Green Curry Broth

While scrolling through my Pinterest app, I saw that Heidi from 101 Cookbooks had posted an older recipe from her site - Green Curry Broth.  I can't explain why, but it really appealed to me at that moment and I made it for dinner not too long after that.

First, you chop and chop and slice and dice and chop some more to create the foundation for the delicious green curry broth.  This is the longest part of the recipe.  After all of this cooks down to impart its flavor, you strain it out and throw it away.  At first I was sad about this, but then I tasted the broth - it was amazing.  Next time, I would not bother with all the fine dicing and such - you can get this done much faster with bigger chunks and since you're straining it, you probably won't even notice a difference.  I also wouldn't hesitate to make this broth with the intention of freezing it, without any add-ins, to enjoy on a rainy day.

Once the broth has been made, you can put pretty much whatever you want in it.  We opted for rice noodles, shredded cabbage, broccoli, frozen corn and green beans, and I saved the tops of the scallions (used in the broth) and added those in too.  I chopped handfuls of mint, basil, and cilantro from my balcony and mixed those in at the very end.  I topped off my own bowl with a little swirl of coconut milk.  This was a good combination of things, but I would break the noodles in half next time, and I had also intended to add cubes of tofu, but things got away from me.

Roasted Chicken Legs with Smoked Paprika, Blood Orange, and Ginger AND Bulgur "Pilaf" with Swiss Chard and Dried Apricots

I was sold on this chicken recipe from Cook This Now.  Orange, cilantro, jalapeno, smoked paprika.  I opted to bake boneless skinless thighs with the marinade and chose a side suggested in the recipe notes, a fragrant bulgur pilaf.  Both came together quickly and with a little advance prep, would be a perfect weeknight meal.  (I would recommend marinating the chicken ahead of time.)

A few little notes... I took the seeds out of the jalapeno and found the spice level to be good that way.  We baked the chicken for about 20 minutes and it was perfectly moist and tender.  The pilaf was an excellent accompaniment, though next time I will chop the chard more (instead of ribbons like I did this time).  I took the suggestion to drizzle pomegranate molasses on at the end and I highly recommend this.  I definitely intend to make both of these dishes again - the chicken especially, since it was super easy and I think would be great cooked on the grill as well as in the oven.

Curried Coconut Tomato Soup

It's been a while... a looong while!  (Good thing I keep this blog for myself, no followers to disappoint!)  Since my last post, I finished my internship, went to Italy, was sick for a couple days, then started a new job.  It's been a rough couple of weeks.  As I am starting to settle in to my new life, I'm cooking more and I'm ready to start posting again.  I've been keeping up with the 101 Cookbooks library, so I have my notes from there which I'll share with their corresponding photos over the next few weeks or so.  Soon our CSA will start up again and I'll be trying to keep up with that too!  There has been some local produce offered at Whole Foods for the last week or two, and since it is conveniently located like 30 seconds from my new job (yay!) I have been stopping in there quite a bit and am ready to really get back in the kitchen.

When I got back from Italy, I was very sick of a few things - namely, pasta and meat.  Wanting to finish out the month strong with the featured author on the 101 Cookbooks Library, I whipped out my home-canned tomatoes from last fall and my copy of Cook This Now and before long, we had this delicious Curried Coconut Tomato Soup - the perfect comfort food to welcome me home, with an exotic twist to remind me of all the places I have yet to see.

Fortunately for me, I had all the ingredients I needed to make this soup, and I was pleasantly surprised at how fast it came together.  Saute some onion in coconut oil (the recipe calls for butter, but I wanted to add coconut at every level of the dish), then it's just tomatoes (home-canned) and some spices.  I opted for a red curry powder, which I thought gave it an interesting flavor.  The soup was good both with and without coconut milk added in, but chopped cilantro and toasted coconut chips were a must.  Some leftover cooked brown rice made it a more substantial meal.  It came together quickly enough for a weeknight and since all the ingredients are usually in my pantry, I will probably be making this again.

