Tuscan Style Garbanzo Bean Soup with Cabbage

2 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 – 3/4 cup onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 large carrots, peeled and sliced
1 can petite diced tomatoes
1 tsp dried basil (approx, or a bit more)
1/2 tsp dried oregano
2 sprinklings red pepper flakes
sprinkling bay leaf pieces (or 1 to 2 bay leaves)
salt and pepper to taste (2 good sprinklings)
2 cans garbanzo beans (chickpeas), drained and rinsed
2 – 3 cups water
2 potatoes, peeled and cubed
2 cups cabbage, roughly chopped
1 cup pasta, eg. small shells, cooked separately and drained

Heat olive oil in large pot. Saute onion and garlic and carrots until onions are beginning to carmelize. Add can of tomatoes, herbs and seasonings (oregano, basil, pepper flakes, salt, pepper and bay leaf) and stir. Add garbanzo beans, reserving about 1 cup to add to soup later, and approximately 2 cups or cans water. Cook until carrots are nearly soft. Add potato and cabbage and additional salt, pepper and red pepper flakes to taste, as well as additional water as necessary, then simmer until tender. When tender (and this step is optional), puree all, or part (I did about half) of soup in blender. Add back to remaining soup, along with reserved garbanzo beans and cooked pasta. Heat a few minutes and serve. Good with crusty bread.

Best Biscuits

2 heaping cups flour
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt (approx)
1/3 cup frozen margarine, thinly sliced
7/8 – 1 cup cold milk

1. Preheat oven to 425*F.
2. Stir together flour, baking powder and salt – using a whisk makes it quick.
3. Thinly slice the frozen margarine into the flour mixture. Work in with fingers, breaking the fat into smaller clumps until fairly evenly distributed.
4. Add 1 scant cup cold milk and stir in, then work with hands until dough is well moistened and gathers into a ball. Add a bit of additional milk if necessary so dough is not too dry and all flour is incorporated – a little bit sticky is just fine.
5. Turn out on well floured counter and pat out to about an inch thick. Cut out biscuits (you can use a small glass, or clean, empty 8oz. tomato sauce can, or similar if you don’t have a biscuit cutter). You’ll get about 8 or 9 biscuits.
6. Place on ungreased cookie sheet and put on very top shelf in oven. Set the timer for about 6 minutes and increase the heat to 450*F.
7. When timer goes off, move biscuits to the very bottom shelf and continue to bake for another 4 or 5 minutes, until biscuits are golden on top and dry on the sides. They should be crunchy on top, tender and flaky inside.

Notes:
You can try using frozen butter or cold shortening in place of margarine, if you like.
If you don’t want to fuss with the heat, or moving the biscuits around in the oven, just preheat to 450*F, put them in the middle and bake about 10 – 12 minutes.

Lemon Muffins

2 cups flour
3/4 cup sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

1/4 cup melted butter (can substitute vegetable oil)
2 eggs
grated zest of 1 large lemon
juice of large lemon
1 cup milk

Whisk together dry ingredients. Melt butter in glass measuring cup in microwave, then measure in remainder of wet ingredients. Form well in dry ingredients, pour in wet and mix just until thoroughly moistened. Spoon into greased muffin cups and bake at 350*F for about 20 minutes or just until tops spring back when lightly touched. Eat as is, or add optional lemon juice and icing sugar glaze.

Optional glaze:
Additional lemon juice mixed with icing sugar to make a thin glaze. Poke tops of freshly baked muffins with fork or toothpick and pour or brush over top.

Apple Nectarine Coffee Cake

1 3/4 cup flour
3/4 cup sugar (can increase to 1 cup)
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

2 eggs, beaten
1/3 cup oil (can increase to 1/2 cup)
1 cup buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla extract (you could also try almond extract, instead)

2 apples, peeled, cored, quartered and sliced
1 nectarine, cut from stone and chopped

Batter:
Combine dry ingredients in medium bowl. Combine wet ingredients in separate bowl or large measuring cup. Form well in dry ingredients and pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients. Mix just until combined.

Crunch:
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup flour
3 Tbsp margarine or butter

In small bowl, combine flour and brown sugar. Work in margarine or butter with fingers.

Assemble:
In greased 9 x 9 baking dish, spread about half of the batter. Layer the fruit over the top. Then sprinkle over half of the crunch. Gently spread the remaining batter over the top of that, followed by the remaining crunch topping.

Bake at 350*F for about 45 minutes. Check with toothpick to see when it is done. Cover and refrigerate any leftovers.

Whole Wheat Blueberry Banana Muffin Pie

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

1/3 cup oil
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup blueberries
1 banana, sliced lengthwise and then into chunks

Stir together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Form a well. Add in oil, buttermilk, blueberries and banana chunks. Stir gently just until combined. Fill greased muffin cups, pie pan, or similar. Bake at 350*F for about 20 minutes for muffins, 25 minutes or so for larger dish. When done, tops will spring back when lightly pressed and a toothpick inserted in the center will come clean. Don’t overbake.

1. Heat butter in pan.
2. Add cumin seed and saute until beginning to smell good.
3. Add rice and salt. Stir.
4. Add water and bring to a boil. Cover and simmer 18 minutes.
5. Turn off heat and fluff with fork. Re-cover and allow to sit a few more minutes.

(Hint: If rice is beginning to stick at the bottom, add a little more water before re-covering and allow to sit on turned-off but still-warm burner to steam it loose.)

