Crock Pot Black Bean Enchiladas & A Giveaway!!!

Have you started your holiday shopping? Or do you wait until the last minute? Just in time for gift giving, CSN stores has offered me a $45.00 gift certificate to giveaway to one of my readers (USA or Canada). Have you checked out CSN Stores? CSN Stores has EVERYTHING, from drop leaf tables to cookware.

How to enter is simple!! Sign up to be a follower of my blog and leave me a comment! If you're already a follower, just leave me a comment and you're entered. I will be picking a winner on November 12th. Good luck and thanks for reading my blog!!!

I try to serve as many meatless meals as I can each week. I've mentioned this before but for those of you who are new readers, my husband doesn't think it's a meal without some meat. In fairness, he's gotten a lot better about it the past couple of years. In fact, there's some meals he says he likes and (almost) doesn't miss the meat! This was one of those meals. Black beans are an excellent substitution for meat.

The cooking time for this recipe is 2-4 hours on high. I cooked for 5 hours on low. It was perfect!!

Slow Cooker Enchiladas
Recipe Courtesy of The Kitchn
Serves 4-6

1/2 yellow onion
2 bell pepper, diced small(any color)
1 16-ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 cup frozen corn
2 teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspooncumin1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups cheese, shredded and divided - we like monterey jack
2 16-ounce jars of your favorite salsa
12 6”-8” tortillas, flour or corn
Optional: 1 cup leftover meat - chicken, pork, hamburger, or shredded beef

In a medium bowl, mix together the onion, pepper, black beans, corn, spices, meat (if using), and just 1/2 cup of the cheese. Pour about a cup of salsa (half a jar) into the bottom of the slow cooker and spread it around evenly.
Scoop about 1/3 cup into one of the tortillas, roll it up, and nestle it into the bottom of the crock pot. Repeat with the half of the remaining filling, rolling tortillas until the entire bottom of of the crock pot is filled. Spread another cup of salsa over this layer and sprinkle it with another 1/2 cup of cheese.
Continue with the remaining filling and tortillas to create a second layer. Top with another cup of salsa, but reserve the remaining 1/2 cup of cheese for later. Place the lid on the slow cooker and cook on HIGH for 2-4 hours. In the last 15 minutes of cooking, sprinkle the leftover cheese over the top and let it melt.
Serve the enchiladas with the remaining salsa. Leftovers will keep for up to a week in the refrigerator.
• To cook these enchiladas in the oven, layer the rolled tortillas in a 9x13 baking pan and cover with aluminum foil. Bake at 400° for 20 minutes. Uncover, sprinkle with cheese, and bake uncovered for an additional 5-10 minutes.

I am linking this to Foodie Friday at Designs by Gollum.

From The Good Life

Last Friday night, The Landscaper named Lynn, had his annual weenie roast.

As a foodie, I was happy to learn we were dining on Rick's Meats homemade Smoked Bratwurst.

(You'll have to excuse the photos, they were taken in the dark on the iPhone.)

Brrr-ownies

Brownies are like chocolate chip cookies, there are a zillion recipes out there. Do you have a favorite recipe you always make? Or are you like me and you keep trying new recipes? I first saw this recipe on my friend Susan's blog. I bookmarked it and bought the mints immediately. Then what do I do? I forget about them. I was looking for toffee chips and burried in the basket were the mints. These are my favorite kind of brownie, gooey, chocolately with the addition of the flavor of mint.

The gooeyness of these made it hard to cut them into nice squares. I wonder if chilling them would have helped? Regardless they were delicious. This recipe goes in the make again soon file!!

Brrr-ownies (found on page 103 of Baking from My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan).
5 Tablespoons unsalted butter cut into 5 pieces
3 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
3 ounces unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped
2/3 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
pinch of salt
1/3 cup all purpose flour
1 cup (6 ozs) York Peppermint Pattie Bites (or equal weight of patties) chopped into bits
Getting Ready: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Line an 8 inch square baking pan with foil. Butter the foil and place the pan on a baking sheet.
Set a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Put the butter in the bowl, top with chopped chocolates and stir occasionally until the ingredients are just melted - you don't want then to get so hot that the butter separates. Remove the bowl from the pan of water.
With a whisk, stir in the sugar. Don't be concerned when your smooth mixture turns grainy. Whisk in the eggs one at a time. Add the vanilla and whisk vigorously to bring the batter together and give it a shine before gently stirring in the salt and flour; stir only until incorporated. Switch to a rubber spatula and fold in the peppermint pieces. Scrape the batter into the pan and smooth the top with the rubber spatula.
Bake the brownies for 30 to 33 minutes, or until the top is dull and a thin knife inserted into the center comes out almost clean. (The tip of the knife may be a touch streaky) Transfer the pan to a rack and cool to room temperature.
When they are completely cool, turn out onto a rack, peel away the foil and invert onto a cutting board. Cut into 16 2 inch squares.

