I’ve been stocking my freezer with bags of edamame, aka shelled soy beans, because they’re good and good for you.  Loaded with dietary fibre, great source of protein, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, calcium, and iron, and all while being almost fat free.  What’s not to love?

However, all I’ve been doing with them is heating them in a pot of boiling water, adding a little salt, and just eating them as is.  Not very inventive or appetizing after a while.

I ask you, what in the world can I make with edamame?  I thought they could be used as an alternative for lima beans, but the texture isn’t the same.  I had a little success mixing them with diced tomatoes just to give them a bit more flavor.  I hate to get too tired of eating them because of the health benefits.

Has anyone tried adding them to soups or stews?  What about a wild rice side-dish?  I look forward to hearing from you!

I seem to be stuck on a theme here… has anyone noticed?  Sauerkraut last week and now Kielbasa.  I grew up with many meals designed around these two items so must be feeling nostalgic.  Or, maybe it’s just that these two foods are quite inexpensive and are fitting into my grocery budget more and more these days.

The obvious use for Kielbasa is the good old fashioned skillet meal which, once again, includes sauerkraut and potatoes.  This frugal meal is an all time favorite in my house.  I like to brown up the Kielbasa a little in my favorite heavy cast iron skillet, take it out and set aside, add the potatoes and sauerkraut, and just stir the vegetables up a little in the skillet.  That gives the vegetables a chance to soak up some of the good bits left in the skillet from the meat.  Then, I put the Kielbasa back in the skillet, cover it with foil, poke a few holes in the top, and simmer until the potatoes are done.

Does anyone have a recipe that has been your family’s favorite for as long as you can remember?  Have you created any new recipes for Kielbasa dishes… recipes that might surprise us?  Feel free to share your cooking successes, and failures if you wish.  I’d love to hear from you!

My husband has simple tastes.  He loves food, but likes to keep his meals uncomplicated.  Breakfast should include fried eggs with a nice pork sausage pattie alongside.  A few skillet potatoes are a nice addition, but he’s happy with just those two items if that’s all we have.  So, needless to say, I often have an abundance of pork sausage in my refrigerator and would like to use it for something other than patties for breakfast.

We typically have every kind of pork sausage you can buy, from mild prepared pork sausage, to the super-spicy and hot stuff.  The spicy variety, I find, is excellent for quick spaghetti sauce or other meat-based “feel good” casseroles.  The mild pork sausage is good for casseroles where a moderate taste is needed to let the flavor of the other ingredients, like wild rice for instance, come through.

In case you would like to try my quick meat sauce using pork sausage, this is my method (can’t call it a recipe… it’s too easy)!

In a large skillet, put pork sausage in and break it up.  Add a small diced onion and a small diced green pepper to the skillet with just a touch of olive oil.  Cook everything together slowly until the meat is no longer pink and the onions and green pepper are soft. Pour in a can of diced tomatoes and a can of tomato paste.  Sprinkle in some dried basil and oregano until it tastes like spaghetti sauce.  Simmer everything for at least 15 minutes or until the flavors blend.  Taste and add salt and pepper if you like.  See?  Really easy.

Since I always have pork sausage of some kind on hand, it’s a good go-to food for me, so it would be great to have an abundance of recipes to choose from.  If you have a delicious recipe or two for pork sausage dishes, I’d love to hear from you!

When I was growing up, sauerkraut made an appearance at our family’s table at least once a week.  My Mom made a couple standard sauerkraut dishes, which included the classic skillet meal of pork chops, potatoes, and sauerkraut.  She included a generous sprinkling of caraway seeds on top to, how shall I say, lessen the affects of the sauerkraut on the digestive system.

I continue the tradition to this day and often serve sauerkraut meals to my family.  Maybe not once a week, but routinely.  My problem is that I am running out of ideas for new recipes.  Don’t get me wrong; I love the traditional skillet meal that I grew up with, but also would like to enjoy sauerkraut in other dishes.

Does anyone have a nice side dish, main dish casserole, or an unusual but tasty sauerkraut dish they would like to share?  I’d love to hear from you!

Here’s something you don’t see very much of anymore – ground ham.  I remember it from when I was a kid, mostly used for what we always just called “Picnic Sandwiches”.  Mixed with mayonnaise and cut up pickles, this was our sandwich of choice whenever we went on family picnics.  Therefore, the name Picnic Sandwich.

I don’t, however, remember any other dish made with ground ham.  I would assume you could make a ground ham meat loaf, or ground ham patties, but haven’t a clue where to begin.  Would the texture be too grainy for most dishes where we are used to ground beef?  I suppose you’d have to watch out for the salt that you add since ham is already quite salty.

This one has me stumped and I wouldn’t even be asking except I happened to see ground ham in the butcher case and it got me remembering and thinking.  How about you?  Are you curious about what you can make with ground ham?  I’d sure like to hear from someone who has the answer!

If you live anywhere in the South, you are familiar with black eyed peas.  Not a pea, of course, but a legume, the black eyed pea has deep roots in Southern cooking tradition. 

