Black Bean Cakes with Sweet Corn Vinaigrette over greens

Black Bean Cakes:

1 cup cooked black beans, rinsed and drained
1 eggs, beaten lightly
3-4 scallions, thinly sliced
1 small jalepeno, minced
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup plain bread crumbs
1 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon cayenne
salt and pepper to taste
olive oil

Put black beans into a large bowl.

In a medium frying pan, heat 1 tbsp of olive oil over medium heat. Cook scallions for 2 minutes, add garlic, jalepeno, and cumin; cook for 30 seconds until fragrent; remove from heat and transfer to a large bowl.

Pour the hot mixture over the black beans. Mash the beans with a potato masher. The beans should be a mixture of completely mashed beans with a couple whole and some half whole beans. Stir in the egg.

Slowly add bread crumbs until the gooeyness of the beans and eggs mixture dries up. Don't add too much. Leave the mix somewhat sticky.

Heat the oil in a skillet. Scoop out about 1/4 cup of the mixture and place it into the skillet. You can fry 2-3 of these at a time without much of a problem. Let cook on the one side until the bottom is showing some signs of browning and the patty holds together. Flip carefully and cook the other side until it is similarly done.

Set aside in a warm oven while you finish the rest of the cakes and prepare the sauce.


Sweet Corn Vinaigrette:
1/2 cup sweet corn
2 T white wine vinegar
1/4 (approx) olive oil
pinch red pepper flakes
salt and pepper to taste

In a food processor, blend the corn until smoothish. Add vinegar, salt and pepper and red pepper flakes. Blend a few seconds more, scraping the sides down. While the food processor is blending, slowly add olive oil until the vinaigrette is emulsified and a nice texture.

Serve black bean cakes over fresh salad greens and top with vinaigrette.

Serves 2-3.

The sweet corn vinaigrette is perfect with black bean cakes. This is a nice, light supper that is satisfying but not to filling.

Cucumber and Tomato Salad

1 cup cherry tomatoes
1/2 cucumber
1 onion slice
2 t Vinegar
4 T Olive Oil
1 pinch Fresh or dried parsley
Salt and Pepper

In a bowl whisk together olive oil, vineagar, parsley, salt and pepper.

Chop the tomatoes in half. Peel the cucumber, slice in half and remove the seeds. Chop. Dice the onion.

Mix together and serve.

Serves 2.
























Thank you, Warren, for the delicious Olive Oil! It made this salad. So the key here is good olive oil. In this case, I used Columena. I didn't have a lemon nor did I add any sugar and I found that I didn't need it. If you have a standard olive oil, I'd suggest adding a little more zing to this salad. It's a refreshing salad for a hot day.

Stuffed 8-ball Zucchini Squash

2 8-ball zucchini squash
3-4 cloves garlic
3-4 green onions
1/2 cup cooked quinoa
1/2 cup cooked chicken
3-4 leaves of rainbow chard
sun-dried tomatoes
small handful of fresh basil
salt and pepper
red pepper flakes
italian seasoning
parmesan cheese
olive oil

Cut zucchini tops off about 3/4 inch from the top. Scoop out the insides, being careful to leave a wall about 1/4 inch thick on all sides. Steam zucchini "bowls" and tops upside down for about 8 minutes, until slightly softened. I used a dutch oven with a steamer tray in it but any large pot will work.

Preheat oven to 350.

Chop the sun-dried tomatoes and rehydrate them in hot water if you are not using the ones packed in oil (I used dry ones).

Chop the pulp you removed from the zucchini.

Mince or dice the garlic and chop the onions, chard and basil (leave some basil leaves whole for garnish if they are small).

Heat pan on low and add a bit of oil. Saute the onions for a few minutes. Add a small pinch of red pepper flakes and italian seasoning. Add the garlic and saute for minute or so more. Add the pulp and saute until it softens a bit and releases the juice. Add the chard and steam for a few minutes. Add the already cooked rice and chicken and saute for a few minutes to reheat.