Slow Cooker Pinto Bean & Veggie Chili (Dark Days 3)

I'm a little behind with the Dark Days Challenge - I think everyone else is on their 4th or 5th post or so?  But anyway, I'm doing my best, and I managed to squeeze in one more local meal in between finals (my last ever!) and Christmas.  This dish was a chili, entirely local (except for the chili powder and cumin, which if I remember correctly are organic, so there you go) and mostly organic.  After my last Dark Days disaster, I was really excited just to have had this idea (which also uses my slow cooker!), and even more so when it came out so good!

Here's the "recipe" along with my specific sources.  All frozen things were defrosted in the refrigerator overnight.  It made a little over 3 quarts.

Beef, Pinto and Veggie Slow-Cooker Chili

THE NIGHT BEFORE: In a skillet, saute 1 lb ground beef (Cherry Grove Farm) until browned.  Set aside.  In the same skillet, cook 2 chopped medium onions (Whole Foods), stirring occasionally, about 2 minutes.  Add 3 diced small carrots (CSA) and 4 chopped giant garlic cloves (Cherry Grove Organic Farm - a different farm than the ground beef) and cook for about 5 minutes, until the mixture begins to soften.  Add 1 diced red bell pepper (CSA, frozen) and cook for 1-2 minutes.  Add 1 1/4 tsp cumin and 1 Tbsp + 1 tsp mild chili powder, stirring evenly to distribute it.  Turn off the heat and stir in the ground beef.  Let it cool for a few minutes, then put it in a container (ideally glass) and refrigerate overnight.  Pick through, rinse, and soak overnight 2 cups pinto beans (Cayuga Pure Organics).

THE NEXT DAY: In your slow cooker, spread the beef mixture to cover the bottom.  Drain your pinto beans and layer those on top of the beef.  Next, layer ~2 cups corn kernels, from 3 ears of corn (Princeton farmers' market, frozen, probably not organic), ~2 cups 1/2-inch cubes kabocha or other winter squash (CSA, frozen), and ~2 cups zucchini, cut in quarter circles about 1/2 inch thick (CSA, from frozen).  On top of this, pour 2 undrained pint jars fire-roasted tomato pieces (CSA, home canned) and 1 drained pint jar tomatillos (CSA, home canned).  Fill each of the tomato jars with water once, and pour over the pile in the slow cooker (about 4 cups).  Cook on HIGH for 8 hours.  When ready to eat, taste and add ~1 1/2 tsp fine grain sea salt, ~1 Tbsp + 2 tsp chili powder, and/or as much/whatever spices you want, to taste.  Top with grated Garlic Peppercorn Jack cheese (Cherry Grove Farm) to serve.  You can also top with cilantro, which I did have from a local source (Terhune Orchards), but when I finally got to eat at 9pm I just didn't feel like washing and chopping it.

The final product was just slightly more watery than I am used to having in chili - but I really liked that!  The cheese made it even that much better.  And I usually make vegetarian chilis, so the ground beef was a great touch too.  I think this is a great way to eat meat - a small amount of local, grass fed beef surrounded by a ton of local and mostly organic beans and vegetables.  The meat adds a lot to the texture and flavor for such a small input.  After this recipe, I feel a little more confident in my ability to cook without a recipe.  Maybe my best Dark Days meals in the future will be ones that I make up myself.

Thai Soba Noodle Bowl

This delicious Thai-inspired noodle bowl came to my attention through this list of "favorites." I had most of the ingredients on hand, needing to pick up only tofu and ginger (and a new bottle of soy sauce/tamari, because we had gotten regular-sodium last time and it was terribly overpowering).  A base of garlic, ginger, lemongrass, shallot, and chile is sauteed, then simmered with coconut milk and water.  To this broth, add mushrooms and cooked soba noodles.  Bake the tofu while this cooks, and top the bowl with the tofu cubes, cilantro, and (my delicious addition) chopped peanuts.  One note of caution: you will splash this on yourself while you eat.  Leftovers are great too.

