Spicy Black Bean Soup

Adapted from Weight Watchers

What you'll need:

1 medium spanish onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced (use your microplane for this!)
3 cans (15 oz) black beans, do not drain (I like Goya)
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes (less or more depending on how much spice you want!)
1 tsp cumin, ground
14 1/2 oz no or low-salt vegetable stock (Try Kitchen Basics, unsalted)
1 can (10 oz) tomatoes with chilies
1 can (11 oz) yellow corn, drained and rinsed
kosher salt & pepper

• Preheat medium stockpot over medium-low heat. Add onion and garlic, pinch of salt and grind of pepper, and cook stirring frequently, until onions are soft but not brown, about 5 minutes.
• Add in two cans of beans with liquid and vegetable stock and blend with immersion blender until smooth.  (You can also do this in two batches in your blender, adding onion mix into beans and stock.)

• Stir third can of beans (do not puree first), tomatoes and green chilies, and corn into stockpot. Taste for seasoning and add salt & pepper to adjust.  Bring to a boil, lower heat to medium and simmer for 20 to 25 minutes.  Serve and enjoy!  About 1 1/2 cups of soup per serving, serves 8.

**4 points plus per serving

Back in the Saddle...

OK, so it has been forever since I've blogged but I'm back on Weight Watchers and get asked for recipes all the time so I thought I'd start to add them to my blog so that I can share the healthy ideas... so, stay tuned!

Blueberry Cobbler with Brown Sugar Biscuit

Filling:
1 quart blueberries
1/4 cup sugar (more or less depending on how tart the blueberries are)
zest and juice of 1 lemon
1 Tbsp flour

Mix everything together and divide into 4 baking dishes or an 8x8 baking dish.

Topping:
1 cup bisquick
1/3 cup milk
1 tsp almond extract
1/4 cup brown sugar
raw sugar for finishing

Mix everything together and drop onto of individual baking dishes (1/4 cup each) or drop over 8x8 in 4 even circles.  Sprinkle with raw sugar and bake @ 325 degrees for 25-35 minutes or until berries are popped and bubbling and dough is cooked through.  Serve with vanilla ice cream.

Roasted Beets with Goat Cheese and Blood Orange Vinaigrette

The Stuff:

4-5 small-medium beets
2 oz goat cheese
Blood orange vinegar (or raspberry)
Extra virgin olive oil (frutatto)
Kosher salt & pepper

Making the Goods:

Clean the beets and cut off the root end and top leaves, do not peel. Place on foil and drizzle with oil, salt & pepper. Wrap up and roast at 400 degrees or on indirect heat on medium grill until tender about 1 hour.

Before you pull the beets whisk 1 Tbsp oil into 1/2 Tbsp vinegar and salt/pepper to taste.

Pull the beets and using a kitchen towel rub off the skin. You have to do this while they are HOT so be careful. Slice the peeled beets about 1/4 inch thin and put into vinaigrette while still hot.

Serve while still warm as a side dish or over a salad as a meal with goat cheese crumbled over the top.

Enjoy!

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Jasmine Jalapeño Rice

The Tools

2 Tbsp unsalted butter, cold
1 clove of garlic, peeled
1 cup jasmine rice
2 cups low sodium chicken broth
2 Tbsp tomato paste
2 Tbsp granulated jalapeño (or less if you don't want it hot!)
kosher salt

Melt the cold butter in a saucepan with the peeled garlic clove (to infuse the butter) over medium-low heat.  Once all the butter is melted remove the garlic clove and discard.  Add in the rice and stir frequently until the rice starts to toast and smells like popcorn.

Add in tomato paste and jalapeño and sauté until the tomato paste has coated all of the rice evenly.

Add in the chicken broth, kosher salt to taste and return to a simmer, reduce heat to low and cover for 20 minutes.  Do not stir and do not peek, let it cook!!!

Once the time is up, remove the pan from the heat and let the rice rest for 5 minutes then fluff with a fork, taste for salt and serve, YUM!

