Beef and Bean Borrito

I forgot my latest creation is Beef and Bean Burritos. I know nothing sounds to interesting about this one, but I changed my mom's recipe, and used a home made taco seasoning. The seasoning is something I found online, and it seems to work out. One key note is this seasoning does have some after kick, so if you don't like spicy food it may not be for you. Here is the recipe I used for the burrito filling.

Beans ----------- Pinto Beans Dry, 1 1/4 cup Great Northern Bean Dry 1/4 cup Lentil Dry 1/4 cup onion 1 large diced garlic 1 tablespoon 4 cups of water Add to beans -------------------- salt 1 1/5 tsp salt reduced fat sour cream 41 grams shredded cheddar 75 grams mozzarella 27 grams Beef mixture ------------------ Ground Bison 1.29 oz Ground Lamb 1.22 chili powder 2 tbsp garlic powder 1/2 tsp onion powder 1/2 tsp cayenne powder 1/2 tsp paprika 1/2 tsp cumin 1/2 tsp salt 2tsp

Directions

In crock pot put dry beans, onion, and garlic. Add water, then turn on for 3 hours on high. Then add lentils to the crock pot, and turn down to low. Let all the beans cook overnight or until done.
Take beans out of crock pot and mash. Then add in 1 1/5 tsp salt, sour cream, mozzarella, and shredded cheddar.
On the stove place meats and seasoning mixture in a large skillet. Cook until the meat is cooked through.
Add the meat mixture to the bean mixture.


Serving Size: 1oz

The result is a yummy burrito which will fill you up, and help you clear out the pantry. Also this recipe makes enough for dinner, and loads of left overs!

Lentil Soup, Peanut Butter Ice Cream, and Chocolate Muffins, oh my!

I have been busy over the last week or so, and I have not been able to post. But that does not mean the kitchen has been silent. Before I get into new things, I have some updates. First thing is my starter still seems to be living, and I plan on making some bread this weekend. I have heard the sour taste gets stronger, so I make start adding more wheat to my bread to help balance it out. Also if anyone wants the nutrition information for any recipe I post, just let me know.
Now on to the new things! Like most people I have extra ingredients in the pantry, which don't get used very often, and tend to get pushed to the back. These hidden ingredients are what inspired me over the past week. The first thing I made was an Italian Lentil soup, which was yummy, but it still needs work. I think next time I am going to add some kind of meat to give it a little boost. I was kind of surprised this recipe needs work since I found it at Better Homes and Gardens. I have found that adding a little soup cream to the recipe helped it allot, but my husband still wants the meat.

The best thing about this recipe is it makes a bunch of soup, and it seems to freeze nicely. Also I had everything I needed already in the house, so it was convenient too. This next creation I made out of the left over homemade peanut butter I have in the house. Also I was out of homemade ice cream, which I could not let happen at this time of year. I really did not have a recipe for the ice cream, so below is what I came up with.

3 oz homemade peanut butter 2 eggs 32 oz heavy whipping cream 1 cup sugar

Directions

Combine egg and sugar until blended. Add the whipping cream until combined. Then add peanut butter.
Use ice cream maker or stand mixer attachment. Takes about 20 minutes till finished. Store in the freezer until ready to serve.

Serving Size: 1oz
Next time I make this I am going to add some milk instead of all the whipping cream. The goal is to see if I can lower the calorie count on this yummy dessert.

Next I created some chocolate muffins. I love vita-tops but I hate paying the price for them, so I decided to create my own. Plus I have lots of extra chocolate in the back of my pantry which needs to find a use. I created the following recipe

Flour 1 3/4 cups sugar 1/3 cup baking powder 2 tsp salt 1/4 tsp egg non fat milk 3/4 cup butter 2 1/8oz cocoa powder 6 tbs mini chocolate chips 17 grams

Directions

Melt the butter in microwave. Combine all ingredients, except chocolate chips. in stand mixer or bowl. Once blended use a muffin top pan to cook. Put some of the chips on top of the muffin before baking. Set oven to 375 degrees for 20 minutes.

Serving Size: 1oz

Honestly, I love these muffins, but next time I am going to try to make them more gooey.

I have taken each muffin top and cut it in half, then froze them. I use them to go with ice cream for a little extra something. I take a frozen muffin, still in the zip top bag, and put it in the microwave for 20 sec. Then I add whatever ice cream I want on top of it. Like I said it needs to be gooier, but I working on it.

Trying Random Things.

I am trying all kinds of new things, when it comes to food. Mainly I am baking new things, but I am also trying new ingredients (or foods). I have heard people who loved grilled pineapple, but I love it raw. So I finally gave it a try.

The process is very simple! Take a whole pineapple and slice it, then place it on the grill for a few moments. I was disappointed in the flavor, so I tried to add brown sugar.

The result was better, but still not great! In the end I think I will stick with the raw pineapple. A few days later I tried artichoke. I really don't know who decided these things look yummy, but I had to give it a try. After using my steamer, I peeled the leaves off and put them on a plate. I wish I had taken some pictures. At first I did not like the amount of work for the little bit of food. But once hit the heart I was much happier. I really think that its something I will see if I can buy pre-frozen. The frozen version will give me the flavor without so much of the work. Don't get me wrong I am not afraid of work, but this is a labor intensive vegetable.
My newest food adventure is homemade bran flakes. I know it seems a little crazy to make your own bran, but the stuff in the box tastes like the box. So I decided to give it a try. After mixing together the ingredients, I was worried I had lost my mind.

After spreading it out on the cookie sheet, it started to look a little better.

Once it cooked I was sure this was going the direction I hoped for.

The final bran is in jars, so that it is easy to store in my pantry. I have tried a few nibbles, and I could not be happier. I am sure this will be yummy with a touch of honey, and some milk in the morning. I can honestly say I will not be going back to the box stuff!

Sourdough experiment

My newest bread experiment is sourdough. I was not sure about starting a starter, but it is very easy. A starter is just equal parts of flour and water. Its a 4 day process, each day at about the same time you trash 1/2 a cup, and replace it with 1/2 a cup of water and flour.  After the 4 days this is what it will look like.

The question then becomes why would I work this hard on yeast. The simple answer is flavor. But I was not sure if it was all hype or not. So I had to try it out. After some research I found this recipe. The dough looked a little different to me, but I hoped it would work out.

The result was two large boules. The smell was different, and we could not wait to cut into them. The smell has a slightly sour flavor. The bread also has the same slightly sour flavor, but its not so much that it tastes bad.

Overall I think this process is well worth the time and work. The great part is once you have a starter started, you can put in the fridge and "feed" it once a week.

Father's day lunch.

Today I figured I would try something new for lunch. Mainly because I have loads of fresh cabbage and potatoes.

So after some searching online I found a recipe for sausage, potato and cabbage soup. But there has to be something to go with soup for lunch. So I decided to make bread, the difference this time is I put aside my bread machine. Honestly, the soup was the easy part! Even the mistake I made, 6 cloves of garlic instead of 1, worked out nicely.

The best part of this soup is it was easy, and everyone loved it! My husband did not even add any hot sauce or anything to it. The real adventure for today was the bread. I make bread on a regular basis, but I depend on my machine. This time I put away my machine and did it all by hand. This was the first time I made bread this way. Once again I found the recipe online, and I could not be happier with it. I started with activating my yeast, which I had not done before.

When I did this step I was a little nervous, but it worked out very well. The only machine I used was my stand mixer to combine the yeast and all the dry ingredients.

 After the first rise, I knew that things where working out like they should.

The final product was great, and paired well with the soup. This is a great hearty bread, and when combined with the soup it was a great lunch.