Turkey Soup with Lime and Chile

I made this soup with the turkey stock I made from our leftover turkey.  Before we made stock, we salvaged the meat from the bones to include in the soup and got a surprising amount out of it.  The long and short of it is that this soup was awesome - turkey broth flavored with mirepoix and a bit of chile, used to make a soup with turkey, cilantro, scallions, lime, avocado, and some crispy tortilla strips.  (I made these in the oven instead of frying them on the stove.)  Ken brought some to work for lunch and sent me a text saying how amazing it was that turkey soup could be this good - and it wasn't the first time he was eating it.  We froze some turkey and broth to have this soup again later in the winter.  I can get the toppings anytime.  I'm looking forward to it already.

A pictureless summary

While I'm waiting for my official photographer to send me our Thanksgiving photos, I thought I'd share some notes on recipes that I haven't gotten around to posting about.  I've got a few posts started for recipes that I never photographed - since the main point of my blog is to post about the food I make and to avoid making the same mistakes twice, I'm going to share them quickly all at once, instead of dedicating a separate post to each.  Tune in later this weekend for our Thanksgiving post and for some Italy pictures!


Coconut Granola Bars
The coconut granola bars, from NY Times Recipes for Health, were a tasty treat on our vacation.  We snacked on them at the airport and on the plane, crumbled some into yogurt at the continental breakfast, and left a few for Deanna's roommates too.  They were super easy and very crunchy.  If you like those Nature Valley crunchy oats and honey granola bars, you'll like these, and you'll be eating a home-cooked, less-processed (and therefore BETTER) version of them.

Napa Cabbage Salad with Peanuts and Cilantro

I found the recipe for this salad in Deborah Madison's book, Local Flavors.   I made a number of changes to this based on what I had on hand. (It was good, but I thought it would be even better as written.) I didn't have any lettuce, so I used entirely cabbage, and a bit more than called for, a change I think was great! I omitted the scallions because I didn't have any, so I added in a shallot with the dressing. I made the dressing in the blender, and I also added the cilantro to the dressing instead of the salad. I skipped the basil and mint because I didn't have any. Next time I would add extra carrots too!

Fire-Roasted Tomato Stew with Eggplant, Bulgur, and Chickpeas
This one comes from Ancient Grains for Modern Meals.  It's been a while since I made it (eggplant season), but it was good.  I stuck a bit in the freezer for lunches.  The chickpeas are an optional addition, but I think it's always better to toss in some vegetable-based protein when you have the opportunity.  I used bulgur instead of farro, because it's cheaper and I wasn't sure how this would turn out, and also because I thought it would go better with the other flavors.  I was a fan of the golden raisins - if I remember correctly the recipe called for regular dark raisins, but I prefer the golden ones, and I thought they gave the stew an interesting dimension of flavor.

Slow-Cooker Black Bean Mushroom Chili
I made this chili recipe in the slow cooker I got for my birthday.  My old slow cooker is very temperamental and the temperatures seem to be off (thanks to the internet, I've found that this is a very common complaint with that particular brand and model).  My new one lets you set the time by the half hour, and you can jump straight to warm if that's what you want.  This chili recipe uses dried beans, which cooked very well in the 8 hours in the slow cooker.  One complaint is the fresh tomatillos I used - I don't think we scrubbed them well enough and their sticky coating lent a slightly bitter taste to the chili.  The mushrooms gave it a nice meaty element and the spices were a little unusual and interesting.  I would try this one again, maybe with the tomatillos I canned several weeks ago in place of fresh ones.

