Black Bean Soup

So, I  made this recipe last week but haven't had a chance to post about it yet. It is the 5 ingredient black bean soup that I found here. At Gimme Some Oven her soup looked like this...



Since, I am a cilantro lover, I added A LOT of cilantro to mine plus a little sour cream. Mine looked like this...

And, as with the other pins I have made from my Recipes To Try board, this one was pretty darn delish. I am five for five in testing and liking my pinned recipes. 

Now, what to make next?

Cheers!

Ms. Hughes

Quinoa for Breakfast?!?!

My recipe test this week is another breakfast one. I have been eating the Portable Western Omelettes almost every day for the last couple of weeks. Time to mix it up!

This recipe comes from A Beautiful Mess. It is super easy to make and involves one of my fave foods...quinoa!

I'm not going to detail the instructions here. Just click on the picture and it'll take you right to it. 

But I will say that I give this recipe a BIG thumbs up. 

Here's my version! I followed all of the parts of the recipe except I used whole milk not almond milk and I added raspberries instead of blackberries. Still yummy, though!

Cooking it up... #3!!!

Okay, so I have managed to impress even myself these past three weeks. I have made a new recipe from my pinterest board each and every week so far this year! Go me!!!

This week I made a hashbrown casserole. Not something that would normally even be on my radar except that my mother has a lot of frozen hashbrowns in her freezer. The reason for all of the hashbrowns remains a mystery but I needed to find something to do with all those darn potatoes!!!!

The recipe I found was from The Daily Meal and was called Cracker Barrel Hashbrown Casserole. If you click on the link above, it'll take you to the recipe.

Their version looked like this:



Mine turned out a bit different because (of course) I didn't have all the required ingredients on hand and had to do some substitutions. Still, it tasted pretty yummy!

Here's my version:

It tasted pretty gosh darn good but (I have to admit)...is not very good for you. It is basically a lot of melted butter, sour cream and cheese mixed with some onions, hashbrowns and a can of soup. It totally reminded me of the kind of cooking I get down South! However, since we are under Doctor's orders to feed my Mum full fat everything (no skinny lattes for her, no sirree!!!!) it worked out just fine!

Doubt I'll make it again but at least I can say that there are fewer bags of hashbrowns in my Mum's freezer!!!! (Now if I could only think of something to do with the bags that are still left......)

Happy Cooking!

Ms. Hughes

Sunday Cooking...

Week 2 of cookin' up the recipes I have saved on Pinterest.

This week it was apple and feta salad from Cooking Classy.

The recipe there was a bit different from what I ended up with but the basic idea is the same (that seems to be a theme with these recipes so far, doesn't it?) and it turned out really well.

Below is the recipe how it was on the website. They used chicken, bacon, walnuts, and dried cranberries in theirs.

 Above is my version. I used bacon, feta, apples and lettuce. No dried cranberries. No chicken. 

But have to say that it was still delish!!!! This recipe gets a high score with me. I would definitely eat it again. (I don't make bacon often but, from now on, I'll tuck away a few pieces to make up this for lunch!)

I better watch out...too many more cooking successes and I might start thinking I like the whole cooking thing. 

Nah! Would still rather read a book!

Cheers!

Ms. Hughes

Pinned it...Now do it!!!!

This is my new motto for all of the recipes that are on my pinterest recipe board. 

I have pinned A LOT of recipes over the past months. Lots of main courses but also lots and lots of deserts. I'm not sure why I pin so many them...I don't even eat desert regularly! And I don't eat gluten! They just look so gosh darn good,  I guess!

Anywho, I have decided that I am going to try to make one recipe per week this year. It will hardly put a dent in the number I have pinned but at least I will know if I like the way they taste or just the way they look on pinterest!!!!

Anyone who knows me, knows I don't really like to cook. It doesn't help that I literally have a 14"x 20" amount of counter space to cook on in my very, very tiny kitchen at home. The space is the size of a cutting board. (I'll have to take a picture one day to show you just how small my kitchen really is!)

But, now that I am at my mother's house half the time, I have a large kitchen at my disposal with a gas oven. Yay! 

So, the plan is to cook at least one thing from my "Recipes to Try" Pinterest board each week. I am here for dinner most nights (even the nights I don't sleep here) and have Saturday evenings and Sunday mornings to cook as well. 

I should be able to do this, right?

Right!

(Just keep saying that and I might eventually believe you!!!!)

So, this past Sunday was recipe testing session #1 from the board. I decided to try something that would be useful this first week back to school.


I pinned this awhile ago because it looked so good! It is from the Healthy Foodie and is called Portable Western Omelets. The recipe comes from a cookbook I have never heard of but that sounds interesting called Primal Cravings.

I changed some of the ingredients so I could use what I had on hand. Instead of ham or prosciutto, I used bacon. And I didn't have spinach so used eggs, mushrooms, scallions, green pepper and parsley. They turned out like this:

And I am happy to announce that they are also very, very tasty! I individually wrapped and froze the omelets and have been taking them to school. They microwave up perfectly and are very yummy! And they fill me up until recess. 

I am calling this first effort a huge success!!!!

Now, what to make this coming Sunday?!?! Hmmm...

Stay tuned...