It's "What's in the Fridge" Soup for a Cold Day - Andouille and Black Bean Soup

1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 pound andouille, stripped from the casing - I had some from Blues Creek
2 teaspoons chopped garlic
2 cups chopped onions - I used red
1/2 cup chopped celery
1 cups dried black beans
2 1/2 cups chicken brothIn a large saucepan, heat the oil and brown the andouille, cooking for
about five minutes. Add the garlic, onions and celery and sauté for two
to three minutes.Add the black beans, chicken broth, parsley, cumin
and bay leaves. Bring to a boil. Then reduce the heat, cover and sim-
mer for two hours, or until the beans are tender and soft. If the mixture
becomes too thick during the cooking time, add more broth. Add the
salt and hot sauce.
If you want a creamier or smoother soup, puree half of the mixture in
a food processor and return to the pot. Or, you can mash some of the
beans against the side of the pot with the back of a wooden spoon.
To serve, garnish the bowls of soup with sour cream or green onions if desired.

1-2 tsp. of cajun seasoning - sodium free kind
1 bay leaf
Hot sauce to taste or a jalapeno
Sour cream, chopped green onions for garnish

An Anthony Bourdain - Naples - had me craving really good sauce and good it was!!!

Recipe compliments of: the domestic diva

Ingredients

Fresh Garlic peeled and chopped (2 handfuls)
1 White Onion diced
6 cans Tuttorusso™ Tomato Puree
1/2 tube Amore™ Italian Tomato Paste (or 1/2 can of other paste)
Locatelli™ Pecorino Romano Cheese grated (3 handfuls)
Red Wine (drinking wine, not the cheap cooking kind)
Sugar (1/2 handful)
Pinch of Dried Oregano
10 Fresh Basil Leaves chopped
Water
Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper
Fried Meat (meatballs*, Italian sausage, Beef Braciole, steak, etc.)

In a 8 quart stock pot, add enough Olive Oil to lightly coat bottom of pan.

Add fresh Garlic and Onion. Heat over a high flame until soft.

STIR.

Add a splash or two of Red Wine. Lower flame on stove to medium.

STIR.

Add Tomato Puree. Rinse 1 Puree can with a 1/2 can of Water to remove excess Puree from can. Poor into next Puree can and so on until the 6th can is full. Now add remaining Puree/Water mixture to stock pot. By doing this you get all the tomato puree and waste none.

STIR.

Add Grated Cheese.

STIR.

Add Sugar, Salt, Pepper, Basil, Oregano and Tomato Paste.

STIR.

Bring to a boil. Lower heat to a low to medium flame.

STIR.

Add lots of Fried Meat including meatballs, Italian sweet and hot sausage, braciole and steak.

STIR.

Do not cover.

Cook for at least 3 hours stirring every 20 minutes to ensure nothing sticks to the bottom of the stock pot. Depending on how thick you want your tomato sauce, you can cook it for up to 5 hours.

Simple Ravioli with Peas and some version of Pork!

Pea-Prosciutto Ravioli
from Food Network Magazine.....


This recipe was so simple, tasty, and husband even ate leftovers which is not too common with him!

For 4 servings:
-4 oz of chopped Prosciutto (I used bacon. 80/20:)
-2 tbsp Olive Oil
-3 cloves of sliced Garlic
-1 tbsp Tomato Paste
-1 cup of reserved Pasta-Cooking Water
-1/4 cup Heavy Cream
-1 lb of cooked Ravioli
-1 cup frozen Peas
-Chopped Parsley
-Grated Parmesan (for garnish)

Cook the prosciutto in a large skillet with the 2 tbsp of olive oil over medium heat until crisp, approximately 4 minutes. Stir in the garlic and tomato paste; cook for 1 minute.

Ladle in 1 cup of pasta-cooking water and simmer until reduced by half. Then add in the heavy cream and simmer until the sauce has thickened. Toss in the cooked ravioli, frozen peas and the chopped parsley. Mix to combine and top it off with grated parmesan.

Queso Fresco from Scratch!

