Navy Bean Soup with Ham

Posted in main dishes, things we like to eat by mydaughterandiblog

I made this delicious soup the other day with the leftover ham bone and ham from Christmas. I was so excited to make it and then we had a sudden change in weather so we were enjoying bean soup after a chilly winter 89* day degrees! Crazy!

What I really liked about this soup was how creamy it tasted – but there wasn’t anything creamy in it. I’m not sure if it was just the beans or how they were cooked or what, but it was amazing and so easy!

Navy Bean Soup with Ham

Ingredients and directions:

2 lb of dried white beans, I used navy beans
6-8 cups of water

1-2 tsp olive oil
1 onion, diced
4 -5 carrots, peeled and diced in large pieces
5 stalks of celery, diced
2 -3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 ham hock, extra fat remove from the outside of the hock
4 cups of chicken stock, low sodium
2- 4 cups of water
Italian seasoning
Sea salt and freshly cracked pepper, to taste

DIRECTIONS:
Overnight Soak: Rinse and sort the beans. Add 6-8 cups of cold water to dried beans. Let stand overnight or at least 8 hours. Drain and rinse the beans. Side Note: If you don’t have time to do an overnight soak, try the quick soak method: Rinse and sort the beans. Add 6-8 cups of water to dried beans. Bring water to a boil, boil for 2 minutes, remove from heat; cover and let stand for 1 hour. Drain and rinse the beans.

I did the quick soak method and I didn’t let the beans stand for an hour – maybe 30 minutes while I got the rest of the ingredients ready.

Heat the olive oil in the pot you soaked the beans in – why make extra dishes? Add onions, carrots, & celery. Cook for 4-5 minutes. Add garlic and cook for a bit. Now it’s time to get everything into the crockpot. Start with the ham hock, I would recommend removing any visible fat. Then pour the soaked and drained beans in. Next add the veggies that you had cooking, pour in the chicken broth, Italian seasoning, sea salt and freshly cracked pepper, to taste. Finally add a bit more water to make sure everything is covered. I completely filled my big crockpot. Cover and cook on high for several hours to get everything bubbling along. I turned it down to low after about 4 hours. It’s better to not open the crockpot a lot while cooking, since all the heat escapes, but I would suggest stirring from time to time and try to remove the ham bits from the bone while stirring. About an hour before serving I removed the entire ham bone from the soup and let it cool a bit and removed any additional meat from the bone. I then removed the excess fat from the top of the soup, there was just a bit that I ladled off. I fished around in the soup for any excess bone bits, large pieces of meat, fat etc. Finally I added some cut up leftover ham to the soup and tasted it to see if it needed any additional seasoning. Let ham pieces heat through. We served our soup with bread and salad.

It sounds a bit labor intensive, but I promise it’s not! The soup would have been hearty and delicious without the extra ham pieces, but I had the leftovers and wanted to make it extra chunky. I’m not sure why I felt the need to sauté the veggies first. I’m sure it would have been delicious if everything was just dumped into the crockpot.

Cindy

6Jan2015

Turkey Tetrazzini

Posted in main dishes, things we like to eat by mydaughterandiblog

Our big Christmas dinner normally consists of ham and all the sides, but this year we decided to go all out and make a ham, a turkey, and sides. With only 7 people to feed, we had a ton of amazing leftovers. We used up the last of our turkey leftovers in this super easy pasta recipe. It came together quickly, and made a ton- we had a full 9×13 pan, and the smaller dish shown in the pictures. It’s yummy, easy and a great way to use up turkey!

This post is part of the monthly link up party Our Growing Edge. This event aims to connect food bloggers and inspire us to try new things. This month is hosted by Francesca at Fearless Kitchen.

Turkey Tetrazzini

1 lb of spaghetti

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup flour

3 cups chicken broth

2 cups milk

1 2/3 cups grated Parmesan cheese

4 cups (I used slightly less) chopped, cooked turkey

Preheat oven to 350* and grease a baking dish. Bring a large pot of water to a boil, add spaghetti, and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente. Drain, and place in large bowl.

Melt butter over medium heat and then stir in flour, chicken broth and milk. Cook and stir until the mixture comes to a boil. Stir in about 1 1/3 cups of the Parmesan cheese, and pour mixture over spaghetti. Add chopped turkey and mix everything well. Pour into prepared baking dish and top with remaining 1/3 of a cup of Parmesan cheese. Bake 1 hour in preheated oven, until surface is lightly browned.

