Slow Cooker Instructions for Black Bean Soup

We developed an Easy Button version of our black bean soup. Dump in the ingredients and leave it alone.

Vegetarian Chili

We have a vegetarian in the house these days, so we’re making more vegetarian dishes than ever before. Sometimes, we just want one of the classics, so I adjusted my regular chili recipe. Everyone loved it. I make a double batch of this, then freeze a bunch containers for later. We end up having chili in some form about once a week. Enjoy this ridiculously easy recipe!

Peppermint Bark (with Updated Photos)

 

The picture on the original post was so terrible that it made me wince every time I went back to it when I was making peppermint bark. This is still my favorite holiday sweets recipe, so this wincing was happening far too often for my liking.

The layer of dark chocolate really makes this recipe sing. Peppermint bark is very simple, and it’s easy to double so you can use it for gifts. It always goes over well at parties.

Squash and Sweet Potato Soup

On a recent visit to the Calla Lily Victorian Tea Room, I couldn’t decide which soup to order. I asked our server, and he suggested that I try the Squash and Sweet Potato variety. I’m going to let him order for me from now on. It was so good, I started working on this recipe the following day.

The turmeric and curry flavors add a warming touch to this healthy soup. It’s perfect for a cold day!  

Almond-Chocolate-Cherry Bites

A quick snack or a sneakily healthy dessert, these little balls take about 10 minutes to create. The espresso powder adds depth to the sweetness, and the ground almonds create a wonderful texture. This recipe is going into our snack rotation.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup raw almonds
• 3/4 cup pitted dates
• 5 oz. dried cherries
• 3 T. cocoa powder, divided
• 1/4 tsp. + 1/8 tsp. espresso powder, divided
• Pinch of salt

Method:

1. Pulse the almonds in the food processor a few times to get them chopped.
2. Add dates, cherries, 2 T. cocoa powder, 1/4 tsp. espresso powder, and salt.
3. In a small bowl, mix 1 T. cocoa powder with 1/8 tsp. espresso powder.
4. Form the date mixture into 24 balls.
5. After all balls are formed, dip each one in the cocoa powder mix, then roll between your hands. Keep your hands over the bowl so that excess powder drops back into the bowl. Brush off any excess cocoa powder, then set each ball on a tray or plate.
6. Store in an airtight container.

2018 Freezer Meal Challenge

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One of my 2018 goals is to do more batch cooking. Each week, I want to make something that can be tripled. Two batches will go in the freezer.

By February, we can have 2 meals per week that we don’t have to do any work for. This will simplify meal planning each week. By the end of the year, I’ll have created over 100 “fast-food” meals that can be used in a pinch. YES!

Wanna join me? There’s a Facebook group for sharing recipes and grand plans.

A few things we’ll need in order to get started:

• Freezer containers. I’m having a heckuva time finding glass freezer containers with lids that hold up to lots of use. There’s a snap-lid set that I got from Target a few years back that I really enjoy, but they seem to have been discontinued. We also use big plastic containers and try not to heat them up.
• Masking tape for labelling the dishes with the contents and date (Because I don’t want to wait until the oyster crackers and sour cream are on the table before I find out that container of chili was actually meat sauce).
• A list of your freezer meals. This is optional, and I’m fairly sure this will be quickly abandoned around here. But it’s still a good idea to keep track of what is going into your freezer and what you have used.

Here are my big-batch January plans:

• Week of January 1: Meat sauce. I like to start with this one because a double batch makes six meals. SIX! It’s a great way to jump-start our freezer reserves.
• Week of January 8th: White chicken chili. We have a ton of leftover chicken in the freezer. This recipe is crazy simple for our first week back to school.
• Week of January 15th: Pinto beans. So versatile – we use these for rice and beans, burritos, tostadas, and side dishes.
• Week of January 22nd: Black bean soup. Because it’s everybody’s favorite.
• Week of January 29th: Peanut soup. Another fave.

I hope you will join me! Check here for updates, recipes, and check-ins.

Sushi Night

We do lots of fun meals that can be customized for each member of the family – pizza and okonomiyaki are two of our faves.

We finally got the kids to try sushi by taking them to a rotary sushi bar, with the cool conveyor belt rolling tons of different types of sushi past our table. I hate to be the parent who uses gimmicks to get their kids to try new things, but honestly, I’m just so happy that we can all go out for sushi. I’m willing to own up to the bribe. They liked it so much that they wanted to have sushi more often, so we started to DIY.

Virtual Birthday Celebration

My godmother’s birthday is February 24th. It’s been over 4 years since she passed away, but she’s never far from my mind and heart. 

No-Knead Bread

 

I have tried a lot of bread recipes. A. LOT. They tend to be a ton of work, and the loaves have always turned out dense and tasteless.

Until this recipe.

You GUYS. I can bake bread. This is dangerous. Everyone loves it far more than we should, especially considering how easy it is to make. 

Cough Balm

Between allergies and cold/flu season, it seems like someone at our house always has a little bit of a cough. A spoonful of this “tea” stirred into a cup of hot water calms the cough and helps loosen congestion.