easy recipes

Beans For Supper

/ cmateo95 / Leave a comment

The most sunshiny Kansas day turned into a rainy, stormy night, and I am writing. It’s a good evening for a confession: I am not necessarily a good cook. My husband and various relatives know this already. When we got married, I threw myself with zeal and vigor into cooking and baking. I made meal plans, researched diets, shopped for recipe specific ingredients, and spent more money than necessary on groceries because I had no clue what I was doing.

Halfway into our third month of marriage, I gave up, cried, and we ate ham sandwiches for a week. Since then, progress has been spotty. Somedays I feel good about what I’ve made for us to eat. Somedays I just want someone to cook for me. All days I want someone to cook for me, actually. Some evenings I’ll make something my husband can’t get enough of, and the very next time I make it I do it different and he hates it. As he is usually the only other person eating the food I cook, his opinion matters on this subject.

Through these ups and downs, I’ve discovered I don’t find much joy in creating new and exciting food for us to eat every day. I don’t find much joy in making sure we eat every day. I do find joy in eating, so thanks #adultlife, for this happy conundrum.

Like all major problems in life, someone else has experienced it, too, and that is why he or she invented canned food and spice mixes. Because, honestly, most days that is the key to any success I have in the kitchen.

Without further ado: my black beans recipe. I serve them with rotisserie chicken ($5 of happiness from Walmart), avocado, and tortilla’s. These beans also go well with heovos con chorizo. Beans for breakfast has become one of my favorite things.

Don’t mash these beans: let them simmer in their juices and don’t stir them. Add half a packet of Sazon Goya Con Culantro y Achiote spice mix. This is the easiest way to cook beans that almost taste like my mother-in-law’s beans do. Since that description of this recipe is way too long to be it’s name, we can simply call these canned beans with spice mix. Still too long? Oh well.

I hope you enjoy eating these beans so much you don’t notice this is definitely cheating. I for sure don’t notice.

Delicious! This picture and these beans I can take credit for.

Black beans for supper

  • Servings: 2-3 people
  • Difficulty: Easy
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  • 1 15 oz can black beans
  • 1/2 packet Sazón Goya (con culantro y achiote) spice mix
  • 1 cup water

Directions:

Add black beans, undrained, to saucepan. Add spice mix and water. Mix, then cover and simmer over low heat until beans are hot and sauce is slightly thick, about 10-15 minutes. If sauce is too thick before beans are hot, add more water. Serve hot with chicken, avocado, and tortillas. Or just tortillas. However you like.

Mini Chocolate Chip Cookies

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I call these mini chocolate chip cookies only because my mom and my sister make gigantic amazing chocolate chip cookies that spread all over the cookie sheet in their baking enthusiasm. For a long time, I thought those were the only chocolate chip cookies to eat. They were certainly delicious.

Then I discovered the back-of-the-chocolate-chip-bag recipe and never went back. These cookies use soda (I was afraid of soda, for no good reason other than eating large soda chunks as a 10 year old) among other things. They are no-nonsense cookies that owe their amazing taste and texture all to real butter. If you use this recipe, but substitute margarine, you will wonder why I said these are good cookies. I use butter in this recipe, and you should too.

Of course, soften the butter by letting it sit out on the counter for a few hours, or, like me, you may end up microwaving each stick for 5 second intervals, trying to soften the butter without melting it.

That’s the other thing about cookies/baking: when a recipe calls for softened butter, it needs softened butter. If you use melted runny butter you may as well throw the whole thing away because your cookies will stand no higher than a sheet of paper.

These cookies actually aren’t mini, they are more mid-sized. But no matter because if you are like me, my husband, or our friends you will eat 5 or 6 of them at once and then be glad to say you only ate 5 or 6 mini chocolate chip cookies. I mean that. I’m eating one right now.

My aunt would say that if you really want soft cookies, you need to sub half the white sugar with brown sugar, and she is right. The molasses in brown sugar definitely helps to make the cookies softer.

