[Inez] Simple and tasty green beans

This is one of my recent favorite ways to get my daily quota of vegetables in. The ingredient list is nice and short and it includes garlic and butter, so it's automatically delicious.

First, pull out a cast iron skillet and turn the heat to medium. Grab a handful of green beans per person (grab more than you think; they shrink a surprising amount). Wash them and cut them into 1 - 1 1/2 inch bits. Then mince some garlic (1 clove per person or so, depending on your taste). Melt a healthy amount of butter in the skillet and then add the green beans and garlic. Sprinkle a good amount of salt and pepper over the green beans. Cook for a few minutes on medium, then turn up to medium high if you, like me, like your green beans a little bit toasty on the sides. Or, for softer green beans, put in a tiny amount of water and cover the pan for a few minutes. The garlic should end up very well browned and crispy, but not burnt. Eat them with some soup or pasta or by themselves.

[Inez] Birthday dinner, group effort: Part II

 It was Elise's birthday. We'll tell this one in pictures. 

Extra yum!

My best guess here is that this is the result of Chloe's licking confectioner's sugar off the floor. She was laying on the floor, totally stoned like this, watching us eat dinner for about ten minutes.

[Elise] Birthday dinner, group effort: Part I

I had a nice, small birthday dinner last Friday, where I got to debut my peanut sauce (something I've been tinkering with for a month or so now). A brief synopsis:

Veggies

2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed

5 carrots, cut into pinkie sized strips

1 large bell pepper, sliced

2 small onions thinly sliced

4 cloves garlic

Peanut Sauce

1 cup creamy peanut butter

1/2 cup soy sauce

3/4 cup water

1/4 cup rice cooking wine

1 Tbsp. ginger

1 tsp. nutmeg

2 dried chilis, crusched

1 Tbsp blackstrap molasses

2 pans of veggies.

Heat two skillets to medium-high. Add enough oil to coat veggies in each. In one pan put the sweet potatoes and carrots, move them around to coat in oil, then let them sit for five minutes to brown on one side before stirring. In the other, saute the onions and bell pepper. After the five minutes are up stir the orange veggies and add garlic to the onion-pepper mix. Season both to taste (I used basil, nutmeg and salt). Now, move the orange veggies around every few minutes, if it's taking them too long to soften up you can add a little bit of water and cover, but I like them on the crunchier side. After about 10 minutes add the onions-pepper mix to the orange veggie mix. Turn the heat to low and move around every few minutes while everything else finishes up.

Lots of sauce.

Start by putting the heat on medium-low. Start with the peanut butter and one of the liquids (I like to start with the wine or the soy sauce). It will start a little clumpy until the peanut butter starts to melt, and then it should get pretty smooth. Once smooth add another liquid, and stir slowly until smooth again. Repeat with the third liquid. Once all the liquid is mixed in I add the spices and keep the heat on low until the noodles are ready.

Lots of noodles.

In a large stew pot (much larger than the one we tried to start with shown below). I cooked up a package of Pad Thai noodles. They were supposed to soak for 30 minutes before boiling for 5 minutes. Having not noticed this 30 minutes before needing to start the noodles, we got a pot big enough to hold the noodles without breaking them up, and then covered with enough water, brought to a boil, and cooked for maybe 7 minutes. This worked out just fine.

It is so satisfying using all four burners at once.

Putting it all together!

I drained the noodles, rinsed them under cold water to keep them from sticking to each other, and put them back in the big pot. Added all the veggies, all the sauce, mixed and served! Topped with peanuts I crushed while waiting for the noodles to boil.

Yum!

Tasty Winter Vegetable Soup

Elise, you better start picking up the slack, here. Mac and cheese from a box can be beautiful, whatever. I want to see some posts from you, stat. Maybe on Friday when you're taking care of my dog? :-D

This soup is one of my favorites in the winter. Which is good, because I always wind up making WAY more than I mean to. Consider yourself warned. This is inspired by a recipe I found on some blog somewhere (sorry, blogger, I totally don't remember what blog you write) and then adapted to suit my liking and what I tend to keep in my kitchen. So for me, this soup is great because I probably only need to buy one or two things, tops.

To begin, take a cup or so of dry black eyes peas and throw them in some water. Bring them to a boil, then remove from heat (but not the hot water) while you chop veggies.

