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Last Week’s Recipe
This week I have an awesome sounding recipe that comes from Linda Overbeck of Alhambra, Illinois. She sent me this recipe, and I got hungry just reading through it. Plus the name of this recipe is a fun one!
FIRECRACKER
CASSEROLE
Serves 8
■ 2 lb. ground beef
■ 1 med. onion, chopped
■ 15 oz. black beans, rinsed and drained
■ 1 to 2 Tbsp chili powder
■ 2 to 3 tsp ground cumin
■ 1/2 tsp salt
■ 4 tortillas, 7 inch size
■ 10 3/4 oz. can cream of mushroom soup
■ 10 oz can diced tomatoes with green chilies, undrained
■ 1 cup (4 oz) shredded Cheddar cheese
In a skillet, brown the beef and onion until no pink remains. Drain. Add the black beans, chili powder, cumin and salt. Mix well. Transfer to a greased 13x9x2 baking dish.
Arrange the tortillas over the top. In a small bowl, mix the tomatoes and soup. Pour over the tortillas. Sprinkle it with cheese. Bake uncovered 25 to 30 minutes at 350 degrees until heated through.
Linda says she used only 1 pound of hamburger and that it was plenty. She also used a small onion because that’s what she had on hand. Linda also cut the amount of both the chili powder and cumin in half. (when i first read her recipe, I thought that it seemed like a lot of cumin, but I am not overly fond of cumin so I tend to use less in every recipe). Linda went on to say it doesn’t matter what size tortillas you use. if you have smaller ones, use them, but you’ll need more than 4. Even using the 7 inch, you’ll probably have to cut a few to make it fit and cover the whole dish.
Linda also says the next time she makes this, she plans to add a small can of diced green chilies to the tomato mix. Sounds like a good idea to me!
Have you noticed how recipes direct you to rinse and drain black beans? There are good reasons for this step. The liquid in canned beans has loads of salt. Rinsing the beans removes a lot of salt, reducing the sodium level by as much as 40%. Plus the liquid is packed with starch, which leaves a slimy coating. You want to rinse that off. Third point is that the liquid can pick up a metallic taste from the can, and rinsing in water alleviates that. And lastly, rinsing and draining the beans washes away some of the starches and complex sugars that cause that bloating and gassy feeling.
If you have a recipe to share, please send to [email protected], or mail to Mascoutah Herald, PO Box C, Mascoutah IL 62258. Thanks and Happy Cooking!
This Week’s Recipes
This week I have two recipes to share with you. The first recipe, Slow Cooker Kielbasa Bites, would be a great appetizer for any backyard party, and best of all it, no need to turn on the oven, or use grill space. I’ll be honest, I have not actually made these myself, but I had something very similar at a party once, and I thought they were very good.
SLOW COOKER
KIELBASA BITES
■ 2 lbs. kielbasa, cut in one inch pieces
■ 1/2 cup honey
■ 1/2 cup Dijon mustard
■ 1/4 cup brown sugar
■ 2 garlic cloves, minced
■ 1 Tbsp soy sauce
■ 1/2 tsp pepper
Mix the honey, mustard, brown sugar, garlic, soy sauce and pepper in a slow cooker. Add sausage, toss well to coat. Cook on low for 4 hours, stirring well halfway through. (have toothpicks handy for serving these bites)
Did you notice in the above recipe that I did not say “kielbasa sausage”? Kielbasa is the Polish word for sausage. So if you say kielbasa sausage, you are just saying “sausage sausage”!
Here is another recipe I have not actually made, but on one of my vacation trips I had a salad very much like this one. It was delicious and filling. I was excited to see this recipe, and I plan to make it soon. Note: this recipe calls for roasted or steamed beets, please do not use canned beets for this salad. If you don’t care to roast or steam your fresh beets, you may be able to find cooked fresh beets in the produce section of your grocery store.
MEDITERRANEAN CHICKPEA SALAD WITH BEETS
■ 1 1/2 cup chickpeas, rinsed and drained
■ 1 1/2 cups roasted or steamed beets, diced
■ 1/3 cup crumbled Feta cheese
■ 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
Vinaigrette:
■ 3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
■ 1/4 cup thin sliced red onion
■ 2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice 1 clove garlic, minced
1 tsp Dijon mustard
salt and peppe
Place the well drained chickpeas, beets, red onion and parsley in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, mix the vinaigrette ingredients. Toss with the salad. Sprinkle feta cheese over the top. Serve chilled or room temperature.
Whenever I make a salad similar to the above one, I prefer to not mix the dressing in. I set the dressing next to the salad bowl, and let guests pour their own dressing on. Two reasons for this: one, some people prefer more or less dressing on their salad. Secondly, if you have leftover salad, it will stay fresh and crisp in the refrigerator longer without the dressing.
If you have a recipe to share, please send to [email protected] or mail to Mascoutah Herald, PO Box C, Mascoutah IL 62258. Thanks and Happy Cooking!