Stuff the zucchini bowls with the mixture, layering mixture, cheese and basil leaves until it is full and mounded. Sprinkle with a bit more cheese, put the top on it and bake uncovered for 20 minutes.




















This is my first harvest of the summer! I've nibbled on some strawberries and lettuce but this is the first meal I've made from goods mostly from my garden. I used my zucchini, garlic, chard, onion and basil. This recipe is perfect for leftovers (hence the chicken and quinoa) and there are many things you can put into these loverly little bowls. I got this recipe here but tweaked it a little.

Easy Balsamic Vinaigrette

1/2 cup olive oil
2 T balsamic vinegar
1 T red wine vinegar
1 T Dijon mustard
1 t sugar
salt and pepper to taste

Add ingredients to a jar with a lid. Close lid tight and shake.

This is really easy to make. I usually don't use the proportions above but just add stuff until I like the taste. I usually store it in the fridge and let it warm up before shaking it up again. Sometimes I throw in some Italian Seasoning and or a press of garlic. No need to buy dressing anymore!

Chicken Andouille Sausage Jambalaya

1/2 lb andouille sausage
2 cups chicken stock
1/2 cup of rice
1 tomato diced
1 onion small diced
1 celery stalk medium diced
1 green pepper medium diced
2 jalapenos finely diced
3 cloves of garlic finely diced
3 bay leaves
Herbs de Provence
Cayenne pepper to taste
Kosher salt and pepper
High temperature oil

Cook andouille sausage over medium heat in a medium sized pot (a dutch oven works best). There is no need for oil as the sausage has plenty. Add onion, celery and bell pepper and saute for a few minutes until softened. Add garlic and saute for another minute or so. Add the rest, bring to boil and simmer until the rice is cooked.

I found this recipe over at culinary disaster and modified it. I love chicken andouille sausage but had made lentil soup a few times and was looking for something new. That and I was trying to use up ingredients I had on hand. I had no green bell pepper so I used carrot instead since I have so many on hand from the vegetable delivery. I also used the Salish smoked salt I have on hand. It really adds a lot to these dishes. For the record, I know this probably isn't real jambalaya because it doesn't have shrimp but I'm not a shrimp fan and it's delicious anyway!

Pico de Gallo

2 cups tomatoes (seeded and chopped)
1/4 cup onion (chopped)
1 jalapenos (seeded and chopped)
1 clove garlic (chopped)
1 lime (juice)
1 handful cilantro (chopped)
pinch cumin
salt and pepper to taste

Thanks to Kevin at Closet Cooking (one of my favorite cooking blogs) for the recipe!

Go easy on the cilantro. Too much can overpower the salsa. It doesn't get better than dipping that first chip into salsa you just chopped up!

Lentil and Sausage Soup

1 cup dried lentils
6 cups chicken broth (or half broth / half water)
1 cup chopped onion
1 1/2 cups chopped carrots
1 cup finely chopped celery
4 cloves garlic
1 bay leaf

8 oz smoked sausage
salt and pepper to taste
hot pepper sauce (optional)

Put everything but the sausage in a large pot or dutch oven. Cover and simmer over low heat for 45 minutes.
While that is simmering, slice in half lengthwise and chop into 1/2 inch pieces if sausage is pre-cooked. If sausage in uncooked, fry in separate pan over medium, breaking into small chunks while you cook.
After 45 minutes, add to soup and simmer another 10 minutes.


I can't believe it's March and still snowing in Seattle! This soup more than hit the spot. In fact, I think I've found a new favorite! I used chicken andouille sausage and crumbled it up while I cooked it so I'd get little morsels in every bite! At the end I used a tsp of smoked salt that I picked up a while back and that gave it just the right amount of smokey flavor. The sausage was spicy enough that I didn't have to add any hot sauce. The original recipe called for more water and to simmer uncovered but its already humid here so I covered it up and used less water/stock. Wow. This one's a keeper!

Adopted from "The Dutch Oven Cookbook" by Sharon Kramis and Julie Kramis Hearne