White Bean and Ham Soup

This is from The Supper Book: 10th Anniversary Edition by Marion Cunningham. Kind of funny–you can buy a hardcover of this on Amazon (used) for $3 (plus shipping) but the paperback version, that I have is $8 (still a deal!). This is so simple, but so delicious. Certainly frugal, let’s see $1 for the beans, two onions for 50 cents maybe. The ham is the expensive part and that’s only because I actually did buy a small piece of ham just to make this. Normally I would have cooked a ham and used a ham bone but that’s hard to do with just the two of us! So I used about $2.50 of ham. Her recipe says 4 servings but I know we’ll get at least 6, likely 8. I’ll likely serve with a small sandwich, like a tuna melt.  So $1 / serving or less.  You’d pay more for a can of ham and bean soup and it wouldn’t be half as good and you’d get two small servings.

• 1 pound white navy beans or Great Norther beans
• 2 onions, chopped
• 2 cups or so of chopped ham or smoked pork butt or a leftover ham bone with some meat on it
• water to cover
• salt and pepper to taste

Soak the beans, either overnight or by the quick soak method: cover with water, bring to a boil, cover, turn the stove off, and let the beans sit in the hot water for an hour or so. Then drain and use.

Put the beans, onion and ham in a large stockpot. Cover with water by 1 1/2″ . Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer, cover partially and simmer 2 hours or so, until the beans are tender. Watch the water level and add a bit more if needed. Taste and add salt and pepper as desired.

This is ham and bean soup at its simplest and it’s delicious. If you want more in it, you could think about adding some carrots and celery (I would saute first in a bit of oil with the chopped onion then add the other ingredients.)  You could also use chicken broth if you wanted. But I think you will be surprised at how delicious this is in its most simple form.

I never make taco meat just to have a taco salad but it sure is a great way to use up the leftovers a day or so after having tacos.  I like to use a little Catalina salad dressing on mine for a Catalina Taco Salad. It just adds a nice sweet touch. My kids leave theirs plain, without dressing. Much healthier, I’m sure.

• leftover taco meat
• homemade salsa if it’s summer or bottled if not
• chopped lettuce
• grated Cheddar cheese or a Mexican blend
• refried beans or black beans or whole pinto beans
• sliced olives if you’d like
• chopped avocado if you have some
• chopped fresh tomato
• chopped green onions or yellow onions
• tortilla chips or broke up leftover taco shells

If you’ve got a vegetarian in the family, this is a great dish because you can serve everything in small bowls and let everyone build their own taco salad, with or without meat.  You could also substitute leftover cooked chicken for the ground beef. It’s very flexible.

Chicken leg quarters are on sale these days, 77 cents a pound around here. That’s about as low as chicken goes these days.  I bought a max pack and split them up and am doing two different things with them.  First, I cut them all into leg and thigh pieces because none of us will eat more than one piece of chicken so it makes more sense for us to separate them. If you’ve got folks with larger appetites, just leave them attached.

Lemon Butter and Herb Chicken

lemon butter chicken

For tonight, I’m doing a quick twenty minute marinade in a butter, lemon juice and herb sauce then basting and barbecuing. This came from an Orlando Sentinel article with 5 recipes for chicken quarters.   There are several good sounding recipes there so go check it out. I’m using fresh rosemary just picked from the garden. Mmm…. the scent alone makes you hungry!  I roughly halved their recipe and am cooking 2 legs and 3 thighs.

• 1/4 cup butter or margarine
• juice from half a lemon
• 1 tablespoon dried parsley
• 1 tablespoon garlic salt
• 1 teaspoon fresh rosemary, chopped
• 1 teaspoon dried savory
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• a healthy sprinkling of black pepper

Barbecued lemon herb chicken

Melt the butter, add the seasonings. Reserve some for basting and pour the rest over the chicken. Let sit 20 minutes or so, then grill until done, basting now and then. Cook over medium heat for about an hour.  It took me years to learn that chicken barbecues better over a lower heat for a longer time.

El Pollo Loco Chicken

This is another recipe from America’s Most Wanted Recipes: Delicious Recipes from Your Family’s Favorite Restaurants. I’ll let you know tomorrow how it turns out, as I’m marinating the chicken pieces overnight and will grill them tomorrow.  The marinade reads well though!  And smelled good…  The recipe called for 1 cup olive oil. I’m not sure I would use good olive oil, or that much, if the cost is a consideration.  This made a LOT of marinade, more than enough for a whole chicken cut up into 8 pieces.  I’m using 7-8 chicken legs and thighs.

• 1 cup white vinegar
• 1 cup oil
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 1/4 tsp oregano
• 1/4 tsp thyme
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2-3 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
• 1 1/2 tsp Tabasco sauce

We’ve got fresh tomatoes for salsa, ripe avocados for guacamole and fresh cilantro in the garden so I’m planning on some nice chicken with tortillas, guacamole, and salsa tomorrow tonight. I’ll probably cook up some beans and rice too.