P.S. Funny story: I made these cookies, then threw away the empty chocolate chip bag. So I’ve been hunting my whole house looking for it so I could make sure my recipe was right. I ended up going to a few different stores searching for the same brand of chocolate chips to find my recipe. In the end, I looked at my baking shots, magnified the recipe by 1000% and read the back of the package.

um… can you even read this? Me either.

So after all that searching… Here is the back-of-the-chocolate-chip-bag recipe! I’ll link the chocolate chips I use so you have no doubts. It is a useful recipe and will not let you down as long as you don’t melt the butter. Enjoy!

Mini Chocolate Chip Cookies

  • Servings: 3 dozen, give or take
  • Difficulty: Easy
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  • 1 c unsalted butter, softened
  • 1 c sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 2 c flour
  • 1-1/2 c chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Cream together butter, sugar, and eggs. Add vanilla. In a separate bowl, combine baking soda, salt, and flour. Add to egg mixture, mix well. Add chocolate chips, mix well. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto greased cookie sheet, leaving 2 inches between each one. (I like to use a mini cookie scoop rather than a teaspoonful). Bake for 10-12 minutes, until slightly browned.

White Chili from Amish Country

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I have a lot to say about this chili. The first time I made it was on Valentines Day, the first one after we got married. It was cold outside, my hubby was sick, and I was wondering how on earth all of these ingredients together would taste good.

So I dubiously mixed it up, served it, and watched his eyes open in surprise. Now it’s definitely one of our favorite meals. I like to serve it with rice or a fresh salad.

I originally got this recipe from an Amish cookbook, What’s Cooking? (a collection of recipes from the employees of an Amish dry goods store near my home town), by a cook named Kristy Hochstetler. My mom gave me the cookbook just after I got married, and although I wasn’t sure if my husband would enjoy Amish food, I discovered that we both like the food just fine.

I needed to modify the recipe to serve 2-3 people rather than 6-8, and I definitely interpreted the ingredients differently. But on the whole, it came out perfectly the way I wanted it. You might think so too. This soup is all the things: creamy, comforting, full of texture and flavor.

Last weekend my sister was in town. All three of us decided to go for a walk (it was a lovely day) but by the time we were ready to leave, clouds had covered the sun and it was raining. Such is Kansas City weather. Instead, we made a run to the grocery store, came back and I cooked up a storm of cookies, oatmeal, and finally White Chili for supper.

The biggest thing to love about this recipe is that you can dump all these ingredients together, let the whole thing simmer on the stove for 30 minutes, and then eat it right away. It’s an excellent way to recover from bad weather.

White Chili

  • Servings: 3-4
  • Difficulty: Easy
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  • 3 chicken pieces
  • red pepper
  • black pepper
  • salt 
  • 2 chicken bullion cubes
  • 2 c water
  • 2 cans pinto beans
  • 12 oz salsa
  • 1 cup cheese, shredded
  • 2 tablespoons canned green chilies

Directions:

Boil chicken pieces with red and black pepper, salt, 2 chicken bullion cubes and 2 cups water for 30 minutes, or until chicken is cooked. Remove meat from bones, throw bones away. Add chicken back to cooking water. Add beans, salsa, cheese, and chilies. Let simmer for 30 minutes. Serve immediately with sour cream and extra cheese.

Baked Oatmeal For Two

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When I was a kid, baked oatmeal was my favorite. Maybe because I liked milk, or maybe because it was just delicious. I don’t know. Once, I tried to impress some friends from Texas with my version, and they were not as excited as I was. I concluded I was a bad cook.

When I got married, we were pretty much broke (newlywed college grad life), so I made a. lot. of oatmeal. Oats are probably the cheapest healthy thing around. The first time we had oatmeal for breakfast my husband was worried. I could tell he had made up his mind to say it was good no matter how it tasted. But when he had his first bite his expression changed. He actually liked it! He kept asking me what I put in it that made it so different, and I discovered I might not be such a horrible cook.

