Slow Cook Brown Beans - Easy and Delicious!

By: Miriam Borys 

Yield: for a BBQ party with 16 people
Time:  the slow cooking takes 4 hours if you have the time

1 red onion

3 garlic cloves

1 tbsp. coconut oil

1 tbsp butter

2 tbsp. chili powder

1 tbsp. cumin

1 tbsp. green thai curry powder (or use any curry that you have in the house)
1 tsp. ginger powder
3 dashes cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 cup molasses

1/2 cup ketchup

4 tbsp. BBQ sauce 

2 cans brown beans in tomato sauce (796ml 28 fl. oz.)

1 can black beans (540ml  19 fl.oz.)

2 cans six bean blend (540ml  19 fl.oz.)
1 can kidney beans (540ml  19 fl.oz.)

Get your crock pot or roaster pan ready on the counter top.

Open all the beans and first rinse the black, six bean blend and kidney beans under cold water. Drain well and add to crock pot. 

Add brown beans in tomato sauce (don’t rinse) to the rinsed beans and stir well.

In a small, pre heated sauce pot melt butter and coconut oil.

Dice onion and garlic and add to melted coconut oil and butter. Sauté until just transparent.
Turn heat to low and add chilli powder, cumin and curry to the onions. Continue to Sauté until the spices are well mixed in.

Transfer the onion/spice mixture to the crock pot with the beans.

Add all remaining ingredients to the crock pot including 3 dashes of cayenne pepper (add more if you want it hotter) and approximately 1/2 teaspoon of salt.

Stir well.

Turn crock pot onto high and allow the beans to heat up for 1 hour. Then turn the crock pot to low and allow to simmer away for approx. 4 hours if you have the time. Once during the day stir the beans well, but DO NOT PEAK during the cooking process as you will loose all the heat and the cooking will be delayed.

This is great for a family/friend BBQ dinner. Serve with french bread, BBQ ribs, Red Cabbage Salad (click here to go to this salad) or coleslaw and Carol's sweet pickle potato salad (click here to go to that recipe). 

options: if a crock pot is not available put all the ingredients into a dutch oven or a large casserole dish and bake in the oven at 300° F (150° C) for 2 hours. This will work just as well.

Enjoy!

Chef Miriam Borys, B.Ed., MA.
'Cooking Uncovered' blog: www.cookinguncovered.blogspot.com
http://www.youtube.com/user/mlborys?feature=mhee
Website: www.miriamborys.com

Meal Plan for 16 people:
Slow-Cook Beans
Potato Salad
Coleslaw
Tossed Green Salad
Port Spare Ribs
Pacific Salmon

red onion sauteed with garlic

from top clockwise....curry, chilli powder, cumin

mollasses is a key ingredient for delicious beans

Sneak Preview behind the scenes at KCTS9 Cooks: All Time Favorites

Set your PVR for  Saturday, May 16th, 2015 at noon KCTS9 COOKS: ALL TIME FAVORITES
for some amazing recipes!

KCTS 9 Cooks

All-Time Favorites! #144

Saturday, May 16, 12:00 pm on KCTS 9 HD
Seattle/Yakima

Duration: 3:00:00

Description: KCTS 9 COOKS: ALL-TIME FAVORITES shares recipes that stir your soul! Celebrating the best cooks we know, our Washington and British Columbia viewers! Join hosts Mark Christopher and Chef Bridget Charters of the Hot Stove Society, our talented home cooks and local celebrity chefs for some fun in the kitchen as they prepare their favorite dishes. The companion cookbook contains more than 400 fabulous recipes, from appetizers to luscious desserts, and everything good in between. Available at www.KCTS9.org/cooks.

http://kcts9.org/programs/cooks

the camera is rolling and Chef Bridge is helping me get started 

Marcus Trufant and Terry Hollimon in the house and cooking! Hosts of http://kiroradio.com/barbershop/g

https://www.facebook.com/CookingUncovered

Best breakfast ever at BLVD BISTRO, North Van Proud

Owner, Eric Smith with good friend Ally

How about deliciously prepared Steelhead Lox Benny, Huevos Rancheros, or the best French Toast I have ever tasted.  Meet on the Boulevard for a leisurely, well priced brunch, sip aromatic coffee (with refills) and relax while the delectable aromas from the kitchen entices your palate. The very busy owner and local North Van boy, Eric Smith greets customers with a warm smile and a friendly handshake all the while ensuring your meal is out in a timely fashion and piping hot. Best breakfast ever!

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  Steelhead Lox Benny

  
  

  

  French Toast Flights

  

  custom-made bar stools by http://www.lifespaceprojects.com/projects

  

  Huevos Rancheros

  
  

  

  Steelhead Lox Benny
  
  

  OR S'WICH IT UP!

  
  

  Step 2 doors up the Boulevard to S'WICH CAFE  for an amazing assortment of amazing sandwiches, tasty coffees, and great prices. Check out the S'Wich Board by clicking on this link to view the menu.

  • 
    
  • 644 Queensbury Ave
  • North Vancouver BC
  • V7L 3V6 CAN
  • Google MapUs

  
  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

Easy Fruit Pancakes with Sophia and Uncle Carl

Nothing like good old-fashioned pancakes to start the day.  These traditional pancakes are a perfect recipe for cooks of all ages.
The secret to great pancakes is not over mixing the batter. Remove frozen fruit from the freezer and allow to thaw for 15 minutes. Sophia carefully adds the semi-frozen berries (as you see below) to each pancake as it cooks. Adding the fruit to the pancake batter can work but the frozen berries melt very quickly and can turn the batter red or blue.
I have adapted this time-test recipe (no sugar necessary) borrowed from Joy of Cooking (Rombauer, Irma, 1983) and has been used by our family for many year.

be patient, don't flip more than once

Uncle Carl and Sophia making breakfast

Guess who's the boss?