Eggplant Stuffed With Rice and Tomatoes

This recipe for Eggplant Stuffed With Rice and Tomatoes appeared in the NY Times Recipes for Health with a collection of stuffed vegetable recipes for late summer vegetables - zucchini, eggplant, tomatoes, and bell peppers.  It's been on my radar for a few weeks, and I decided to give it a try.  As I often mention, I cook for two, not twenty as I sometimes would like to believe, so when I started to take out the ingredients for this recipe, I opted to make roughly half of it.  Even so, not all of it was eaten :( but what was eaten was very good.  I tried the dish both cold (as suggested) and hot and it worked both ways.  The thick, vibrant sauce, made from grated tomatoes and interesting spices, made it even better.  I ended up cooking the dish for far longer than intended - I opted for brown basmati rice, so it needed a bit more time to cook.  (My mom tried the related recipe for stuffed tomatoes, and the rice didn't cook at all.  So I was cautious when starting, but this recipe called specifically for uncooked rice.)  I omitted the mint because I didn't have any, and the cilantro was really enough herb for me, especially with the strong flavor of the sauce.  This was a tasty "farewell to summer" recipe, which I ate with a friend at a picnic table in a sunny park on my lunch break.  I'll be keeping this in mind as an eggplant recipe for next summer.

Deborah Madison's Black Bean Chili

This month, the 101 Cookbooks Library is trying something a little different - a featured author instead of a featured book.  October's featured author is Deborah Madison.  I didn't participate in September (I didn't have much interest in the Zuni Cafe Cookbook) but I'm all set for October.  I already own Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone, and my mom got me a few of her other books from the library: the Greens Cookbook, Vegetable Soups, and Local Flavors.

This Black Bean Chili from the Greens Cookbook was recommended to me when I posted a question on the 101 Cookbooks Library asking for favorite chili recipes.  (I found it on this blog page when I was searching online.)  Since I got the book from the library just for October, I decided to kick it off right by making this chili on October 1st.

In addition to the fact that, well, it's chili! I was attracted to this recipe when I read in the headnotes that it's used in a few other recipes in the book, Black Bean Enchiladas and Black Bean Chilaquiles.  I'm not sure about the chilaquiles yet as I don't exactly know what they are, but the Black Bean Enchiladas sound great!  I've always wanted to make enchiladas and now seems like a great time.  I took a look at the recipe, and besides making the chili, it seems like it can be done fairly easily.  The enchiladas use 3 cups of the Black Bean Chili, so I'm freezing 3 cups just for that.  It will be a good one to try a little later this month when I'm more pressed for time.

The Black Bean Chili itself is a leisurely weekend recipe that took me about 4 hours.  I soaked 2 cups of my Rancho Gordo midnight black beans overnight in the refrigerator.  (I have about 1/2 cup left... what will I do with them?! should have just used the whole pound...)  I drained them and put them on to simmer while I did the rest of the prep for the recipe, as the instructions suggest.  Basically, the rest of the ingredients go into a large skillet to simmer for 15 minutes, before being added to the pot with the beans.  Then it all cooks for another hour at least, until the beans are done.  I used half regular paprika, half smoked paprika.  In hindsight, I should have used all smoked paprika, since the smokiness was not that strong, and this is a chili after all!  (The real reason is because my regular paprika expired in 2009.  Oops.)  I left out the 1/2 tsp of cayenne pepper that the recipe called for, because I think it's gross.  Why use that when you can use a delicious and flavorful chile instead?  (I tasted a piece of yellow pepper before adding the mixture to the beans, and it kicked me in the face for just a second, so I definitely won't be missing the heat of the cayenne.)  I also used ancho and chipotle chili powders in place of grinding my own dried chili - just over 2 tbsp total, which is exactly what I had left in each plastic bag.  I added a diced yellow bell pepper, because I like peppers in my chili and I wanted to add a vegetable to this dish.  I used up the last of my fresh tomatoes, including an orangey-yellow heirloom tomato, and some leftover fire-roasted plum tomatoes that didn't fill a jar when I canned them earlier this week. 

