Oh, what a week. We had our heating and cooling company come on Monday to do our annual winter furnace tune up. That all went fine and well until Monday night, when we realized our furnace had stopped working. Assuming it was an easy fix, we called the heating and cooling company and they came back out on Tuesday. Still not working. They replaced our furnace on Wednesday because our furnace was 13 years old. So, $3300 later and a new furnace and guess what…still not working. It’s now Friday and they have been out every day this week for hours and hours trying to figure out what’s going on. Meanwhile, the temps have been in the 20’s, and you know how I feel about cold… I am NOT a fan. …

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Do you ever think about what your last meal request would be? I’ve eaten some incredible food in my lifetime, but I think for my very last meal I’d go with anything I can get at Chipotle. I especially love their Chicken Burrito Bowls, with black beans and rice, lettuce, cheese and sour cream. I think if I had a Chipotle burrito bowl before I died, I’d die happy!

We don’t have a Chipotle too close to us, but that doesn’t stop me from attempting to make food like theirs at home. In case Chipotle isn’t accessible when it’s time for my last meal, someone around me needs to know how to make my favorite food!…

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And no, I don’t mean the NFL. In this house, we’re all about College Football! College football season starts this weekend and I’ve got a few excited guys here, ready to hunker down and spend the day cheering on their favorite college football teams. (Go K-State!)

While my boys were immersed in football, I thought I’d play a dirty but delicious trick on them. I told them we’d be eating burgers at half time and to be ready because they were so good! Instead of bringing down the burgers they were used to, I switched things up and made Black Bean Veggie Burgers using Bush’s Black Beans. …

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Black Bean, Corn and Cheese Quesadillas make an easy and tasty weeknight, meatless meal!

You know what I hate? Food that tastes so very good but is ugly as heck to photograph.

Hate might be a strong word, so I’ll change that to really dislike. When I make a recipe that is a quick weeknight meal that my entire family loves, but my pictures turn out looking like something less than delicious, I get annoyed. I’m afraid you’ll take one look at the pictures and say “Nope… that food is ugly! I don’t want to make that, pin that, share that, etc.”

This one time, don’t judge a recipe by its picture! Honestly, Bush’s black and refried black beans and corn with salsa and gooey, melted cheese smashed between two tortillas isn’t pretty. I’ll admit that. But friends, this recipe was beyond easy, plus really quick to put together and it tasted really good. I’d hate for you to miss out! …

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I am just posting my Soup-A-Palooza soup recipe over here so that the actual giveaway post isn’t super long. As I said on that post, this is a delicious, hearty, full of flavor soup that is sure to warm you up when it is cold outside. I simply made a couple of adaptations from the original recipe on Tabasco.com and I loved the result!

Remember to enter your soup in our Soup-A-Palooza roundup. There are some great prizes available and you can be entered simply by sharing 1 or 2 of your favorite soup recipes with us!

Print

Roasted Corn and Black Bean Soup

Roasted Corn and Black Bean Soup Recipe (adapted from Tabasco.com)

Author Dine & Dish

Ingredients

• 2 15.25 ounce cans of whole kernel sweet corn drained
• 2 15 ounce cans of Bush's Black Beans drained
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 small yellow red or green bell pepper, seeded and diced
• 1 small onion diced
• 1 small carrot diced
• 2 cloves garlic minced
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 2 13 3/4 - ounce cans chicken broth
• 2 tablespoons TABASCO® Original Red
• 1/2 cup half-and-half
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Instructions

• Cook corn in a large, cast iron skillet over high heat 5 minutes or until brown in spots, stirring occasionally. Remove corn to bowl.
• Heat oil in same skillet over medium heat. Add bell pepper, onion, carrot, and garlic; cook 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in chili powder; cook 1 minute. Stir in chicken broth, TABASCO® Original Red, black beans and corn. Heat to boiling over high heat. Reduce heat to low; cover and simmer 15 minutes. Stir in half-and-half and salt; heat through.

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This giveaway is now closed. Random.org chose Richard (rtrblade@……). Congrats to Richard! Thanks to everyone for entering.

