Eggs 'n Beans

For anyone who reads my blog with some regularity, you know that I am no stranger to beans. Love them. All kinds. I am somewhat of a bean snob, texture, taste, and look are very important. No mushy beans, thank you. Until Little came along, I'd swear by the dutch oven as the only way to cook beans. You can see why Little is confused to find my trusty Le Cruset on the shelf for the latest round of red beans and rice. However, I've found that the slow cooker makes a mean red bean. I've tested it twice now, just to be certain, that it produces the creamiest, most delicious beans ever -- maybe even better than my trusty red friend (gasp). Also, it takes about 10 minutes of prep time and I can forget about them for 4-5 hours without the worry of stirring to ensure that they don't scorch on the bottom. In a rush to get the beans going the first time, I left out the sausage for added convenience and found that the vegetarian version is pretty excellent. I've tried to restart my weekly regimen of making a large batch of beans of any variety so we can have delicious, healthy leftovers for various dishes. 

Our most recent creation with leftover beans, was an attempt to replicate the egg dish that I enjoyed so much at Hi-Life in Seattle. We made a couple of changes: replaced the flour tortilla with corn, added more scallions, and subbed my red beans for the spicy black beans. Without the added spice to the beans, I was able to liberally apply my favorite condiment, Cholula. The result was delicious and maybe even a touch better than the original. It was a perfect weekend dish, but I've actually made it part of my hearty second breakfast routine this week. Finding quick, yet gourmet-tasting, meals has been key to us actually eating regularly at home. 

It also means that I have time to devote to making food for Little. I realized the importance of this when I went to the grocery store last week to pick up a few jars of reserve food. I found that the prepared stuff is insanely expensive, full of preservatives, and well, kind of looks gross. As I held a jar of sweet potatoes that had a weird salmon pink color, and a jar of green beans that were sort of brown, I realized that I hadn't gotten so busy that I couldn't put a damn potato in the oven every once in a while. This week the little Sir is enjoying pureed chicken soup and rice, steamed broccoli, roasted red bell pepper sauce, and yogurt. He tolerates the broccoli, but gobbles it up when paired with the peppers. He's even had a taste of the pureed red beans and rice, which he initially downed, but now makes him gag. Not sure what's going on there, but no son of mine would ever reject red beans and rice.

Brasilliant's Slow Cooker Red Beans

1lb small red beans, picked through and rinsed

1 onion finely diced

1 bell pepper (red or green) finely diced

3 cloves garlic, minced

3 carrots, peeled and finely diced

3 celery ribs, finely diced

6c vegetable (or chicken) stock

6 oz. andouille sausage, diced (optional)

(here's where the recipe is a pretty inexact science)

1 T Penzey's Cajun spice

2 tsp thyme

3 healthy pinches of kosher salt (or more to taste)

Few shakes of onion powder

Few shakes of hot sauce (Cholula)

Add all of the ingredients into the slow cooker, set to high, put on the lid and forget about it for about 4 hours. You can stir occasionally if you want, but I usually leave the cooking part to J, which means that our beans are never stirred. After 4 hours, check for doneness. The beans should still be whole with skins in tact, but creamy and delicious inside. I usually find that this method cooks the perfect bean, but leaves the sauce a little soupy. I just uncover the beans, turn it to low and let it cook for another hour or so to let some of the liquid evaporate. 

If you were so inclined, adding some andouille sausage around the 3 hour mark would probably be pretty delicious. I think I'll try that next time around.

Fresh Cheese

I've been meaning to jump on the homemade yogurt bandwagon for a while. Since we go through gallons of yogurt every month, it seems like something I should at least try once. While researching how to make yogurt, fresh ricotta came up in a number of postings, as well as in my go-to cookbook for things like this, How to Cook Everything Vegetarian by Mark Bittman. I ambitiously purchased all the ingredients for yogurt and fresh cheese earlier this week, but never found the time to actually try it until today. Since the yogurt required a bit more attention, I decided to start out with the ricotta* first and move on to yogurt this weekend.

