Mexican Black Beans with Carrots

Soups are the staple to any low budget meal. Currently, soups are the staples to any pandemic meals. With a wide variety of legumes and rice on had, a Black Bean Soup with a side of Spanish Rice was attempted.

Modifications Made:
Lime juice replaced red wine vinegar, hot sauce was omitted, stock was two cups chicken broth and two cups pollo do tomate.

Scaled for Likeness: Good
Way back in college, in my last semester of Senior year I had a class taught by the Dean of my field who was known for her very challenging yet stimulating class. On the day before the final, a pop quiz was given. The quiz will forever stand out in my memory. It went something along the lines of this:

Name:
Date:
Instructions: blah, blah, blah, blah, read all the questions before starting the quiz, blah blah, blah.

The number of questions nor the content mattered. What mattered was reading the instructions. As in READING the instructions. Cause had I, like so many other students, had read the instructions the quiz would have been over before it started. The last question on the last page all by itself said to read all the questions, circle A for the answer, and an A will be received for the grade. If the student had not read all the questions first and had answered them as they went, they received the grade they earned. Luckily for me, I earned an A but I did not follow the instructions and had to endure the stress of not getting an A. Lessons learned.

And while I think of that lesson often, I still make the same mistake often. Just like in this recipe. It very clearly states "six cups of cooked black beans". Had I followed the instructions and made the beans first and then cooked accordingly with the new ingredients, the recipe would have been great. Instead, all the ingredients were cooked at the same time the dried black beans were cooked resulting in a soggy carrots and completely cooked down petitie diced tomatoes. My final result was a thick mess only saved by the addition of rice, salsa, and chips. Soup this was not, even if it was tasty.

Better Than Campbell's Old Fashion Vegetable Soup

Went to the store with the hopes of gathering fresh produce for soup. With more than 45 people in line for two packages of any meat product and the produce section containing only avocado, orange, and most randomly, strawberries, I settled upon canned soup. Well not canned soup since that section was still void of food, too. Instead soup made from canned goods as the canned vegetable section had been mostly restocked. Soups like this 15 Minute Vegetable Soup are ideal in dire food situations such as current times. Modifications Made: Plain petite diced tomatoes omitted, frozen carrots instead of canned, green beans and corn undrained, peas omitted (gross, nasty little pods), one cup celery, three cups diced potatoes, one can tomato sauce, two beef and two pollo de tomate bouillon cubes, six cups water. Once onions were softened, carrots/celery/potatoes/juice of green beans and corn, sauce, bouillon cubes, water were added and allowed to simmer until carrots almost tender. Green be

Papas a La Mexicana (Ranchera)

It is a crying shame that there are six hens and not a egg in sight. What am I supposed to do with homemade ranchero sauce? Thankfully with a few quick searches of the internet a recipe from my hometown newspaper was discovered: Papas Ranchera . Not once in the thirty years I lived in my hometown did I ever eat at a local food joint serving papas rancheras. No time like the present to remedy this cultural dish. Because this recipe is hidden behind a paywall (grrr...) I have included it here for you: Servings: 4-6 Ingredients: 1 pound potatoes, diced 1/4 cup vegetable oil 1/2 large onion 1 1/2 medium tomatoes 3 jalapenos 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 cup juice from canned tomatoes Instructions: Fry potatoes in vegetable oil until lightly browned (about 4-6 minutes). Saute onions, tomatoes, jalapenos until soft. Add garlic powder and salt. Add tomato juice until vegetables are covered (may need to add water). Bring to a boil and then add potatoes. Cover and reduc

Sour Cream & Chive Scalloped Potatoes

Can't believe the Month of the Potato is over. There are so many more potato recipes saved. Guess I will have to work them into another month. Last week's scalloped potatoes were one of the best new recipes during the month of potatoes. With today being the last day in the Month of Potatoes, I decided to go out with a bang by cooking another batch of scalloped potatoes but this time sour cream and chive. The Best Scalloped Potatoes , or so they said. Modifications Made: Recipe was reduced by half. Mayo was omitted and one entire package of chives were chopped and added to sauce before pouring onto layers. Scaled for Likability: Good Betty Crocker Sour Cream and Chive Box Scalloped Potatoes were the standard for this recipe. These were a family favorite for years but have long since been discounted. Bummer. Trying to replicate this seemed easy enough. Alas, it was not. These had a nice texture but were too oily from the cheese and did not contain enough onion, garlic,

Eating Waffles

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