Matt and I have an obsession with this black bean and pepper salsa, and we often take it to picnics and parties in the summer. The recipe came from Matt’s Aunt Jane and we ate gobs of it in Iowa last summer.

The original recipe is from Bush’s Black Beans. Here is our version:

Black bean and pepper salsa

Dice:

- 3 peppers (it looks pretty to have 1 green, 1 yellow, 1 red but is often a lot more money for the red and yellow – we just use the equivalent of 3 peppers)
- 1/2 to 1 red onion (we usually use the whole onion)
- 1 clove garlic

Mix the above and the below together in a bowl:

- 1 can corn, drained (we use the sweet, shoepeg kind from Jane’s recommendation and she is from Iowa, so she knows about corn)
- 1 can black beans, drained
- chopped fresh cilantro (the original recipe calls for 1 teaspoon but I usually triple that amount)
- 5 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1 teaspoon lime juice (can also be substituted with lemon juice)
- salt and pepper to taste

Serve with chips (also makes a great quesadilla). There are chips called “scoops” that are just perfect for this salsa.

Enjoy!

I’m taking a break from my Blizzards and Baking posts to share with you a quick idea for your Valentine(s)!

My friend, Madalyn, and I made fun Valentine treats for a few special friends.It’s an easy treat to make and you can do it in a few hours!

We decided on caramel corn because I really wanted to try a recipe I found on Smitten Kitchen. You can find the recipe here, which I tweaked just a little bit. I didn’t like the idea of making it spicy. I like the sweet and salty combination but not spicy.

Making the caramel corn was a simple process, at least on the second try. When making the caramel, you really have to watch the syrup and be sure not to overcook it. The first batch turned an odd orange color and tasted burnt so we had to redo it. Pull it off just before you think you should. That was the perfect amount of time.

When the caramel is ready, you need to pour it on the popcorn very quickly and toss with greased spatulas. It is an easy step that you have to do really quickly.

Dump it on a pan and let it cool – this step is very difficult. The reason it’s so hard is because it’s so yummy! You just want to eat it all right away! It smells like the boardwalk at the beach. It’s pretty much amazing.

But I digress… we packaged these up for our friends and decorated with cute hearts and extra love.

We added some Oatmeal chocolate chip cookies to the packages because it’s not Valentine’s without some chocolate!

We hope they love the treats! I know I did…

For the first night of the first blizzard, we made what I believe is a mandatory meal for snowstorms: Creamy Potato Soup! I used to make th is in high school every time it snowed and it became a tradition that I love to embrace today!

My recipe is fairly simple: cut up a bag of potatoes – I think it was 5lbs. Boil those until tender. In the meantime, wrap up some garlic cloves in foil with some olive oil and roast at 400 degrees until you’re ready for them. Drain most of the water from the tender potatoes and mash them. Add some milk, salt and pepper, and your roasted garlic, chopped fine.

I like to serve it with bacon and cheddar cheese.

To go with the soup we threw together a quick Romaine and Spinach salad with carrots, red peppers, and mandarin oranges. Balsamic and Olive Oil, s&p make a quick and delicious dressing.

To top it all off, I made a few loaves of homemade bread. Comment if you want the recipe! Here is one loaf ready to be popped in the oven:

Fresh out of the oven:

This bread is fantastic dipped in olive oil, s&p. We dipped it in our soup and enjoyed every heavenly bite!

The next night, we sliced the left over, dipped it in more roasted garlic and olive oil, and pan fried it. We served it with spaghetti and it was amazing! I hope to make some more tonight!

Get ready for lots more Blizzard baking to come!

Ok – so we got slammed with about 25″ of snow. And this is totally not normal for where we live! But we were prepared… to make lots of food! I had 2 cake jobs cancel (thankfully!) so I had plenty of time to play in the snow and make lots of treats. So I hope to post on all the fun creations we made. I’ll come back with  more details but until then – you can see picts on flickr (the little box on the left will take you there). Here are just a few highlights:

Be back soon!

This weekend we finally got a day to can all of these tomatoes from the garden! Except, the tomatoes were mostly still green… so we canned mostly tomatoes from the farm stand! But, that’s ok! My mom and friend, Kathleen, came over and we spent most of the day canning. It’s a long process but a fun one!

We started with chopping all of the tomatoes. We put them in a BIG pot and cooked them down until they were soft and very juicy. Then they went through the mill – which is a rustic old tool but amazing. No chewy tomato skins and no peeling! It’s the best of both worlds!

Then back into the pot it went! This time we added all of the veggies! Kathleen spent hours cutting onions, peppers, more tomatoes, and lots and lots of garlic! She smelled nice!

Once it was nice and hot, we put it in the cans, and sealed them in a water boil. They all sealed nicely!

Salsa was similar – we just added cilantro and didn’t do the precooking. Instead we parboiled the tomatoes and peeled them first. We added the chunks of tomato to peppers (including some jalapeno!), garlic, lime juice, and the cilantro. We warmed it just so it was hot enough to go into the cans and canned them.

It was a productive day! We made almost 20 large jars of tomato sauce! We made 3 large jars of salsa and about a dozen pint jars. It should last us a month or so… Thanks Mom and Kathleen!