The recipe is incredibly simple: 1/2 gallon of milk, 1 quart buttermilk, and a couple pinches of salt. Bring milk to a slow boil, pour in buttermilk and stir until the curds separate from the whey. The whole thing was a bit like a science experiment, but in this case you end up with something tasty rather than a table full of suds or shattered beakers. And really, the hardest part is tending the boiling milk so it doesn't scorch. With that said, I made the fresh cheese while also entertaining/feeding Miles. In other words, you don't have to watch it that closely. 

After the curds separate, you dump the whole thing into a colander lined with a triple layer of cheese cloth. I was a little less than careful while pouring, so I managed to get splashes of curds all over my jacket. You then just gather up the cheesecloth ends and twist so the curds gather into a ball. It's pretty hot, so I had to run the ball under cold water until it was cool enough to handle. Then, just squeeze the crap out of it until a good deal of the liquid is gone. My technique for pressing was to twist the top and use my other hand to press from the bottom to keep the nice round shape. 

It took a few minutes, but eventually I felt that it was firm enough to let set. Basically, you just leave it tied up for an hour or so and it hardens a little more.

I've also read that you can use the reserved whey to make bread or soak grains. I'm going to look into this further since I have at least a half gallon of leftover from this project.

So the verdict? Well, the overall taste was sort of meh. I think it needs a lot more salt. Next time I'll probably put a tablespoon or two. The texture is pretty good though, resembling a sort of queso fresco that you'd buy at the grocery store. It can be cut in slices or crumbled. Mark Bittman suggests that you can take the fresh cheese and brine it, which is what I think I'll do with this batch since it's a little too bland to add much to a dish. You can also add a number of things to it before pressing, like pesto, roasted peppers, various herbs, or fresh ground black pepper. I'm definitely going to play around with the ingredients and perfect my technique techniques. It's a fun, quick project that has a lot of potential!

*What I made is actually not ricotta, which uses considerably less buttermilk. It's just termed fresh cheese, which apparently is also the recipe for cottage cheese -- you just let the curds stand in the cheesecloth rather than pressing them into a ball.

Cookie Madness

The Grand Central Bakery here in Portland is one of my favorite destinations in the spring and summertime. Before Miles came along, we would bike down to Sellwood, get a sack lunch, and have a picnic along the water. They make delicious bread and I always get the seasonal chicken salad sandwich with one of their oatmeal and golden raisin cookies. By the time the rain goes away for good and the sun comes out to stay, I think Miles will be old enough to ride along with us. Until then, I sometimes get a craving for their giant cookies. So, I was excited to see that the owner just published a baking book so I can try them at home. I quickly put it on my hold list at the library.

Last night, while waiting for Miles to settle down for the night, I baked a batch of the oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. The baking book is great, because it reveals the techniques that make their cookies so unique. Apparently, part of the texture is achieved by creaming the butter and sugars for a good 5 minutes, until it lightens significantly and the sugar almost melts entirely into the butter. Also, it provided the exact weight to equal a ping pong sized ball of dough. For the first time ever, I didn't just eyeball the scoops, meticulously measuring out each on my electric scale. The other secret I learned in the book is to take the cookies out of the oven when the edges are golden, but he centers are still look under cooked. You then let them cool on the pan and they finish cooking. It gives the cookies that nice chew that I love so much! Brilliant! 

The only downside of the recipe is that it was written in such a quantity that you might be able to open your own bakery -- this one makes about three dozen. However, Davis and Jackson have that covered too and give great instructions on how to freeze the dough for later use. Now we have two and a half dozen oatmeal chocolate chip cookies ready for our tummies. So, the verdict? Delicious. I'm not sure if they're exactly like the ones we get at the bakery, but they're pretty darn close. Crisp on the bottom and edges and chewy in the center. In fact, I'm having one for breakfast with my iced coffee. The book needs to go back to the library pretty soon, but I think this is one book that I should purchase for myself!

Love Those Greens

I write this as I am taking on the ghastly task of sleep training our son. Yes, I know Dr. Sears warns about sleep trainers and how they are terrible beasts who hate children. I guess I'm just a terrible beast who desperately needs her child to get some sleep!

