Black Bean Soup with Cumin + Jalapeno

We’re finally in October.  And It’s fall.  Though I’m a summer gal, I’m starting to appreciate what fall has to offer.

I love how the leaves change color.

I love how outside has nice golden glow.

I love that Halloween is coming up in couple of weeks.

I love Day Light Saving Time .

And I love cooking stews and soups.

Black Bean Soup with Cumin + Jalapeno

Adapted from Bon Appetit, August 2004

Author Note:  I felt that this soup wasn’t spicy enough so I added the entire jalapeño pepper into the soup.  Also, I added Colby jack cheese, avocado,  sour cream and tortilla chips as my topping but feel free to add whatever you want.  I think a Mexican cheese would work in this soup other than feta.

To make this soup vegetarian, swap the chicken broth with vegetable broth instead.

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
4 garlic cloves, chopped
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 to 2 teaspoons chopped jalapeño chile with seeds, divided
2 15- to 16-ounce cans black beans, undrained
1 15-ounce can petite diced tomatoes in juice
1 1/2 cups low-salt chicken broth or (vegetable broth to make vegetarian soup)

Chopped fresh cilantro

Chopped green onions

Crumbled feta cheese

Heat oil in heavy large pot over medium-high heat. Add onion, carrot, and garlic; sauté until vegetables begin to soften, about 6 minutes. Mix in cumin and 1 teaspoon jalapeño. Add beans, tomatoes with juice, and broth; bring soup to boil. Reduce heat to medium, cover, and cook until carrots are tender, about 15 minutes. Transfer 3 cups of soup to blender and puree until smooth. Return puree to pot. Simmer soup until slightly thickened, about 15 minutes. Season to taste with salt, pepper, and remaining 1 teaspoon jalapeño, if desired.

Ladle soup into bowls. Pass cilantro, green onions, and feta cheese separately.

Roasted Carrots with Honey Ginger Glaze

Sometimes I feel guilty for posting recipes from the same person.  It’s seem like I never venture out to give other people a chance.  Which is not entirely true.  After trying a few recipes from someone, you either love or hate their cooking.  Some people swear by Martha Stewart or Ina Garten cooking.  Jenna recipes never disappoints so I try her recipes often.

I read Jenna’s blog everyday.  Every mornings I look at her site to read her posts. You would think that I would subscribe to her newsletter since I’m huge fan.  I don’t because I’m too lazy login to my email account.  Every serious cook has someone they look up to.  Jenna happens to be one of them.

I have a list of recipes that I want to try from EatLiveRun and these roasted glazed carrots were on the list.  I wish I would have made this a lot sooner. I have to admit that these carrots were the best thing I’ve eaten so far in  the past couple of weeks.  I know that sounds strange to say that about a vegetable.  But it’s true.

What made these carrots so special was the honey ginger glaze.  I love the glaze so much, that I wanted to drizzle it over some baked or mashed sweet potatoes.  And I sometimes dream about the glaze too.  Weird right?  Well, I’m a foodie after all.  That’s how good it is.  Eating these glazed carrots will make you want to eat your veggies everyday.

Roasted Carrots with Honey Ginger Glaze

Adapted from EatLiveRun

Note:  I used peeled baby carrots because I always have it on hand.  Jenna from EatLiveRun used whole carrots.   Feel free to use what you have on hand.

1 lb carrots, trimmed and washed

1 tbsp olive oil

1/4 cup honey

1 tbsp butter

1/2 tsp ground ginger

pinch of sea salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and line a sheet tray with aluminum foil.

Place carrots on the sheet tray and drizzle over with olive oil. Toss to coat. Place carrots in oven and roast for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

During the last five minutes that the carrots are in the oven, combine the honey, butter and ginger in a small saucepot. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for two minutes.

As soon as carrots come out of the oven, sprinkle with sea salt then pour over honey glaze. Serve immediately.

Spiced Nectarine Upside-Down Cake

My food processor died  last week and  I was disappointed because I was hoping to buy an ice cream maker.  One of my favorite blogger was giving out a free kitchen aid food processor and I was hoping to be the lucky winner. Well I didn’t win.  I really didn’t want to buy one a new one because food processors are expensive.

Why are they still expensive and blenders are cheap to buy?

 It took me years before I purchased my first one.   I ended replacing my food processor instead since it’s something that I use all the time.  It’s only a matter of time before my blender stops working.  Talk about bad timing. Luckily the holidays is coming up soon.

