Refried Beans

     J.T. loves Mexican food, but I only prefer to eat it occasionally and when it is prepared in my own kitchen.  I look back and laugh about our first few months of dating.  I knew J.T. loved hot and spicy Mexican flavored foods, so I threw hot sauce, chili powder, cumin and paprika into practically every dish I made.  He loved it but I grew tired of all that spice!  About a month ago, we celebrated his 29^th birthday (for the 7^th time J) and he requested homemade Mexican food.  I settled on a menu of Beef Tacos with Refried Beans.  In my own health conscious brain, I decided the refried beans would count as our vegetable for the evening.  Many people associate Mexican food as cheap food.  While it is one of the cheaper meals to purchase at a restaurant, it can be quite pricy to prepare at home.  All the fresh ingredients – tomatoes, lettuce, peppers, onions, avocados, etc. – can really add up at the grocery store.  Beans, refried beans to be exact, are always an economical choice in our kitchen.  I often tell J.T. we would starve to death if it were not for beans. 

A little side note – I actually photographed and edited the photos listed below this past February.  I photographed a lot before I began working full time, because I knew I would not be able to continue to keep up with the blog.  It has taken me this long to perfect my refried bean recipe.  My other big project right now is my cookbook.  It may never become published, but I love working on it.  As Julia Child would say “cook bookery” is difficult business.  The countless hours it takes to test recipes and write are not for the weary, but I love it and hope to make a career from it one day.  I can always dream…

Refried Beans

Serves 6

slow cooker

Ingredients

• 1 pound pinto beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 6 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and finely diced
• 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1 tablespoon cumin
• 1 tablespoon paprika
• 3 teaspoons celtic sea salt
• 1 teaspoon coarse ground black pepper
• 5 ½ cups water

Directions

1. Combine the pinto beans, onion, garlic, jalapeno peppers, olive oil, chili powder, cumin, paprika, sea salt, pepper, and water in a slow cooker.  Cover and cook on low for 8 hours.
2. Use an immersion blender to puree the beans before serving.  

Make ahead:  After pureeing, transfer the beans to a large casserole dish.  Reheat, uncovered, in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes.  The beans can also be frozen.  Cool completely overnight in the refrigerator before transferring to freezer safe containers.  Freeze up to 3 months. 

Waffles

     I haven't had time to blog in quite a while and I truly miss it. People often ask me if I still cook and the answer to this question is a resounding yes. Most days, I cannot not wait to get home from work and into the kitchen. I spend my Saturday mornings in the kitchen, often waking up way too early because I am busting to get started. It is a tiring job, but yet so fulfilling.

     If you know my personality, then you know I am a creature of routine. I HATE change and disorganization. Everything has a place and everything goes a certain way. My lists and excel spreadsheets would drive most people mad, but it is how I keep track of life. I take the same approach towards meal planning, grocery lists, budgets, etc. We are still following the $60.00 a week grocery budget. Recently, I started planning our meals in 2 week blocks. J.T. goes to the grocery store on Friday, as soon as school lets out. He does better at the store than I used to do, always coming in under budget. I am so grateful for his help. This leaves only the farmer's market to go to on Saturday mornings and we are doing this every other week as well.

     Waffles have become a weekly tradition at our house, peanut butter waffles to be exact. We always have peanut butter waffles and eggs on Friday night. I make the waffles and J.T. cooks the eggs because he is the egg master. It is an easy, fun meal that both of us look forward to each week. The meal is even better when the Braves are playing and they beat the Dodgers. I always make the waffles in advance and freeze them. This makes them easy to pull out, slather with peanut butter, top with another waffle, cut into quarters and pop in the oven - crisp and gooey peanut butter waffle sandwiches. The recipe listed below is for the waffles. Serve them with syrup or make the peanut butter waffle sandwiches. They are great both ways!

Ingredients

·         2 cups multi grain gluten free flour blend

·         1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

·         ¾ teaspoon baking soda

·         ½ teaspoon celtic sea salt

·         1 ¾ cups unsweetened almond milk, at room temperature

·          ½ cup coconut oil, plus more for greasing the waffle iron

·         1 tablespoon molasses

·         1 teaspoon vanilla

·         2 eggs, yolks and whites separated

Directions

1.      Place a small glass or stainless steel mixing bowl and two handheld mixer beaters into the freezer.

2.      In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and sea salt.  Set aside.  In a large liquid measuring cup, whisk together the almond milk, coconut oil, molasses, vanilla, and egg yolks.  Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir until just combined.  The batter should still be lumpy.

3.      Use a pastry brush to lightly grease a waffle iron with coconut oil.  Preheat the waffle iron to a medium high temperature.

4.      Remove the chilled bowl and beaters from the freezer.  Beat the egg whites on high speed, with a handheld electric mixer until soft peaks form.  Gently, fold the egg whites into the batter.

5.      Ladle the batter into the preheated waffle iron using a ½ cup measuring cup.  Cook each waffle according the waffle iron manufacturer’s instructions.  Keep warm in a 200 degree oven if serving immediately.

Make ahead:  In a single layer, place as many waffles as you can on a large baking sheet.  Freeze for 1 hour.  Remove the frozen waffles from the baking sheet and stack in freezer safe plastic bags.  Repeat process.  This freezing method helps the waffles retain their shape.  Freeze up to 3 months.  Reheat in 375 degree oven for 10 minutes.   

