Refried Bean Enchiladas

During my adventurous cooking years - that would be my 7 years of poverty as a grad student - homemade refried beans were a staple. Once I discovered a recipe in New Recipes from Moosewood Restaurant, I was hooked. Their secret ingredient was soy sauce and it just makes them sing! Cooking up a batch of dried beans always makes me smug - pennies for such good food - and I love the smell of beans simmering on the stove. It has been a while since I made them and so when I had a hankering for bean enchiladas it reminded me that it was time to make a batch.

Being the DIYer I am, I also made the enchilada sauce, which was simple and shockingly easy. Pulling a few items from the pantry - tomato paste, chipotle in adobo (homemade sitting the frig) and some spices, I whipped up a delicious sauce in no time. My motto is why buy it when you can make it! I just have such a hard time spending money for someone else's labor. Of course, I just love the satisfaction of making it myself, so don't let me peculiarities get the way, buy sauce if you like!

Rosemary and Juniper Brined Pork Chops

Growing up, pork chops were in the regular rotation of my mother's go-to meals. They were definitely one of my favorites but I have no idea how she made them or why they were so good (she doesn't remember doing anything particularly special...it's a mystery!) But as I began eating meat again 3 years ago after a 15 year hiatus, today's pork chops were not meeting the rosy memories of my childhood. Until I discovered brine and marinades.

Pork may be the other white meat, but like the original white meat it generally needs some doctoring to boost its flavor. Marinades can provide lots of flavor like my  Miracle Marinade but I was looking for a more porkier tasting chop. That's where brine comes to the rescue. A simple brine of salt water and a few herbs ensures that your chop stays moist when you cook it and highlights the pork flavor. Delicious!

Kale and Slow Roasted Tomato Fusili

Someone on the Food Network has a show that is all about "five ingredients or less." While I"m a fan of short and easy recipes, there are plenty of dishes that are well worth the intimidation factor when it comes to a long list of ingredients. Fortunately for those who want short and sweet, this is the dish for you.

This was another quick and easy meal that uses the Slow-Roasted Tomatoes that I stashed in the freezer - thanks again to Eve of Garden of Eating for turning me on to this method. Of course sun-dried tomatoes would make a decent substitute, as long as they are well rehydrated. But the slow roasted tomatoes are just this side of dried, still soft and slightly plump but with that sweetness that sun-dried ones have. Preserved lemon adds some zip and zing but again is not necessary; substitute some fresh lemon zest after tossing all of the ingredients and you will get the same effect.

Strawberry Topped Lemon Cake-Muffins

Let's play a game. Say there is an ingredient sitting in your refrigerator that needs to be used up or it will be tossed upon the mountain of guiltily-thrown-away-food that lingers in your conscience. For this round of the game let's say the ingredient is buttermilk. You look through your saved-to-make blog posts and put a few aside, but none of them really get you jazzed. So then you use your favorite search engine, Food Blog Search and that pulls up some interesting cakes and biscuits and even a few brunch bread items, but they still don't stick. Then you notice that it is Sunday night and there is no bread in the house for your morning toast, no yogurt to go with your granola and the half and half will barely get you through your morning coffee let alone serve as milk for some granola. Muffins! That's the ticket! Use up that buttermilk and make some yummy muffins.

Finding Smitten Kitchen's brilliant new muffin recipe made it all sound too perfect. At last, the pieces were falling into place. But then you realize that your hand-held beater is still missing the piece that keeps the beaters in place and you have only one lemon. So McGyver it Miss Cook!

And that should be the name of this game. Did it turn out? Mostly, but what Deb of Smitten Kitchen didn't quite communicate is this is such a fabulous muffin because it's really cake disguised as a muffin. Cream 1 cup of sugar and 1 stick of butter? Sounds like the making of a cake to me! But it certainly is delicious! Of course, most muffin recipes are pretty high on the calorie scale, but just know that I warned you!

Eggplant "Bruschetta" Sans Bread

This post is for everyone south of the border or living in a temperate climate where it still feels like summer on a good day and spring on a "cool" day. I have been meaning to give Deb of Smitten Kitchen's recipe a try ever since I can across it. And as usual, she does not disappoint!

While her version called for fresh tomatoes, these beauties from a post by Eve of Garden of Eating were waiting to be devoured. Substituting them was a stroke of creative invention. I loved how the sweetness and chewiness of the roasted tomatoes paired with the briny capers and red wine vinegar.  You could easily leave out the ricotta salata to make it vegan - there is such an abundance of flavor that you won't miss it.

Vegan White Chili

I first came across "white chili" while living in Minnesota. Usually, it is white beans, chicken and some chilies, although not too much. Minnesotans don't like too much heat, at least in their food! But lately I've been challenging myself to cook vegan and the idea of making a vegan white chili popped into my head.

Cooking with tempeh is a great vegan protein. A fermented soy product, it is easier to digest because it is fermented, but unlike other fermented products, does not have a sour or acidic taste. Similar to tofu, it absorbs the flavors it is cooked with. Tempeh has a nutty flavor, that is tempered by how much spice you add to it. In this chili I simmered it for about 30 minutes and the green salsa flavor really permeated it. Delicious!

As always, do not skimp on the garnish, it really makes all the flavors pop!