Related recipes:

• pinto beans
• black beans
• Spanish rice
• salsa

It was just me and a friend for dinner tonight and both of us had a late lunch. So we needed dinner but nothing too heavy. Lunch for us here had been take out burritos and quesadillas with some wonderful tomatillo salsa as an extra. I incorporated that into the omelets and they were fantastic!  This serves 2.

• 4 eggs
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 Tbs butter
• 1/4 cup or so shredded Mexican cheese
• 1/4 cup or so sour cream
• a few large dollops of tomatilla salsa

Whisk the eggs together in a medium bowl and add salt and pepper to taste. Grate the cheese. I just had some of the Mexican blend around otherwise I would have just used Jack or Cheddar.

Heat the butter in a 10 inch skillet over medium heat. When it has melted, tilt the pan so the buter has coated the bottom well. Then pour in the eggs.

Cook slowly until the bottom has begun to set. Tilt the pan and lift the set eggs to let the runny ones run under the set part. Continue until the eggs are still wet on the top, but not too runny. Add the cheese, salsa, and sour cream to half the eggs, then fold the other half over onto the top. Cook another minute or two until firmly set.

Cut the omelet in half and serve with some toast. French bread is fantastic but any buttered  toast will do.

Sometimes the simplest dinners are so good!  I had barbecued some chicken leg quarters the other night, after marinating them in the best chicken marinade.  We had one leg quarter left over.  Last night for dinner I turned it into chicken salad for some great sandwiches.

Pull the skin off the chicken and pull the meat away from the bones, watching for gristle or fat.  Dice it up finely. You should get about a cup of chicken. Add enough mayonnaise to moisten, then stir in some diced dill pickles. (Or sweet pickle relish if you’d like.)  If it was just me, I’d add some diced celery as well but the kids gripe about that so I left it out. Depending on the chicken, you may or may not need to add some salt and/or pepper.

• 1 cup diced cooked chicken
• 1/4 cup or so of mayonnaise
• 1/4 cup or so of diced dill pickle
• salt and pepper to taste

I toasted some whole wheat bread and spread this out for 3 healthy sandwiches.

Served with a simple green salad of:

• 2  cups chopped red leaf lettuce
• 1/2 an avocado, chopped
• 1 tomato, chopped
• oil and vinegar dressing to taste

Now if it had been just me, I would have added some garbanzo beans and sliced red onion and maybe some sunflower seeds or dried cranberries to the salad.  But I kept it simple, for one night at least.

Dom DeLuise died today. I have two of his cookbooks, Eat This .. It’ll Make You Feel Better and Eat This Too: It’ll Make You Feel Better. Both have some great recipes and are fun to read besides.

So after hearing he died I decided to alter my dinner plans and cook something from one of his cookbooks tonight for dinner. I settled on the Egg Croquettes because they are like nothing I have ever even heard of, let alone eaten. I liked them. Different, but good. One child at them happily, the other didn’t like them. (This is the one that used to be totally adventurous so it’s funny how they change through the years!)

A simple supper anyway, nothing too spicy or complicated or demanding. I’ve made chicken croquettes and potato croquettes before but these were my first egg croquettes!

• 4 eggs, beaten together
• 1/2 cup bread crumbs
• 1/2 cup grated cheese
• 1/4 cup chopped parsley
• 3 Tbs olive oil
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 -2 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1 8 oz can tomato sauce
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 cup peas (frozen or canned or fresh)
• 1 cup of rice cooked in 2 cups of chicken broth

Heat the oil in a frying pan and start the onion and garlic cooking over medium low heat while you mix the eggs, bread crumbs, cheese and parsley in a bowl.  When the onion and garlic are soft, add the tomato sauce, water and peas. Bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer.

Meanwhile start the rice cooking. Bring the chicken broth to a boil, then stir in the rice, reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer for 25 minutes.

Use a soup spoon to drop the egg “dumplings” or croquettes into the simmering sauce. Drop them around the pan so they are not touching. Do not stir them!  Cover and cook over low heat 25-30 minutes.

Serve the croquettes and sauce over the cooked rice.

Serves 4.

Hi, I’m Allison, Ellen’s youngest daughter. Tonight, my sister was out, so I decided to make dinner for my mom. It was my first time cooking a meal on my own, and mom enjoyed it so much that she told me I had to blog it.

I decided that my meal was going to be a breakfast for dinner type thing. I made fresh squeezed orange juice in our Vita Mix, and I fried up some potatoes that my mom had already cubed, parboiled, and frozen. (When the potatoes were cooking in a bit of olive oil and butter, I sprinkled on garlic powder, a pinch of salt, and seasoned pepper.)

For my main dish, I wanted to make an omelet, because I have never had one before. I mixed up a lot of different recipes and techniques from a book called “How to Cook Without a Book” and I made my own recipe.