Yield: 10 pancakes (using a 1/3 cup measure)

Ingredients

1 1/2 cup flour
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking powder
2 eggs
3 tbsp. melted butter
1 1/2 cup milk (room temp. is best)

coconut oil or butter for greasing the skillet

Procedure:
Shift dry ingredients together with a wire mesh strainer in a bowl.
Whisk the eggs, milk and melted butter together in a larger mixing bowl.
Add dry ingredients to the milk mixture and combine (not whipping) until flour disappears but the batter is still lumpy.
Use a 1/3 cup measure to scoop batter out of the mixing bowl onto the greased, pre-heated skillet. This will give you 10 perfect pancakes.
Serve hot with lots of butter and your favorite syrup. Fresh berries and whip cream also make for a more decadent breakfast.

Miriam's Time Saving Cooking Tips♥ 

• Don't over beat the batter or the gluten from the flour will develop and the pancakes will be tough not light and fluffy. A few small lumps in the batter is ok. 
• Always pre-heat the skillet on medium high heat first while you are in the final stages of mixing the liquid into the dry.
• grease with coconut oil or butter. Melt coconut oil on the skillet and take a clean paper towel and remove the excess while greasing the entire pan. Keep this paper towel to re-grease the skillet.
• Avoid heating the pan on high as the pancakes with burn the minute they hit the pan and the middle will be raw. Preheating the pan also allows for the pancakes to cook evenly so the finished product is gold brown on the entire surface (see pic below).
• Be patient while cooking...DO NOT FLIP pancake until the bubbles have formed and they start to pop...you only need to turn a properly cooked pancake once.

pre heating the pan allows the pancake to cook evenly 

Fridge soup anyone? Squash, Leeks & Cauliflower!

Recipe Created By: Miriam Borys

Ingredients:
2 tbsp. coconut oil (any healthy oil will work for this soup but coconut oil has a higher burning point therefore is perfect for sauteing the vegetables)

1 large onion 

1/2 butternut squash (peeled first) I had a 1/2 of a squash ready to be used…perfect for this soup.

1/2 small head cauliflower - core removed  (approx. 2 cups)

3 leeks, small - diced and then cleaned (please click on this link to go to my ‘leek cleaning’ video)

1 tbsp. red curry paste (add more if you want more heat)

1 tbsp. Herbes de Provence1

2 garlic cloves

1 Litre (4 cups) vegetable or chicken soup stock

4 cups water

Salt & pepper to taste

Notes about this soup:

The best part about a ‘fridge soup’ is that when you finally getting around to cleaning out your fridge there is usually so many bits and pieces of leftover vegetables that are either too small or not perfect for using in a fresh salad, but are perfect for soup making. You can use just about all the old vegetables in your soup, but I wouldn’t add cabbage as it will completely dominate the flavor (unless of course you are making Borscht or cabbage soup that is).

Procedure:

Add coconut oil to the pre heated soup pot.

Dice onions and garlic and sauté until transparent…just slightly cooked.

Chop vegetables into large pieces. Don’t worry too much about the size of the vegetables as the soup will be pureed after it is cooked.

Add all rinsed and chopped vegetables to the onions and sauté for 2 minutes until coated with the coconut oil.

Add red curry paste and remaining seasoning and blend in well to the sautéing vegetables.

Add soup stock and water.

Bring soup up to the boil and reduce the heat and simmer for 25 minutes.

Remove form the heat and puree with an immersion blender to remove all the lumps and to make this a creamy, thick soup (without the cream). 

Serve hot and if desired add a dollop of sour cream to each bowl to add to the texture and flavor of this amazing soup.

Enjoy!

1 Herbs de Provence is a robust mixture of herbs made popular in the southeastern region of France. It is often used in the preparation of grilled meats, fish and vegetable stews, and is usually added before or during cooking. http://theherbgardener.blogspot.ca/2008/01/make-your-own-herbes-de-provence.html

Chef Miriam Borys, B.Ed., MA.
'Cooking Uncovered'
http://www.youtube.com/user/mlborys?feature=mhee
blog: www.cookinguncovered.blogspot.com
Website: www.miriamborys.com

   

   

Molasses Drop Cookies

Recipe by:  Joan Forshaw

Presented by: Chef Miriam

Joan graciously shared her delicious cookie recipe with me and then she baked up a batch and brought them over. These cookies are so delicious very easy to make. Joan originally is from Quebec and this recipe is typical of the region that she came from.  Joan and Ralph are good friends and neighbours of my Mom, Eileen from Nanaimo. 

Presented by:  Miriam Borys

1 cup molasses (Fancy Table Molasses)

1 cup w. sugar  (I use 1/2 cup)

1 cup shortening

2 eggs

Add above 4 ingredients into a large mixing bowl.  Beat with electric mixer or by hand until well combined and the shortening is blended in. 

Add:

3 cups white flour

2 tsp. soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 to 2 tsp ground ginger (Joan always uses more ginger)

Mix well.  Dough will be sticky!

Drop a large teaspoon size on a parchment-lined cookie sheet.  Bake for 12-15 minutes at 350 (170C).

The dough is soft and if not baked too long will be a soft, chewy cookie in the middle. Do not over bake or they will be criipy.

Recipe makes about 60 cookies.

A ginger twist: when I made these cookies I added a few small pieces of candied ginger to the top of the raw cookies before they went into the oven....absolutely delicious.

Joan and her husband Ralph

my cookie dough...the problem is the dough tastes delicious on it's own

cookie dough ready to be scooped

add candied ginger pieces to the tops before baking....an amazing twist!