Sorry for rambling.  I can’t help it.

So, I’ve made a upside-down cake for the first time. I wasn’t sure how well the cake would turn out.  I was afraid that I would burn the caramel sauce and the cake would be stuck in the pan.  But carefully following the instructions, it was  a delicious and easy cake to make.  Now I’m ready to tackle a pineapple upside-down cake.

Spiced Nectarine Upside-Down Cake

Adapted from Deblicious 

Author Note:

In the original recipe Deb uses peaches but any stone fruit would work in here.  I left out the brandy and cardamom because I didn’t have it on hand.  If you can’t find have brandy and cardamom, don’t worry about it.

This is a good cake.  It can be enjoyed plain or eaten with whip cream.  I even like cake at room temperature with a cup of coffee for breakfast.

Caramel Sauce:

4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground cardamom
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons brandy
3 firm nectarines, sliced with the skin on

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.

In a medium sauce pan, stir together the butter, brown sugar, salt, cardamom, vanilla and brandy over low heat. Keep stirring until the sugar melts and the mixture starts to bubble and thicken.

Pour the caramel sauce into the cake pan and arrange the sliced nectarines over the caramel.    Set cake pan aside.

Cake Batter:

1/2 cup unsalted  butter
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground cardamom
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup buttermilk

Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Keep the pan over the flame, and continue swishing the butter round until it browns and emits a nutty fragrance. Immediately take the pan off the heat and pour the browned butter into a mixing bowl.

While the browned butter is cooling, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg and salt; set this aside.

Go back to your browned butter, and beat in the sugar and vanilla. Before you add the eggs, make sure the butter is completely cooled because you don’t want your eggs to scramble.  Mix in the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Mix in 1/3 of the flour mixture into the butter mixture, followed by 1/4 cup of the buttermilk. Mix in half of the remaining flour, followed by the rest of the buttermilk. Finally, gently fold in the rest of the flour.

Spread the cake batter over the nectarines and bake for about 30-35 minutes, or until the cake is golden brown and springs back when lightly prodded. Allow the cake to rest in the tin for about 5 minutes before inverting it onto a serving platter. Don’t let the cake cool for more than 5 minutes because the caramel and nectarine will stick to the pan.

Watermelon Rosemary Lemonade Popsicles

I can’t believe we are in September already.  I’m not looking forward to bundling up in sweaters and boots.  I’m trying to hold on to summer as much as possible.  By holding on to summer, I made a batch of watermelon rosemary lemonade popsicle.

During the summer I’m sucker for pucker licking lemonade. When I saw this recipe on Freutcake, I knew I had to give it a try.  I never heard of lemonade with watermelon and rosemary in it.  The idea of watermelon and rosemary in lemonade blew my mind  away because I never seen a creative take on the classic lemonade.

This lemonade is more of a grown up version of the traditional lemonade we had as kids.  The infused rosemary makes this lemonade being far from ordinary.  Rosemary is a strong herb.  So if you’re concern that the lemonade will be overpowered by this herb, no need to worry.  The rosemary is subtle.

I love the popsicles better  in liquid form.  The popsicles were good but tasted differently when they’re  frozen. What I love most about this recipe is that you can make this in  two ways. Double the batch to serve as drinks or make popsicles.  Either way you can’t go wrong.  This will be a regular rotation for next summer.

Watermelon Rosemary Lemonade Popsicles

Adapted from Freutcake 

Makes 10 Standard Sized Popsicles

Ingredients:

The juice from 4 cups of diced watermelon pureed and strained
2/3 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice (about 5 lemons)
1 cup rosemary simple syrup (recipe follows)

Instructions:

Place chopped watermelon in a food processor or blender and process until watermelon is juiced. Strain through a fine mesh sieve, saving the juice and discarding the pulp.

Combine watermelon juice, lemon juice and rosemary syrup in a bowl and stir to combine. Fill popsicle mold with watermelon lemonade.

Freeze for about 2 hours or until mixture starts to solidify enough to hold a popsicle stick upright. Insert popsicle sticks and finish freezing popsicles overnight. To release popsicles run hot water on the outside of popsicle molds for 2-3 seconds.

Rosemary Simple  Syrup:
1/2 cup water
1/2 cups sugar
1 heaping Tbs fresh rosemary leaves

Place sugar, water and rosemary in a pot over heat and stir until sugar dissolves.  Allow mixture to cool to room temp.  Strain liquid and discard rosemary.