Okay, so I can't take credit for making this, but I was an "official" taster. For Christmas Day, my husband and I decided to go "Feliz Navidad" style. I just couldn't do any more "roast and mashed potatoes." The local grocery store, a very small
Wegmans was out of Queso Fresco, so my husband made his own from his newly acquired Rick Bayless Cookbook. I was TRES IMPRESSED! And, he swears it was super easy.

Fresh Cheese - Queso Fresco Mexicano

Makes about 1 pound

Ingredients

1 gallon whole or 2% milk—preferably from a small local dairy with grassfed cows: the richer the flavor, the better the cheese
2 cups buttermilk
1 teaspoon citric acid (aka sour salt)*
OR 1 cup fresh lime juice
1 teaspoon salt (pure fine-ground sea salt works best here)
Directions
1. Culture the milk. Pour the milk into a large (at least 8-quart) pot—I typically use an 8-quart enameled cast iron Dutch oven or a stainless steel 12-quart stock pot. Stir in the buttermilk, attach an accurate thermometer that registers temperatures as low as 75 degrees and set the pot over medium heat. When the temperature reaches 75 degrees, turn off the heat, cover the pot and let stand 3 or 4 hours.

2. Set the curd. If using citric acid, stir it into 1/4 cup cool water, continuing to stir until dissolved. Uncover the pot, set over medium heat and stir in the dissolved citric acid or the fresh lime juice. You will immediately see small curds start to form. Every couple of minutes, stir slowly, gently and thoroughly over the entire bottom of the pot until the milk reaches 195˚F—it’ll take just over 20 minutes. At this point the curds will very obviously be floating in the milky-transparent whey. Remove from the heat and let stand 5 minutes without stirring for all the curd.

3. Drain the curd from the whey. Wet a large piece of cheesecloth and drape it into a large colander. Set the colander in the sink. Using a large slotted spoon or a fine-mesh skimmer, carefully ladle all of the curd into the colander. Gather the cheesecloth up around the curd and gently press with the back of a large spoon to expel a bit more whey. Unwrap the curd onto a plate, break it up and sprinkle with 1 teaspoon of the salt. Work in the salt with a spoon or your fingers.

4. Finish the cheese. Gather the cheese curds into a 1-inch-thick disk, transfer to a plate, cover and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled. The cheese should last about 1 week in the refrigerator.

A dessert worth making! Caramel Apple Cake!

From Foodnetwork

Ingredients
For the Caramel and Apples:
•4 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus more for the pan
•3 cups sugar
•5 tablespoons light corn syrup -- Makes a lot of caramel...did not use it all!
•1 cup heavy cream
•4 large Golden Delicious apples (1 3/4 to 2 pounds) -- I used NY Cortland