Sometimes I just want to pinch myself when I think about the opportunities that have been given to me simply by starting this blog four years ago. At the end of October I had the opportunity to travel to Napa Valley, CA with the most wonderful group of bloggers, chefs and Bush’s Beans folks. We stayed at the beautiful Meadowood Lodge, enjoyed meals at the delicious Farmstead Restaurant and the amazing Wine Spectator Greystone Restaurant. We were wined and dined and treated wonderfully, but would you believe that the most amazing part of the experience was when we were put to work?

I’ve never been that jealous of people when they said they had the chance to cook at The Culinary Institute of America. Now I know that was because I had no idea what it really meant to cook at the CIA. Imagine a full kitchen, stocked with every possible pan, bowl, utensil you want and only the most state of the art equipment. Now, imagine that the kitchen is stocked with the freshest of ingredients right at your fingertips. Finally, picture being in this kitchen with some of the most well trained, talented chefs in America. Sounds a little like foodie heaven, doesn’t it? I can attest, it is. Cooking at the CIA was an experience of a lifetime and one that I would have never have had the chance to experience if it wasn’t for my blog and the people at Bush’s Beans.

As a part of our Culinary Experience we were given the chance to cook with and get to know some pretty cool chefs, all who had different styles and techniques but were all just as amazing.

• Chef Andy Wild – Chef Andy allowed us to cook in his kitchen at the CIA, gave us amazing instruction and tips and was beyond generous with his space and knowledge. He is a busy, busy, busy man with a family and numerous chef related jobs outside of his job at the CIA.
• Connie Guttersen – Connie is one of those warm, welcoming people who you feel you could sit down and have coffee with and chat for hours. Make sure to check out her book The Sonoma Diet, where she shares her philosophy that food can be healthy and taste great!
• Chef Jeffrey Saad – Many of you may know Jeffrey from Season 5 of The Next Food Network Star. I think the best way to describe Jeffrey is passionate. He has a passion for food and cooking that is truly inspiring. Make sure to check out Jeffrey’s newest show, The United Tastes of America, which premiers on The Cooking Channel November 16th. (Oh – and his wife Nadia is one of the sweetest and supportive wives ever!)
• Chef Michael Schulson – Michael is the executive chef and owner of the restaurants Izakaya and Sampan. Aside from being an amazing chef, I would say one of Michael’s strengths is efficiency in the kitchen. He shared several tips on ways to make life more streamlined in our own home kitchens.
• Chef Daisy Martinez – A force to be reckoned with in the kitchen, Daisy is the mom of 4 kids, has a successful television show and has a new cookbook coming out, Daisy Morning, Noon and Night! With a specialty in Latin Cooking, Daisy taught us all the importance of spice and layers of flavor when cooking.

Although I would have loved to stay in Napa longer, I couldn’t wait to get home to cook in my own kitchen. I was inspired to use the tips, tricks and techniques we learned about at the CIA in my own kitchen. It was part of that inspiration that I used to adapt this recipe for Creamy Black Bean Soup from Southern Living. This was one of the most delicious black bean soup recipes I’ve ever tasted. I hope you’ll give it a try!

And, to cook up some Bush’s Beans inspiration in your own kitchen, my friends at Bush’s Beans are offering you a great prize pack which will include:
· Bush’s Beans items: apron, coupons, bean strainer and mints, recipe bookmark
· Spices/ingredients:: Tahini paste, cumin, smoked paprika
· Culinary Institute of America/Napa items: Spoon rest, dish towel, Olive Press citrus olive oil

To enter, all you need to do is leave a comment on this post with a link to your favorite Bean recipe! That’s it. Easy peasy. All entries must be turned in by midnight on Sunday, November 14th.

