Oh So Simple Bean Soup

I've had a pound of white beans in my cupboard for more than 2 years, so I thought I should try to put them to good use. I soaked them yesterday, so they would be ready for me today.

I tried looking for a good recipe to use, but nothing was jumping out at me, so I decided to do a little experimenting. This is NOT something I usually do.

Feeling a little daring, I put the beans in some fresh water, put it on to boil, and started grabbing cans from my cupboard.

Here's the end result:

Oh So Simple Bean Soup

• 1-15.25oz can whole kernel corn, drained
• 1-10.75oz can cheddar cheese soup + 1 can of water
• 1-15oz can of crushed tomato + 1 can of water
• 1-15oz can of tomato sauce + 1 can of water
• 1-15oz can of chili beans
• 1-15oz can of black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 lb of dried white beans, soaked and cooked
• 1/4 cup of Wahoo! Chili (Tastefully Simple)
• 1 1/2 T Garlic Garlic (Tastefully Simple)
• 1/4 c minced onion
• 1 T salt
• 1 tsp basil

Combine all ingredients in a large pot. Simmer for at least 30 minutes until hot and flavorful.

I topped this with Texas Toast(R) Cheese & Garlic croutons. Yummy!

Cookies NEED eggs

Jeff asked me to bake some cookies after dinner last night. I had found a recipe for Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies on my friend's family recipe blog, and he agreed that they sounded delicious.

So, I mixed them all up, and popped the first dozen in the oven. Then I started to clean up and realized there was no egg shell on my counter.

Ooops! I had forgotten to add the egg.

While the first dozen was baking, I had already put the next dozen on the pan--ready to put in the oven. After a minute or so of hemming and hawing (is it OK to mix in the egg after the chocolate chips have been stirred in? what effect will no egg have? will the egg mix properly after the fact?), I decided to toss the dough of the 12 uncooked cookies back in the bowl, and go ahead and try to still mix in the forgotten egg.

Turns out, cookies really do need eggs. The first dozen tasted OK, but they didn't stick together very well.



And they didn't flatten as they should have.


We were left with very thick, dry, crumbly cookies.

Thankfully the remaining 2 1/2 dozen were delicious! Moist, chewy! I love the flavor combination of the peanut butter and chocolate chips.

If you're wondering what an egg exactly does in cookies, check out this website that I found this morning. It answers this very question plus gives more great information about the egg.

P.S. Is forgetting eggs a pattern? I also forgot eggs when making pancakes back in 2006. Perhaps since it was more than two years ago, it's not a pattern. Let's hope.

Banana Blueberry Muffins

I made these muffins last night to enjoy for breakfast this morning. I was looking for a healthy banana muffin to use up some frozen bananas that have been in my freezer for quite a long time. I was a little hesitant to make these, as there were quite a few negative reviews. Overall it was still rated with 4 stars, so I decided to give it a try.

They turned out to be delicious and filling! I even brought a couple into a co-worker, and she agreed that they were yummy. This is definitely a recipe I will make again and again.

My frozen bananas were about 2 cups, so I decreased the egg whites to 3 instead of 4, but that was the only change I made to the recipe.

Ever Wonder...

Have you ever wondered how you can figure out the nutritional value of your favorite home cooked meals?

Check out this link:
http://caloriecount.about.com/cc/recipe_analysis.php?process=resubmit&count=6

It is the easiest way to do this analysis. I've seen other links around where you need to tediously find the ingredients from your recipe in their database. Not with this one! All you need to do is type in your recipe, enter the servings, and hit ANALYZE RECIPE.

If it doesn't recognize your ingredient, it will display a red or orange flag next to that item. You can re-word your ingredient, so that it can be found in their database.

Happy analyzing and healthy eating!

Another smoothie...

I used milk as my liquid base for today's smoothie. I wasn't sure how it would turn out, but it is delicious! It is much creamier than when I use OJ.

Today's smoothie:

• Milk
• 1 peach
• 1 kiwi
• small handful of frozen strawberries
• 2 packets of Splenda

Mmmm...yummy...

Mmmm...Yummy Smoothies...

The kitchen at my temp position at SC Johnson is a full kitchen. One of the many appliances it has is a blender. I've taken to blending up a yummy smoothie for breakfast each morning.

Today's is particularly hitting the spot.

Ingredients:

• Orange Juice
• 1 Banana
• Frozen mixed berries
• 2 packets of Splenda

Delicious!!

Ymmm...Pie...

The Peña kids spent the night after Selena's birthday.

When AJ woke up, the two of us went out and picked some raspberries and rhubarb. When I asked AJ what he thought we should make with the raspberries we'd picked. Without hesitation, he said, "Pie!" By this time, Selena was awake, and the three of us made one raspberry and one raspberry-rhubarb pie.

The pies were tasty! And it was a lot of fun to spend quality time baking with my niece and nephew. :-)

Here is a pic of the pies we made.

Misc