For the Batter:
•3 cups all-purpose flour
•2 teaspoons baking powder
•1/2 teaspoon baking soda
•1 teaspoon salt
•1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
•1/2 cup sour cream
•1/3 cup fresh orange juice
•1 tablespoon vanilla extract
•1 stick unsalted butter, softened
•1 1/2 cups sugar
•3 large eggs
Directions
Butter a 9-by-3-inch round cake pan. Make the caramel: Cook the sugar and corn syrup in a large skillet over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture is dark amber, 7 to 10 minutes.
Reduce the heat to medium. Carefully add the cream and 4 tablespoons butter (it will splatter) and cook, stirring, until combined, about 3 minutes.
Remove the skillet from the heat and let sit 1 minute. Pour 1 1/2 cups caramel into a glass measuring cup and set aside. Pour the remaining caramel into the prepared pan and set aside until set, about 30 minutes.
Cut 3 apples into quarters and cut out the cores with a paring knife. Arrange the pieces skin-side down in the pan (overlapping them slightly) to form a ring about 1/2 inch from the edge. Save any pieces that do not fit for later.
Halve the remaining whole apple crosswise. Scoop out the seeds with a melon baller or measuring spoon, leaving the stem on the top half. Chop the bottom and any of the leftover quartered apples into pieces; set aside.
Arrange the apple top, stem-side down, in the center of the pan. If the quartered apples shift, just push them back into place.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Make the batter: Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in a medium bowl. In a small bowl, whisk the sour cream, orange juice and vanilla.
Using a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.
Crack the eggs into a small bowl. Slip them into the mixer bowl, one at a time, and beat until the mixture is pale and creamy, about 5 more minutes. Scrape down the bowl and beater with a rubber spatula.
With the mixer on low speed, add half of the sour cream mixture, then half of the flour mixture. Repeat. Turn off the mixer and scrape down the bowl with a rubber spatula; finish combining the batter by hand.
Spread the batter over the apples in the pan. Top with the chopped apple. Bake on the middle oven rack until the cake is brown on top and springs back when pressed, 1 hour to 1 hour 20 minutes (don't worry if the top is dark). Cool in the pan on a rack.
Bring 1 inch of water to a simmer in a skillet wide enough to hold the cake pan. Carefully run a sharp knife around the inside of the pan several times, then rest the pan in the water to soften the caramel, about 8 minutes. Remove the pan from the water and dry.
Invert a plate on top of the cake, then flip over the cake and plate. Using pot holders or a towel, wriggle the pan off. Soften the reserved 1 1/2 cups caramel in the microwave, about 2 minutes. Drizzle the cake with some of the caramel.

It was a Clintonville Farmer's Market Feast

Compliments of my brother in law Sam and Elizabeth Telling Farm, we made some amazinging healthy and yummy stuff this weekend!

So, maybe this wasn't sooo healthy, but it was good and it did have zucchini!

Chocolate Zucchini Cake
Ingredients
2 1/2 cups regular all-purpose flour, unsifted
1/2 cup cocoa
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 cup soft butter
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 teaspoons grated orange peel
2 cups coarsely shredded zucchini
1/2 cup milk
1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans -- not a nut person, so I skipped this
Glaze - can o frosting from store, mixed with some juiced fresh strawberries. :) Or the recipe below
Method
Preheat the oven to 350°F.
1 Combine the flour, cocoa, baking powder, soda, salt, and cinnamon; set aside.
2 With a mixer, beat together the butter and the sugar until they are smoothly blended. Add the eggs to the butter and sugar mixture one at a time, beating well after each addition. With a spoon, stir in the vanilla, orange peel, and zucchini.
3 Alternately stir the dry ingredients and the milk into the zucchini mixture, including the nuts with the last addition.
4 Pour the batter into a greased and flour-dusted 10-inch tube pan or bundt pan. Bake in the oven for about 50 minutes (test at 45 minutes!) or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan 15 minutes; turn out on wire rack to cool thoroughly.
5 Drizzle glaze over cake.
Glaze: Mix together 2 cups powdered sugar, 3 Tablespoons milk, and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Beat until smooth.
Cut in thin slices to serve. Makes 10-12 servings.

As Anthony Bourdain would NOT say...YUMMO!

Crash Hot Potatoes
Love this blog site, Pioneer Woman Cooks... her pics of this recipe are very helpful.

Made these the other night, and they truly were yummo;)

Servings: 6
Ingredients
12 whole New Potatoes (or Other Small Round Potatoes)
3 Tablespoons Olive Oil
Kosher Salt To Taste
Black Pepper To Taste
Rosemary (or Other Herbs Of Choice) To Taste ...I used parsley and rosemary.
Preparation Instructions
Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Add in as many potatoes as you wish to make and cook them until they are fork-tender.
On a sheet pan, generously drizzle olive oil. Place tender potatoes on the cookie sheet leaving plenty of room between each potato.
With a potato masher, gently press down each potato until it slightly mashes, rotate the potato masher 90 degrees and mash again. Brush the tops of each crushed potato generously with more olive oil.
Sprinkle potatoes with kosher salt, fresh ground black pepper and fresh chopped rosemary (or chives or thyme or whatever herb you have available.)
Bake in a 450 degree oven for 20-25 minutes until golden brown.