The problem was that my trusted oatmeal recipe was modeled for about 4 people, and we don’t really love to eat cold oatmeal the next morning (unless it’s baked into a banana cake or something).

I’ve cut it down to size and added some of my own things. It’s one of our very favorite breakfasts.

First, I melt a quarter cup of butter. Real butter! Margarine will not do. Although I have substituted oil before, I prefer butter for added flavor. I mix in one egg, whisking it really good. I don’t want the oatmeal to fall apart with some eggy parts and some oat parts. Ideally, whisking the butter and egg together creates light chewy oatmeal.

Then, I add a quarter cup of sugar. You can add more or less as you like… a half cup might be overkill in this case. You can skip the sugar and add honey, which works just as well. Next I mix oats, baking powder and salt in a separate container. Yeah, who knew to put baking powder in oatmeal?

I add the oat mixture to the egg mixture, then add a half cup of milk, stirring well to ensure consistency. Then I pour the mixture into a greased 8×8 pan, sprinkle cinnamon sugar on top, and put it in the oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 15-20 minutes. When the middle is firm to the touch, the oatmeal is done!

I like to serve this warm with cold milk, but you can serve it on it’s own with toppings such as chopped nuts, honey or fruit. Enjoy!

P.S. This recipe is also great for making the night before. I like to mix it up, refrigerate it, then pop it in the oven while I shower in the morning.

Baked Oatmeal For Two

  • Servings: 2-3
  • Difficulty: Easy
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  • 1/4 c butter, melted
  • 1 egg
  • 1/4 c sugar
  • 2 c quick oats
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 3/4 c milk

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Melt butter, add egg. Whisk well. Add sugar and mix. In separate bowl, mix oats, baking powder and salt. Add to egg mixture. Mix well. Add the milk and mix again. Pour into greased 8×8 pan (sprinkle with cinnamon sugar) and bake for 20-25 minutes. Oatmeal is done when middle is firm to the touch. Serve warm.

Fluffy Rice

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I didn’t love to eat rice when I was growing up. To me, rice seemed to be just what you eat when you need nutrition and are out of other options. That may have had something to do with my not knowing how to properly cook it. I thought maybe I needed to rinse it, or sometimes if I got impatient I would crank up the heat.

When I graduated college I spent a few months in Texas, where I learned rice is life. Literally, I ate so much rice. My friend’s mom showed me how to cook rice, and for the first time I realized rice could be all I needed.

Which was a good thing because I came back to the north and married a Hispanic man shortly afterwards. We eat a lot of rice these days.

A few things I learned are 1) no, you don’t need to rinse rice. Please don’t rinse your rice at any point in cooking. 2) Rice takes more patience than you might think. 3) Rice is amazing. Here’s the recipe.

Because there are only two of us, I start out with a cup of uncooked rice. The cool thing about rice is there is always a 1:2 ratio of rice and water. Easy to remember.

I pour about a tablespoon of oil in my pot and let it heat. Any non-stick medium size kettle works here. Then I add the cup of rice and stir it as it heats. This step is where things could go wrong. To avoid burning your rice, make sure to continually stir it! You could add a piece of pepper or onion for flavor, to take out before serving.

Just before I start heating the rice, I put two cups of water in the microwave for 3 minutes. You could heat the water in another kettle on the stove… the microwave works faster though. After the water is heated, I add it directly to the rice. Very steamy.

Almost immediately after I add the water, I clamp a lid on top the kettle, then reduce the heat to low. Do not use a higher heat setting! Rice takes patience. Patience is key.

After 20 minutes, I take the lid off my rice and check the bottom of the pan. If the water is completely boiled away and my rice kernels are no longer soggy, the rice is done.

Fluff it with a fork and serve it up! Or add it to soup or stir fry. If you added a slice of pepper or onion for flavor, take it out before you serve.

