Southwestern Bean Soup

I wish you all the Merriest Christmas and the Happiest New Year! Thank you for your continued support, you have all made this blogging experience so much richer than I ever could have imagined, thank you.

Our neighbourhood progressive dinner party was scheduled for the Saturday after we returned home from Arizona; I didn’t think it would be a problem since we were responsible for hors d’œuvres and appetizers. Had I read more than the heading of the email from the organizers (the main course couple), I would have realized that things were to get a bit more complicated since one person decided to go vegetarian and dairy free (for health reasons). I love a challenge but I would have liked to experiment a bit more, notwithstanding, it turned out delicious so I documented the recipe for the future. Like most recipes, this tastes better the day after it is made!

South Western Bean Soup

A KitchenInspirations Original Recipe

Serves 6-8 depending on serving size

To print recipe, please click here.

Ingredients:

• 40 g black beans, soaked overnight
• 160 g navy beans, soaked overnight
• 100 g kidney beans, soaked overnight
• 200 g sweet onion, finely chopped
• 15 mL olive oil
• 5 g toasted cumin
• 2 g toasted coriander
• pinch of chili powder, or to taste
• 5 g smoked paprika, or to taste
• 7 g cocoa powder
• 10 g garlic, finely minced
• 40 g tomato paste
• 2 g puréed chipotle peppers
• 750 mL vegetable stock
• 250 mL passata
• 165 g grilled corn, removed from cob
• cilantro to garnish
• sour cream or Greek yogurt to garnish
• grated cheese to garnish
• 125 mL creamed lentils (see notes)
• 1 large avocado, cubed to garnish

Directions:

1. Caramelize chopped onions in the olive oil. In the meantime, add the vegetable stock, passata, beans to the warm crock pot and put on high for 5 hours.
2. Add the onions, all of the spices, tomato paste, and enchilada sauce and stir well. Cover and cook for 5 hours.
3. When the beans are soft, add the creamed lentils and stir into the soup so it is consistent and creamy. Add the grilled corn kernels, and cook for an additional 30 minutes on high, stirring occasionally.
4. Serve in warmed bowls and top with avocado, a spoonful of Greek yogurt, cilantro, and cheese. Serve immediately with Cornbread.

Notes:

• I use lentils as a thickener particularly when I make gluten-free recipes. Simply cook lentils until soft and purée with a stick blender until smooth. Freeze the excess in an ice-cube tray and when frozen, pop into a zip lock bag.
• I buy chipotle peppers in a can, purée and freeze the excess in an ice-cube tray and when frozen, pop into a zip lock bag, same goes for tomato paste.

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Baked Jalapeño Poppers (and a vegetarian, gluten and dairy free option)

Our neighbourly South-Western- themed progressive dinner party was scheduled two days after we returned home from Arizona, I didn’t think it would be a problem because we were only responsible for hors d’œuvres and appetizers, easy-peasy! HA! Had I read more than the heading of the organizer’s email, I would have realized that things would get a bit more complicated since one person decided to go vegetarian, gluten and dairy free (for health reasons). But, you know me, I do love a challenge and as luck would have it, my experiments turned out even better than I expected! So much so, that JT has asked for it several times since, so I documented the recipe for the future use.

This recipe originated from Emeril Lagasse but I tweaked it a little bit. What attracted me to this recipe was, of course, that it was baked an not deep fried, and although deep fried would be awesome, it’s always nice to lower calories whenever possible particularly if you need not sacrifice flavour or texture! I think you will be very happy with the baked version (our group could not get enough of them)! I’ll speak to the vegetarian, gluten-free and dairy- free version in my notes below (no pics, sorry).

You can see how crispy these turned out.

Baked Jalapeño Poppers

Makes about 24 jalapeño poppers

For the original recipe, please click here.

Ingredients:

• 12 fresh jalapeno peppers, halved lengthwise, stems, seeds and membranes removed
• 170 g (6 oz) cream cheese, at room temperature
• 140 g (1 1/2 cups) grated sharp or old cheddar
• 3 g (1/2 tsp) ground cumin
• pinch of cayenne, or less, to taste
• 2 large eggs
• 30 mL (2 tbsp) milk
• 8 tsp Essence, divided
• 1 cup panko crumbs
• 1/2 cup coconut flour
• non-stick spray

Directions:

1. In a small mixing bowl, combine the cream cheese and grated cheddar and mix well.
2. Toast the cumin until you can smell the aroma, allow to cool and add to the cream cheese mixture and stir well. Set aside.
3. Prepare your breading station by whisking 2 large eggs with 2 tsp of the Essence and the milk in a shallow bowl. In a second shallow bowl, mix 4 tsp of the Essence with the coconut flour. In the third shallow bowl, add 2 tsp of the Essence to the panko and mix well. Reserve remaining essence for the next time (and believe me, there will be a next time!)
4. Fill each jalapeño densely with the cream cheese mixture, being careful not to mound it too high; continue filling until you have filled all of the jalapeño halves.
5. Dredge each jalapeño half in the coconut flour, then dip into the egg mixture and repeat once more. Finally, dip each pepper into the panko and press panko into the jalapeño to coat well. Repeat until all are coated.
6. Pre-heat the oven to  375° F. Place jalapeño cut side up on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Give each jalapeño a light coating with the non-stick spray. Bake for 30 minutes or until panko is golden and crisp.
7. Serve warm with sour cream and salsa.

