Nicely Spiced Mess O' Beans

I love made-up dinner. Made-up dinner doesn't mean we were so poor and/or lazy today that we had imaginary food; it means I felt inspired to grab things I already had in my kitchen and create something random. Sometimes this works, sometimes it doesn't. Tonight it worked, and was full of awesome. AND it was cheap! Oh so tasty. A little too spicy for my kids but OJ and I loved it, and it made enough to feed us for at least two meals.

I like to call it Nicely Spiced Mess O' Beans.

Things I grabbed:
olive oil
2 small white onions
6 cloves of garlic
1 beef bouillon cube
1 small can green chilies
1 medium can pinto beans
1 medium can kidney beans
1 large can diced tomatoes
1 large can white hominy
Tastefully Simply Bacon Bacon mix
chili powder
adobo seasoning
Pampered Chef Southwestern Seasoning Mix
Tastefully Simple Fiesta Party Dip Mix
ground white pepper
light brown sugar

In a medium pot, I put about 2 T of olive oil and warmed it on medium heat. While the oil was warming, I diced the two onions and added them to the pot. I pressed 6 cloves of garlic in and sauteed for a few minutes, until translucent. Sprinkled in about a tablespoon of the Bacon Bacon - would have friend up some regular bacon but my bacon was all frozen, which does not lend itself to 'instant bacon for dinner'. Then I added in the beef bouillon cube (I would have added ground beef if I had it, alas! But this gave it a nice, hearty flavor) and the can of diced green chilies. Cooked those for another minute or so, then added the cans of pinto beans, kidney beans, and diced tomatoes - all undrained. I drained the hominy, rinsed it, and added it to the mix.

Next, it's time for seasoning! I did about 2 T each of the chili powder and brown sugar, and the rest of the spices I just did about a teaspoon of each, just enough for some flavor. I figured I'd let it simmer and then adjust as needed, but I have to tell you, no adjusting was necessary. It was just perfect, a really great blend of flavors. Hearty, warming, with a nice little kick to it. A great chili-stew-southern style bean type mix. YUM.


This is hominy. It's processed corn. Don't worry, I didn't know what it was either, until I did a Native American meal a few weeks back. I thought I had heard it was a corn thing, and I was vaguely afraid the recipe I'd found was calling for that weird diseased corn that's a delicacy somewhere, and I was like OH HELL NO, but thank god, hominy is not diseased corn. That's cuitlacoche, and for the love of god, if you didn't know that people eat diseased corn ON PURPOSE, you probably don't want to click that link. Anyway, that's NOT hominy. Hominy is delicious and undiseased. It's very mild and provided good body to the dish without the over-sweetness of full-on corn kernels. I recommend trying it, it seems quite versatile.

I also cooked up some of this Moist Sweet Cornbread I found over at The Daily Dish. I'm a huge fan of sweet corn bread and this was EXACTLY what I was looking for when I went searching for corn bread recipes. Perfect. I think I have to rename it for my purposes though, because my husband hates the word 'moist', and he loved the corn bread until he saw the name. So when I make it, it will henceforth be known as Tasty Fuckin' Corn Bread. It made a ton, too. Enough for me to stuff myself silly at dinner, still have some for an evening snack, and have plenty left over for dinner number two.

Can I get a what-what? Let's hear some of your favorite made-up dinners!

- with love from K-Pidge

Greek Feast, Part Four: Artichokes & Potatoes

One of the suggested dishes for Greek week was this Artichoke-Potato Medley, and though it had olives (a food I've never quite managed to acquire the taste for), the pictures looked so divine that I had to try it. Also, the original poster noted they were not fond of olives but loved them in this dish. (I concur with this opinion, by the by, all of you fellow olive-haters.) Also-also, I knew S-Pidge would be coming for dinner, and I knew she was an olive lover.

Give this recipe a try; it was delicious. My husband plans on eating them again this weekend; I will be in Utah visiting a dear friend of mine and he and the children will be fending for themselves... in part by convincing a local friend of ours to cook for them, it seems! This was also delicious as a vegetarian meal, stuffed into a pita with tzatziki sauce.


Look, there they are, right up at the front; aren't they lovely?

We doubled this recipe and had a lot of leftovers. Which was fine by us because YUM.

Start by washing and quartering the potatoes, then put them in a pot of cold water on the stove and bring to a boil. Once they are boiling (this can take a while), reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer for about five minutes, or until the potatoes are fork-tender. Drain.

Return them to the saucepan (and here is where I would vary this next time, by putting them into a large skillet instead; we had a heck of a time getting ours to brown the way they appear in the original post. They were still delicious but we would have liked a little bit of browning on them, and I think a wider surface area with more heat might do the trick); add the olive oil and the artichokes (the recipe calls for frozen but I couldn't find those at my grocery store so I did canned ones, drained, same quantity) and turn the heat to high. Cook until the vegetables start to brown, stirring occasionally.


We have been 'browning' this for quite some time and, as you can plainly see, very little actual BROWNING is taking place.

Add the chopped olives, garlic, parsley, lemon juice, lemon zest (we left this out because my husband didn't feel like zesting), and paprika (we couldn't find sweet or smoked paprika, so we went with regular). Season with salt and pepper to taste. Cook 5 minutes or more, until fragrant and heated through.


Eat. A LOT. Because they are YUMMY.

Artichoke-Potato Medley
serves 6

INGREDIENTS
1 lb. small red potatoes, quartered
2 10-oz. boxes frozen artichoke
hearts, thawed
1 1/2 Tbs. olive oil
1/2 cup pitted kalamata olives, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced (4 tsp.)
3 Tbs. chopped parsley
2 Tbs. lemon juice
2 tsp. grated lemon zest
3/4 tsp. sweet or smoked paprika

DIRECTIONS
1. Bring potatoes to a boil in large pot of salted water. Reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer 5 minutes, or until potatoes are just tender. Drain.
2. Return potatoes to saucepan; heat over high heat with artichokes and oil. Cook 5 minutes, or until vegetables start to brown, stirring occasionally. Add olives, garlic, parsley, lemon juice, lemon zest, and paprika. Season with salt and pepper, if desired. Cook 5 minutes more, or until fragrant and heated through.


S-Pidge is a fan.




I am participating in the Global Cook Along project, where we try recipes from around the world. We focus on one region's cuisine each week. We try to do ours as one big potluck-style meal each week, but other people are doing one meal a night, a week, whatever works for them! To learn more, see additional recipes, or to participate yourself, check out our livejournal community and / or our facebook group!

with love from K-Pidge :)