This was a lot of work, but the few bites I tasted of the results seemed to be worth it.  With more preparation it could certainly be an easier recipe to make, just needing one eye kept on it as it simmers.  I'm sure I'll try this one again, and I especially look forward to the enchiladas.

Spicy Vegetarian Chili

I love chili.  Now that it's getting cooler, it's pretty much all I want to eat.  I'm looking for recipes to use up the last of the summer produce - this Spicy Vegetarian Chili did the trick.

I followed the recipe pretty closely, though I used a bit less lemon zest/juice, omitted the fennel seeds (yuck) and used two serrano peppers, seeds and all.  That was a bit of a mistake - I should have knocked out a few of the seeds, as it was good but over-spicy.  My mom ended up sending it all home with me.  (I was hoping to share, but I can't say I'm too disappointed...)  For this recipe we cracked open our first jar of home-canned whole tomatoes.  They are super tasty and have a strong and delicious tomato flavor.  I can't wait to use them in more dishes over the winter.  Hopefully I'll get the chance to put up a few more before tomatoes are totally gone.

I can make variations of chili all winter, but I look forward to next summer's produce and revisiting the hearty and healthy chili recipes I've found this year.

Spiced Eggplant Stew

If you came into my living room right now, the first thing you would notice is the stack of books on my living room table.  From the bottom up: Heirloom Beans, Cooking from the Farmers' Market, Edible, Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone, Super Natural Cooking, How to Cook Everything Vegetarian, and on top of the pile is Tender, open to this Spiced Eggplant Stew.  I've been turning to this book fairly often lately after neglecting it when it was the featured cookbook last month.

This recipe contains the flavors of cardamom, coriander, black pepper, garlic, ginger, turmeric, mint, and cilantro - quite a few flavors, and they all combine with the heat from the chile and the creaminess of the coconut milk to make a really delicious meal.  The tomatoes and eggplant go well together, and the eggplant is smooth and soft.  I served this over brown basmati rice.  The leftovers were delicious as well, and I put some in the freezer to enjoy when the weather cools down.  I'm not certain it will defrost well, but here's hoping.

Fattoush (A Variation)

 

I found this recipe in Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone.  It appealed to me immediately when I saw sumac in the list of ingredients - a spice I love but can't find much use for.  The other main ingredients - cucumber, tomato, pepper, and herbs - are widely available right now.  Just reading the recipe made me realize that sumac is the spice in the side salads at Sahara - I have been trying to figure this out for years.  When I tasted the salad, it was confirmed.  I followed the recipe except for excluding the mint, and I used two small yellowish-orange peppers instead of the green ones called for.  I also skipped the toasted pita.  I don't have any pita, and I don't like soggy pita either.  I ate this with a fork.

This is a bright, simple, flavorful summer salad.  I think it would be perfect for a picnic.  I expect to be making this again soon.

Baked Vegetables with an Eggplant Sauce

This is the first recipe I made from Tender.  Too bad I didn't like it very much.  Basically, you roast zucchini, onion, tomato, and red bell pepper, adding harissa and cumin near the end of cooking.  Meanwhile, you also roast eggplant, which you mix with yogurt, olive oil and mint (I used cilantro) to make a sauce for the vegetables.  It wasn't as exciting as it sounded.  My eggplant also didn't roast enough, I think, because I ended up pureeing the eggplant sauce in the food processor.  This is not something I will make again, but at least it exposed me to the book and the way the recipes are written - I thought I'd need a little more guidance than the book provided, but I found myself getting more involved with the cooking and looking at the book a little less.  On the other hand, I didn't like the way the recipe turned out, so maybe I need that extra guidance after all...

Red Lentil and Chard Soup

I've had Ottolenghi: The Cookbook sitting on my shelf for a while now.  I like to flip through and look at the pictures.  But the recipes are usually a little too demanding for me.  I've heard only success stories from people who have made recipes from this book, but I just didn't have the time or energy.

