Smoky Black Bean and Rice Stoup from Rachael Ray’s Express Lane Meals Serves 4
3 bacon slices, chopped 1 bay leaf 2 celery ribs 1 med. Onion 4 garlic cloves 1 C frozen corn kernels 2 15 oz. Cans black beans 1 Tblsp. Ground coriander 1 Tblsp. Chili powder 1 ½ tsp. ground cumin 1 Tblsp. Worcestershire sauce 2 tsp hot sauce salt and pepper 1 15 oz. Can diced tomatoes, fire roasted if you have them 1 8 oz. Can tomato sauce 1 quart chicken stock 1 C uncooked rice
Heat a soup pot over medium-high heat. Add the bacon and cook for 3-4 minutes. Add the bay leaf, celery, onions, and garlic and cook for 3-4 minutes to soften the veggies. Add the corn and 1 can of black beans and their juice. Drain the other can, then add half the can of beans. Mash the remaining beans in the can with a fork to make a paste out of them, then scrape them into the soup pot–this will make the soup thick! Season the veggies and beans with the coriander, chili, ground cumin, Worcestershire, hot sauce, and salt and pepper. Stir in the tomatoes, tomato sauce, and stock. Cover the pot and raise the heat to bring the stoup to a boil. Add the rice and cook the stoup over a rolling simmer until the rice is tender but has a little bite left to it, 15 minutes. Adjust the seasonings and serve.
3 cups shredded white cheddar cheese (about 12 ounces)
2 avocados, peeled, pitted, sliced
1/2 cup fresh cilantro leaves
1/3 cup Mexican crema or sour cream
4 lime wedges
Cooking Instructions
Heat the oil in a large sauté pan over medium heat. Add the onion, sprinkle with salt, and sauté until tender, about 3 minutes. Add the garlic and sauté until the onions are translucent, about 2 minutes.
Stir in the chipotle chiles then the tomatoes. Cook until most of the liquid from the tomatoes has evaporated and the mixture begins to thicken, stirring often, about 20 minutes.
Stir in the green onions and honey. Stir in the chicken. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Keep warm.
Heat a large flat griddle pan over medium-low heat. Lay 2 tortillas on the griddle and cook until hot but not crisp, about 2 minutes. Turn the tortillas over. Sprinkle 1/2 cup of the cheese over the bottom halves of the tortillas. Spoon about 3/4 cup of the chicken mixture in an even layer atop the cheese over each tortilla. Top each with 1/4 cup of cheese then with half of the avocado slices. Fold the tortillas over to cover the fillings and form a half-moon shape. Cook until the tortillas are crisp and golden and the cheese has melted, about 3 minutes on each side. Repeat to make 2 more quesadillas.
Open the quesadillas and scatter the cilantro over the filling. Drizzle the crema over the filling then close the quesadillas.
Cut the quesadillas into wedges. Serve with lime wedges and enjoy immediately.
10 ounces sugar-baked ham, thinly sliced (less than 1/4 inch thick)
1 package (10 ounces) frozen broccoli, thawed and squeezed dry with paper towels
1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese (2 ounces)
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9-inch-round cake pan (at least 2 inches deep). Line bottom of pan with a parchment-paper round.
In a large bowl, whisk together eggs and cream; season with salt and pepper. Thinly slice potatoes (less than 1/4 inch thick); drop into egg mixture.
Lifting potatoes out of egg mixture, arrange half the potatoes in pan. Layer with ham, broccoli, cheese, and remaining potatoes. Pour egg mixture over top. Press down firmly so that potatoes are fully submerged in egg mixture.
Cover with foil; bake until potatoes are tender, about 1 hour. Uncover; continue baking until golden and set, 30 to 45 minutes more.
Cool 15 to 20 minutes in pan. Run a knife around edge, and carefully invert onto a plate. Peel off parchment. Reinvert, top side up. Slice with a serrated knife.