Jordan

5Jan2015

Browned Butter Banana Cake with Brown Sugar Frosting

Posted in sweets, things we like to eat by mydaughterandiblog

You know you bake a lot when new friends = new test subjects. I don’t know if anyone gets tired of taste testing home baked creations, but a fresh group of guinea pigs is always a good excuse to try out a recipe! I started a new job a few weeks ago, and decided to make this frosted banana cake for them. We posted a different banana cake recipe a while back, but this one includes browned butter, which is always a plus! If you’ve never tried browned butter in a recipe, give this cake a shot- the end result is delicious and rich.

This post is part of the monthly link up party Our Growing Edge. This event aims to connect food bloggers and inspire us to try new things. This month is hosted by Francesca at Fearless Kitchen.

Browned Butter Banana Cake with Brown Sugar Frosting

For the cake:

3 tablespoons butter

3/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup honey

3 medium, very ripe bananas

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons buttermilk

2 eggs, slightly beaten

3 tablespoons oil

2 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

For the frosting:

2 cups powdered sugar

1/3 cup brown sugar

2 tablespoons butter, softened

3-4 tablespoons milk

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 350*. Spray a 9×13 pan heavily.

In a small sauce pan, melt 3 tablespoons butter over medium heat, stirring throughout until butter begins to brown (but not burn!). Aroma will be strong. Remove from heat and transfer to a large mixing bowl.

Add brown sugar, honey, bananas, and vanilla. Mix well. Stir in buttermilk, eggs and oil. Add flour, salt and baking soda and mix to combine.

Pour into prepared pan and bake 35-45 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely.

Cream together sugars and butter. Stir in milk and vanilla (add just enough milk so that the frosting comes together and is spreadable). Spread frosting on cooled cake. Allow frosting to set before slicing and serving.

Jordan

15Dec2014

Easy Crockpot Lasagna Roll Ups

Posted in main dishes, things we like to eat by mydaughterandiblog

I love lasagna – it is one of my all time favorite dishes! This lasagna variation is hardly gourmet and I can barely call it homemade, but it was easy and delicious! I realized I had some ricotta cheese and a block of mozzarella that were almost passed their sell by date and I knew it was time to make something yummy! I dug through the pantry and found a box of lasagna noodles and a jar of spaghetti sauce. The recipe calls for two jars of sauce, but I had some leftover spaghetti sauce with ground beef in it, so I used it along with the jar of sauce. I threw this dish together in a matter of minutes – really! I cranked the crockpot to high and by the time we got home from church we had a delicious Sunday lunch to enjoy! I love days like that, don’t you?

This post is part of the monthly link up party Our Growing Edge. This event aims to connect food bloggers and inspire us to try new things. This month is hosted by Christine and Kath over at Garden Eats.

Easy Crockpot Lasagna Roll Ups
Ingredients
1 box lasagna noodles
15 oz container ricotta cheese
1 16 ounce block of mozzarella cheese, grated
⅓ cup parmesan cheese
2 eggs
Italian seasoning
2 jars of spaghetti sauce

Instructions
Cook the lasagna noodles, al dente. I prefer my noodles to be firm. The noodles will cook a bit more in the crockpot. Drain and set aside.

Mix together ricotta cheese, eggs, half the shredded cheese, parmesan and 1/2 tsp. Italian seasoning.

Pour one jar of spaghetti sauce in the slow cooker and turn on.

Lay the cooked lasagna noodles on a cutting board a couple at a time. Plop about 2 tablespoons of the ricotta mixture at one end of the noodle and carefully roll up. Place the lasagna rolls in the sauce in the slow cooker vertically. Continue until the slow cooker is full, just a single layer. Don’t double stack the roll ups. The roll ups will expand a bit. I was able to use the entire box of noodles. Pour the second jar of sauce over the top of the roll ups and shake on some additional Italian seasoning. Top with the rest of the shredded cheese. Cook on low for 4-6 hours or on high for about 2 1/2 to 3 hours.

Serve with salad and bread.

I found this recipe on The Gunny Sack, and just made a few minor changes

Cindy

10Dec2014

Soups and Stew and Chowder, Oh My!

Posted in main dishes, things we like to eat by mydaughterandiblog

I love to put a pot of soup on the stove and bake a loaf of homemade bread when the weather starts getting chilly. It’s so nice to get dinner all ready and have it just cooking away on the stove, that way you can get everything else cleaned up so once dinner time rolls around, you just have to serve it up. I also love how when you make a big pot of soup, it seems to feed a ton! When we had both boys living at home, soups and stews really helped stretch our grocery money. Below are several of our favorite soup recipes.

Pasta e Fagioli