Two-Bean Soup with Kale

We tried Bountiful Baskets last week and the basket had kale in it.  I've never tried kale before so I just googled some recipes and we ended up liking this one a lot.

Two-Bean Soup with Kale

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons olive oil  
• 1 cup chopped onion
• ¼ - ½ cup chopped carrot
• 1/2 teaspoon salt, divided
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 4 cups chicken broth, divided
  

• 7 cups chopped kale (about 1 bunch)
• 2 (15-ounce) cans kidney beans, rinsed, drained, and divided
• 1 (15-ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Preparation

1. Heat a large pot oven over medium heat. Add olive oil to pan; swirl to coat. Add onion and carrot and sauté 6 minutes or until tender. Stir in 1/4 teaspoon salt and garlic; cook 1 minute. Stir in 3 cups vegetable broth and kale. Bring to a boil; cover, reduce heat, and simmer 3 minutes or until kale is crisp-tender.
2. Place half of kidney beans and remaining 1 cup vegetable broth in a blender or food processor; process until smooth. Add pureed bean mixture, remaining kidney beans, black beans, remaining salt and pepper to soup. Bring to a boil; reduce heat, and simmer 5 minutes.

Philly Style Pizza

This is just slightly altered from the recipe in the last Simple and Delicious.  It is super yummy!

Philly-Style Pizza

1 recipe pizza dough

4 oz. cream cheese, softened

2 Tbsp Italian salad dressing

1 tsp minced garlic

1 cup shredded Colby cheese

1 cup shredded provolone cheese (or torn slices)

½ cup shredded chicken

barbecue sauce

1 (8 oz) pkg mushrooms, sliced

¼ onion, diced

1 tsp oregano

Make pizza dough. While dough is rising, saute onions until soft. Place chicken in a bowl and marinade in barbecue sauce. With hand mixer, blend cream cheese, Italian salad dressing, and garlic until smooth. After crust is spread on a pizza pan, spread cream cheese mixture over pizza dough. Top with cheese other toppings. Sprinkle with oregano. Bake at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes.

Dilly Cucumber Salad

I love this salad. It's even better if you have all the stuff from your garden. You know, if you can get things like onions to grow...

Dilly Cucumber Salad
3 c. thinly sliced cucumbers
1 small bell pepper, julienned
1/2 c. very thinly sliced onion (I like sweet onions)
1/3 c. sugar
1/4 c. vinegar
1/2 tsp. dried dill weed (or just chop some fresh stuff until you think it's enough)

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl. Mix well. Cover and refrigerate at least 1 hour, stirring occasionally (or flipping back and forth if it's got a tight lid).

Recipe altered from Quick Cooking

Hummus

This is a yummy hummus recipe.  It doesn't taste very strong the first day it's made, so I like to make it a day ahead.


Hummus
printed from melskitchencafe.com
*Note: The prepared hummus can be prepared and refrigerated 5 days in advance . When ready to serve, stir in 1 tablespoon hot water to loosen up the texture of the hummus, if needed.
*Makes about 2 cups
3 tablespoons juice from 1 to 2 lemons
1/4 cup water
6 tablespoons tahini, stirred well
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus extra for drizzling
1 (14-ounce) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 small garlic clove, minced or pressed through garlic press (about 1/2 teaspoon)
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
Pinch cayenne


Combine lemon juice and water in small bowl or measuring cup. Whisk together tahini and 2 tablespoons oil in second small bowl or measuring cup. Set aside 2 tablespoons chickpeas for garnish, if desired (I processed all the chickpeas in with the hummus).
Process chickpeas, garlic, salt, cumin, and cayenne in food processor until almost fully ground, about 15 seconds. Scrape down bowl with rubber spatula. With machine running, add lemon juice-water mixture in steady stream through feed tube. Scrape down bowl and continue to process for 1 minute. With machine running, add oil-tahini mixture in steady stream through feed tube; continue to process until hummus is smooth and creamy, about 15 seconds, scraping down bowl as needed.
Transfer hummus to serving bowl, sprinkle reserved chickpeas (if using), cover with plastic wrap, and let stand until flavors meld, at least 30 minutes. Drizzle with olive oil and serve. Best after a day or two. **To freeze, pour into muffin tin for individual servings. Thaw in microwave then top with a bit of olive oil.

Creamy Mint Oreo Milk Shake

This pretty much speaks for itself.  Chocolate.  Mint.  Ice Cream.  Need I say more?

I actually made this w/out the chocolate syrup and it's still delish.  Mmmmm.....

Creamy Mint Oreo Milkshake

3 tbsps of chocolate syrup

10 Cool Mint Creme Oreos
1/2 cup of milk plus more, if needed
2 cups of vanilla ice cream

Blend together 2 tbsps of chocolate syrup, 8 Cool Mint Creme Oreos, milk, and vanilla ice cream.  Add additional milk, if needed, until shake is to your desired consistency. Take 1 tbsp of the chocolate syrup and put it on the bottom of the glass. Next, pour the milkshake in the glass and crumble 2 mint Oreos on top.

(We split it up between the 5 of us for a nice, just-right sized treat, rather than one big shake for one person.)  : )

Cake Mix Bar Cookies

I clipped this out of the paper once upon a time. I needed a really quick bar cookie to make today so I gave it a try. They turned out really good and chewy (mmm!). The puff up quite a bit when you cook them so don't worry if it looks like there isn't enough batter. You could do different flavored chips and/or nuts if you wanted too.

Cake Mix Bar Cookies
1 pkg yellow cake mix
1/3 c. oil
2 eggs
2 T. honey
1/2 c. chocolate chips


Mix all ingredients, except chocolate chips, with a mixer. Once mixed, stir in chocolate chips. Batter will be very thick.
Spread batter into a greased and floured 9x13 pan. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes until lightly browned. Cool and cut. 


Yield: 16-20 bars

Rice with Sour Cream and Green Chiles

We all loved this rice and Justin said "Why don't you take a picture of it and type about it on the computer!"
So I did!

1 cup regular rice (not instant)
1 can (4 ounces) chopped green chiles
1/2 pound of shredded Monterey Jack or cheddar cheese (I used the Fiesta mix)
1 3/4 cup sour cream (I had non-fat sour cream and it worked great)
1/2 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper

Cook rice according to package directions.  Heat oven to 350.  Combine rice, chiles, about three fourths of the cheese, sour cream, salt and pepper and mix thoroughly.  Place in a 2 quart casserole.  Sprinkle top with remaining cheese.  Bake, uncovered, about 30 minutes, or until golden on top.