Thursdays Are For Cooking
Sausage & White Bean Stew
Ingredients:
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 14 ounce package of cooked smoked sausage, cut in ½ inch slices
2 cups of chopped onions
½ cup of chopped celery
½ cup of chopped carrots
3 cloves of garlic, minced
¼ teaspoon of dried thyme, crushed
3 fifteen ounce cans of Great Northern or cannellini beans – your choice, or use both, but drain and rinse before adding to the pot
4 14.5 ounce cans of reduced sodium chicken both
1 14.5 ounce can of whole peeled tomatoes – UNDRAINED – cut up
Optional: a 1 pound bunch of kale, washed, stemmed and chopped (8 cups)
Note: kale contains oxalic acid, so take that into account if you decide to use it.
Salt and black pepper
Directions:
1 – In a 5 to 6 quart Dutch oven, heat oil over medium high heat. Add sausage, cook 6 minutes or until browned, stirring occasionally. Remove sausage from the Dutch oven with a slotted spoon.
2 – Add the next five ingredients (through thyme) to the Dutch oven. Cook 8 minutes, or until the vegetables are tender but not browned, stirring occasionally.
3 – Stire in the cooked sasauge, beans, broth and tomatoes. Bring to boiling. Reduce heat, simmer covered for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in the kale. Season to taste with salt and pepper .
Should provide 8 servings of 1 & 2/3 cups each.
Also, make some cornbread, corn muffins or corn cakes to go with this, with butter and many some wild honey.
Now if this doesn’t make your tummy happy, nothing will. I’ve made this pot of soup many times and the only thing I ever leave out is the kale, because it contains oxalic acid with can mess up your kidneys. You could throw in celery leaves instead, or coarsely chop some cabbage and throw that in, if you prefer.
This is also a good recipe for someone who has to restrict salt and use a salt substitute instead. In addition, you can soak a pound of mixed dry beans overnight and use them instead of the more expensive canned beans. Cut up the canned tomatoes to make them stretch further.
Just the thing for a cold winter night.
Thanks, Ex!
We are going completely off the reservation with this recipe.
Cinnamon Ornaments
Ingredients 15 Servings
3/4 cup applesauce
2 bottles (2.37 oz. each) McCormick® Ground Cinnamon
Cookie cutters
Drinking straw
Colorful ribbon
INSTRUCTIONS
1 Preheat oven to 200°F. Mix applesauce and cinnamon in small bowl until a smooth ball of dough is formed. (You may need use your hands to incorporate all of the cinnamon.) Using about 1/4 of the dough at a time, roll dough to 1/4-inch to 1/3-inch thickness between two sheets of plastic wrap. Peel off top sheet of plastic wrap. Cut dough into desired shapes with 2- to 3-inch cookie cutters. Make a hole at top of ornament with drinking straw or skewer. Place ornaments on baking sheet.
2 Bake 2 1/2 hours. Cool ornaments on wire rack. (Or, to dry ornaments at room temperature, carefully place them on wire rack. Let stand 1 to 2 days or until thoroughly dry, turning occasionally.)
3 Insert ribbon through holes and tie to hang. Decorate with opaque paint markers, found in arts and crafts stores, if desired.
You can hang these on a tree and your place will smell all Christmas-y. A friend in Scotland says they hang them in the window where the sun hits them and their home smells wonderful as well.
Here’s the McCormick link (with pictures!):
https://www.mccormick.com/recipes/other/cinnamon-ornaments
For those who like to cook under pressure:
White Beans with Smoked Sausage
Ingredients
2 tsp olive oil
1 lb smoked sausage cut into 1/2 inch disks, pork or turkey
1 small onion finely chopped
2 carrots diced
2 celery stalks diced
4 cups chicken broth (low-sodium), warmed
1 lb dried small white beans rinsed and picked over, like navy beans
1 tbsp chopped fresh thyme OR 1 tbsp cajun seasoning
instant pot recipe, instant pot sausage recipe, sausage recipe, instant pot dinner recipe
Instructions
Add olive oil to the Instant Pot. Using the display panel select the SAUTE function.
When oil gets hot, brown the cut sausage on both sides. Transfer browned meat to a shallow dish and cover loosely with foil.
Add onion, carrots and celery to the pot and saute until onion is soft, 3-4 minutes.
Add broth to the pot and deglaze by using a wooden spoon to scrape the brown bits from the bottom of the pot.
Put the sausage back into the pot, add sorted and rinsed beans and stir to combine.
Turn the pot off by selecting CANCEL, then secure the lid, making sure the vent is closed.
Using the display panel select the MANUAL function*. Use the +/-keys and program the Instant Pot for 60 minutes.
When the time is up, let the pressure naturally release for 15 minutes, then quick-release the remaining pressure.
Serve hot, alongside fresh cornbread (optional).
Make sure your beans are fresh. As always, you don’t want to be dealing with has-beans. 🙂
A cast iron skillet of Southern Cornbread (sans sugar) is in the oven as we speak, Mi’Lady. Don’t want to go all Maverick and sweeten up the cornbread. This ought to go real well with the BBQed goat, whose goose will be cooked so very thoroughly, when (GO) Army whips up on (BEAT) Navy this Saturday upcoming. Wondering if (BEAT) Navy even wants to try to fly into that danger zone. They certainly won’t be flying into the end zone. Have some refreshing beverages already on Ice, Man are we looking forward to the festivities.
Best way to prepare kale? Use a well oiled pot. The oil helps make the kale slide out of the pot into the trash can.
Tanks Matey…Let’s eat!!!
It never ends…
— GROAN —
Tonight pizza with moose burger toping!
I’m not saying that I’m poor BUT, of late, I’m going for staples for eating. Last couple of nights I’ve had baked beans and ham and rice and pasta and smoky mashed red beans etc. When you can get a couple of cans for about $1 or cheaper if you catch it on sale…I also bought meatloaf mix for like $5 a lb rather than straight up beef which looked questionable (colors) at the grocery, so, for the time being, it’s lower cost staples that will fill a stomach.