Pink Beans
1 lb pink beans, sorted and rinsed
water to cover and cook

approx. 1 cup french style green beans (or 1 can)
approx. 1 cup leftover cooked sliced carrots (if adding raw carrots, slice ‘em up and put ‘em on in with the beans early in the game so they’ll get tender in time! )
Or you can use vegies of your choice – leftover, canned or fresh.

2 tsp salt (or a little less)
1/2 tsp hot chili powder (or a little more if you like it hot)
2 tsp ground cumin (or a little less)
2 tsp oregano

1 cup chopped onion
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 jalapeno, finely chopped
1 – 2 Tbsp. olive oil or other vegetable oil

1. Cover beans with water and boil about 3 hours or until tender. If adding raw vegetables rather than precooked, gauge cooking time required for them to become really tender and meld with the beans. Add partway through the bean cooking time – before the halfway point is about right. It doesn’t hurt for them to simmer a little extra time. You don’t want them to still be ‘crunchy’ when the beans are done!
2. Add salt, chili powder, cumin, and oregano.
3. In separate pot, heat olive oil and carmelize onion (cook until it turns light brown). Add garlic and jalapeno and saute until tender.
4. Stir into beans and let simmer for about 15 or 20 more minutes.
5. Serve over plain, or (even better!) Cumin Rice.

Black Eyed Peas and Okra (West Africa)

1 lb dry black eyed peas
water to cover and cook

2 Tbsp oil (use a little more, if you like, or toss a little butter in too)
1 good size onion, finely chopped
1 – 2 cloves garlic, minced (or a sprinkling of garlic powder)
1 tsp cayenne or hot chili pepper powder (reduce if you don’t like overly spicy food)
1 tsp thyme (or 1 Tbsp fresh thyme) (can substitute Italian seasoning)
20oz pkg frozen sliced okra
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can green beans (I used french cut)
2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper or to taste

Sort and rinse black eyed peas. Cover with plenty of water – at least a couple inches – and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer, cover and cook until tender, about 1 hour. Allow extra time, in case they cook slowly. Check now and then to make sure there’s still enough water and add more if necessary.

In large pot, heat oil (and butter if you like). Saute onion until it begins to brown. Add garlic. Add chili powder or cayenne, and thyme or Italian seasoning. Dump in the can of diced tomatoes and stir. Add okra and bring to a simmer. Add green beans and cook until okra is thawed and beginning to get tender. Add cooked black eyed peas and enough water to prevent scorching. Add salt and pepper to taste, any garlic powder and maybe a sprinkle of ginger. Bring to a simmer and cook over low heat 15 or 20 minutes, stirring or adding water as necessary. Serve over rice, below.

Rice

1 Tbsp oil
1 Tbsp butter
1 onion, finely chopped
1/2 – 1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 large tomato, chopped
1/2 – 1 tsp salt
2 cups rice
4 1/4 cups water

Heat oil and butter in pan. Fry onion, bell pepper and rice until beginning to turn light brown. Add tomato and cook til soft. Add salt, and water. Bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer about 15 minutes, until water is absorbed. Turn off heat, fluff the rice, recover for a few minutes to steam. Serve.

Orange Chicken

2 lbs (about 3 large) boneless, skinless chicken breast
1/3 cup flour
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
3 Tbsp oil

Orange Sauce:
1/2 cup ketchup (can reduce)
1 cup water
1 cup orange juice (juice of 1 orange, plus additional)
1/3 cup sugar
1 Tbsp corn starch
1 Tbsp cider vinegar
1 Tbsp soy sauce
grated zest of 1 orange
sprinkle of garlic powder, or 1 minced garlic clove
1 Tbsp oil (opt – if using fresh garlic and onion – to saute)
1 chopped green onion, or 1-2 Tbsp finely chopped onion, or sprinkling onion powder (optional)

Cut up chicken breast into 1/2″ pieces. Combine flour, salt and pepper and shake with chicken in clean plastic bag (I usually use a bread bag).

For sauce, if using fresh garlic and onion, heat oil in sauce pan over medium heat and saute onion and garlic for a couple minutes until soft. Add remaining ingredients, stir, bring to a simmer and cook until thickened, stirring occasionally.

While sauce is cooking, heat a couple tablespoons oil in wok or fry pan over medium heat. Cook chicken in two or three batches until browned and done through. Add a little more oil if necessary to cook.

When all the chicken is done, combine with sauce, heat a minute or two, and serve over rice. Serve with a side of stir fried or steamed vegetables. Broccoli might be nice. I happened to have some green pepper sitting in my fridge that needed to be eaten in something. So it went into the stir fry. Case closed.

Orange Chocolate Cake

9 Tbsp (scant 2/3 cup) margarine or butter, softened
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1 2/3 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla
2/3 cup orange juice concentrate
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla and beat well. Combine flour and baking powder separately. Add alternately with orange juice concentrate, stirring well after each addition. Stir in chocolate chips. Pour into a greased and floured loaf pan or 6 cup bundt or ring pan. Bake at 350*F for 50-60 minutes until top is dry and inserted toothpick comes out clean. Cool about 5 minutes. Run knife around edges and gently loosen before turning out of pan. Let cool before wrapping to store like banana bread or other loaf cake. Slice and eat warm or cold.

Notes:
Can reduce butter/margarine to 1/2 cup.
Can reduce orange juice concentrate to 1/2 cup, or even 1/3 cup.
Drizzle top with melted chocolate if you like, or an icing sugar and orange juice glaze, or leave it plain: it’s nice as is!