I am linking this to Tasty Tuesday's, Tempt My Tummy Tuesday's and Tuesday's at the Table.

Pear, Blue Cheese and Walnut Muffins - SMS

I am creating a bit of a muffin mix up with my SMS post today. Today's SMS recipe is Goat Cheese, Olive and Thyme Muffins. You can find the recipe over at Hanna's Kitchen. Tim doesn't care for olives and a co-worker of mine gave me quite a few pears. I decided to bake the Pear, Blue Cheese and Walnut Muffins the SMS group baked a few weeks ago. I baked Carmelized Onion, Sage and Cheddar Muffins that week. Confused? It's a three for one muffin recipe post!

The muffin recipe in Sweet Melissa's cookbook is the same for savory or sweet muffins. Most of the SMS bakers would agree, this recipe tends to make a dry muffin. To create a more moist muffin, I've started adding a little more milk or cream and 1/2 cup of sour cream. Also, it's very important to watch the baking time.

These weren't as flavorful as the Onion, Sage and Cheddar muffins. They needed something, maybe a little more cayenne? As well, they didn't brown like I would have liked. I ended up turning the broiler on for just a bit to try and get the nice brown color. If you've never made savory muffins before, give them a try. They're perfect with soups or stews.

You can find the links to the creative savory muffins by the other SMS bakers here.

Happy Halloween!

Chocolate Honey Madeleines - Chocolate With Francois

With all of the pumpkin, squash and apple recipes on blogsphere, I am ready for a chocolate recipe. How about you? We've been baking along with the book, Chocolate Epiphany by Francois Payard for a year. It was my turn to choose the recipe for October. Since many of the recipes have been more than a little challenging, I decided to choose one that was easier to put together. This is my second time baking madeleines. The first time was this Sweet Melissa Sunday's recipe. When I first read the SMS recipe, I wasn't sure what to do because I didn't have a madeleine pan. Naturally, I'd passed up at least one or two at Goodwill BEFORE I knew we were baking madeleines. Now I'd like to find one, there's none to be found. A mini muffin tin, although not as pretty, makes a good substitution.

This recipe goes together quickly and most likely uses ingredients you have on hand. This batter was much thicker than the Chestnut Honey Madeleine's. It reminded me of a sponge cake batter. Unfortunately, I overbaked them. Seems like I say that quite often? I was pretty sure I set the timer for 8 minutes, went to hang laundry and came back to the kitchen, time had expired. Did I forget to set the timer? Francois says these are best eaten the day they are made. Seriously, why are all of these recipes better eaten the day they are made? He's right. These have a much different texture, almost tough the next day. I was hoping these would have a nice deep honey flavor. The orange zest, while a delicious flavor, overpowered they honey. These are wonderful served with a cup of tea.




Chocolate-Honey Madeleines
4 large eggs
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon light brown sugar
Grated zest of 1 or 1 1/2 oranges, to taste
1 1/3 cups all purpose flour
3 tablespoons Dutch processed cocoa powder
1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
Pinch of salt
10 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 tablespoon honey
Softened butter and flour, for the molds
Batter
Combine the eggs, sugars and orange zest in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Whisk on medium speed for 15 minutes, until the mixture is light and fluffy.
While the eggs are in the mixer, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt over a bowl of piece of wax paper.
Combine the butter and honey in a medium saucepan over medium high heat and let the butter melt. Stir so the honey is well combined. Remove the heat and once the egg mixture is ready, stir about one tenth of it into the butter, to lighten the butter.
With a silicone spatula, gently fold the dry ingredients into the egg mixture in two or three increments. Fold the butter mixture into the batter until well combined. Cover and refrigerate the batter overnight or for up to 3 days.
Bake
Place a rack in the upper and bottom thids of the oven and preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Brush the tins of two large madeleine molds (my note...or mini muffin tins) with butter and dust with flour. Line a baking sheet with wax paper.
With a silicone spatula, gently stir the batter to remove the excess air. Spoon the batter into a pastry bag, or resealable plastic bag, and cut a 1/2 inch opening in the tip or corner of the bag. Pipe the batter almost to the top of each tin.
Bake for about 8 minutes, without opening the oven, and immediately unmold them by tapping the molds against the prepared baking sheet. The madeleines should fall from the tins onto the baking sheet. Serve immediately or cool to room temperature.

