast for Dinner if you like. For us it's another way to eat more veggies, and an unusual name that just stuck with me.  I mean, the idea of cabbage and potatoes together is a classic one.  And in our house, cabbage and potatoes for breakfast is not too unusual when we're getting cabbage in the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm share.

But to throw it all in a bowl and call it a salad is different for me. I got the idea on a walk [I walked a half marathon last year and recently signed up to do it again--hopefully with my spouse this time] while mulling over what to do with a cabbage.  I'd been seeing salad recipe round ups, and it just hit me that fixing our cabbage-for-breakfast, with a few modifications, would equal a Breakfast Salad.