Spring mix salad with heirloom tomatoes and raspberry honey vinaigrette

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The Stuff

1 quart heirloom cherry tomatoes
1 container/bag baby spring mix, washed and spun dry

The Vinaigrette

1/4 cup raspberry wine vinegar
1 tsp dijon mustard
1/2 shallot, minced
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp honey
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil (fruttato if you have it)
kosher salt and cracked pepper to taste 

As far ahead as you can before you're ready to eat, make the vinaigrette. Mix all the ingredients together and then drizzle in the oil slowly while whisking to emulsify.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.  Cover and set aside to let the flavor's combine, at least 15 minutes.

When you're ready to eat, whisk up the dressing to ensure that it's well mixed and taste to adjust for S&P. 

Slice heirloom tomatoes in half and toss in a bowl with the baby mix.  Dress lightly with vinaigrette  and serve immediately.  Serve with some fresh grated parm if you like!!

Roast Duck with Honey-Pomegranate Glaze

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The Tools

A long Sunday afternoon and lots of patience!

The Stuff

1 4-5 lb fresh duck (most groceries carry fresh duck now, I like D'Artagnan birds.  If you can only find frozen, that's ok too, just defrost it for 24 hours in the fridge beforehand)
kosher salt and fresh black pepper

The Glaze

1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup pomegranate molasses
2 tbsp fresh squeezed orange juice ( 1 juicy orange)

Pre-heat your oven to 300 degrees.  Remove the innards from the duck and discard.  Wash and pat the duck dry and trim off all excess fat: pull neck skin down and under the bird and place on a roasting rack over your roasting pan.  Truss the legs with twine and then score the skin all over, making your cuts about an inch apart.  Make sure you cut down all the way through the skin and the fat layer to the meat so that the fat layer under the skin can render out and leave the skin super crispy.  Then take a skewer and pierce the skin and fat all over, paying careful attention to the portion by the legs where there is alot of fat stored.

Bring 2 cups of water to a boil and quickly pour the hot water over the bird to tighten the skin up.  Discard the water in the bottom on the roasting pan.  Salt and pepper the bird generously leaving breast side up on rack and place on the oven on the center rack.

Here's the plan from there:

Roast bird for 1 hour at 300 degrees.

Flip bird, poke all over with skewer and put back in oven, 1 hour (2 total now)

Flip bird again,  poke all over with skewer and put back in oven, 1 hour (3 total now)

Flip bird again,  poke all over with skewer and put back in oven until breast meat registers 165 degrees in tempature, about 1 hour more (4 total now!!)
 

When there are 30 minutes left to the roasting process start the glaze by combining all ingredients over the lowest heat in a saucepan.  Let it reduce while the roasting finishes.

After the 4 hour marathon roast is done remove the bird from the oven and jack the heat up to 425 degrees.  Flip breast side up for the final time and place back in the oven for 5-7 minutes to crisp the skin.  Remove the bird from the oven and brush liberally with the reduce glaze and then back to the oven for 7-10 final minutes until the glaze is shiny!!  Take out your bird, let rest 10-15 minutes and then carve and enjoy your labor of love!!!

Broccoli with Cream soup

The Tools

food processor, blender or an imersion blender


The Stuff

1 lb broccoli heads, rinsed
1 small spanish onion, sliced thin
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp fresh thyme or 2 tsp dried
olive oil
kosher salt and fresh cracked black pepper (I've been using tellicherry lately)
1/4 cup heavy cream
2 cups low-sodium chicken stock

Heat a LARGE stockpot over medium heat (I use my Le Creuset stockpot that Whitta gave me for all my soups now!).  Add 2-3 tsp olive oil and onions and saute until translucent; 3-5 minutes.  Add in minced garlic and thyme and stir to combine.  While that sautés roughly chop up the broccoli heads, florets and stems (this is the one exception I make to use the woody stems, they add body to the soup).  Add the chopped broccoli into the stockpot, sprinkle with salt ans pepper and cook everything together until broccoli starts to turn bright green and you can smell it, 3-5 minutes.  Add in your chicken broth, taste and re-season with salt and pepper if needed then cover and reduce heat to medium low.  Continue to simmer for 30-45 minutes or until the broccoli stems give to slight pressure with your spoon.