We wasted a lot of Swiss chard from the farm last year, so this year I am determined to make better use of it, and this Ottolenghi recipe used the first of the Swiss chard this year.  Red lentils, sauteed onions, Swiss chard, cilantro (coriander, as they call it), plus seasonings with which you can't go wrong - cumin, cinnamon, coriander seed, garlic, a bit of butter, and a squeeze of lemon at the end.  The smell is filling my house right now.  I wish I could send the scent through the internet.

As with most of the recipes in this book, this Red Lentil and Chard Soup is pretty time consuming.  I cooked the red lentils about 36 hours in advance - I didn't have time to do the whole thing right then.  I left that on the back burner while I made something else for dinner, then finished it in the day after next in the morning - it took about 2 hours with all the chopping and such.  Just the delicious scent is worth it though, and the flavors are ones that I tend to love.

Pasta with Middle-Eastern Spiced Lentils

I found this recipe for Pasta with Middle-Eastern Spiced Lentils in the NY Times Recipes for Health section.  I thought it would be a nice quick meal.  I love cumin and coriander and cilantro, so I did enjoy it, especially with the whole wheat spaghetti.  I'm still not totally sold on lentils - I just don't like the texture, as is the case with beans as well.  I'm working on getting over it by incorporating more of them into my diet (at least, I'm trying).  I think this might be good with diced tomatoes as well.  Unfortunately, I did not really enjoy the leftovers.  Maybe because I don't like reheated pasta very much.  I probably won't make this again, but it makes me want to look for other lentil/bean recipes, and ones with cumin and coriander as well.

Tortellini Salad

I chose a few recipes to make from Super Natural Every Day this week and bought all the ingredients - now I'm committed to making them!  First up this week was the Tortellini Salad, with crisp broccoli and asparagus, creamy avocado, a lemony-garlicky dressing, the bright flavor of cilantro, and crunchy toasted almonds.  It's served at room temperature, which is perfect for warmer weather.  It wouldn't be too difficult to vary the vegetables, and I could even see doing a grilled version - grilled asparagus or zucchini instead of quickly cooking it in the pasta water - even leftover grilled vegetables would work well here.  We used an asiago-ricotta tortelloni (they're bigger than the little tortellini) which brought a great saltiness that tied the outside of the pasta to the inside.  I'd like to try tortellini next time, since it would more closely match the size of the cut vegetables.  I can't wait to get deeper into this book - so far I'm very pleased with the recipes I've made.

Fava Bean Stew with Bulgur

I bought some frozen fava beans a while ago, just because I hadn't seen them before, and I had nothing to do with them.  They have been taking up space in my freezer for months.  I am going down the list looking for recipes to make with the ingredients I have in my freezer, and I found a recipe for Fava Bean Stew with Bulgur from the NY Times Recipes for Health section.  Bulgur is one of those grains that I have on hand in my refrigerator and never used, so I decided to make the stew this past week.

It was pretty good.  The flavors were very delicious - the cinnamon and the heat from the cayenne went really well with everything else.  It was great over the bulgur, which was extremely easy to make.  It reminded me just a bit of steel cut oats, so maybe I'll try it as a breakfast grain.  One thing I'm now thinking I did wrong was regarding the frozen favas.  Based on pictures from a quick internet search, I'm not sure the kind I bought were skinned.  They were not inedible by any means, but I think it would have come out better had I thought of this before.  The bag was a little more than a pound, so I'll have to try peeling them for whatever I do with the rest of the beans.

Lentil Stew with Winter Squash

When I am miserably bored I like to search for recipes.  So most of the time, I have a ton of tabs open on my browser, and usually they stay there for weeks and I end up making none of them.  Recently a friend was here for dinner and she can't eat any fat, which you would think is impossible in my house, but as I was flipping through my open recipe tabs, I noticed that one of the NY Times Recipes for Health that I had open, Lentil Stew with Pumpkin, had the nutrition information, and zero grams of fat.  I had pretty much all the ingredients, so I made it for dinner and sent her home with the leftovers.  (I also made her some very low-fat brownies.  Delicious.)