You can find the links to the other CWF baker's here! Next up for CWF is Chocolate Coconut Rochers chosen by Joanne at Apple Crumbles . We'd love to have a few more baker's join us for Chocolate With Francois. We bake once a month and post on the last day of the month. Interested? Send me an email!

Happy Halloween (Pink Saturday)!!!

Beverly of How Sweet the Sound, our wonderful host for Pink Saturday opened today's posts up include Halloween!!

Photo by Diann Stelzer.

As you know we live in Nebraska, aka The Good Life. I hope this post doesn't resort in my house being egged or tpeed or worse :). Today is the Missouri/Nebraska football game. Unlike most houses in Nebraska, our house will be cheering on the Missouri Tigers. Neither Tim or I are Nebraska natives and have yet to join the "Big Red" bandwagon. The game today is huge. It will pretty much decide the Big 12 North Champion and is the last time the two teams will meet in Lincoln. Nebraska joins the Big 10 in 2011. You might think since they'll no longer be playing Missouri, we'll become Husker fans? Not so much, Tim's from Minnesota. We'll be routing for those Golden Gopher's next year!

GO TIGERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Pumpkin Sage Brown Butter Quick Bread

If you follow my blog you know I planted sage for the first time this year. I've been searching for new and interesting ways to use my sage. I've made this pasta and these muffins. Before this year, I am not sure I've used sage for much except dressing. Thinking of sage and dressing always brings a smile to my face. When I was about ten, I was helping my mom with Thanksgiving dinner. We were making dressing and pumpkin pie. We had the sage and probably the nutmeg out on the counter. Mom told me to put some of that in the pie. I thought that was the sage. I think we were able to scoop out the sage and save the pie.

One of my favorite pumpkin recipes is my mom's pumpkin bread. She used to make it every year about this time. When I saw this Martha Stewart recipe, I decided to break tradition and try it. I love browned butter. I think I am still trying to master the art of getting it just the right shade of brown. Sometimes, it's a little too brown and other times it's not brown enough. Do you have any tips to share with me?


I love this recipe. It reminds me a lot of my mom's recipe. The sage flavor isn't overwhelming. Actually, next time I will add a little more sage. I shared this with my co-workers. I was quick to point out the green flecks in the bread were sage!!

Pumpkin Sage Brown Butter Quick Bread
Recipe Courtesy of Martha Stewart Living

Makes eight 2 1/2-by-4-inch loaves
6 ounces (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, plus more for pans
1/4 cup fresh sage, cut into thin strips, plus more, whole, for garnish
1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pans
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup solid-pack pumpkin (from one 15-ounce can)
1 cup packed light-brown sugar
2 large eggs
Directions
1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour eight 2 1/2-by-4-inch loaf pans. Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat. Add sage strips, and cook until butter turns golden brown, 5 to 8 minutes. Transfer mixture to a bowl, and let cool slightly.
2.Meanwhile, whisk together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and salt.
3.Whisk together pumpkin, sugar, eggs, and browned butter with sage. Add flour mixture, and whisk until incorporated. Divide mixture evenly among 8 pans. Smooth tops gently using an offset spatula.
4.Place pans on a rimmed baking sheet, and bake until a tester inserted into centers comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Transfer pans to a wire rack, and let cool for 15 minutes. Invert pans to remove breads, transfer to wire rack, top sides up, and let cool completely. (Breads can be stored, wrapped, at room temperature overnight or refrigerated for up to 5 days.) Garnish with whole sage leaves before serving.

I am linking this to Foodie Friday at Designs by Gollum.