Probably the most well know dish with black eyed peas is Hoppin’ John. This is a pretty simple dish to make but is so warm and comforting.  Of course, you can tweak the recipe to suit your own taste, but a basic recipe would be this general method as follows:

Rinse and soak about a cup of black eyed peas in cold water over-night .  The next day, take a nice, meaty ham bone, put it in a big soup pot and cover it with cold water.  Bring it to a boil, turn it down and let that ham bone simmer for a couple hours.  Then, pour in your black eyed peas and let them cook slowly until they are just about tender.  Meanwhile, cook about one cup of good, long grain rice.  Take the ham bone out of the pot and trim any of the good ham off the bone.  Add the meat back to the pot and mix in the rice when it’s done. 

This is an easy recipe to play around with.  I also like to add some onion.  Don’t forget to salt and pepper, too.

So, here’s my dilemma.  I’m tired of my plain ol’ Hoppin’ John.  Does anybody have some ideas to jazz it up?  Or, even better, does anyone have some suggestions what I can make with black eyed peas OTHER than Hoppin’ John?  I’m looking forward to your input!

If you’ve got kids, you’ve got apple juice in the house.  Have you ever tried to use it in your cooking?  Because it’s so handy, I thought it would be a good “pantry” item to create dishes around.

I have seen quite a few recipes that use apple juice as a marinade for chicken and seafood, normally in Asian-inspired dishes.  Combining apple juice with ginger and soy is a pretty basic blend that packs quite a bit of flavor. 

How about using apple juice in stir fry dishes?  Again, with soy included, I would imagine that a stir fry would really benefit from the impact of apple juice; perhaps replacing all or some of the chicken broth when creating a cornstarch thickened sauce.

Apple juice could also be used as the sweet part of any sweet and sour dish.  Even Szechwan Beef or Chicken wouldn’t hide or minimize the distinctive flavor and sweetness of apple juice.

You see I’m a little stuck on the Asian inspired dishes that would benefit from a splash of apple juice.  Are there any other uses for apple juice?  How about baking?  Have you ever used apple juice to replace other liquids in bread or muffin recipes?  I’d love to hear from you!

I don’t normally stock up on cashews since they are rather expensive, but my husband loves them so we have a couple cans sitting in the cupboard.  I’d really like to surprise him with a fabulous dish highlighting the cashews, but can’t think of anything new.

One of my favorite ways to use cashews is in a chicken salad that I like to make.  I’ll give you a rough idea of how to make it, but I normally make this without any recipe.  So, here’s my best attempt at describing my “Sweet and Tangy Chicken Salad”.

Sweet and Tangy Chicken Salad

Mix together in a big bowl:
chopped up cooked chicken meat (white or dark is fine)
chopped green onion
chopped red bell pepper
chopped celery
sweet green or purple grapes, cut in half lengthwise
cashews

Make a dressing by whisking together:
some balsamic vinaigrette
a little yellow mustard
a little drizzle of honey
drizzle of olive oil until desired texture
salt and pepper to taste

Pour dressing over chicken mixture until it’s nice and flavorful and moist.  Then scoop little piles on top of whole romaine lettuce leaves.  Great combination of sweet and tangy flavors, and the crunch of the cashews is splendid!

Yes, I could probably be very happy to just keep making that salad, but I sure would like to try something a bit different.  Have you used cashews in any unexpected ways in some of your recipes?

Guess who lost track of a big bag of onions in her pantry?  You’ve got it… yours truly.  They have just the first signs of sprouting so it’s not a total loss, but now I’ve got to use them immediately.  So, what do you suppose I should do?

The easiest thing that comes to mind is make some French Onion Soup.  I’ve only made this a couple times in my married life as my husband doesn’t seem to rally around meatless meals. 

The quick and easy method I use for French Onion Soup is this:

Peel onions and cut into circles.  Throw in a big pot with some oil and a little butter and saute until transparent.  Then add some canned beef broth until it looks like you’d expect French Onion Soup to look like.  Pretty simple.  Then to serve, lay a toasted piece of hearty bread with mozzarela or parmesan cheese on top. 

You see why I’m looking for help.  Not very imaginative.  It’s okay, but how would you make onion soup or any other onion dish that’s really spectacular instead of just edible?

Almost a month after the Holidays, and I’m still staring at a pantry full of food. The strangest item I have stockpiled is Triscuit crackers.  I must have really had a hankerin’ for ‘em!  I’m finding it difficult to coax my family into snacking on even one more plate of cheese and crackers .

Triscuits are a bit different than other crackers.  They sort of remind me of Shredded Wheat cereal, only really, really salty and crunchy.  Yes, they are tasty, but what can I do with three boxes?

I had a couple thoughts that I’d like to throw out there.  Has anyone ever used Triscuits for a coating for pan fried fish?   How about coating chicken pieces and putting them on a baking sheet in the oven?  Do you think the Triscuits would be tasty?  How would you get them to stay on?  An egg dip?  Or how about a crunchy top for a casserole, perhaps a tuna casserole. 

I sure would appreciate any recipe ideas you’ve either tried or can imagine trying.  My Triscuits aren’t going anywhere until I hear from you!