Some of you wanted my Brownie recipe. For being a girl that doesn't like chocolate, I can cook up some killer brownies.... or so I've been told! These are Davis's all time fav brownies. And I have a secret trick to making them, ok, so it was more of a "happy accident"....but it's guaranteed to make the best oooey gooey chocolately brownie you've ever tasted!
Chewy Brownies 1 2/3 cups sugar 3/4 cup butter, no substitute 2 tablespoon water 2 eggs 2 teaspoon vanilla 1 1/3 cups flour 3/4 cups cocoa 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 1/4 teaspoon salt chocolate chips to sprinkle on the top(optional)
Heat oven to 375 degrees. Combine sugar, butter, and water. Stir in eggs and vanilla. In a separate bowl, mix together flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt. Add dry ingredients to sugar mixture. Stir until combined. Pour into a greased 9"x9" pan and cook for 32-38 minutes or until toothpick comes out still slightly gooey at the bottom of the toothpick.
*My secret trick is the smaller pan (9"x9" instead of 13"x9") and to take them out of the oven when the brownies are still a bit gooey on the inside. This makes super moist, super thick brownies!*
Remember last week when we were talking about company recipes? This is one of those recipes. I’ll never forget the first time I had this *perfect* pulled pork. I was a guest in someone’s home and this was their company recipe. And true to company recipe fashion, I immediately fell in love with it and begged for the recipe.
This pulled pork is SO yummy and flavorful and tender, it just melts in your mouth. And it really is *perfect* for company because everyone I’ve ever made this for has just raved over it. You have to try it, at least once. Really. You will be hooked. :)
Let’s pick out the perfect pork shoulder for your perfect pulled pork. The best piece of meat for pulled pork is a 4-7 lb whole boston butt.
Make sure your pork shoulder has a layer of fat on the bottom:
And it should also have a bone going about halfway through it. (It doesn’t go all the way through. Just halfway.)
Now, if you notice, my pork shoulder is 7.91 lbs. I got a big one because I wanted to feed 6 people *and* have tons and tons of leftovers. Normally I hate leftovers, but I LOVE this leftover. People always want some to take home with them and it *just* as yummy heated up the next day. Just pop it in a 350-375 degree oven for about 5 mins. You’ll know when it’s done because the whole kitchen will start smelling so good and your mouth will be watering and you just won’t be able to wait any longer before you yank it out of the oven and put it on a plate. It even freezes really well, although we never want to freeze it because we always want to keep eating it for the next couple of days. lol.
After you pick out your perfect pork shoulder, you may want to pick up a few other items while you’re out..
You’ll need a 3″ deep roasting pan that’s big enough to hold your pork shoulder so that there is at least 1″ of extra room on all sides. Of course you may have a nice roasting pan at home that you can use. Lucky. I don’t, so I just pick up one of these babies at the grocery store. Disposable, yet oh so dependable. You’ll also need something LARGE to brine the roast in. I use a 2 gallon ziploc bag. And the last thing is a digital thermometer with an alarm. You don’t *have* to have one of these, but I find this an *extremely* useful piece of equipment in my kitchen. The thermometer stays in the meat, in the oven while the digital reader sits outside on top of the stove. You set the alarm and it will go off when the meat has reached the desired temp. I LOVE it because I don’t have to constantly keep checking on the roast. I just put it in and forget it! :) You can pick one of these up pretty cheap (less than $20) at the grocery store (and almost anywhere- Target, Walmart, Linens-N-Things, Bed, Bath and Beyond, etc). And you can use it for everything- chicken, steak, burgers, etc. I love it for baking chicken because you know exactly when the chicken is done and it doesn’t get dried out. :)
So! Now that you’ve got all your equipment, let’s start out by making the special dry rub that makes this pulled pork so perfectly seasoned and savory.
Dry Rub 1 tbsp ground cumin 1 tbsp garlic powder 1 tbsp onion powder 1 tbsp chili powder 1 tbsp cayenne pepper 1 tbsp salt 1 tbsp ground pepper 1 tbsp paprika 1/2 cup brown sugar
Mix all ingredients together well and store in an air tight container.
