White Bean Soup

White Bean Soup

• 2 cups dried white beans
• 1/2 pound diced bacon
• 1 large onion diced
• 4 stalks celery diced
• 3 carrots diced
• 4 cups chicken stock
• 1 tbs Italian seasoning
• 1 bay leaf
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2 tbs fresh chopped parsley

Prepare beans by rinsing, then placing in large soup pan and adding enough cold water to cover beans with 2 inches of water. 
Bring beans to a boil then remove from heat and let sit for 1 hour (alternative method, let beans soak over night covered with 2 inches of cold water).
After soaking add enough water to cover by 2 inches and bring beans to a boil, turn down heat and simmer for 2 to 3 hours until beans are easily smashed with back of a spoon.
Remove cooked beans from pan.
Return soup pot to medium high heat and saute bacon until crisp and rendered of fat.
Drain off excess bacon fat then add onions, celery, carrots and Italian seasoning, saute until soft and golden.
Stir in chicken broth, making sure to stir up any bits stuck to bottom of pan, bring to boil, turn down heat, add beans and simmer for 20 minutes. 
Taste and add salt and pepper as desired.
Garnish with parsley...Enjoy!

Vegetarian Roasted Pepper Lasagna

Vegetarian Roasted Pepper Lasagna

• 12 lasagna noodles
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 1 cup diced yellow onion
• 1 TBS diced garlic
• 24 ounces tomato sauce
• 15 ounces roasted diced tomatoes (may use regular diced)
• 1/2 cup chopped cilantro leaves
• 4 roasted Anaheim peppers(stems, skin, seeds removed rough chopped)
• 1 roasted red bell pepper(stem, skin, seeds removed rough chopped)
• 3 TBS ground cumin
• 2 TBS chili powder
• 8 oz shredded jack cheese
• 6 oz shredded cheddar cheese
• 8 oz ricotta cheese (may use 4 oz cottage cheese and 4 oz cream cheese)
• cilantro to garnish

Cook lasagna noodles as directed on package adding 1 tsp olive oil to cooking water to prevent noodles from sticking together.  Drain noodles.
Saute onion and garlic in cast iron skillet and cook until soft, add tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, cilantro, roasted peppers,cumin and chili powder.  Let simmer 15 minutes.
In separate bowl mix cheeses together.
Layer lasagna into a 9x13 baking dish, begin with enough sauce to cover bottom of pan, then add noodles, sauce, cheese mixture.  Repeat to make 4 layers.  Top final noodles with sauce and sprinkling of jack cheese and cilantro.
Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.  Let baked lasagna rest for 15 minutes before serving.  Enjoy!

Roasted Red Pepper Pasta

Roasted Red Pepper Pasta

• 12 oz red cherry tomatoes
• 4 cloves garlic
• red bell pepper
• olive oil
• salt and pepper
• 1 medium yellow onion diced
• 1/4 cup chopped Italian parsley
• 1/2 cup sun dried tomatoes diced
• 2 TBS pesto
• 1 TBS Italian Seasoning Mix
• 1/2 lb pasta
• 4 oz fresh mozzarella cheese diced
• 2 TBS fresh grated Parmesan cheese
• chopped Italian parsley to garnish

Preheat oven to 400 degrees
Place whole tomatoes, garlic and whole red pepper into cast iron skillet, drizzle with olive oil, season with salt and pepper.  Roast in oven for 20-25 minutes until tomatoes pop and garlic is soft.  Remove tomatoes and garlic to cool.  Continue roasting red pepper 15 minutes, remove from oven and place in a brown paper bag, close bag to allow pepper to steam. 
In same skillet saute onions, parsley and Italian Seasoning mix until onions are soft and golden.  Add roasted tomatoes, garlic, pesto and sun dried tomatoes, simmer.
Cook pasta according to package directions, drain.
Remove red pepper from bag, remove skin, stem and seeds cut into thin slices.
Stir cooked pasta into sauce, layer peppers on top, sprinkle with fresh mozzarella and Parmesan cheese.
Return pan to oven until cheese is melted and bubbly.  Garnish with Italian parsley, enjoy!