• 5 eggs
• 1/2 a chopped up onion
• 4 slices of bacon
• handful of chopped parsley leaves
• 2 table spoons of plain yogurt
• salt and pepper

cooking bacon

I started out by putting all the bacon pieces in my omelet pan and letting them cook until they were dark brown, flipping them over every couple minutes.

While they’re cooking, crack open all the eggs into a medium sized bowl and mix them until all the colors blend together. Set aside.

Chop the onion into about 1/4 inch pieces, put in a bowl, and set aside.

By the time you have done those, your bacon will probably be done cooking. Lay out a paper towel on a small plate and put the bacon on top, then cover them with another paper towel.

Leave all the grease in the pan and add the chopped onion, and saute until they become limp and darken a bit in color, then put them back in the bowl and dump out some of the grease.

Then you will pour your egg mixture into the greased up pan, still gently until it starts to set, then leave it alone until it’s a little soft and wet on the top, but not liquidy.

Take the bacon out and chop or tear it into small, half inch pieces.

On half of your eggs, sprinkle on the bacon, then the parsley leaves, then the onions and the yogurt.

When I put the yogurt on, I scooped some into a spoon and shook it gently over my omelet so that small portions could be distributed equally.

Then, fold the empty half of the eggs on top of the other half.

Mine broke, but it still tasted delicious.

I made a soup tonight from bits and pieces and it turned out quite good. I had a tub of some leftover frozen squash and corn and lima beans in the freezer, which I incorporated. I had also frozen some leftover tortellini one night, thinking it would be good in soup.  When I make chicken or turkey broth, I freeze 4 cup portions for soup. I used one of those also. From the pantry, I added a can of diced tomatoes, a diced onion, and a few cloves of garlic minced. From the frig, I added an egg and some grated Parmesan. So here’s a great way to use up those leftover bits and pieces…

• 1 Tbs oil
• 1 onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 4 cups chicken broth
• 1 -2 cups leftover frozen vegetables (or diced fresh carrots, celery, squash, etc.)
• 1 15 oz can diced tomatoes
• 1 cup leftover frozen tortellini (or just add some pasta or beans or cubed potato)
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• salt and pepper to taste

Heat the oil and sauté the onion and garlic a few minutes, until softened. Add the broth and vegetables. Bring to a simmer and stir in the pasta or tortellini. Cook until the pasta is done.

Whisk the egg in a small bowl, then drizzle into the soup stirring constantly. Add the cheese, salt and pepper, then serve.

Who else has creatively used some bits of leftovers? I love reading these ideas from you all when we get a thread going about this. Soup’s an easy one.  Other favorites of ours include burritos, fried rice, and quiche.

Cook up these easy and delicious white beans, Tuscan style, for an easy side dish. The recipes is from How to Cook Everything Vegetarian: Simple Meatless Recipes for Great Food, a great resource for vegetarians and non-vegetarians looking to expand their repertoire.

1 pound small white beans (Great Northern, cannelini, navy, lima, etc.)
1 Tbs dried sage leaves
salt and pepper to taste
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbs olive oil

Cover the beans with 2-3 inches of water. Bring the water to a boil, then reduce the heat so the water is barely simmering. Add the sage, partially cover and cook, stirring now and then, adding more water as needed. When the beans start to get tender, after maybe an hour but it really varies, add the salt and pepper.

Continue to cook at a low simmer until the beans are tender. (Just taste one.) If there’s still lots of water, drain it. If there’s just a bit, take the lid off the pot and let it evaporate. Stir in the garlic and olive oil, then serve.

These were really good! They remind me of those cans of “lightly seasoned small white beans” you can find at the grocery store, which I use for an easy side dish periodically. They are very mild, yet have some flavor.

I made this for my dad’s 84th birthday as a side dish for those of us eating salmon and a main dish for those of us not. It comes from How to Cook Everything Vegetarian: Simple Meatless Recipes for Great Food

Everyone loved it, vegetarians and meat eaters. Should have doubled the recipe I think as there was not a spoonful left over! So I’ll blame that as the reason I went and grabbed a Subway veggie sandwich at lunch. No good leftovers!

• 1 cup brown lentils
• 3 1/2 cups liquid (I used 1 can of coconut milk topped with 1 1/2 cups water. You could use all water, some vegetable broth, or chicken broth if you’re not doing vegetarian)
• 1 Tbs curry powder
• 2-3 potatoes, peeled and cubed
• salt and pepper to taste
• plain yogurt and fresh cilantro

Rinse the lentils. Heat the lentils, liquid of choice, and curry powder to a simmer, stir, cover partially and cook 15 minutes. Stir now and then.

Add the cubed potatoes and stir in, then cover the pan completely  and cook 10 minutes or so, depending on how large the potato cubes are. If the lentils start to look too dry, add some more water. You don’t want them soupy but they should be moist.

Add salt and pepper to taste and cook another 10 minutes or so. Serve with yogurt and cilantro.

Variation: Add 2 Tbs butter when you add the potatoes.