Tag: leaf

Black Bean Soup with Bacon and Giveaway Winner!

by Pam on December 9, 2012

I was in the mood for soup today so I went in search of what was in my refrigerator. I decided to keep it simple and make a black bean soup. I usually toss in some chorizo but I didn’t have any so I decided to use bacon instead. I also added sweet potato, red pepper, onion, carrot, and celery to make it extra hearty and flavorful. After the soup simmered for a couple of hours, I blended most of it up with my immersion blender then ladled it into serving bowls. I topped each bowl with cilantro, green onion, avocado, cotija cheese, sour cream, and diced tomato. It was extremely flavorful and utterly delicious. My kids ate every last drop of their soup and my husband & I both loved it and look forward to the leftovers tomorrow for lunch.

Place a large Dutch oven on the stove and heat up over medium heat. Add the bacon slices and cook, until it golden brown; remove and place on a paper towel; crumble into bits. Wipe out all but 1-2 teaspoons of bacon grease. Add the sweet potato, red pepper, onion, carrot, and celery to the Dutch oven and cook until softened, about 5-7 minutes. Add the minced garlic, cumin, chile powder, oregano, sea salt and freshly cracked pepper, to taste; cook, stirring constantly, for 1 minute. Add the drained & rinsed black beans, chicken broth, bacon bits, lime juice, bay leaf, and molasses. Cover and simmer for 2 hours, stirring occasionally.

Remove the bay leaf from the pot of soup then blend with an immersion blender for a minute or so. Taste and re-season if needed. Ladle soup into bowls then top each bowl of soup with fresh cilantro, green onion, avocado, cotija cheese, sour cream, and diced tomato. Serve & enjoy.

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Black Bean Soup with Bacon

Yield: 8

Prep Time: 15 min.

Cook Time: 2 hours

Total Time: 2 hours & 15 min.

Ingredients:

5 slices of bacon, cooked & crumbled
1 small sweet potato, peeled & diced small
1/2 red bell pepper, diced small
1/2 sweet yellow onion, diced small
1 carrot, peeled and diced small
1 stalk of celery, diced small
5 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tbsp cumin
1 tsp chile powder
1/2 tsp oregano
Sea salt and freshly cracked pepper, to taste
3 15oz cans of black beans, rinsed & drained
4 cups of chicken broth
Juice of 1 lime
1 bay leaf
1 tsp molasses

Garnish:

Fresh cilantro, chopped
Green onions, chopped
Avocado, diced
Cotija cheese, crumbled
Sour Cream
Grape tomatoes, diced

Directions:

Place a large Dutch oven on the stove and heat up over medium heat. Add the bacon slices and cook, until it golden brown; remove and place on a paper towel; crumble into bits. Wipe out all but 1-2 teaspoons of bacon grease. Add the sweet potato, red pepper, onion, carrot, and celery to the Dutch oven and cook until softened, about 5-7 minutes. Add the minced garlic, cumin, chile powder, oregano, sea salt and freshly cracked pepper, to taste; cook, stirring constantly, for 1 minute. Add the drained & rinsed black beans, chicken broth, bacon bits, lime juice, bay leaf, and molasses. Cover and simmer for 2 hours, stirring occasionally.

Remove the bay leaf from the pot of soup then blend with an immersion blender for a minute or so. Taste and re-season if needed. Ladle soup into bowls then top each bowl of soup with fresh cilantro, green onion, avocado, cotija cheese, sour cream, and diced tomato. Serve & enjoy.

Recipe and photos by For the Love of Cooking.net

Giveaway Winner:

The winner of the MyRecipes America’s Favorite Food cookbook is comment number 124:

Angelina — December 8, 2012 @ 6:00 am^[3]: My birthday is on the 9th!!! This would be an awesome b-day gift.

Happy birthday Angelina – you won! Please e-mail me your mailing address at gordon-ramsay-recipe.com@gmail.com so I can send the cookbook to you as soon as possible.

References

^{^} Print Recipe (www.gordon-ramsay-recipe.com)
^{^} Save to ZipList Recipe Box (www.gordon-ramsay-recipe.com)
^{^} 6:00 am (www.gordon-ramsay-recipe.com)

Incoming search terms:

shrimp cocktail sauce recipe gordon ramsay

Pressure Cooker Split Pea Soup with Ham

When I want a hearty bowl of split pea soup in a hurry, my pressure cooker is my best friend! Split pea soup is loaded with fiber, and it’s a comforting meal on a chilly night. I usually serve this with a slice of crusty bread, toasted and rubbed with a little garlic.

This soup is also my favorite way to use up leftover ham or a ham bone. It’s super easy, but not always super quick… unless you use a pressure cooker!

