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Delicious Red Beans and Rice

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Take a trip to flavor town and make a pot of red beans for dinner tonight!!!

This Year My New Year’s Bean Dish Was Red Beans and Rice!

This year for my New Years’ bean dish, I cooked red beans and rice! I usually go with pinto beans because I love them, or the traditional black-eyed peas. Because I had a two-pound bag of red beans in my pantry, I decided, why not! I mean, beans are beans and I already had a bag of red beans that my sister had given me. I checked out a couple of recipes and found that other than adding a few veggies (celery, onion and green pepper) and using andouille sausage, everything else is the same. Pick through the beans, soak overnight, rinse, and cook. Just like you do all dry beans.

Surprise, Surprise, Surprise!

I was so surprised when I tasted these beans! They were absolutely delicious! First of all, I sauteed the celery, onion and green pepper and added chicken base to the water. I cooked the beans about 3 – 3 1/2 hours until they were perfectly cooked and tender. I sliced and sauteed the andouille and added it to the cooking beans at about the half-way point. In other words, I didn’t start the cooking process with the meat in the pot the way I do when I’m using smoked turkey or hocks. I waited until the beans had cooked about 2 hours before I added the andouille.

A Trip to Flavor Town

Ok, I know that motto belongs to Guy Fieri but we all take trips to flavor town. I personally try to take a trip whenever I can! If you fix red beans and rice, you’ll be packing your utensils for a trip to flavor town too! As I said earlier, they are absolutely delicious! Because I was raised in southwestern Pennsylvania, red beans weren’t available locally in the grocery stores. To get red beans even now, I have to order them online or I might find them at Trader Joes or Whole Foods. If you live in the South, especially in Louisiana, where red beans and rice is as celebrated a dish as gumbo, they can be found everywhere!

I paired the red beans with white rice! Oh course we served this dish with piping hot, buttermilk, biscuits! Yummy for your tummy, for real!

Options

Red beans and rice can be served with an additional meat option like pork, fish or chicken. Don’t forget the hot buttered biscuits with sweet potato butter! Add a tossed salad and enjoy!

Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

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Chicken Noodle Soup

 

 

 

 

Hi… My Name Is Chef Char And I Am A Soupaholic! It’s true – soup is my Achilles heel! I love soup and I love to make soup – year round! I don’t care if it’s 9 degrees or 90, I’ll still eatĀ a bowl of steamingĀ hot soup anytime! I’m sure I loveĀ soup so much becauseĀ I can rememberĀ my Mom’s soup! Mommy was such a fabulous cook! There are many kinds of soup that I love and make but I’ll start with a true classic – homemade chicken noodle soup! It’s soooul good!

Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup
Ingredients
  • 1 – 3lb chicken (whole chicken cut in half or in pieces)
  • 2-4 whole bay leaves (2 if large or 4 if medium/small)
  • 2 c diced or sliced fresh or frozen carrots
  • 2 c diced celery (stocks and leaves)
  • 1/2 c butter
  • 4T chicken base
  • 1T onion powder
  • 2 tsp salt
  • 2 tsp black pepper
  • 2 lb egg noodles (cooked and drained)
Instructions
  1. Cut chicken in half or if you prefer into pieces. Rinse chicken and put into a 6 quart stock pot. Add cold water to cover and put on low flame. Add carrots, celery and onion. Simmer chicken until internal temperature reaches 165. Skim foam off chicken at it cooks. When cooked, remove chicken pieces from broth. Remove skin and bone and cut up chicken into medium sized diced pieces. Return meat back to pot with vegetable and continue to simmer. Add salt, pepper, onion powder and chicken base. Remove bay leaves. Add cooked egg noodles and butter to pot. Turn off heat under pot. Serve with biscuits or crackers.

 

Cream of Tomato Soup

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My sister Sandy loved cream of tomato soup, it was her favorite! I was always partial to broth based soups, chicken noodle, beef vegetable etc. Well, I made a cream of tomato soup using a tip from a friend of mine and it reminded me of why my sisterĀ loved cream of tomatoĀ so much. It was thick and rich with real cream and butter andĀ with a sweetness that only comes from ripe, delicious tomatoes!

Cream of Tomato Soup

 

 

 

 

Cream of Tomato Soup
Ingredients
  • 1 46oz can of V-8 juice
  • 1c heavy whipping cream or evaporated milk
  • 1c half and half
  • 1/2 stick of butter
  • Salt, pepper and sugar to taste
Instructions
  1. Pour V-8 juice into a 3 quart stock pot and put on medium flame. Add salt and pepper. Heat just to a boil and turn down to simmer. Add butter, cream and half and half and stir till heated through. Turn off heat and serve immediately with Texas toast croutons or crackers.

Creamy Ham and Potato Soup

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This creamy ham and potato soup is amazing! It’s so rich and creamy and filled with chunks of tender potato andĀ sweet delicious Sugardale ham (my fav). This soup takes you back home to yourĀ Mother’s kitchen on a cold winter evening, when a bowl of this soup and a hot buttered biscuit was everything you wanted and all that you needed!

Creamy Ham and Potato Soup

 

 

 

 

 

Creamy Ham and Potato Soup
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 3 qts
Ingredients
  • 5 lb bag peeled and cubed/medium sized pieces
  • 1 stock celery minced
  • 2 (46 oz) cans of chicken broth
  • 3 lb of cubed ham
  • 3T onion powder
  • 1T turkey base
  • 1T chicken base
  • 1T ham base
  • 1T bacon base
  • 1/2 c butter
  • 1/2 c flour
Instructions
  1. Add chicken broth to a 6 quart stock pot.
  2. Combine potatoes, ham, celery and seasoning and cook on medium to low heat
  3. When potato pieces are tender, turn pot to low simmer
  4. Combine the butter and flour in a skillet over a medium low flame
  5. Stir constantly, making sure not to burn the roux
  6. Roux should reach the consistency of peanut butter – add more butter or flour if needed
  7. Cook roux over medium low flame, you want to keep your roux a light tan or blond
  8. Add HWC and 1/2 and 1/2 to the roux
  9. Work the mixture until it is smooth of all lumps
  10. Stir mixture into the ham and potato soup to thicken it
  11. Add broth to thin soup or more roux to thicken to desired consistency
  12. Taste and adjust flavoring as needed
Serving size: 8 oz
Notes
For the ham, I used and recommend Sugardale ham. I used left over pieces of Sugardale’s whole, boneless ham. Amazing!