Posted in Food, Uncategorized

Black Bean Salad

Posted on by carrienotcary

What to do with leftovers? It’s the perennial question in almost every kitchen.

I made a big bowl of black bean salad to serve as a dip along side Super Nachos and my guilty pleasure hot crab and artichoke dip. The next day the salad was staring back at me in the fridge. After numerous swipes with tortilla chips and a couple tortilla roll ups made with the salad my husband and I knew we had to figure something else out. The missing ingredient was right there in the fridge all along, eggs.

Scrambled eggs with black bean salad, served with salsa to continue the Southwestern vibe or the diner favorite, ketchup.

Of course I had to add cheese. A little bit of colby jack improves so many things.

Here’s the recipe for black bean salad. A lot of chopping but worth it!

1 red bell pepper,1 yellow pepper, and 1 orange pepper, all diced

1/2 cup red onion diced

1 can corn ( approx 15 oz) drained

1/2 tsp jarred minced garlic. ( You can also substitute 1 clove of garlic minced.)

1 tsp cilantro

1/4 cup olive oil

4 TBSP white wine vinegar

1 tsp lime juice

1 can black beans drained

In a glass bowl combine peppers, onion, corn, garlic, and cilantro. (If you put the beans in now as well it won’t make a difference)

Add olive oil, vinegar, and lime juice and toss together.

Add black beans and toss if you haven’t added them already.

Serve with tortilla chips. And the second day serve with eggs!

Posted in Food

Our friend the Microplane

Posted on by carrienotcary

It looks like a cheese grater and really I guess it is. Yet, somehow a Microplane is so much more than just a cheese grater.

The Microplane takes an average Parmesan wedge and turns it into fluffy goodness that can be sprinkled on so many things I love. Pasta, potatoes, pizza, just to name a few. I really love my Microplane.

Tonight the Parmesan was sprinkled on ham and bean soup with a toasted slice of French bread. I’m curious, what other ways do you use your Microplane?

Posted in Food, seeds

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Posted on by carrienotcary
Roasted pumpkin seeds with Rustic Rub from Fresco Spice Blends

We carved four pumpkins so needless to say we had a lot of seeds. One batch was tossed with Rustic Rub from Fresco Spice Blends. It gave them a nice salty barbecue flavor.

Everything but the bagel seasoning from Fresco Spice Blends

We also tried a mixture of Ranch seasoning also from Fresco Spice Blends and Frank’s Red Hot Buffalo Ranch seasoning blend.

Ranch from Fresco Spice Blends mixed with Frank’s Red Hot Buffalo Ranch seasoning blend

That wasn’t bad but Everything but the Bagel seasoning was the clear winner again this year.

Posted in baking, Food, friends and family, Uncategorized

Happy Valentine’s Day

Posted on by carrienotcary

Nothing says Happy Valentine’s Day quite like pancakes….said no one…. until now. My daughter wanted heart shaped pancakes for dinner so I told her to make them. We used the recipe for buttermilk pancakes from the Joy of Cooking and spooned the batter into a squirt bottle and this is the yummy result.

Highly recommend for adults pairing it with Irish coffee. Of course the bacon can be enjoyed by all!

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Posted in Food, Uncategorized

Football Food

Posted on by carrienotcary
Two bite potato skins

When the game is on it’s not easy to get the family to actually sit down at the table for lunch or dinner. So we snack.

Sausage roll and Pepperoni roll

Potato skins from smaller Russet potatoes topped with Ossian bacon, Gouda, and Colby-Jack cheese are one of my favorite snacks in the world. I called them two bite in the caption above but that second bite is not necessary for this mini-size.

These are so easy. Bake the potatoes in a 450 oven for 45 minutes. Let cool enough so that they aren’t too hot to handle. Cut them in quarters and scoop out some of the potato for each quarter. Lay them cut side up on a baking sheet. Top with Gouda, bacon pieces, and Colby Jack cheese. Then bake at 400 again for 5 minutes. Monterey Jack cheese is a good substitute for Colby-Jack. The leftover potato that you scooped out, save it to mix with spices and bake again as quick hash browns for some other meal.

