Rainy Days

What's better on a rainy day than toasty bread and warm soup? Last night, after dinner was on it's way to being done, I decided to start a loaf of Jalapeno Cheddar Bread and a batch of Black Bean and Roasted Red Pepper Soup.

I looked back through my posts and couldn't find anyplace that I had given you the link to my very favorite bread recipe. We've made this Jalapeno Cheddar Bread in the bread machine a bunch of times, but this time it was definitely the best. The peppers I added were ones that we had dehydrated a few weeks ago. Some bites of the bread were pretty spicy - and delicious!

Look at the big hunks of pepper!!

When I made the Cuban Chicken the other night, I had prepared an entire pound of black beans. I didn't even use half of the beans, so I needed to find other things to do with it. I used some today for lunch, in my turkey wrap. Some more went into this Black Bean and Roasted Red Pepper Soup. I changed the recipe a little. I only used 1.5 red peppers and used 2 jalapenos instead of the pobalanos, and I roasted them on the grill. I used the vegetable stock to make a totally vegan soup (until I dropped sour cream in my bowl!)

We topped our soup with some sour cream, avacado, and tomatoes.


This was the first time we bought this large avacado. We stopped at Walmart to pick some up and while we were discussing the difference between the large lighter colored avacado and the small tough skinned darker ones, another shopper was nice enough to tell us the difference and which was better to use in certain recipes. Score one for Walmart shoppers - though that won't convince me to start shopping there again!!


Soup in the pan:

Soup in the bowl, with a side of toasty, buttery bread:


So good!! Even though it was rainy out, which would usually be perfect for the spicy, filling food - we decided to cut back on using the air conditioning, so it was a little warmer in the house than I would have liked for this food. It was still delicious, though!!!

Going to do some reading - time to start Harry Potter 3!!

Good night!

Blueberries

One of my favorite summer superfoods is the blueberry. We've been eating quite a few of these this week, since our trip to Indigo Farms last weekend. This farm is known locally for it's blueberry fields, and there are days that you can go pick your own. We haven't done that yet, but it would be a fun adventure! They also have a produce market, with some great prices, and what seemed to be a flower market, though we didn't go to that side of it.

Before I go on, let me point out that I have NO education in nutrition, other than what my nutritionist has taught me and what I've learned myself online. We all know you can't believe everything you read on the internet, but I believe the links I'm going to post here are reliable. Just remember - I'm no expert!

On WebMD, I found an article regarding Superfoods that was the basis for the list I previously posted. This is what they say about blueberries:

Blueberries -- Antioxidant Superfood

Packed with antioxidants and phytoflavinoids, these berries are also high in potassium and vitamin C, making them the top choice of doctors and nutritionists. Not only can they lower your risk of heart disease and cancer, they are also anti-inflammatory.

I'm not sure what a phytoflavinoid is, and couldn't seem to find a good definition online anywhere. So I kept looking for more articles on blueberries that had words that meant something to me. I found a great article here. It sets out all the health benefits of blueberries, their nutritional information and even a history of blueberries. I found it interesting that they weren't marketed as a food until 1916! This site also has a link to some recipes, though I haven't checked them out yet.

Here's a recipe I featured earlier in my blog, but only with a link:

















Banana Blueberry Bread
Ingredients
1 3/4 cups flour, all-purpose sifted
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1/3 cup Butter
2/3 cup Sugar
2 large Eggs
1 cup Bananas mashed
1 cup Blueberries


Directions
60 minutes Prep: 10 minutes Cook: 50 minutes
Sift together flour, baking powder, soda, and salt. Set aside.
Cream butter and gradually beat in sugar until light and fluffy.
Beat in eggs one at a time. Add flour mixture and banana alternately in three parts. Gently stir in blueberries.
Turn into oiled 9 x 5-inch loaf pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes. Turn out of pan to cool.
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And finally, though it actually has nothing to do with food, here's a video preview of a new book by one of my favorite authors.

Blueberry Girl, by Neil Gaiman