Sweet Potato Muffins

    Finding a way to eat healthy food inexpensively is challenging.  I face this obstacle weekly as a plan our menu and make out the grocery list.  Honestly, it can be very frustrating.  Sometimes I have to take a break from menu planning because I can’t get the numbers and the food to line up.  There are so many things I want to make but eggs, butter, and fresh vegetables add up quickly.  Our newest challenge of eating local has stretched the budget even thinner.  Why yes, we would love to have fresh broccoli for supper, but not at $4.00 a pound.  One week I did cave and buy half a pound.  I then proceeded to burn it while it roasted in the oven.  Whoops.  We have been purchasing the majority of our produce from Snow’s Bend, a local farm in Coker that uses organic farming practices.  Although the broccoli I just mentioned sounds expensive, you would pay much more for the same amount of organic broccoli at Publix.  This week we ate swiss chard, bok choy, turnip greens, butter lettuce, romaine lettuce, and onions.  All of which were so fresh and full of flavor - flavor that could never be imitated in grocery store produce.  This sounds silly, but I told J.T. that I feel like Julia Child shopping at the market.  I am currently reading her memoir, My Life in France, (which I picked up on our recent trip to see her kitchen!) and she shopped the markets on the streets of Paris for the freshest fruits, vegetables, meats, and seafood.  I am fascinated by that woman.  

    Onward to the point of this entire blog post: sweet potato muffins.  I will confess that these sweet potatoes were purchased at Publix.  Sweet potatoes are out of season and there were none to be found at the market.  One of the many things I love about sweet potatoes is that they are inexpensive.  Even at full price they are a mere $0.99 a pound and they are classified as one of the clean 15 vegetables.  I made a dozen of these as a gift to my Mama on Mother’s Day.  My mother graciously shared them, so we all had one topped with ice cream for dessert.  Everyone thought they were delicious and I agree.

Ingredients

• 1 ½ cups whole grain gluten-free flour blend
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ¼ teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon nutmeg
• ½ cup pure clover honey
• ½ cup virgin coconut oil
• 2 eggs, at room temperature
• ½ teaspoon vanilla
• 1 ½ cups mashed, roasted sweet potatoes, about 1 pound

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line a 12-cup muffin tin with liners.
2. In the bowl of a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, stir together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, kosher salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.  
3. In a large glass liquid measuring cup, whisk together the honey, coconut oil, eggs, and vanilla.  Pour the wet ingredients into the mixing bowl and mix on low speed until just combined.  Fold in the sweet potatoes.
4. Divide the batter equally among the prepared muffin tin.  The cups will be fairly full.  Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, or until a pick inserted into the middle comes out clean.  Yields 12 muffins. Cool completely.  Refrigerate for up to 5 days or freeze for up to 3 months.  

* I made my own gluten-free whole grain flour, but you can also substitute whole wheat flour.   The recipe behind my whole grain flour blend came from here.  I used the following ratios:

·         350 grams buckwheat flour

·         350 grams oat flour

·         300 grams arrowroot flour

This flour recipe makes more than what is required for this recipe.  Store any extra in the refrigerator.  

J.T.’s Brownies

     I have been on a brief hiatus from my blog, but I am trying to get back into the swing of things.  It dawned on me earlier today that I don’t have to take a picture of every single step of a recipe.  Editing pictures, styling food, and trying to make your blog look halfway decent for readers (or reader...thanks Mama!) is time consuming.  A picture of the finished product should suffice as a blog post, so that is my new strategy.  

     My latest obsession is the farmers market.  For months I have been talking about doing a new experiment, where we only eat the vegetables that come from the market.  This forces us to eat local, try new things, and live by the seasons.  For example, right now greens are in season - collards, mustard greens, bok choy, swiss chard, and on and on.  J.T. and I are eating vegetables we have never tasted.  I am sick of washing greens, but the summer crops will be in soon.  Vegetables really do have more flavor when they are eaten in season.  We still do our weekly trip to Publix for milk, oats, cereal, bananas, and a few other pantry staples, but meat, pork, eggs, and vegetables are all purchased at the market.  Now, a little bit about these brownies.

     It is no secret that my husband loves desserts - especially anything topped with ice cream.  These brownies have been a regular staple in our freezer over the last year.  I originally stumbled across this recipe while looking for a dessert that required very few ingredients and was inexpensive to make.  Over the years, I have adapted it to better fit our real food diet. I am in no way proclaiming that these brownies are healthy - they do have over a cup of sugar in them.  I was able to swap all-purpose flour for white whole wheat flour, which does qualify for making them a bit more nutritional.  Butter or coconut oil can be used interchangeably in this recipe, so if you do not have coconut oil, use butter.  Once again, I love that these brownies can be frozen.  Simply individually wrap them in saran wrap and place in a freezer safe Ziploc bag.  I like a fully stocked freezer, see...

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup cocoa powder plus 1 ½ tablespoons
• ½ cup coconut oil plus 3 ½ tablespoons
• 1 ⅓ cups pure cane sugar
• 2 large eggs
• ½ teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• ⅔ cup whole white wheat flour

Directions

1. Grease a 9 x 9 inch square baking pan with coconut oil and preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  
2. In a medium sized bowl, stir together the cocoa powder and coconut oil.  Stir in the sugar, eggs, kosher salt, and vanilla.  Very slowly stir in the flour until all the ingredients are incorporated together.  The batter will be fairly thick.  Spread the batter into the prepared baking pan.  Bake for 22 to 25 minutes.  I always err on the side of under baked brownies.  Let the brownies cool slightly in the pan before cutting into squares and removing to a wire rack to cool completely.  Yields 9 large brownies or 16 small (for J.T. it makes 9).  These brownies can be individually wrapped and frozen.  Reheat in the microwave for 30 seconds.