The soup was pretty tasty.  I personally do not prefer the texture of lentils and split peas, but they happened to taste good, which made up for it.  I didn't eat a lot, though.  The spices and aromatics added some good flavors to the soup.  I used what I think is ambercup squash - that was pretty good too.  According to Ken, this is a regular lentil soup.  But I thought it was pretty good, and I hope my friend enjoys the leftovers!

Big Curry Noodle Pot

In a little over a month, Heidi Swanson's new cookbook, Super Natural Every Day,  is coming out.  I am very, very, VERY tired of waiting for it.  She's posted an image of some of the pages, but you can't read the words beyond the title.  Very recently she posted a sampler PDF of six recipes from the book.  (I've already made one, but more on that later.)  I'm mostly caught up with her website - I've made probably 50 or 60 recipes from it, and while I have a few on the list, I'm waiting for more inspiration.  Out of all the food blogs I read (see the sidebar for my list), Heidi's is my favorite.  It got me started cooking, fueled my love of natural ingredients and whole grains and fresh produce, and continues to inspire me with new recipes every week or so.  While I'm waiting for the book to come out, I've been going through her last book, Super Natural Cooking, looking for some fun things to try.

I made the Big Curry Noodle Pot from the book partly because we have been eating a lot of Thai curry over the past few months, and partly because of the recommendations on the 101 Cookbooks Library.  I happened to have everything on hand except the peanuts, which only required a quick trip around the corner.  It worked out well for a weeknight.  Now that I've tried it as-written, there are a whole bunch of things I'd love to try out with this.  Most importantly, it was not spicy enough.  The recipe calls for some Thai red curry paste as well as turmeric.  Too much turmeric, I think, and not enough curry paste.  I might try out some red curry powder instead of the turmeric, or just more of the paste.  I would also like to try this with chicken or shrimp.  The tofu was better left over than it was right after I'd made it, but I still am just not a huge fan of home-cooked tofu.  Plus, Ken does not like it.  I think chicken would be a better fit than shrimp here, but either could work.  One last idea - instead of chopping the onions, I'd like to try them thinly sliced instead.  The noodles fought the onions for fork space, and the length of the noodles gave them an advantage.  It was difficult to get much onion, or if you did, there weren't many noodles.  I think thinly slicing them would make it easier to grab a bunch of each.

Giant Chipotle White Beans

I have been trying to eat more beans lately, but so far I have limited myself to chili and soup.  In an effort to try something new, I decided to make the Giant Chipotle White Beans from 101 Cookbooks, which are large white beans baked in a chipotle tomato sauce with flecks of kale, topped with feta and drizzled with a cilantro pesto.  I skipped the bread crumbs that are in the original recipe - I didn't feel that they would really add anything to the dish, so I just left them out.

I have to say, I made these a while ago.  At least two weeks ago.  I've been really, really busy with school and I have barely been cooking, let alone writing about it.  But I remember that they tasted good.  Specifically, the sauce was delicious.  I'm not big enough on beans yet to really love a dish that consists only of beans.  (I'll get back to you after I try some of my Rancho Gordo beans, which have not been sitting in a silo for 10 years like the giant limas I used for this recipe.  I have a feeling it will make a difference.)  So I think it would be interesting to try half beans, half something else.  I'm not yet sure what exactly, but pasta comes to mind.  So kind of like a baked ziti with beans and Mexican flavors.  I don't know, it works in my brain.

Anyway, this was tasty, it was.  But I wish I hadn't made so much, because we threw most of it away.  :(  I'm not sure how it would have held up in the freezer, but maybe next time I'll try that.