Using a pressure cooker cuts the cooking time by less than half and everything always tastes better for some reason. I’ve been using my pressure cooker for years; in South America it is widely popular to make soups, beans, and stews because it’s quick and saves on gas. I own a fancy electric one, but for some reason I still rather use my old stove top Presto.

When making soups and stews in the pressure cooker, very little liquid evaporates, so I usually cut the liquid down a bit. I found a great Pressure Cooker Cheat Sheet^[1] on Pressure Cooker For Dummies, if you own one and are scared of it, you might find this interesting.

I used Better than Bouillon, I love the flavor it adds to soups, but you can use chicken broth in it’s place if you prefer.

A few notes: Today is my 3rd day doing the Holiday Runner’s Streak (run at least 1 mile everyday until the Holidays, see 2012 Holiday Running Streak from Runner’s World^[2]). It was really hard to get out of bed this morning, but I am happy I got it out of the way. How are you doing, still with me?

Also, now until Dec 2nd, Heather K Jones, RD created a One Month Skinnytaste meal plan (so many of you asked for this!) and is offering a fabulous health tool that will help you tap into the power of your own personality and arm you with the insight you need for ultimate weight loss success. Check out the Diet Type offer on Skinny Bits^[3] this week! The offer includes a jump start meal plan featuring Skinnytaste recipes, and a FREE copy the awesome healthy grocery shopping guide, The Grocery Cart Makeover.

By the way, this soup freezes well, leftovers are perfect for lunch or make a batch for once a month cooking.

Pressure Cooker Split Pea Soup with Ham
gordon-ramsay-recipe.com
Servings: 6 • Size: 1 1/4 cups • Old Points: 4 pts • Points+: 7
Calories: 254 • Fat: 2 g • Carb: 51.5 g • Fiber: 20 g • Protein: 24 g • Sugar: 5 g
Sodium: 694.5 mg (to reduce the sodium use less bouillon)

Ingredients:

1 lb dry green split peas
1 tsp olive oil
2 large carrots, peeled
1 medium onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
7 oz reduced sodium ham steak, diced (Boar’s Head)
6 cups water
1 tbsp Better Than Bouillon or 1 cube*
1 bay leaf

Directions:

Rinse peas under cold water.

In a pressure cooker, heat oil over medium heat. Add onions, carrots, and garlic and saute 4-5 minutes. Add ham, peas, water, chicken bouillon and bay leaf and bring to a boil. When the liquid boils, cover and lock the lid and continue cooking until the pot reaches pressure, then reduce heat to low and set a timer for 20 minutes.

After the 20 minutes, shut the stove off and let the pressure cooker release the steam on it’s own. When the lid unlocks, adjust liquid if needed, taste for salt and pepper and remove bay leaf. If the soup looks like it should cook a little longer, you can let it simmer covered (unlocked) until it has reached your desired thickness.

To make without a pressure cooker, add 2 more cups water and simmer covered on low for 2 hours.
*Check labels for Gluten Free

References

^{^} Pressure Cooker Cheat Sheet (www.dummies.com)
^{^} 2012 Holiday Running Streak from Runner’s World (www.runnersworld.com)
^{^} Diet Type offer on Skinny Bits (www.skinny-bits.com)

Incoming search terms:

Mixed Nuts

With the holiday entertaining season getting closer with
each falling leaf, it’s time to start thinking about those easy, yet still kind
of fancy, snack recipes. These sweet, salty, spicy, party nuts are simple to
make, and will rival those expensive blends at the local Foodies-R-Us.

I find this technique much easier than the stovetop pan
method. You’ll get beautiful, perfectly frosted nuts that are roasted evenly,
with no bitter burned spots. Speaking of which, I played it pretty safe with
the cooking times, so you may be able to go a few minutes longer for a deeper
roast, but, don’t get greedy.

By the way, I always upload these videos to YouTube before I
publish the blog post, and I just finished reading the first few comments. Wow,
they sure have some wild imaginations over there! They claim the video is
loaded with innuendos and lowbrow, double entendre-based humor. How dare they!
They’re LOL’ing, ROFL’ing, and LMFAO’ing all over perfectly innocent recipe
directions. It’s nuts.

Anyway, I hope you give these delicious, candied mixed nuts
a try soon. Enjoy!

Ingredients for 4 cups of nuts:

1 cup raw walnut halves

1 cup raw pecan halves

1 cup unsalted, dry roasted almonds

1 cup unsalted, dry roasted cashews

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

1/4 tsp cumin

1/4 tsp cayenne

*For the syrup:

1 or 2 tbsp butter

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup water

*Heat to a boil, cook one minute, and pour over nuts!