To read about the Bush’s Beans Culinary adventure with other food blogging friends, click on over to these blogs: Aggie’s Kitchen, In Mommy’s Kitchen, She Wears Many Hats, The Reluctant Entertainer, Good Life Eats, Tidy Mom, Real Mom Kitchen

Recipe: Creamy Black Bean and Bacon Soup adapted from Southern Living Magazine

Yield: 6 cups

• 5 slices cottage style bacon
• 1 cup medium onion, diced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 32oz box Swanson’s chicken broth
• 4 (15-oz.) cans BUSH’S Black Beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 (14.5-oz.) can diced tomatoes with zesty mild green chiles, undrained
• 1/2 teaspoons chili powder
• 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro
• 1 tablespoon lime juice
• 2 cups sweet corn
• 2 cups heavy whipping cream

• Cook bacon in a large Dutch oven until crisp. Remove bacon, cut into bite size pieces and set aside.
• Sauté onion and garlic in bacon grease oven over medium-high heat 4 to 6 minutes or until tender. Stir in broth and next 4 ingredients, stirring to loosen particles from bottom of Dutch oven; cover and bring to a boil. Uncover, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer, stirring occasionally, 8 minutes. Remove from heat; stir in cilantro and lime juice. Let cool 5 minutes.
• Process 1/2 of the batch of soup in a large food processor until smooth. Return to the Dutch oven, and stir in corn and bacon pieces. Simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occassionaly. Add the 2 cups of heavy whipping cream and heat through, approximately 5 minutes (but do not boil). Remove from heat and serve.

 
Disclaimer: Bush’s Beans provided food, travel, and lodging expenses for my trip to Napa as well as an overall amazing experience. They are also providing the prize pack giveaway for the readers of Dine & Dish. The opinions expressed in this post are my own.

CIA cooking photos courtesy of professional photographer, Faith Ectermeyer.

Disclosure: This blog post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

The post A Culinary Experience and Bush’s Beans Giveaway (Recipe: Creamy Black Bean & Bacon Soup) appeared first on Dine and Dish.

Fast forward 6 hours later and I was at the ballpark watching my 6 year old play ball. My 3 year old climbs up onto the bleachers, loses her balance and lands in a huge puddle of spilled nacho cheese sauce. With nacho cheese sauce from head to toe, she was absolutely filthy. I dig in my purse, knowing that since I am now “Mrs. Has It Together”, I would have something to remedy this situation. I pull out my wipes container, open it up and it is empty. Empty! “Mrs Has It Together” would never leave the house with an empty wipes container. Kicked down on the togetherness pole several notches, I had to sheepishly look around and ask some other moms if I could have some wipes to clean up my cheese covered child. So much for that little pipe dream I had about being the mom who has it all together.

One little secret weapon I have in my life that makes me feel like I can inch up on the togetherness ladder a bit each day is black beans. They are healthy, delicious and so versatile. If there is one thing I keep in my pantry in abundance, it is cans of black beans. Why do they make me feel like I have it together? Because… you can heat up a can of black beans, sprinkle some cheese on it and call it a side dish. Mix black beans, corn, taco meat and cheese and put over tortilla chips – you’ve got nachos. Mash ’em up some, mix with cream cheese, some chili seasoning and cheese and you’ve got a dip. Black beans are so easy and versatile. The one problem with black beans is, they don’t ever seem to last around here long enough to make it into an actual recipe. They are my go to food when I need to feed people in a pinch. Black beans are what allow me one step closer to that esteemed title of “Mrs. Has it Together” and for that, I bow to the bean, forever grateful. We all know, I need all the help I can get.

Turkey Black Bean Burgers (from Simple & Delicious Magazine)

• 3/4 cup canned black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 egg white
• 1/2 cup shredded zucchini
• 1/2 cup finely chopped sweet red pepper
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 pound ground turkey
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 4 hamburger buns, split
• 1 small onion, sliced
• 4 romaine leaves

In a small bowl coarsely mash beans. Add the egg white, zucchini, red pepper, chili powder, onion powder, pepper and salt. Crumble turkey over mixture and mix well. Shape into four patties.
In a large skillet, cook burgers in oil over medium heat for 4-5 minutes on each side or until a meat thermometer reads 165° and juices run clear. Serve on buns with onion and lettuce. Yield: 4 servings.

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