Black Bean Soup

Source: Our Best Bites (love this site!)

Ingredients:
1 Tablespoon olive oil
4 large cloves garlic, roughly chopped
3/4 cup diced carrots (about 2 med carrots)
3/4 cup diced celery (about 2 ribs)
1 cup diced onion (about 1 sm-med onion)
2 cans black beans, rinsed and drained
1 3.5oz can green chilies
2 cans low-sodium beef broth
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon dry oregano leaves
1 bay leaf
1 lime, juiced
Optional Toppings: sour cream, tortilla chips, grated cheese, chopped cilantro, etc. (I definitely recommend the cilantro!  SO good)

Directions:
Place a large stock pot on the stove-top and set to medium-high heat.  When pan is warm, add olive oil.  Add carrots, celery, onion, and garlic and saute 4-5 minutes.

Add in the black beans, chilies, and beef broth. Stir to combine and then add the salt, pepper, chili powder, cumin, oregano, and bay leaf.

Simmer uncovered for about 20-25 minutes or until carrots are tender.

Remove from heat. Remove bay leaf from soup.

Place soup in a blender. (You could use an immersion blender in place of this step.) Place lid on blender, but remove the stopper in the lid to let heat escape. Place a paper towel over the hole to avoid splatters.

Puree soup until completely smooth.  Optionally you could pulse until a semi-chunky soup is achieved. Squeeze in the juice from one lime and pulse to combine.

Ladle into bowls and top with desired toppings. Serve with extra lime wedges.  Makes about 8 cups soup.

Notes:
Holy smokes!  This soup is GOOD!  Gregg just kept raving about how delicious it was last night as we were eating, and he even said that it wasn't only because he was ending a fast.  ;)  Really, though, it is delicious.  The combination of flavors really hit the spot - cumin (my favorite spice, I'm convinced), lime, cilantro.  Mmmm-mmm.  Totally yum!

Sweet Potato Casserole

Source: Susan Brown
Contributor: Victoria Blanchard

Ingredients

3 cups mashed sweet potatoes (Yams)

1 cup brown sugar

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup melted butter

Topping

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup flour

1/3 cup melted butter

1 cup chopped pecans (Sue said she probably doubled the amount of nuts---I'd recommend doing that!)

Directions

Combine first 6 ingredients. Pour into a buttered 1 1/2 to 2 quart casserole dish. Mix remaining ingredients together and sprinkle over top. Bake at 350 for 30 to 40 minutes until hot and browned. Serves 6 to 8.

Notes: This was my and Ryan's favorite dish at the Thanksgiving dinner potluck we shared with some friends this year. We've never been big fans of marshmallow topping on sweet potatoes, but pecans, mmm, boy! There were several versions of this served at the Ward Christmas Party, so I think this is a pretty classic southern holiday dish. I recommend it (especially with extra pecans for the topping). Also, I'm pretty sure she used fresh sweet potatoes, not canned, which probably makes a difference.

Italian Salad

Source/Contributor: Victoria Blanchard

Ingredients
Fresh, dark greens (I like Wal-Mart brand organic half-and-half mix)
Pepperoni, cut into quarter slices
Tomatoes, diced
Black olives, sliced
Shredded Parmesan cheese
Italian dressing

Directions
Top your greens with an appropriate amount of each ingredient depending on how many you are serving. Enjoy!

Notes: Although I came up with this "recipe" myself, I'm sure it's not original, but I really can't think of what official source inspired me for this combination. I came up with this for our ward Christmas Party because I wanted something pretty and I had decided to go savory rather than with one of my typically sweet salads (which was a good move since most of the other salads there were sweet). Also, the fact that pepperoni is in a recipe that I came up with is a clear indicator of my gestational status. I usually am only interested in eating pepperoni (or more accurately, I'm ok with not avoiding eating it) once in a blue moon, but when I'm pregnant it's on my A list. Seriously, I probably eat it once a week (mostly on pizza). It's crazy what hormones do to my taste buds.

Vegetable Barley Soup

Source: The back of my Goya brand barley bag (with some alterations by myself)
Contributor: Victoria Blanchard

Servings: 2-3 (I highly recommend doubling this recipe if you are going to serve more than 2 adults and/or want to have leftovers)

Ingredients:
2 cups of vegetable, chicken, or beef stock
2 cups of water
1/2 cup dry barley
2-3 carrots, diced
2-3 stalk of celery, diced
1/2 white onion
1-2 Tbs olive oil
1 tsp oregano
salt and pepper to taste (I usually don't add any while cooking and let people season their own soup in the bowl; I like salt and Ry tends to go heavy on the pepper, so it makes sense for us)
Optional: meat or substitute other vegetables, but you would probably need to reduce the amount of something else, because this soup is already pretty "full"

Directions

Saute onion, carrots, and celery in olive oil in a large pot for 5-10 minutes so they start to cook. Add broth, water, seasonings, and barley. Let soup rise to a boil, then lower heat to simmer. Depending on how high you keep the heat (if you're in a hurry, you can keep it boiling, but you'll have to watch it closer), it will take about 40-60 minutes for the barley to soften. Note that if you have leftovers, the barley will continue to absorb water. By the next day it will have absorbed all the remaining liquid. It still tastes great, it's just not what you could call soup by that point. But it's kind of nice to have big soft veggies and barley to fill your tummy with.

