Roasted Asparagus

I just had to share my favorite way to cook asparagus. We have eaten this five times in the last couple weeks. I would happily eat it every night. I wish I had some asparagus in the fridge right now.

Roasted Asparagus Spears

from The Sisters Cafe

1 bunch thin asparagus - ends trimmed

1 T olive oil

1/2 t coarse salt

1/4 t pepper

Preheat oven to 425. Drizzle olive oil on the pan and place the asparagus on top. Shake pan gently to cover the asparagus with the oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast in oven until the spears are just tender, approximately 8 - 10 minutes.

Yummy Red Beans and Rice with Sausage

I had to share this yummy meal we had the other night. It was simple and delicious. I wondered about some of the spices, like the allspice and the cloves, but they blended in and it was so good. The kicker was that my two pickiest eaters, Josh and Camilla, couldn't get enough. "Mmmmmm, this is so good!" they kept saying and then asking for more. Emma and I ate it for lunch the last two days as well. I didn't use the Andouille sausage (I have to admit that I don't even know what kind of sausage that is) I just used regular old country sausage from our pig. I got the recipe from goodlifeeats.com I hope you like it too.

Red Beans and Rice with Andouille Sausage

serves 4-6

Ingredients:

12 ounces Andouille Sausage, sliced (I used Aidells brand)
2 teaspoons olive oil, plus more as needed
1 medium onion, diced
1 rib celery, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 red bell pepper, diced
half of a yellow bell pepper, diced
1 cup chicken broth
20 ounces diced tomatoes in juices
1/2 teaspoon salt, or according to taste preferences
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
dash (or more) cayenne
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1/8 teaspoon cloves
2 - 14 ounce cans kidney or red beans (I like Bush's and only drained 1 can)
2 cups rice, cooked according to package instructions
hot sauce for serving, if desired

Directions:

Heat a large cast iron pot over medium-high heat. Cook the sausage slices until browned. Remove and set aside.

Add the olive oil to the pot and saute the onion over medium heat until translucent and tender, about 5-7 minutes, stirring frequently. Add the celery and garlic and continue to saute for 2 minutes more.

Return the sausage to the pan. Stir in the bell pepper, broth, tomatoes, salt, pepper, cayenne, bay leaves, oregano, allspice, and cloves. Bring to a boil, then reduce to low and simmer for 20-30 minutes, or until the vegetables reach desired tenderness.

Stir in the beans and cook until heated through. Taste for seasonings and adjust if necessary. Serve over rice.

image via goodlifeeats.com

good cooking vibes

I'm constantly re-prioritizing. Adding something needed, taking away something less so. And the better I get at it, the less I do. One thing though always remains constant - cook dinner. I haven't figured out how to knock this one down the list very far. I like to cook, I even think I might love it if I could do it on my own schedule, with an unlimited grocery budget and someone to mop the kitchen floor when I'm through. I'll even do the dishes if I don't have to mop the dreaded floor. But back to reality where I do have to rush to get dinner done for hungry, grumpy kids, stick to a grocery budget and mop that dreaded floor.

The best part of cooking dinner every night is thumbing through my recipe collection. I love, love, love to connect with old friends, sisters, aunts, grandmothers, roommates, cousins and neighbors by way of the recipes they have shared with me. Some of my most prized recipes are the handwritten ones my grandma sent me to college with. I have cookbooks from all the wards I've lived in and I love to remember the people I served with as I flip through those pages. I have recipes from a dinner co-op group. We were all young student families and stretching our newly found homemaking skills. We swapped very unsophisticated, very cheap meals that we were pretty proud of. I have family cookbooks and recipes from a cooking club I belonged to in Salt Lake City. Over the years, some of my best recipes have come from my old college roommates, despite the fact that all we ate when we lived together was ice cream.

Pulling out a recipe from a dear one is almost as good as a phone call to catch up, maybe even better, since the kids screaming at my feet don't disturb my reminiscing and I can send up my love and good wishes for them without having to disclose how rambunctious my children are behaving.

But, I have a hole in my recipe collection. It is the large part of my life that belongs to the Pelo family. I have a few here and there but really I need more so that I can send good cooking vibes from my kitchen to yours. Tonight it is cold and I made two new soups that I loved. I don't have the apron but I wanted to share. They were both fast and easy - honest. I made them at the same time and we loved them both.

Black Bean Soup

Recipe by Our Best Bites

1 T olive oil

4 large cloves garlic, roughly chopped

3/4 C diced carrots (about 2 med carrots)

3/4 C diced celery (about 2 ribs)

1 C diced onion (about 1 sm-med onion)

2 cans black beans, rinsed and drained

1 3.5oz can green chilies

2 cans low-sodium beef broth

1 t kosher salt

1/8 tsp black pepper

1/2 t chili powder

1/4 t cumin

1/2 t dry oregano leaves

1 bay leaf
Optional Toppings: sour cream, tortilla chips, grated cheese, chopped cilantro, etc.

Place a large stock pot on the stove-top and set to medium-high heat. When pan is warm, add olive oil. Add carrots, celery, onion, and garlic and saute 4-5 minutes.

Add in the black beans, chilies, and beef broth. Stir to combine and then add the salt, pepper, chili powder, cumin, oregano, and bay leaf.

Simmer uncovered for about 20-25 minutes or until carrots are tender.

Remove from heat. Remove bay leaf from soup.

Place soup in a blender. Puree soup until completely smooth.

Ladle into bowls and top with desired toppings. Serve with extra lime wedges. Makes about 8 C soup.

Quick & Easy Tortellini Soup

I think this recipe could be very flexible. It makes a smallish batch, so double it if you have more than 4 mouths to feed. I'm sure a variety of veggies would work - squash and onions would be yummy to add.

1 C water

14 oz can diced tomatoes (I used 2)

1 can chicken or vegetable broth

1/2 tsp basil

1/2 tsp oregano

1/8 tsp pepper

2 C frozen broccoli, cauliflower, carrots

2 C cheese tortellini

Bring water, tomatoes, broth and spices to boil. Add veggies and tortellini. Return to boil and cook til veggies are tender (5-6 minutes).

Apron Abroad or is that Apron on a Broad?

Here is the apron blog! If you don't know what I am talking about then here is a quick intro. This is originally Kimberli's idea. Mom has attempted to start it by sending an apron to Alison. I am adding the final step by getting the blog up and running.

Here is the idea as told to me by Kimberli: There is an apron that will travel from woman to woman in the family. We will take pictures of what we are doing in the apron, please post at least one with you wearing it. We will write a post or two or more about what we are doing in the apron. This can be one blog about the whole month or several posts throughout its stay at your home. We can share our recipes and funny stories and adventures, even aprons like to go to the movies once in awhile.;)

We will keep the apron for 4 weeks and then send it on to the next in line. We are just going to stick with one apron that is sent to everyone. If it gets too stained, burned or ripped we will repair it unless it is burned to ashes. The cycle will go from Alison down, ending with Mom. Any over 18 yr old girls can participate as well, we will just add them in. When it comes back to Alison's turn this next time then she will purchase/make a new apron to go abroad. The next round it will be Wendy's turn to change it out and so forth.

Also, anyone can feel free to post on the site even when they don't have the apron. You don't have to wait until your turn to share those yummy recipes, great breakfast ideas and silly pictures of blown up blender messes.

Post away and Bon Appetit.