White bean soup with sausage

1 Low Fat Smoked Turkey Kielbasa cut into rounds
1 large onion
2 cloves garlic
1 large can roasted tomatoes (crushed)
Chives
Cayenne Pepper
White Butter Beans
White Kidney Beans
Chicken Stock
Butter

Sweat the onions with the garlic in the butter until soft. Add sausage. Add tomatoes, bring to simmer. Add Cayenne. Drain beans, and add to soup. Add Chives. Add Chicken Stock and bring to boil, reduce to simmer. Spoon into bowls and top with dollop of sour cream. Serve with cornbread.

Eggplant Spread

2 Eggplants
6 cloves garlic
Olive Oil
Sesame Oil
1/2 of a Lemon
Kosher Salt

Heat oven to 375 Farenheit. Slice eggplants in half, then slice each half into slices about 1/4 inch thick. Salt each piece and set aside for 20.

Coat the bottom of a pyrex baking pan with olive oil. Then, coarsely chop the garlic and put about 1/3 of it in the oil on the bottom of the pan. Put a layer of the eggplant pieces. Drizzle olive oil and sesame oil on that layer, put another third of the garlic, then put another layer of eggplant on top of the first. Drizzle more olive and sesame oil and the last of the garlic. Cover the pan with aluminum foil. Bake for 1 hour. Remove aluminum foil. Bake for another 20 minutes. Remove from oven, squeeze lemon on the eggplant. Sprinkle kosher salt on the eggplant. Then, spread on toasted ciabiatta bread. MMMM…garlicky.

 

Hey Man Turn it Up! Is that Experimental Cream Cheese?!

Ah, I love when I find a very simple way to add variety and excitement to my life. Friends, I’m talking about my recent discovery of gourmet cream cheese. At Wheatsville Food Coop, where I like to shop on occasion, I found that they sell tasty cream cheese spreads in their prepared food case.  With a price of about $3, this is not an expensive treat, but I thought, “Hey, experimental cream cheese, sounds like a 1968 Rock Band!”

So here are the ones I’ve made so far:

Italian Spread

This is great on bread for a sandwich or roll instead of meat.

1 Box of Generic Cream Cheese (leave out of fridge for an hour or so to soften)
1 Can of Black Olives, drained, then coarsely chopped
1/4 Cup Sun Dried Tomatoes cut into strips
1 Table spoon Minced Fresh Rosemary
1/2 - 3/4 Cups Chopped Italian Parsley
1-3 Cloves of fresh garlic, minced (use more or less depending on who you’ll be kissing later)
1/2 Cup Chopped Pecans
Salt  and Fresh Pepper to taste ( I used Fleur De Sal, which is a finishing salt. I like it in the cream cheese because it basically disintegrates into the mix)

Mix all this stuff together, and stir covered in the fridge.

GORP inspired Spread

I think you could probably use anything sweet and dry you have on hand for this. Dried cranberries, m&m’s, what have you.

1 Block of Cream Cheese
1 Cup Pecans
1 Single Serving Box of  Raisins
1/4-1/2 cup Chocolate Chips
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Mix it up! Store covered in fridge. Tasty on apples, as well as breads and crackers.

I’m thinking I might try smores spread, with marshmallows, chocolate chips, and graham crackers. Or, I might do an Asian Spread, dried crumbled nori, toasted chopped almonds, toasted sesame seeds, etc. I think the key is to keep the mix in’s dry, so they don’t break down and make the cheese watery.