White Bean and Sausage Stew

This recipe hails from the pages of Real Simple magazine. Generally their recipes are pretty lacking in flavor, but not this one! Holy cow, it was so good. And possibly the easiest dinner I've ever made.

1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

2 cloves thinly sliced garlic

2-3 links turkey sausage sliced into 1/2" thick rounds

1-2 cans reduced sodium chicken broth, depending on how broth you want the stew.

1 19 oz can cannellini beans (drained)

1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes (not drained)

1 bunch kale (I used escarole cause Publix was out of kale...it was still good!)

Salt &Pepper

In a large dutch oven or pasta pot, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add sausage and cook on one side 3-4 minutes. Add garlic and flip sausage pieces, cooking another 3-4 minutes.

To the same pot, add the beans, chicken broth and tomatoes. Increase heat and bring to a simmer, but be careful not to boil or the skins of the beans may break.

Meanwhile, remove the stems from the kale (or escarole) and tear into large chunks. Add the greens to the stew and cook for several more minutes or until the kale is wilted. Add salt and pepper to taste and serve with delicious bread. So satisfying and so easy.

From Scratch

A few nights ago I made brownies from scratch...for the first time!!! I kind of can't believe I've never done it before. It was SO easy. The recipe is from Everyday Food and it was pretty good, but I cooked it too long-even though it was 10 minutes less than the suggested time (I'm beginning to suspect our oven cooks a little hot and a little fast)and it absorbed some of the flavor from the cast-iron skillet I baked it in. But they were still quite good! They had a much more "chocolaty" flavor than from-the-box brownies. I may never go back.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

1 cup vanilla sugar (or regular granulated sugar)

3 eggs

1 cup flour
1/4 cup Dutch process cocoa
1/2 tsp salt
4 Tbsp unsalted butter
1/4 cup heavy cream
8 oz chocolate chips (or bittersweet baking chocolate...add 1/4 more sugar if using bittersweet) + 4 oz more chocolate chips to add later

In a large bowl, whisk together sugar and eggs until well combined. Set aside.
In a medium sized bowl whisk together flour, cocoa powder and salt. Set aside.
In a non-stick (or cast-iron in my case) skillet over medium heat, add heavy cream and heat until simmering. Add in chocolate chips and stir until chocolate is completely melted. Remove from heat and let cool 5 minutes.
Pour chocolate mixture into eggs and stir until combined. Gently fold in flour mixture until just incorporated and pour brownie mix back into the skillet. Add in chocolate chips (or whatever you want...pecans, peanut butter chips, walnuts, etc) and place in oven. Bake for 35-40 minutes "or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean"...whatever dude. I like gooey brownies! 25 for super gooey and anywhere in between for whatever your specific preference is.

We also added a simple icing to the top:

1 cup powdered sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla

2-4 Tbsp milk

Stir until smooth and the consistency you like (ours was a little thinner than Elmer's glue). Poke holes in the top of the brownies with a fork and drizzle lots icing over the entire brownie.

Best eaten while still warm.

Veggie Stir Fry

(new cookware!!!)

This dinner was suuuuper easy.

1 bag of Trader Joe's 'Vegetable Hodgepodge'

1 medium yellow onion, sliced

1 cup white rice

2 cups water

For the sauce:

2-3 Tbsp soy sauce

1 clove garlic

1 Tbsp honey

pepper

a few shakes of rice vinegar

1 tsp toasted sesame seed oil

Sesame seeds

Put rice and water in a medium sauce pan. Heat to boiling; cover and turn heat to low.

While the rice is cooking, heat a drizzle of olive oil in a medium sized skillet. Add vegetables and onion and saute for 5-8 minutes, slowly adding a spoonful of sauce at a time until vegetables are thoroughly coated (you'll have some extra sauce left-great for drizzling over the finished dish!). Once the rice is finished cooking, place in a bowl and top with veggies. Sprinkle sesame seeds on top and enjoy!

Pear Tart

I made this for new year's eve. It wasn't very good, but I'm putting it on here because I think with a few alterations it could be much better. The recipe is from Real Simple and the idea is wonderful, but it was pretty dry. Bake it for 5-8 minutes less than the recommended cook time, and make sure the pears you use are really tasty. Also, this would be best served with a vanilla custard or vanilla bean ice cream.

1/2 cup unsalted butter

1 cup flour

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup vanilla or regular sugar

1 egg

3 Bosc pears, peeled, halved and cored

2 tsp cinnamon + 2 tsp vanilla sugar (mixed together)

1/4 cup apricot jam + 1 Tbsp lemon juice

Heat oven to 350 degrees

Butter a round or rectangular tart pan and set to the side. Combine flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl. In a separate bowl, cream the butter and sugar until smooth. Add the egg and beat thoroughly. Slowly add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients until just combined...you will have a very wet dough. Dip your fingers in flour and pull the dough from the sides of the bowl. Place it in the tart pan and using your fingers, push the dough on the bottom and sides of the pan to make an even crust. Place pears cut side down on crust and sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar. Bake 35 minutes or until almost (but not quite!) golden. In a small sauce pan (or a bowl in the microwave) heat the jam and lemon juice until liquidy and gently brush over the entire tart. Let cool slightly and serve with ice cream.

Original recipe here

Tuna and Apple Sandwich

-Trader Joe's multigrain bread, lightly toasted

-Extra sharp Cabot cheese, sliced

-Lots of avocado, thickly sliced

Mix together:

-1 can albacore tuna

-1 small gala apple, chopped into tiny pieces

-Olive oil mayo

-s&p

Assemble and eat.

Juiced

As part of a new year's resolution (although I don't think we're calling it that since those are made to be broken) the husband and I have started to be more aware of the foods we put into our body on a daily basis. Realizing that we almost never get the recommended amount of vegetables a day, we thought juicing might be a good idea. And we were totally right! It's so easy to do and even the cleanup isn't bad if you get to it right away. Our favorite combination is 2 carrots, 2 celery sticks, 1/2 a beet, 1 apple and 1/4 cup of pomegranate juice. We've been using an OLD juicer lent to us by my parents, which I'll have to take a picture of because it's pretty amazing. 'Acme Supreme' is the brand, but if you're in the market for a newer model, I hear the Breville BJE200XL is pretty good. Juicing seems a little wasteful as a huge amount of pulp is left in the juicer, but it just...tastes...so...good.

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season and a fun new year's eve...wow, I've been gone awhile, huh? Sorry for the absence; there were some computer breakdowns (all fixed now!) and extremely busy schedules which didn't allow time for cooking (busy no more!). But now I'm back, and hopefully I'll be better at posting on a more regular basis this year. As an incentive, I got some very nice stainless steel cookware from my in-laws (thanks mom and dad Jones!) and some super cute ramekins from my parents (thanks mom and dad Smith!) so good things should be in the works. You know what's funny? Since I'm using the names 'Smith' and 'Jones' it seems like I'm trying to hide their real identities...but I actually went from being a Smith to a Jones! Ridiculous.