To take my mind off the difficult task at hand, I read and read all about introducing new foods to babies. Interesting stuff, you know. I learned all about nitrates and how they're not just in processed meats, but can be really concentrated in root vegetables and leafy greens. Buying organic helps a lot, since the farmers don't use commercial synthetic fertilizers, but being aware of how they're prepared and how much babies eat at first is important. Nitrates don't affect adults in the same way as babies, because of our ability to produce stomach acid that breaks it down (which babies start to produce between 5 and 6 months of age). Who knew?


To date Little has tried sweet potatoes, avocado, pears, banana, and peas. Avocado was the only food that he really didn't like. I tried it for five days with no luck. With that in mind, I set out to make Little his next two tasty meals -- butternut squash and kale. I, for one, love kale, collards, and just about any dark leafy green you can find. Despite his love for most of the other foods he's tried, I was still skeptical about how Little would react. He watched me from his high chair as I removed the kale stems and washed the leaves. He was especially excited by the salad spinner as it whirled around. And he was even more excited by the stick blender as it pureed them to a fine consistency.

My baby food book suggested that if kale was too strong, that you mix in a little banana. I was fully prepared to mix in A LOT of banana. However, the little dude surprised me. I gave him his first bite and he went "mmm" and flapped his arms for more. He's definitely his mother's son. It makes me happy that he has so many positive associations with the kitchen and with his food bowl. And I guess he's gained enough trust in me (despite my beastly sleep training) to know that I'm not going to put anything too disgusting in his mouth and that eating is a fun activity that we can all share. 

Three Day Soup

Way back in October, I had it all figured out. Miles napped like a champ -- three hefty stretches a day -- and even though I was sleep deprived from getting up at night, the free time during the day made life feel just fine. I caught up on work, blogged, and even started cooking again. I was quite pleased with the fact that I might actually be able to put delicious hot meals on the table at night. I had this brilliant idea to highlight all that free time by starting a series of posts on my blog called Naptime Gourmet. Like I said, I had it all figured out. 

Then Miles turned three months old, went on a sleeping strike during the day, and demanded constant attention during his waking hours. Not only was there no time for prepping dinner, but I was lucky to sneak in lunch some days. Dinnertime in our household was pretty turbulent and haphazard. At Miles' four month checkup, I shuffled into the pediatrician's office looking like a zombie and begged her to tell me that things would get better. She very nicely told me that I looked like death and that four months wasn't too early to start sleep training. I cringed at the thought, but Jesse and I were frazzled and desperate. It took three nights of hell to get him in a routine. He now sleeps, well as they say, like a baby.

Miles will be five months old next week, takes three decent naps a day, and will go six to eight hours at night uninterrupted. What does that have to do with food you ask? Well, I am no longer sleep deprived (most days) and have it all figured out again (ha). Naptime Gourmet is officially resurrected. It won't be easy. In fact, I'm pretty sure I will have to seriously challenge myself to prepare something new each week.** However, I'm going to give it my best try because cooking is one of my simple pleasures; it makes me happier and us healthier.

For the debut Naptime Gourmet (resurrected) entry, I have chosen a simple, healthy, delicious three day bean soup. Why three days? For starters, it took me that long to finally get the energy to cobble together the ingredients. My lack of ambition was stupid, since it took about fifteen minutes to prepare. Then, after cooking all day with what seemed like no progress, I thought I might have to hover over the slow cooker for that long for the beans to finally cook. And finally, this morning I realized that there's so much of it we'll be eating on it for a while. I really don't mind though, because it is insanely tasty.

Brasilliant's Three Day Soup

2 c. black eyed peas (insert lame Fergie joke here)
1 c. red lentils (or any other bean really)
4-5 c. vegetable stock (I use Better than Bouillon)
1 14oz can diced tomatoes (or 2 fresh, peeled and diced)
1-2 shallots, minced
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 ribs celery, diced
3 carrots, diced
1 tsp. kosher salt
1/2 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp. Penzey's Cajun Spice (I bet thyme would work well instead)


Place beans in slow cooker and cover with 2 inches of water. Cook on high for 2 hours, or until beans begin to soften. Add remaining ingredients, turn slow cooker on low and forget about it for 8-10 hours (or until beans are cooked through).The lentils don't really hold up to cooking for that long and serve more as a delicious thickener. Sprinkle with a bit of grated Parmesan and voila! Simple. Healthy. Tasty.