Chop:
3-5 cloves garlic
3 large-ish potatoes
1 large sweet potato (I used white sweet potatoes this time! Did you know that was a thing?)
2 cups frozen corn (okay, don't chop that..)
1-2 carrots
1 onion

Melt a few tablespoons of butter in a big ole soup pot, then throw in everything you just chopped (including the corn) and cook on medium heat, covered, for 10 min (stirring occasionally). After 10 minutes, add 6 or so cups of your favorite stock, a couple teaspoons of lemon juice, the black eyed peas, and the following spices:
thyme (3 t)
anise or fennel (3 t)
paprika (1/2 t), salt (1/2 t)
and 3-4 bay leaves.
This is all to taste, of course. Bring it to a boil and then reduce to a simmer. Cook for about 10 minutes.

Meanwhile cut up a couple tomatoes (or open a can). Also cut up some kale (or your favorite dark leafy green). Kale was one of the few things I didn't have, so I put a backpack on Mr. Dog (sorry, no pictures) and we went to the store. The kale didn't fit so I put it through the handle on the top of his pack. It made me laugh, at least. Anyway, this kale I got is unlike any kale I've ever seen. Check it out:

It looks like an alien life form to me.

After the stuff has been simmering for 10 minutes, throw in the tomatoes and kale.

Simmer an additional 10-20 minutes or until the vegetables are soft.

Blueberry-raspberry-banana muffins

Raise your hand if you like muffins.

Okay, the rest of you can just leave my classroom. I can't relate to you at all. I mean, what's not to love about muffins? They're full of carbs and fruit, two of the best things in the world. I may have gone a little overboard with these muffins, but can you really blame me for wanting bananas, blueberries, and raspberries in the same package?

For these muffins I used Tato's Basic Muffin Recipe with a couple of alterations and additions (namely, way more fruit than can reasonably be expected in a batch of muffins). I'm just going to say it: they were delicious. I mean, otherwise they wouldn't be on a blog called "Beatiful/Delicious," now would they?

Even the kitty agrees!

Tato's Basic Muffin Recipe (Inez-style)

Preheat oven to to 400F. Seriously, do it now. It will take longer for the oven to heat than for you to put these muffins together.

• 2 c flour (all white or half white, half whole wheat -- for this batch I used about 1/3 whole wheat, 2/3 white)
• 2 t baking powder
• 1/2 t salt
• 1/4 c sugar (increase to 1/3 c for sweeter muffins)
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1/4 c canola oil
• 1 c milk
• a splash of lemon juice
• a whole bunch of blueberries, raspberries, and sliced bananas (berries can be frozen or fresh)

Combine dry (flour, bp, salt, sugar) and wet (egg, oil, milk, lemon juice) ingredients in separate bowls.

Grease one muffins pan that holds 12 muffins. Place in heated oven for 1-2 minutes.

Combine wets, dries, and fruit. Do not overmix! Some lumps are okay.

Put batter immediately in heated muffin pan and bake for about 25 minutes.

Makes 12 muffins.

Derek Shepherd Pie

So. After 11 years (has it really been that long??) Inez and I are finally roommates. We've moved in with some friends into a row house in Brookland, DC and are just loving it. Now we are cooking together all the time and so don't need to post to show each other what we've been doing. It has, however, come to our attention that people other than ourselves read this blog, fancy that!

Another thing we get to do together now is watch Grey's Anatomy. Yes. We admit... we love Grey's. So this Thursday we decided to brink it all together by making a Derek Shepherd's Pie.

Yes, that is "Derek"written out in cheddar cheese. Yes, we are big dorks.

Here is the Joy of Cooking's recipe for shepherd's pie (paraphrased):

• Make some hash.
• Make some mashed potatoes.
• Put the hash, then the mashed potatoes in a dish.
• Bake.

Here's what we did:

• Cook up 1 1/2 chicken breasts with onions, garlic, salt, pepper, thyme, oregano, basil, cayenne, cumin, coriander (or whatever sounds good to you).
• Make some mashed potatoes.
• Chop and lightly steam some kale. (Can you tell wedidn't measure anything?)
• Chop and steam some carrots. 
• Grate some cheese (we used dill havarti and parmesan, just a little bit).
• Put a thin layer of potatoes on the bottom. Put everything but the rest of the potatoes in the dish. Put the potatoes on top.
• Write out "Derek" in cheddar cheese.
• Bake at 400 degrees for a while. 
• Watch Grey's Anatomy and enjoy.

[Inez] Beautiful baby

I had absolutely nothing to do with the creation of this beautiful little thing. The credit for that goes to my sister Ileana Mena Mora. Felicidades a ella por el nacimiento de su precioso gordito, Kaleb Arroyo Mena. (Congratulations to her for the birth of her precious fat baby, Kaleb Arroyo Mena.) Even his name is beautiful!

I'll try not to dwell on my completely impartial observations, but allow me this:
Look at those tiny fingers! That nose! That little chin! Look at that super rockstar pout!