This smells absolutely divine. Cover it and set it aside for a sec. Now for the brine - A brine solution gives the meat the extra moisture it needs for a long, slow cooking process so you don’t end up with tough, dried out meat.
Brine Solution 1/2 cup salt 1/2 cup brown sugar 2 qts cold water 3 tbsp dry rub mix 2 bay leaves
Add salt to cold water and stir very well until all the salt is completely dissolved. Then add the brown sugar and dry rub and stir well to combine.
Rinse the pork shoulder in cold water and place in a 2 gallon ziploc bag (or a container big enough so the shoulder is completely covered in brine solution).
Carefully pour in the brine solution. When you get towards the end, slosh the brine solution around and make sure all that yummy dry rub seasoning gets poured in. :)
Now you heard me mention bay leaves earlier. If your neighbor doesn’t grow these fresh in her garden, like mine does, (heh heh heh) you can get these in the spice section of your grocery store. They are *perfect* for seasoning roasts. If you’re using the dried kind, 2 leaves is plenty. But since I was using fresh, I grabbed a whole handful (5-8 maybe) of the fresh ones right off my neighbor’s plant. :D Michele, if you’re reading this, I heart you and your beautiful garden.
So! After you’ve got your pork all covered in brine, go ahead and throw in your bay leaves.
And refrigerate for at least 8 hours. I like to clean out a spot in my door and keep the pork there because it seems to be the best place to keep the shoulder completely covered in brine.
At least 8 hours later…
Preheat oven to 225, remove the pork shoulder from the brine solution and place in the roasting pan.
Pat the skin dry with paper towels. I remember reading once why this was an important step, but I forget what it said now. Just take my word for it, kay?
Ohhh baby now the good stuff! Generously, generously, cover the WHOLE thing in your dry rub mix.
And massage it into that skin real good. Be sure and get it up under any flaps you may come across.
It should look like this when you’re done massaging. You should also still have plenty of dry rub mix left- and that’s okay. We will be using it later! :)
Make sure the fat layer is facing UP and stick the thermometer into the thickest part of the shoulder, but not touching the bone.
Place uncovered in a 225 degree oven on the middle rack. Resist the urge to use a higher temperature.
Set the alarm on the thermometer for 200 degrees. We don’t want to take it out of the oven until the center of the shoulder reaches at least 200 degrees. The first time I made this, I was like what?? 200 degrees?? Are you kidding?? Isn’t a roast usually done at 170 degrees?? Won’t my meat be tough and dried out?? But here’s what I found out. The pork is finished to the point of being sliceable at 170 degrees, but to get that tender, falling apart shredded meat, the ideal internal temperature should reach at least 200 degrees. And it’s still just as tender, juicy and flavorful because of our seasoned brine solution.
Now, cooking at 225 degrees, this shoulder will take between 1.5 to 2 hours per pound to cook. As it happens, this 8 lb shoulder took 13 hours, so a little over an hour and a half per pound.
Here’s how I normally do it… The morning on the day before I want to serve this, first thing when I get up, I prepare the brine solution and let the shoulder brine all day in the fridge. That night right before I go to bed, I season the shoulder with the dry rub and put it in the oven and let it cook overnight. The alarm has never woken me up the next morning, I’ve usually already been up a couple hours before it goes off. And I am not an early riser. (yeah, yeah I can hear ya’ll laughing at how much of an understatement that is)
When the alarm goes off and the shoulder has reached 200 degrees, turn off the oven and let the roast cool for about 2 hours before removing from the oven. Turn off the alarm, but keep the thermometer in the meat, so you can monitor the temperature. If the bottom of the pan is dry (or crusted with dried spices) then cover the pan with foil to retain internal moisture of the meat during the cooling period. Mine still had lots of juice in the bottom this time, so I didn’t have to cover it.
After a couple hours, when the temperature drops to 170 degrees or slightly lower, remove the shoulder from the oven.
Place on a large, clean work surface such as a cutting board, and remove the large sheet of crusted fat on the top. Using two large forks, begin pulling the meat apart. It will fall apart *very* easily and it should not take you long at all to pull apart this whole roast.