See how fluffy it is?! This basics of this recipe will work for any rice… just adjust the time as needed. With brown rice, the ratio of rice to water may be different. To be clear, here are the basic rules for fluffy rice:

  1. Heat your rice in the pan with a tablespoon of oil for about 3-5 minutes without letting it burn.
  2. Add hot water and let it steam for 30 seconds.
  3. Put a lid on and turn the heat to low.
  4. Don’t touch the rice until it’s done cooking. 20 minutes for white rice.
  5. AFTER the time is up, fluff rice with a fork and serve.
  6. The basics don’t change.
  7. Enjoy!

Fluffy Rice

  • Servings: 2-3
  • Difficulty: Easy
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  • 1 tablespoon oil
  • 1 cup white rice, uncooked
  • 2 cups water

Directions:

Heat oil in nonstick pan. Add 1 cup rice. Stir constantly. Meanwhile, heat 2 cups water until almost boiling. Add to rice, then immediately put a lid on the pot. Turn heat to low and set timer for 20 minutes. Don’t touch the rice during this time! It’s fragile. After 20 minutes, check the bottom of the rice pot. If the water has all evaporated the rice is done!

Perfect Egg Casserole

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Egg casseroles are not my strong suite. But, I have such a love affair with egg casserole my sister served it at my wedding shower and my cousin made at least two huge dishes of it for my wedding morning. I love the stuff.

But I can’t make it. Not for lack of trying. If you ask my husband or roommate they will tell you I’m always baking sickly, dry, flavorless versions of it. I feel bad force feeding it to them each morning, but someone has to eat it.

So my husband was pleasantly surprised when he got off work to meet me in our house, brandishing a camera, taking pictures of an actually decent egg casserole. In fact, he had a piece before it had finished cooling completely. I think that means I succeeded.

I used this recipe to get started, since I’m no good baking on the fly. Instead of bacon, I substituted 1/2 cup shredded pork (I’ll post this recipe later). I puzzled over what 2 slices of bread might equal in cups, since I make my own bread, rather than using the store bought version. Thanks to Google, I discovered 2 slices are equal to about 1/2 cup of cubed bread.

Also, the original recipe said to pour the finished mixture into a 9×13 pan. I do not recommend this, as your finished egg casserole will be flat as a pancake. I used an 8×8 pan successfully.

I put it in the oven at 350 for 20 minutes, then checked it. The middle was still quite gooey, but when I poked it with a toothpick only 3-4 minutes later the middle was firm. It was done!

Perfect Egg Casserole

  • Servings: 9 slices
  • Difficulty: Easy
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  • 3 green onions, sliced
  • 1 cup shredded Colby Jack Cheddar mix
  • 6 eggs, whisked
  • 1/2 cup shredded pork (or whatever meat you have on hand)
  • 1/3 green bell pepper, diced
  • 3 tablespoons milk
  • 2 cloves minced garlic
  • 1/2 cup stale, cubed bread
  • salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Add all ingredients to bowl. Mix well. Pour into greased 8×8 pan. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes, keeping an eye on the middle. When a toothpick comes out clean and the middle feels firm, remove from oven. Serve warm.

Basic Bread for a Snowy Day

/ cmateo95 / 3 Comments

When I was about 4 years old, all hundred of my siblings and I crawled into our Chevy Explorer and fell asleep while Mom and Dad drove us down the road to Wisconsin. Both our grandparents lived in Wisconsin and we looked forward to our weekend trips to see them. Usually we arrived in Rusk County within 12 hours, especially because Dad liked to drive too fast and make as few stops as possible. But not today. Today the snow fell steadily and cars crept along badly scraped roads. I woke up somewhere in Norwalk, Ohio, to find the van had stopped. Winnie the Pooh, an audio book written by A. A. Milne and narrated by Peter Dennis, played through the van’s foggy speakers. A few other siblings were awake, and they told me the van had broken down. The engine wouldn’t even turn over. So we siblings stayed squished together and wrapped in blankets, waiting for Dad to find a repair shop and laughing at Piglet make snorting noises every time he talked. The snow kept falling, covering the van windows. 