Sausage roll and pepperoni roll both made with mozzarella and Parmesan cheese were the result of leftover pizza dough from the night before. The crust on this sausage roll…not sure if I can duplicate the crusty perfection.

Both versions are easy to make. Roll the dough out into a rectangular shape. As you can see my dough looks pretty free form around the edges. Just go with it. Put your toppings on each piece of rolled out dough.

Roll the dough up along the longer side.

When you have them rolled up, place them on a baking sheet. Bake them in a preheated 400 degree oven for 25 minutes.

Then slice and enjoy! Usually I serve them with pizza sauce or marinara sauce. These can also be frozen to enjoy later. I don’t have a great idea of how long these rolls can stay in the freezer. Each time I’ve had the opportunity to freeze rolls I’ve made I’ve taken them out for a quick dinner within a month.

Posted in Food

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Posted on by carrienotcary

Roasted pumpkin seeds are one of my favorite things about Halloween. A little bit of work will give you something to snack on for days.

  • These pumpkins are gutted and ready to be carved.
    These pumpkins are gutted and ready to be carved.

Before you carve a pumpkin you have to take it’s guts out. Take the top off, scoop out all the goo inside, and pick out the seeds. Pro tip, do this messy stuff on top of a layer of newspaper. When you are done just throw the newspaper away. If you are very handy in the garden maybe you could use this newspaper under a layer of mulch to keep weeds away. Our growing season is over so this mess went straight to the garbage.

I keep this really simple. I put the seeds just as they are in a bowl and season them with a tablespoon of what ever sounds good from my spices.

Then I put them on a baking sheet, trying to spread them out into a single layer, and then bake them in a 250 degree oven for 90 minutes or longer.

The chosen spices this year are my go to garlic powder, onion powder, and chili powder

then Everything but…from Fresco Spice Blends. This is basically an everything bagel seasoning

and finally Ranch seasoning also from Fresco Spice Blends.

The winner this year is the Everything but…. seasoning. I guess it’s true, you really can use everything bagel seasoning on well, everything. Or at least pumpkin seeds. Enjoy!

Posted in Food

Mac n’ Cheese in a hurry

Posted on by carrienotcary

Okay folks this is ridiculously easy. A pot of water, a box of mac n’ cheese, and a tablespoon of spices. That’s it.

Follow the instructions on the box.

When you are mixing the cheese sauce into the drained noodles add 1 tablespoon of Everyday Blend from Fresco Spice Blends. There, that’s it. A satisfying side dish or add whatever diced cooked chicken, veggies, or even bacon and you have something that will hit the spot when you are stretched for time. That’s not entirely necessary, just get a spoon and dig in. Enjoy!

Posted in Food, Uncategorized

Jambalaya and Roasted Potatoes

Posted on by carrienotcary

My mom sent us home with a bowl full of baby red potatoes. We were also given a couple leftover grilled Italian sausages to bring home to our daughter who stayed home to study for her CPA exams. The next day we still had both of these ingredients so I decided to roast the potatoes with olive oil and a tablespoon of A Bit of Tuscany from the Fresco Spice Blends. They probably roasted at 450 for about 30 -40 minutes. The next time I roast these little guys I will cut each one in half and roast them cut side down to get that nice carmelized flavor. These were good but cut in half might be better. I’ll let you know. I was just lazy with this dinner.

We sliced the sausage and ended up with maybe one and a half cups of slices.

I baked some previously cut up chicken that I had in the freezer. Again I just used olive oil and seasoning. I think I used Coast to Coast seasoning from Fresco Spice Blends. If it isn’t obvious yet, I love their spices. I didn’t measure but it seemed to be about 2 cups of cooked chicken after it was baked at 375 for 25 minutes and cut into smaller pieces.

I added the sausage, chicken, and a teeny-tiny bag of frozen diced ham to a Zatarain’s jambalaya mix and in about half an hour dinner was on the table. The ham is not pictured because it was literally a pint size freezer bag that was only maybe a quarter full of leftover diced ham. It just didn’t seem photo worthy. Dinner however was amazing with really minimal effort.