But really, we *LOVE* tex-mex. We eat enchiladas, nachos, tacos, etc all the time at home and I’m always looking for side dishes to serve with mexican food. It tooks months but I finally figured out a good recipe for pinto beans! We love these. Hubby requests them all the time now. These are great served as a side dish or even as a dip with tortilla chips (my personal favorite way to eat them). You can even add 1/4 – 1/2 cup of cheese to make the cheesy gooey which is even better with chips! Or a little sour cream as previously mentioned

p.s. – I hate photographing beans! its so hard! its kinda like pot roast… i’ve been trying to photography my pot roast for two years now. it never looks all that appetizing! but they’re tasty so give them a try! Enjoys!

Non-fat “Refried” Pinto Beans

2 (15 0z) cans pinto beans, drained & rinsed
2 (4 oz) cans Hatch green chiles, diced
1 cup non-fat vegetable or chicken broth
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp white pepper
salt & pepper, to taste

In a skillet over medium heat, add drained beans, green chiles, broth, cumin & white pepper . Heat for 10 minutes until broth has mostly cooked off (you still want a little for good mashed consistency!). Using a masher, mash beans until desired consistency is achieved. Season with salt & pepper as desired. Simmer for 5-10 more minutes. Serve hot.

its time to announce a winner for our blogoversary giveaway. I’m giving away a copy of the Williams-Sonoma Holiday Entertaining cookbook. Its perfect for thanksgiving and Christmas party planning. It has ideas for centerpieces, menus, and its filled with beautiful photos! I used the Random Number generator to pick one of my lucky readers:

So… our lucky winner is Clara of iheartcuppycakes! Clara you should have an email from me, so get me your information and I’ll get your cookbook in the mail! Thanks to all my readers for participating and making my first giveaway a success!

That was a lot of fun but its time to talk food! I am getting SO excited about Thanksgiving! This is our first time to host and I just can’t wait. I’ve been working on a menu and I’ll be trying a few recipes out next week. I absolutely can’t wait! The weather here in Texas hasn’t exactly been that cool lately. Its definitely not summer but its not as cool as you’d hope for November! I hope we get another cold front soon! Despite that, I’ve been fixing lots of great fall favorites like soup!

I’ve been trying to figure out a veggie soup for awhile that hubby and I would both like that was hearty enough to be a meal. Its hard to do since hubby is very muchly a meat and potatoes man and he isn’t really a fan of green veggies so I have some limitations. And I’m not gonna lie, he didn’t love the spinach in this recipe so when I fix it again for just the two of us, I’ll scale it back for him but I quite loved the spinach in this soup! Although I do think zucchini would be a great substitute. Anyway, I plan on making this many more times this winter. Hope you enjoy!

Vegetable Minestrone

2 Tbsp olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 small onion, chopped
2-3 ribs of celery, chopped
3 medium sized carrots, sliced
1 cup corn
4 c vegetable broth
1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes
1 can kidney beans, drained
1 cup baby spinach, chopped
1 medium russet potatoes, diced
1 tsp dried oregano
2 Tbsp dried basil
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
salt and pepper to taste

In a large stock pot, over medium-low heat, heat olive oil and add onions and garlic. Saute until onions are translucent. Add celery and carrots (add corn at this step if using frozen), saute for 2-3 minutes to soften veggies. Add broth, diced tomatoes with juice, drained kidney beans, corn, spinach, potatoes, oregano, basil and crushed red pepper. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to low. Simmer for 30-40 minutes. Season with kosher salt and pepper as desired.

Mustard Vinaigrette Potato Salad

2 pounds small boiling potatoes
2 tsp granulated sugar
2 tsp cider vinegar
1 Tbsp white wine
2 Tbsp coarse-grained deli mustard
1 Tbsp olive oil
kosher salt & pepper, as desired

Cover potatoes with salted water by 2 inches in a large pot. Simmer uncovered, until fork-tender, about 20 minutes. Drain in a colander and cool slightly. While potatoes are simmering, whisk together sugar, cider vinegar, white wine, mustard and olive oil.

When potatoes are just cool enough to handle, cut in half (or quarter if potatoes are larger). Once potatoes have cooled, add dressing, then season with salt and pepper and stir gently with a rubber spatula. Can be made ahead and chilled, covered. Bring to room temperature, then stir and season before serving.

How do you Roast a Red Pepper?

Cut the peppers in half and clean out the seeds and innards. Place them on a baking sheet skin side up. Place the sheet in a 450°F-500°F oven set on broil. The skin will start to blacken and soften in 7-10 minutes. Once the skins are brownish-black, remove from the oven and immediately place in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let sit for 20 minutes or so (or until the peppers have time to cool and “sweat”). Once they have cooled you will be able to peel the skins right off.

Roasted Red Pepper Dip

2 medium red peppers, roasted
3 cloves of garlic, roasted*
1-2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
couple drops red wine vinegar
coarse salt & pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients in food processor/mini prep/blender until combined.

* I prefer using roasted garlic but you can use fresh garlic if you don’t want to take the time to roast the garlic

Our close friends recently made the decision to switch to a vegan lifestyle after struggling with food allergies with their 2.5 year old son. They’re our most frequent dinner guests, so I’ve been doing a lot of research and searching for recipes/meals that our guests will enjoy as well as dearest hubby. For a snack for the superbowl yesterday I decided to make some homemade crackers and roasted red pepper dip. These crackers were AMAZING. They were easy to make and delicious. I’m never buying crackers again (with the exception of goldfish cause you can’t beat goldfish!)

Some flavor combinations I chose: Sea salt, Crushed Black Pepper & Sea Salt, Seasame Seeds, Cajun seasoning & Italian Parmesan. The cajun ones were actually probably my favorite (and hubby’s), followed by the Seasame. It was fun playing with the different flavor combinations and shapes!

Pop over to Heidi’s website for some suggestions regarding flours and some other tips!

Olive Oil Crackers

1 1/2 c semolina flour
1 1/2 c all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1 c warm water
1/3 c extra virgin olive oil

Whisk together the flours and salt. Add the water and olive oil. Using a mixer with a dough hook attachment mix the dough at medium speed for about 5 – 7 minutes. Alternately, feel free to mix and then knead by hand on a floured counter top. The dough should be just a bit tacky – not too dry, not too sticky to work with. If you need to add a bit more water (or flour) do so.

When you are done mixing, shape the dough into a large ball. Now cut into twelve equal-sized pieces. Gently rub each piece with a bit of olive oil, shape into a small ball and place on a plate. Cover with a clean dishtowel or plastic wrap and let rest at room temperature for 30 – 60 minutes.

While the dough is resting, preheat your oven to 450°F degrees. Insert a pizza stone if you have one.

When the dough is done resting, flatten one dough ball. Using a rolling pin or a pasta machine, shape into a flat strip of dough – I can usually get down to the 4 setting on my pasta machine w/o trouble. Pull the dough out a bit thinner by hand (the way you might pull pizza dough). You can also cut the dough into whatever shape you like at this point. Set dough on a floured (or cornmeal dusted) baking sheet, add any extra toppings, and slide into the oven (onto the pizza stone). Repeat the process for the remaining dough balls, baking in small batches. If you don’t have a pizza stone, bake crackers a few at a time on baking sheets.

Source: Heidi Swanson, 101cookbooks.com