Creamy Black Bean Soup

This one of my absolute favorite soups that I make often. It is cheap, easy, and healthy! What more could you ask for?!?!?! Avocado, Mexican creme, sour cream, cheese, and tortilla chip crumbles nicely accessorize any bowl of this soup!

Accessorized with Avocado, Mexican Creme, & Cilantro

Creamy Black Bean Soup

1 medium onion, diced

1 garlic clove, minced

1 Tbsp. olive oil

3 cups chicken OR beef broth

3 15 oz. cans of black beans, rinsed & drained*

1 14.5 oz can Rotel, undrained

1 can diced green chilies, undrained

1/2 tsp. chili powder

1/2 tsp. ground cumin

1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper

1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro, reserve 1 Tbsp.

1/4 cup Mexican Creme

Toppings: avocado, cheese, cilantro, sour cream, lime wedges, tortilla chips, etc.

1. Saute onion and garlic in hot oil in a large pot over medium-high heat for 4-6 minutes or until tender.

2. Stir in broth, beans, Rotel, green chilies, chili powder, cumin, cayenne pepper, and cilantro (reserve 1 Tbsp.). Cover and bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer 8 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat, stir in reserved cilantro, and cool for 5 minutes.

3. Process soup with hand blender or in batches in a blender or food processor for 30 seconds or until smooth. Return to pot and stir in Mexican Creme until well blended. Serve with your desired accessories!

*I often substitute 1 lb. of dried black beans. Soak beans and drain. Follow the same steps, but simmer for two hours or until beans or tender. You will need to salt the beans, but DO NOT ADD THE SALT until AFTER the beans are cooked. Adding salt prior to cooking beans creates a tough skin. Using dried beans takes longer, but is cheaper. If you are going to be around the house, this is the way to go! We also have simmered them in the pressure cooker for 30 minutes.

Peaches-and-Cream French Toast Casserole

I recently stumbled upon this recipe in one of my magazine and my love for peaches (when you have Fredericksburg zip code it's completely natural) made me instantly yank the entire page from the binding. A few weeks later, I knew it would be the perfect tailgate breakfast for the Missouri game and as a make-the-night-before recipe that you pop into the oven the next morning, it would be a great bake-and-take breakfast. Every bite of this recipe is filled with the taste of summer and fond memories of a french toast breakfast.

Peaches-And-Cream French Toast Casserole

1 8 oz Loaf of French Bread, cubed

8 Large Eggs

2 Cups Milk

1/4 Cup Sugar + 1 tsp

1 tsp Vanilla Extract

2 15 oz Cans Sliced Peaches in Juice, Drained

1/2 Cup packed Brown Sugar

1 tsp Cinnamon

1/2 Cup Heavy Cream

Butter a 9"x13" baking dish and arrange bread cubes. Whisk eggs with milk, 1/4 sugar, and vanilla until well blended and pour over bread. Arrange peaches on top and sprinkle with brown sugar, cinnamon, and 1 tsp sugar. Cover and refrigerate overnight or 8 hours.

Remove from fridge 30 minutes prior to baking and preheat oven to 350 degrees. Pour cream into a small pan and bring to a boil over high heat; cook until reduced by half (10 - 12 minutes). Drizzle over the top of casserole and bake, uncovered 45 - 55 minutes until lightly brown on top. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

This went over extremely well at the tailgate and made me long for summer to be here even sooner so I can use Fredericksburg peaches instead of canned. I'm so giddy my knees tingle at the prospect! Too bad this recipe and a decent tan were the only thing I got from the Missouri game.

Two Perfect Fall Cookies

I believe with my whole heart, that cookies are a year around food. However, there are those certain cookies that just taste a bit more delicious around specific holidays. Below are two recipes for perfect fall cookies - Spicy Oatmeal Raisin and Pumpkin, Oatmeal, & White Chocolate Chip - that are extremely simple and one is almost healthy! They both use a spice cake mix (I told you they were simple!) yet, taste like you spent an entire morning in your apron. I generally use the Duncan Hines Spice Cake Mix as it is the only one I find on the store shelves, however, any dry spice cake mix or recipe will work!

Now to share these two amazing fall cookie recipes:

Spicy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

I first started making these cookies when I was in 5th grade. For some reason, we had a box of Spice Cake Mix in our pantry and this recipe was on the side of the box. These were the first cookies I ever made by myself and since then they have become a reliable cookie for any kind of gathering. I remember making these for my family Thanksgiving that year and now, every time I make these cookies, I am taken back my proud accomplishment of my first baked good and a new found love for cooking.

Spicy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

1 box Spice Cake Mix

1/2 Cup Oil

2 eggs

1 Cup Oatmeal

1/2 Cupe Raisins

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all ingredients and drop by rounded tablespoon onto a parchment paper lined pan. Bake at 375 for 7-9 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool on pan for 3 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.

Pumpkin, Oatmeal, & White Chocolate Chip Cookies

These were kind of an accidental experiment . . . an accidentally almost healthy! The pumpkin replaces the oil and what part of eggs and oatmeal are unhealthy? Now the white chocolate makes up the "almost" part of the healthy . . . but could a cookie be a cookie without at least one sinful addition?

Pumpkin, Oatmeal, & White Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 Box Spice Cake Mix

1 15 oz Can of Pumpkin

2 eggs

1 Cup Oatmeal

1 Cup White Chocolate Chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine eggs and pumpkin, mix well. Add cake mix and oatmeal and stir until all ingredients are well blended. Stir in white chocolate chips and use a tablespoon to drop onto a parchment paper lined pan. Bake for 10 - 12 minutes. Cool for 5 minutes and move to a cooling rack.