Notes: Ryan and I both LOVE this soup, especially with fresh oatmeal wheat bread on the side (topped with butter and honey, to die for!), and we can even get Katie to eat it without too much fuss. Two of my cooking goals in the past year or so have been to get more comfortable making soups and to start incorporating more grains and legumes into our meals. This recipe has been perfect for both. It is incredibly easy, and has helped me feel much less intimidated about soups. And now we eat barley once or twice a month, although I'd like to find another go-to recipe with barley in it because it is so good (and good for you, of course).

Broccoli Cheese Soup (for the Crockpot)

Source: food.com

Ingredients:
1/2 cup green pepper, chopped
1/2 cup onion, chopped
2 Tablespoons butter or margarine (I used Canola oil - lightening things up (NOT like this can save it!))
1 (10 ounce) can cream of chicken soup
1 1/2 cups milk
1 lb Velveeta cheese, cubed
1 (10 ounce) package frozen chopped broccoli (I used fresh instead - just chopped some up and didn't even measure)
Black pepper, to taste (my little addition)

Directions:
Sauté onion and green pepper in butter (or oil, if you're like me).  I added the broccoli after the onions and pepper were soft and sauted it around for about a minute or so before proceeding on to the next step.

Combine all ingredients on low in crockpot for 3-4 hours. Do not add salt.  (Because I didn't think ahead enough about this, I ended up making it in a pot on the stove - worked fine and was done in about a half hour I think.  Just be careful to not heat it too hot or the cheese does something funky on the bottom of the pan!  Nice and low and slow!)

Notes:
This is definitely not a light or healthy soup.  If that's what you're looking for - just turn around now.  And I normally wouldn't pick a Velveeta recipe over something with more real ingredients (you know, cheese).  But I had some leftover Velveeta from the Taco Plop recipe and decided this would be the way I would use it up.  Very creamy and rich and a warm way to cozy up on a very blustery cold day.  (Oh, and SUPER easy!)

Caramel Stuffed Apple Cider Cookies

Source: here, via Pinterest (surprise!)

Ingredients:
1 cup softened butter
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 box (7.4 oz) Alpine Spiced Apple Cider Instant Original Drink mix -not sugar free- all 10 packets (You can find this in your grocery store near the hot chocolate mixes - and I just used the store brand (no need to pay more!))
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 cups all purpose flour
1 bag Kraft Caramels (14 oz)

Directions
Preheat oven to 350° F. Line cookie sheets with parchment. (The blog author says "You really need the parchment!" but I didn't have any and the world did not end - amazing!)

In a small bowl whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder and cinnamon.

With your mixer (or an energetic spoon) cream together butter, sugar, salt and all 10 packages of apple cider drink mix powder, until light and fluffy.  Beat in eggs, one at a time. Add vanilla and mix well. Gradually add flour mixture to butter/egg mixture. Mix until just combined. Refrigerate for about an hour. (If you're really impatient you don't have to do this, but it makes it so much easier to work with.)

When you are ready to bake, unwrap your caramels.  (Oops - we did this first!)

Scoop out cookie dough ball about the size of a walnut. (I used a rounded cookie scoop-full. My scoop holds about a Tablespoon.)  (We just used our hands and pulled out globs.)  Flatten the ball of dough slightly in the palm of your hand. Press the unwrapped caramel into the center of your dough and seal the dough around it, covering it completely. Place on parchment covered cookie sheets 2 inches apart. Bake 12-14 minutes, or until very lightly browned around the edges. Please don't over-bake!

Once the cookies are done, slide the parchment off of the baking sheet right out onto the counter. Allow cookies to partially cool on the parchment. When cookies are cool enough to be firm but still slightly warm, carefully twist off of parchment and allow to finish cooling upside down (either on the parchment or on a rack.) If you forget about them and they cool too much and stick to your parchment, put them into the freezer for a few minutes and they'll pop right off. (This sounds really complicated, but we just sprayed our cookie sheets with cooking spray and made sure to scoop them off to a cooling rack before they cooled completely on the pan.)

Yield: about 4 dozen, depending on how large you make your cookies (or how many caramels have been snitched out of your bag before you begin.) Store in an airtight container.

Notes:
I saw this recipe on one of my first days on Pinterest and thought it looked intriguing and tasty.  My friend Anika came over yesterday and we whipped up a batch - a fun little First of December activity on a windy day.  They are definitely different than any cookie I've ever had - very apple cidery and VERY sweet.  And maybe I cooked mine a titch too long, because they are a bit on the crisp side and the caramel is kinda hard now that they are cool.  But they're still good - especially when they're warm.  (Update: I found nuking them for 11 seconds in the microwave restores their yummy, gooey, warm softness.  My faith is restored!)

Black Bean Dip

Source: my friend, Miki Jackson

Ingredients:
1 block cream cheese (I prefer low or no fat to minimize guilt)
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed (seasoned might give it a little extra bang)
1/2 - 1 cup grated cheese (I used monterey jack, but cheddar or even pepper jack would also be great)

Directions:
In a very small baking dish, layer the ingredients one at a time, with cream cheese first (on bottom), beans second, and grated cheese third (on top). Bake until the cheese on top is melted and bubbly. Serve warm with tortilla chips.

Notes:
This sounds too simple to have any kind of "wow" factor, but I assure you that it does! I happened to have some salsa next to this on my plate, and when the dip and the salsa combined, it was even better! I think next time I make it, I'll add a layer of 1/2 - 1 cup of salsa between the beans and the cheese.