Remove the pot from the heat, now you're ready to buzz it up! If using an imersion blender (stick blender) follow manufacturers instructions for use and blend soup until smooth.   If using your food pro, like I do, puree the soup in small 1-2 cup batches at a time, transferring smooth soup puree to a separate bowl until everything is done.  If you remove the feed tube's insert and cover the tube with a kitchen towel the steam and heat will be able to escape while you're buzzing it up. 

If your only choice for pureeing this soup is a blender, BE CAREFUL!!  Let the soup cool considerably and then blend, 1 cup at a time, with the vent removed from the lid and the hole covered with kitchen towel.  If you try to blend too much soup at one time the sudden heat expansion will cause a dangerous hot soup blender explosion and I can tell you from experience, it's not fun!!

Either way you get it done once the soup is pureed smooth add it back into the stockpot and put everything back onto medium heat to warm the soup back up.  Once the soup is nice and hot, remove it from the heat and stir in our heavy cream.  Taste and adjust salt and pepper until it's yummy, I love lots of pepper right at the end!  Serve and enjoy!!

Welsh Pizza

This is a family recipe and one of my favorites!

The Tools:

grinder attachment for your stand mixer or meat grinder

The Stuff:

1 lb sharp white cheddar cheese

1 large sweet onion (vidalia or spanish)

1 lb center cut bacon

loaf of rye bread, pumpernickle or any bread you like

Roughly chop all of the ingredients so that the will fit into the feeder tube of your grinder.  Alternating between the bacon, cheese and onion feed the ingredients through the grinder and into a large bowl ending with a chunk of onion to clear out the grinder, stir to mix well. 

Preheat over to 350.  Spread mix thinly over slices of bread and bake for 30-45 minutes or until the mix is brown, bubbly and cooked through.  Slice into bite size pieces to serve as an appetizer or eat the whole slice yourself!!

This will be a new favorite!!

Cream Cheese Appetizers

Some quick and easy party favorites!

Stuffed Strawberries

The Stuff

1 package of cream cheese, softened at room temp 30 minutes (I use Philly)

1 tbsp almond extract

1 cup powdered sugar plus extra for dusting

1 quart of strawberries

Wash the strawberries and then cut off the top so that the berries will sit evenly.  Using a paring knife, carefully cut a 'X' into the bottom of the berry to create a pocket, being careful not to slice all the way through.

In the bowl of your stand mixer or with a hand mixer beat the cream cheese until fluffy.  Slowing beat in the sugar until well incorporated and then slowly beat in the almond extract.

Spoon the mixture into a plastic sandwich bag (Ziploc works best because there is no folded seam at the corner unlike most store brands).  Cut of a very small part of one of the corners of the bag and now you have a homemade piping bag.  Slowly pipe the cream cheese mixture into the pocket that you've created in the berries.  Dust with additional powdered sugar and serve!

Chili Dip

The Stuff:

1 package of cream cheese, softened at room temp 30 minutes (Philly is the best!)

1 can of refried beans

1 jar of picante sauce (you pick the heat level)

1 bag of shredded mexican cheese

tortilla chips or Ritz crackers

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In an oven safe dish layer the cream cheese, refried beans, picante sauce and then top with the shredded cheese.  Cover with foil and bake 30 minutes, then remove foil and broil on low until the cheese gets bubbly and brown.  Serve while hot with tortilla chips or Ritz crackers.

Bacon Pinwheels

The Stuff:

1 package of cream cheese, softened at room temp 30 minutes (still love Philly!)

1/2 pound of center cut bacon, diced

1 can Pillsbury recipe creations dough

Sauté diced bacon over medium heat until brown and really crisp, let drain on paper towels.  In a bowl, combine cream cheese and bacon bits until well mixed.  Lay down a piece of plastic wrap and unroll the dough onto it.  Spread the cream cheese mix over the dough evenly, leaving 1/2 border along the top edge. Using the plastic wrap to help, roll the dough lengthwise into a log, wrap with the plastic and refrigerate 30 minutes until firm.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Remove the roll from fridge and with a serrated knife slice the log into 1/2 inch slices.  Arrange on a baking sheet at least 1 inch apart and bake until puffed and golden brown, 13-17 minutes.  Enjoy!!