Now remember how I said that a 4-7 lb roast was best, but I ended up getting an 8 lb roast? Well, that was just fine and dandy, but my meat wasn’t as seasoned as it normally is with a smaller roast. But that’s no problem cause I had plenty of dry rub mix left! So take a few taste test bites, then generously sprinkle the shredded meat all over until your heart’s content. Be really generous with the dry rub and really mix it in good. This seasoned meat is fantastic. Keep taste testing along the way. ;)
Our favorite way to eat pulled pork is on hamburger buns. We pile ‘em high and let the meat overflow onto our plates and eat that with a fork. :)
But it really doesn’t matter how you serve it because it won’t be on the plate more than 3 seconds anyway. ;)
Having a Labor Day get together with friends & family this weekend? Go ahead and knock their socks off with this slow roasted, seasoned and savory pulled pork.
1 tbsp ground cumin 1 tbsp garlic powder 1 tbsp onion powder 1 tbsp chili powder 1 tbsp cayenne pepper 1 tbsp salt 1 tbsp ground pepper 1 tbsp paprika 1/2 cup brown sugar
Mix well and store in an air tight container.
Brine Solution
1/2 cup salt 1/2 cup brown sugar 2 qts cold water 2 bay leaves 3 tbsp dry rub mix
Add salt to cold water and stir very well until all the salt is completely dissolved. Then add the brown sugar, dry rub, and bay leaves and stir well to combine.
Pork shoulder preparation: Rinse the pork shoulder and place in a large container, pour in the brine solution until the shoulder is completely covered. Cover the container and place in the refrigerator for at least 8 hours. Then remove pork shoulder from brine solution, pat dry with paper towels, place in baking pan that is bigger than the shoulder by at least a inch in length and width and at least 3 inches deep. Sprinkle dry rub onto the surface of the shoulder and massage in such that it adheres to the surface. Coat all sides. Make sure the fat layer on the shoulder is facing up before cooking! Place baking pan uncovered in a 225 degree oven on the middle rack. Insert a probe thermometer into the center or thickest part of the shoulder, but not touching the bone. Monitor the temperature throughout cooking (a digital thermometer with an alarm function is the easiest way to do this). Do not remove from the oven until the center of the shoulder reaches 200 degrees. When the shoulder has reached 200 degrees, shut off the oven and let the roast cool for a couple of hours before removing from the oven. If the bottom of the pan is dry (or crusted with dried spices) then cover the pan with foil to retain internal moisture of the meat during the cooling period. When the temperature drops to 170 degrees or slightly lower, remove from oven. Place on a large, clean work surface such as a cutting board, and remove the large sheet of crusted fat on the top. Pull apart with two forks, it will pull apart very easily. Serve for friends and family! :)
Homemade tortilla chips = Yum. Yum yum yum yum yum. Homemade tortilla chips that are this delicious need a dipping sauce that is equally extraordinary - something that can step up to the plate and match the taste “WOW factor” - bite for bite. That’s where Mighty Meaty Nachos come in…
The ingredients: 1 lb breakfast sausage (can use regular or hot), 1 lb hamburger meat, 1 small jar of salsa, 1 can Rotel tomatoes and green chiles (can use mild or regular… if you can handle the heat ;)), 1 can cream of mushroom soup and 32 oz velveeta cheese.
For the tortilla chips: small, “fajita sized” tortillas (about 6″ in diameter), 3-4 cups vegetable oil & kosher salt
About 2 hours before serving time, slice the Velveeta cheese and place in a crock pot that has been sprayed with Pam. (Keeps it from sticking to the side. Um, yeah. I forgot to do that.) Melt cheese over “High” heat. About 2 hours later, it should be melty and bubbly- like this. :)
Turn the crock pot to Low and put the lid back on. Now it’s time for the Might- I mean the meat - of this recipe. In a large skillet (this one’s 12″), brown, then drain the hamburger and sausage.