Later in the morning, we walked to the nearest McDonald’s to eat a hot breakfast, and sometime after we got back on the road, reaching Grandpa Baer’s late at night. I don’t remember much of the rest of the trip. Something about being stranded, but still together stayed in my mind and to this day my siblings and I clearly remember listening to A.A. Milne in the snow covered van. 

This morning I woke up to discover my office was closed. Snow began to fall about 8 am, and it hasn’t stopped yet. Because of the snow and not being able to go anywhere, I’ve been playing Winnie the Pooh and baking all morning. It’s cozy in my little house!

When I assessed me and my husband’s food situation this morning, I discovered there are definite gaps. We have no breakfast sandwich options. We have no quick lunch options other than ramen. 

To remedy this, I am whipping up a batch of bread buns. I can use the buns to make egg and cheese sandwiches for my guy when he wakes up at 5:30 to get to work. Or we can make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for a snack. Most bread recipes are for 3-5 loaves of bread, but I am lucky in that I found a recipe that will make only one loaf, the equivalent of a pan of bread buns. 

This recipe saved my life last January as I was learning to make bread for two people. It’s so simple, especially if you have a stand mixer with a kneading arm. If not, kneading by hand is super easy! Since I am a sort of newbie to the art of bread making, I watched a few YouTube videos about it. I thought this video was super useful in showing me how bread should look and feel at different stages of kneading.

To start, I mixed together a cup of water, two tablespoons of melted butter, two teaspoons of sugar and 3/4 teaspoons of salt. Next, I added a tablespoon of yeast (I used Fleischmann’s Active Dry Original) and another of flour, then let the mixture rest for five minutes. This is an essential step. If, after five minutes, the mixture hasn’t risen (or bubbled) the yeast is bad. Just start over with good yeast. 

Next, I added almost a cup of flour and mixed it all together. Since I was using a stand up mixer, I switched out my beater for a dough hook, then added another 3 cups of flour. I set my machine to knead for about 6 minutes. Then I placed the dough in my mixer with a cloth over the top. After an hour or so, the dough had doubled in size. I punched the air bubbles out of the dough, then formed bread buns. I placed these on a greased baking sheet and left them to rise again, about an hour’s time. 

Once the buns doubled in size, I put them in the oven for 15-20 minutes. Honestly, I just looked at the tops of the bread. Once they were browned and made a hollow sound when I rapped them, I knew they were finished baking. I took them out of the oven and brushed butter on the tops to soften them. 

The buns are done! When I tasted the finished product, I realized I should have added just a little more salt. Otherwise, this bread is so good!

Basic Bread

  • Servings: 1 loaf or 12 buns
  • Difficulty: Easy
  • Print

  • 1 cup warm water
  • 2 tablespoons melted butter
  • 2 teaspoons sugar
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 tablespoon of yeast
  • 1 tablespoon + 3/4 cup + about 2-3/4 cups flour

Directions:

Mix water, butter, sugar and salt together. Add the yeast and 1 tablespoon of flour. Wait for 5 minutes. Don’t skip this step!! After five minutes, if the mixture is bubbly, mix in another 3/4 cup of flour. If using a stand mixer, switch your whisk for a dough hook and add the rest of the flour. Knead for about 6 minutes. If mixing by hand, simply add the rest of the flour and knead the dough until stretchy but not sticky. Add more flour if necessary. Place the dough in greased bowl. Cover bowl and set in a warm place to rise, about an hour. Once dough has doubled in size, punch down to get the air bubbles out. Form dough into loaf or mold into 12 equal buns. Place in greased baking tins. Then let rise again for another hour, until buns have doubled in size. Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit until bread is browned on the top and sounds hollow when rapped. Rub butter on the bread as soon as it is out of the oven. Enjoy!