Roasted Pepper Lasagna

Roasted Pepper Lasagna

• 12 lasagna noodles
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 1/2 lbs beef chorizo
• 1/2 lbs ground beef
• 1 cup diced yellow onion
• 1 TBS diced garlic
• 24 ounces tomato sauce
• 15 ounces roasted diced tomatoes (may use regular diced)
• 1/2 cup chopped cilantro leaves
• 4 roasted Anaheim peppers(stems, skin, seeds removed rough chopped)
• 3 TBS ground cumin
• 2 TBS chili powder
• 8 oz shredded jack cheese
• 6 oz shredded cheddar cheese
• 8 oz ricotta cheese (may use 4 oz cottage cheese and 4 oz cream cheese)
• cilantro to garnish

Cook lasagna noodles as directed on package adding 1 tsp olive oil to cooking water to prevent noodles from sticking together.  Drain noodles.
Saute chorizo and ground beef in cast iron skillet, drain fat.
Add onion and garlic to skillet and cook until soft, add tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, cilantro, roasted peppers,cumin and chili powder.  Let simmer 15 minutes.
In separate bowl mix cheeses together.
Layer lasagna into a 9x13 baking dish, begin with enough sauce to cover bottom of pan, then add noodles, sauce, cheese mixture.  Repeat to make 4 layers.  Top final noodles with sauce and sprinkling of jack cheese and cilantro.
Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.  Let baked lasagna rest for 15 minutes before serving.  Enjoy!

Pizza Crust

Pizza Crust

• 2 cups flour
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1 1/4 tsp yeast
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 3/4 warm water

Put the dry ingredients into mixing bowl.  Mix together.
Pour 1/4 cup olive oil into 1 cup measuring cup, fill cup with warm water.
Pour liquids into mixing bowl, use dough hook and knead for 5 minutes.
Let dough rise for 2 hours covered with towel
Prepare dough  ( check out this how to video http://legendsofpizza.com/blog/how-to-toss-pizza-dough-with-tony-gemignani ) It really is fun to toss the dough and not too hard to learn to do!  I like to cook the pizza on a pizza stone sprinkled with course cornmeal.
Top with your favorite toppings, bake 20 minutes at 400 degrees.  Enjoy!

Mexican Stir Fry

Mexican Stir Fry

• 1 TBS olive oil
• 1 TBS ground cumin
• 1 TBS chili powder
• 1 TBS oregano
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 2 cloves garlic diced fine
• 1/2 jalapeno seeds and ribs removed chopped fine
• 8 stems of cilantro leaves removed (save for garnish) stems finely chopped
• 1/2 sweet yellow onion sliced
• 1/2 red onion sliced
• 1/2 red bell pepper sliced
• 1/2 green pepper sliced
• 8 red cherry tomatoes cut in half
• juice of 1 lime
• 2 cups of black beans ( I like to start with dried beans but canned is fine as well, just leave out the salt)
• 1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese
• 1 sliced avocado

In a cast iron skillet heat olive oil.  Add all of the spices, the cilantro stems, jalapeno and garlic saute for 2 minutes.
Add the onions and peppers to the skillet saute for 10 minutes, add tomatoes, lime juice and black beans continue to cook until nice and hot.
Serve over brown rice. 
Sprinkle with a good grated cheese (I used Coastal Cheddar-yum)
Garnish with cilantro leaves and avocado slices.  Enjoy!

Corn Muffins

Corn Muffins

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup yellow stone-ground cornmeal
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 3 1/2  tsp baking powder
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1/4 cup melted butter

Stir dry ingredients together in large bowl.
Combine eggs, buttermilk and melted butter in small bowl, whisk together.
Pour wet ingredients into bowl with dry and stir to combine-do not over mix.
Divide evenly into muffin tin that has been sprayed with non-stick spray.
Bake at 425 degrees for 18 to 20 minutes

Artisan Bread

Artisan Bread

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp yeast
• 1 1/2 cups room temperature water
• olive oil

15 hours and 25 minutes before you want to be taking a golden loaf of bread from your oven....
In a large bowl mix flour, salt and yeast (no it's not a typo it really is 1/4 teaspoon of yeast)
Pour in water and mix just enough to combine, the dough will be stringy and not very pretty, that's okay!
Prepare a second bowl by greasing the bowl with olive oil, transfer dough into oiled bowl and cover tightly with plastic wrap.
12 hours later...
Punch down dough and let rest 15 minutes. 
Form dough into a ball, DO NOT KNEAD...it just doesn't need it!  Place ball on WELL floured cotton tea towel, dust top of bread with flour and cover with another tea towel (you may also sprinkle cornmeal onto tea towel for an extra crunch)
Let rise for 2 hours. 
To bake you will need a heavy pot with a tight fitting lid.  I use my cast iron dutch oven.
Place pot and lid in oven and preheat oven at 450 degrees for 30 minutes, the bread is still tucked under it's tea towel at this point.
30 minutes later...
Remove lid from pot and transfer loaf of bread into pan (this is the tricky part!) Cover pan and bake for 30 minutes, remove lid and bake an additional 10 minutes.  Remove from oven, cool and enjoy!