In My Kitchen...

To celebrate the end of my 5-day working week and return to being a stay-at-home mom (80% of the time) I spent most of my day in the kitchen.  You can easily tell this by

1. The amount of bowls and pans in my sink

2. bythe fact that I ran my dishwasher 3 times and

3. By taking in the state of things in the rest of the house- but that can be dealt with tomorrow.

Today, I baked and mixed and simmered and at the end of it all, I made three delicious things.

First I made Lemon Puppy Chow.  Yes, it was as good as it sounds.  I can't stop eating it!  I had to give some away to my neighbors just to save myself!

Next I made Honey Oatmeal Bread from the recipe section of my Kitchen Aid Mixer Owner's Manual.

For supper, I tried a new recipe for Black Bean Soup, adapted from Gourmet Today by Ruth Reichl.

Mexican Black Bean Soup
1 pound dried black beans, rinsed
3 quarts water
1 3-inch sprig of cilantro
Salt
1-15 ounce can of tomatoes (I used fire-roasted)
1 clove garlic
1 large onion, chopped
1 Tbsp bacon grease
1 tsp aleppo chile pepper flakes (or another kind of chile peppers).  Aleppo peppers are not very hot, so if you are using a hot pepper, use far less.
Vegetable oil for frying
6 corn tortillas, cut into 1/2-inch wide strips

Combine beans, water, cilantro and 1 tsp salt in a 6 to 8 quart heavy pot and bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer, covered, until beans are tender, 2 hours.  Remove from heat.
Puree tomatoes with garlic and 1/2 cup chopped onion in a blender. 
Heat 1 Tbsp bacon grease (or olive oil) in a 10-inch skillet over moderate heat.  Add tomato puree and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes. 
Drain beans, reserving cooking liquid, and add beans to skillet. Cook over moderate heat, stirring frequently, for 5 minutes.
Puree bean mixture with reserved cooking liquid in batches in blender, then return to pot.  Bring to a simmer, stir in tomato sauce and 1 tsp salt, an simmer, stirring occasionally, for 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, heat vegetable oil in a 12-inch skillet.  Add tortilla strips, in batches, in a single layer, and fry, stirring occasionally, until crisp and golden, 2-3 minuts per batch.  Transfer to paper towels to drain.
Season soup with salt.  Garnish with tortilla strips, sour cream, green onion, bacon, cheese and hot pepper sauce.