Side note: I wanted to render a little bacon for the recipe, but was feeling lazy and didn't want to go to the grocery store. I'm glad I didn't. I find that black eyed peas have a wonderfully smoky, almost meaty flavor on their own, so bacon or ham would have just been overkill. The point of this recipe is to let the beans speak for themselves. And because the soup cooks for such a long time, all of the flavors really meld together. One option to kick up the spice would be to mince a little jalapeno or throw in a touch of cayenne. But I think I'll just let Jesse liberally apply Tabasco at the table!


** Be warned, I am not above subbing in the occasional baby food recipe from time to time when Miles starts sampling more complex concoctions. I do, however, promise not to bore you with such delicacies as whipped sweet potatoes and breast milk.  

Naptime Gourmet

My goal yesterday was to utilize Miles' morning nap time to the fullest. Some days I just don't have the energy to do much more than check my email and stare off into space, but Miles (knock on wood) has been sleeping really well at night, so I've been waking up quite refreshed. He went down around 10am and I got to work in the kitchen. 

I decided to crack open the Slow Cooker Gourmet and try another recipe since the first round was so successful. Sticking with the Mexican section, I flagged the Pork Stew in Tomatillo sauce. As I mentioned before, this isn't your average slow cooker cookbook, so there was some prep time involved. I roasted tomatillos, serrano peppers, onion and garlic under the broiler until everything was soft and slightly blackened. This veggie mixture was combined with chicken stock and I added a small bunch of cilantro before blending into a sauce and added a bit more salt. I was supposed to put a corn tortilla in there before blending to thicken the mixture, but I forgot. I will remember to do this next time.

Next, I salt and peppered a pork roast, diced it into 1 1/2 inch cubes and browned it in two batches and put the browned meat in the bottom of the slow cooker. I think browning the meat is one of the most important parts of having success with the slow cooker. If you skip this step then you'll likely end up with bland unappealing hunks of meat in whatever sauce you're cooking. It took some extra prep time, but was totally worth the effort. After the two batches of pork were browned, I de-glazed the pan with a little dry vermouth (white wine or even water would do as well) and poured the liquid over the pork in the bottom of the slow cooker. Don't skip his step! The browned juices are the best part. 

I then dumped the tomatillo mixture over the pork, covered the slow cooker and set it on low for 6-8 hours. If the sauce looks too thin, just remove the cover for the last hour or two to let some of the liquid evaporate. Even though the recipe had a bit of work before going in the slow cooker, I was still able to finish it up in about 45 minutes and still had time left over to clean up the giant mess I made in the kitchen.

And the result? Incredibly tasty. The pork fell apart when pressed with a fork and the sauce was tangy and slightly spicy. We served it over rice with a liberal sprinkling of queso fresco on top. The cheese melted over the hot stew and added a nice salty kick. I paired my meal with a Drop Top amber ale and it was perfect. It feels so good to be able to cook delicious meals again even though I don't have nearly as much time to devote to cooking as I did before Miles came along. I'm going to continue to experiment with recipes for the slow cooker and maybe even develop a few of my own once I get the hang of ratios and ingredients. 

Pork Stew in Tomatillo Sauce (Ingredients and Recap)

2-3 lbs pork loin (or a fattier cut if you wish)
3 lbs tomatillos
2 serrano peppers
1 onion peeled and quartered
6 cloves garlic peeled
2 c. chicken stock
1 c. fresh cilantro  
1 corn tortilla
salt to taste
queso fresco and fresh cilantro for garnish





Salt, pepper and dice pork into 1 1/2" cubes. Brown in two batches and place in slow cooker. De-glaze pan with white wine or water and pour liquid over pork.


Roast tomatillos, onion, peppers, and garlic under broiler until soft and slightly blackened. Blend veggie mixture with chicken stock, cilantro, and corn tortilla. Salt to taste.


Pour tomatillo mixture over pork and cook on low for 6-8 hours (removing lid for last hour or two if mixture isn't thick enough). Serve over brown rice with crumbled queso fresco on top.