Note: This is a very moist cookie and is best kept fresh in the refrigerator

Hope these cookies will bring Thanksgiving into your kitchen a few weeks early and delight your taste buds! Happy Fall!

Chicken Pie

Since the name of this blog is "Two Cooks, One Kitchen", I guess it's time to post something from the kitchen.

I recently received a new cookbook in the mail from Pampered Chef (if you need to place a PC order let me know!). Pampered Chef paired up with stars of TLC, to put their favorite recipes into an exclusive Pampered Chef cookbook.

 I am in love with almost every recipe in the book and decided to start with Chicken Pie and of course add my touch. This recipe if from Lori Allen from Say Yes to the Dress, Atlanta.

Chicken Pie

Ingredients:

• 3 lg chicken breasts, bone in
• 1 can of cream of celery soup
• 1 1/2 cup self rising flour
• 1 1/2  cup buttermilk
• butter
• one bag frozen vegetables (this is my addition, I used H-E-B frozen soup vegetables)
• olive oil

Directions:

Cover the 3 chicken breasts with water, cover and simmer for 2 hours

Remove chicken, cool, and debone. Discard chicken bones. Reserve chicken broth

Dice chicken

Using a small amount of olive oil, sauté the frozen vegetables until tender

Add 1 1/2 cups of broth, the soup, and chicken to the pan. Bring to a boil.

Place in a rectangular dish and COOL completely.

Combine buttermilk and flour, drop on top of mixture

Place a pat of butter on top of each biscuit

Bake at 450 degrees for 45 minutes or until golden brown

This is basically a very easy chicken pot pie recipe. I boiled, deboned, and diced the chicken and made the veggie, soup, chicken mixture the night before and put it in the dish. It made very a very easy week night meal to come home and combine the buttermilk and flour and bake.

Enjoy!

Another Metal Chicken Has Stolen My Heart

Recently I was perusing the closing pictures of 2nd term on the Camp Honey Creek website, when I came upon this gold nugget. . .

At first at I laughed seeing Melvin on his perch, but then it made me a little sad because my need for a metal chicken in my life was still not fulfilled. Then two days later on Sunday,  I was walking into the College Station H-E-B (by myself because Daniel did not want to go with me) and what did appear before my wondrous eyes . . . .

A BIG METAL CHICKEN!

Well knowing Daniel had given a quick "NO" to the last time I asked to buy a similar one, my hopes were instantly dashed. After getting everything on (and not on my list), I walked past the big metal chicken again and my heart longed for a metal chicken even more. As I was driving though the parking lot, I saw a small metal chicken and then it occurred to me . . . Daniel only said "NO" to a BIG metal chicken and he wasn't there for me to ask about a small metal chicken since he REFUSED to go to the store with me . . . .

I quickly parked my car and ran to pick up my small metal chicken and carried him straight to the check out. After purchasing my chicken, the cashier asked if I needed help out to my car and I told her, "No, it's ok. I am an expert with metal chickens." As I walked out the door, a woman stopped to tell me that my chicken was "hilarious" which led to a discussion about blogs and big metal chickens. I then proudly loaded my new chicken into my car and as I drove home I began to have a tiny feeling of worry that my new small metal chicken would not be allowed to perch on the front porch and would be shipped off to my classroom at school. So I developed a plan of action . . .

I parked close enough to my neighbors car so that when I opened my door, it obscured the view from the house window and I brought in MOST of the groceries. Daniel asked if I needed help and I told him to just take the ones I had and start putting them away since there were only two bags left. I quickly retreated to the car and grabbed the bags and my new small metal chicken. I perched him on the front porch and quickly shut the door behind me. So far all was good.

We had two friends over for dinner that night and neither commented on our new addition (well Claire almost did . . . ). Since I leave before Daniel does in the morning, I knew I had a good 24 hours before anything was said. Now it is Wednesday and no mention has been made of my new small metal chicken that I have named Charley. Good news Charley, I think you are safe! As the holidays start to roll around you now get to look forward to Charley being included in my holiday porch decorations! My void for a metal chicken in my life has been filled and hopefully the next time I ask Daniel to go the store with me he will . . . . because I now have my eye on a big metal flamingo.

Fish Stick Friday

A meal so glorious, it needs no further introduction.

I know you are thinking WOAH! This is supposed to be a blog about delicious food cooked in my kitchen and big metal chickens and you are talking about fish sticks? Yes I am.

For the last 25 years as a camper, counselor, and staff member, I could always count on Fridays as being Fish Stick Friday at Camp Arrowhead/Honey Creek (excluding when Merry 1/2 Christmas and Happy 1/2 Valentines fell on a Friday, then it was your standard holiday meal of turkey, dressing, green beans, yams, strawberry shortcake and the adored and glorified chocolate milk). This Friday meal ALWAYS consists of crispy fish sticks, creamy macaroni and cheese, bright green peas, and gooey brownies with icing. Today there was a little carrot action in the peas, which I really didn't care for. The important part is that there were green peas. It's a timeless meal that my camp roommate/mom's best friend/second mom enjoyed when she was a camper in the '60s. BEST. CAMP. LUNCH. EVER

Melvin, The Big Metal Chicken

Melvin has been well accepted at camp. This was his first spot in camp.

Now he has been moved to a perch in the garden area below the dining hall so that he can keep a watchful eye over the camp. He is very happy in his new location. 

Today, I saw three more metal chicken. How many have you seen? 

Melvin was a great reminder about perspective today. I tried to make a "quick" trip to town during rest period . . . I should of known. As I was leaving Sonic, another car and I were bother reversing at the same time. I stopped and she did not. Of course I was in Jeannie's car.

A few scratches and a minor dent. I was a little upset but then thought "remember the big metal chicken," and the bright side of it all is that at least it wasn't my fault!