Notes:

• For the vegetarian, gluten-free and dairy-free version, I simply replaced the cheeses with creamed lentils (about 1/4 cup cooked in vegetable broth and puréed with a stick blender) and the panko with shredded unsweetened coconut. Even the non-vegetarians loved them! (Sorry, no pics).
• I use coconut flour for baked “fried” foods because the coconut has an unbelievable absorption property which makes the batter so much crispier than all-purpose flour.
• I used gloves to protect my hands from the jalapeños as I cleaned them, you might consider doing this too.
• Leftovers? Freeze unbaked jalapeños on a parchment-lined baking sheet and when frozen, pop them into a ziplock bag.To bake frozen jalapeños, no need to defrost, just bake for a little longer to crisp up.

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Mushroom, Chestnut and Bean Wellington

During the month we spent in Arizona, we had the pleasure of celebrating American Thanksgiving with our dear friends down there. Our dear friends who live there offered to make the turkey (thank goodness, as I did not have any of my special kitchen tools!) so I offered to make a few different sides. We had dear friends visiting from Toronto and they are vegetarian and I wanted to make something special for them for Thanksgiving, so I made this Mushroom, Chestnut and Bean Wellington. I purchased the puff pastry to make it easier but I made everything else. I was surprised to find roasted Italian chestnuts (in the Kosher section, no less!) but sadly the mushrooms were just plain cremini and white mushrooms, not much variety. It’s always a bit of a challenge to cook in a strange kitchen and shop in a different part of the world, but I think this one turned out wonderful and with a variety of mushrooms, it would be amazing! Please excuse the photos, this is the one and only blog post I managed to eak out during our stay in Arizona, I was THAT busy!

Scroll down to the end of this post to see the house we rented. It took us some time to find one that was decorated in light airy colours, most of the rentals are dark and dowdy, filled with ‘granny’s furniture’ and I just couldn’t bear to live in that for a month! Although I might have chosen a slightly lighter tone for the walls, this house made me happy.

Fresh out of the oven.

A KitchenInspirations Original Recipe

Makes 1 Wellington about 30 cm x 15 cm (12 inches x 6 inches)

To print recipe, please click here.

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup sweet onion, finely chopped
• 1 tbsp unsalted butter
• 1 tbsp EVOO
• 2 cups variety of mushrooms, roughly chopped
• 1 tbsp garlic, finely minced
• 1/2 cup carrots, finely cubed
• 1/2 cup celery, finely cubed
• 1/2 cup zucchini, finely cubed
• 1/2 cup roasted chestnuts, roughly chopped
• 1/2-1 tsp fresh rosemary, finely minced
• 1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs
• 1 cup navy beans, soaked
• 4 cups vegetable stock, divided
• 1/2 cup port
• salt
• pepper
• 1 puff pastry sheet
• 2 tbsp Dijon mustard
• 1 egg yolk, lightly whisked with a little water.

Directions:

1. Cook the navy beans in 3 cups veggie stock or water, cool.
2. In a heavy bottom pan, caramelize the onions in the melted butter and olive oil on medium heat (about 20 minutes). Add mushrooms and cook until the mushroom liquid has evaporated. Turn the heat up and caramelize the mushrooms add the port to deglaze the pan.
3. Add the garlic, carrots, celery, zucchini and roasted chestnuts and sauté until carrots are slightly softened.
4. Add the rosemary, panko, cooked navy beans, and veggie stock. Season to taste. Remove from heat and cool completely.
5. On a cold surface, roll out the puff pastry sheet to about 30 cm x 40 cm (12 inches x 16 inches). Brush the Dijon mustard on the pastry and mound the cooled mushroom filling in the centre of the pastry. Turn up each side until they meet in the middle and pinch closed. Pinch the ends closed and trim off excess pastry.
6. Turn the log onto a parchment lined baking sheet seamed sized down, and brush with the egg yolk. Decorate with leaves from the leftover end pastry and brush with egg wash. Bake in a hot 400° F oven for 35-40 minutes or until golden.
7. Serve sliced hot out of the oven, or reheat to serve.

A tasty treat wrapped in delicious buttery pastry.

Click on any photo for the slideshow.