Now it’s time to get serious. Go back to all that melty, cheesy, Velveeta-y goodness in the crock pot. Stir in the meat, Rotel, cream of mushroom soup and the small jar of salsa. Now I never know what a small jar of salsa is, so normally I just buy whatever size I can find, then fill my empty (10 oz) Rotel can with salsa and use that amount.
Note to all the mushroom haters out there: Yes, you can leave the cream of mushroom soup out. I do it sometimes too. I wouldn’t touch mushrooms with a 10 foot pole- I can’t even stand the smell of them. The cream of mushroom soup just makes the dip… Creamier. Not mushroomier. :D
Ok YAY! My favorite part! The tortilla chips! :) These are so fun and your friends will be so impressed. :) Fill a small (10″) skillet with about 1″ of vegetable oil (about 3 cups, but I don’t measure). Begin heating over medium to medium high heat for about 10 mins.
Meanwhile, lets make chips. :) Grab a stack of tortillas- for the 2 of us, 10 tortillas is just about right. Cut into 1/4’s to make perfect little chips.
After about 10 mins the oil should be hot enough. We’re going to make the chips in 4 batches, so take one stack of chips and place them in the oil, one at a time.
Flip one over and check on it after about a minute or so. My first batch usually takes a little longer because the oil isn’t as hot yet. But as soon as one side starts to get golden, flip them over.
When both sides are brown and golden, immediately remove from oil (with tongs! :)) and place in a bowl lined with a paper towel. Immediately sprinkle with a healthy pinch of kosher salt.
Repeat the process for the rest of your chips.
They are usually golden, bubbly and perfect after cooking about 1 min on each side.
Sprinkle with a pinch of salt after each batch
Now, the really cool thing about flour tortillas is that that are golden and crispy on the outside, but when you bite into them it’s like a wonderful surprise- they’re kinda soft and flakey!! Definitely different from your average tortilla chip, but OMG. So good. Now if you prefer a more traditonal tortilla chip you can use corn tortillas. They have the traditional taste and crunchiness that you’re probably used to. Kevin prefers the corn tortilla chips, but I’m a flour tortilla kinda girl. I just cannot get enough of these chips. :D
Dip them into the Mighty Meaty Dip and it’s Nacho Perfection. These will be the hit of any party- the dip makes a *lot*, but I never bring home leftovers. :D
(32 oz) Velveeta cheese 1 can Rotel tomatoes and green chilies 1 lb sausage, browned and drained 1 lb hamburger, browned and drained 1 small jar of salsa 1 can cream of mushroom soup small, fajita sized flour tortillas (about 6″ in diameter) 3-4 cups vegetable oil kosher salt
Spray crock pot with Pam and melt Velveeta cheese on high for 2 hrs. Then add rotel, meat, salsa and soup and mix together. Keep warm while making chips. Heat about 1″ of oil in a skillet over medium to medium high heat for about 10 mins. Cut tortillas into 1/4ths to make chips. Heat chips in oil for about 1 min on each side until golden. Remove chips to bowl lined to paper towels and sprinkle with a healthy pinch of salt. Serve chips and dips together to make Mighty Meaty Nachos!
Ready for the big football game on Sunday? Well, if you're still looking for something awesome to serve or take to the party, I've got the perfect recipe for ya. It's called Easy Cheesy Buffalo Chicken Dip. I got this recipe from KraftRecipes.com several years ago and we've loved this dip many times over. If you like buffalo sauce or buffalo wings, you're guaranteed to love this dip! It's delish and has a fun kick!
Easy Cheesy Buffalo Chicken Dip 8 oz cream cheese, softened 1 1/2 cup cooked chicken, chopped 1/2 cup Blue Cheese dressing 1/2 cup Buffalo Wing sauce (I highly recommend Frank's. We usually put in a little extra:) 2 celery stalks finely chopped, optional (I usually don't add this)
Mix all ingredients together in a medium bowl. Microwave on high for about 5 minutes or until cheese is melted and soft. Stir every couple minutes. Serve with crackers and celery sticks.