House Front

Foyer

Panorama of the interior

Diningroom and Office

Office

Livingroom

Kitchen

Master bedroom

Master Bath

Guest Room

Guest Bath

Side Porch

Backyard

Golf cart

Main Clubhouse

Interior of the Main Clubhouse

Interior of the Main Clubhouse

The Bar

The Bistro

Wine Vault

Lap pool

La Casa Pool

The Spa

The Workout Room

4 Tennis Courts

The Algarve, 2nd clubhouse

The Algarve Pool

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Skillet Chocolate Chunk Cookie

I will reveal our latest adventure now! Drumroll please: We spent the month of November in Arizona. We have dear friends who live there during the winter and when we were visiting during February, we tossed around the idea to buy a second house there. But before we make the plunge, we wanted to be certain we liked it so we rented an awesome house in the same community that our friends live.

Now who were we kidding? It was -5° C (23° F) (but it felt like -10° C (14° F)) in Toronto while we were enjoying 28° C (82° F) with sunshine. Every. Single. Day. What’s not to like? The community is tagged as resort-style living with a gorgeous golf course and 4 swimming pools, a spa, workout facilities and a couple of restaurants. Yep, I could get used to it!

The community is located in Queen’s Creek. Queen’s Creek is situated in the San Tan Valley, south-east of Phoenix, Arizona. As another friend said, “it’s not quite the end of the world, but you can see the end of the world from there!”

It is also a mere 4.5-hour drive to the Grand Canyon and that is where we did our EPIC hike! We hiked 7.5 hours to Indian Grove and back. Going down was relatively easy, we bought good hiking boots and sticks, but going up was significantly more challenging because of the altitude and lack of oxygen. We stopped and rested a lot. Listening to your body is essential as is allowing your muscles to recover as you’re ascending. It took us 3 hours to hike down and 3.5 hours to hike back up (which isn’t bad for a couple of old folks!), the rest of the time we spent at Indian Grove eating a delicious lunch I packed. The worst part was the day and day two later, my calves ached like a demon. But it was worth it! I’ve put together s little slide show of our hike at the end of this post, if you are interested. And by the way, my stupid FitBit died sometime during our hike so I don’t even know how many steps we did, but if the last time we hiked only 1.5 hours down and back was any indication, we did 22,000 steps! This is my third FitBit Zip and when I called them that it was eating the batteries like crazy (one every 2-3 weeks) they said it was a known issue and they are working on fixing it but would do NOTHING ELSE. So I am done with FitBit, they let me down in one of the most epic hikes of my life and had nothing but “oh, sorry” to say about it. I am going to get a Garmin which I hear are much more reliable.

This cookie has nothing to do with the hike or our trip, it’s a cookie I made for Canadian Thanksgiving at my sweet cousin Lucy’s place. My dear blogging friend Liz (of That Skinny Chick Can Bake, blog) was the inspiration, I saw the recipe on her site a while back. These cookies were all the rave in the 90’s on restaurant menus but I haven’t seen one in ages. Liz’s recipe will change that for sure.

Skillet Chocolate Chunk Cookie

Makes 1 12″ Cookie

Please click here for the original recipe.

Click here to print this recipe.

Ingredients:

• 195 g butter
• 100 g granulated sugar
• 150 g brown sugar
• 15 mL vanilla
• 1 egg
• 1 egg white
• 350 g AP Flour
• 3 g baking powder
• 5 g salt
• 100 g chocolate chips (I used Belgian milk and semi-sweet chocolate)

Directions:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 375° F (I used the convection setting). Prepare a 30 cm cast iron skillet with non-stick cooking spray.
2. Melt the butter and sugars in a heatproof bowl in the microwave, stir until sugars have melted. Cool slightly and then stir in the vanilla. Combine the egg and whites and whisk. Whisk into the butter-sugar mixture.
3. Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt, add it to the butter-sugar mixture and mix until well combined.
4. Fold in 3/4 the chocolate, reserving about 1/4 to dot the top of the cookie for garnish.
5. Bake for 25-35 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.
6. Cool to room temperature. Serve slicing fractions of the circle.

Notes:

• I like to buy Belgian chocolate disks (not molding chocolate) and melt them, spread them on a cookie sheet and chill until set. Then I break up the sheets by hand, making different sized pieces with a variety of thicknesses.

It’s a cross between cookie and blondie that is quite difficult to resist.

Click on the first photo to see the slideshow.

JT sitting on the patio stoop of our room.

View from our back door.

On our way to dinner, we bumped into these guys.

This one was quite friendly.

Canyon View.

Morning view across the Canyon.

These are the donkeys they use to traverse the hiking path. They are amazingly sure-footed.

Canyon Squirrel

Cabin at Indian Grove, the base camp that you can hike to and back in one day. To go further, you have to stay overnight.

This dear and her calf joined us for lunch in Indian Grove.

The Dear at Indian Grove.

Morning views.

The Bright Angel Canyon path.

Looking up from the Canyon.

Looking up from the Canyon.

Looking up from the Canyon.

On our way up.

This is me right after the hike. I may have been a wee bit tired.

Morning view of the Canyon.

We bumped into this guy on our way out. He is an elk.

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