Holiday Gifts From Your (CD)Kitchen
A friend of mine says that the best holiday gifts she receives are those that can be worn or eaten. And preferably the latter. At 84, she claims she has enough knickknacks to dust; but she and her husband have to eat three times day, so bring on the chow. Real chow. While she is happy to get cookies, cakes, and candies, there is nothing like a good meal to make her holiday merry and bright.
She has a good point. Some of the best holiday gifts I have ever received were food gifts such as homemade soups, stews, meatloaves, and chilis which were already frozen and packaged for the freezer. Not only did these give me the gift of a delicious homemade meal; they gave me the gift of time. How nice it was to reach into the freezer weeks after Christmas and pull out a package of soup or a meatloaf for supper that evening.
So this year, consider giving your friends gifts using your culinary talents. These items could not be more convenient to make since you can prepare them in the course of fixing your usual meals. In December most of us usually make soups, chilis, stews, and meatloaves. Simply double the recipe and package the extra helpings in a freezer-safe container. Before you know it, you’ll have several gift meals in your freezer. Be sure to follow safe food practices when freezing these goodies. For complete information on safely freezing your food items visit http://www.fsis.usda.gov/Fact_Sheets/Focus_On_Freezing/index.asp.
Around mid-month, deliver the frozen gifts to your friends. I guarantee that they will be delighted. And I would not be a bit surprised to find that the meal is used within the week it was delivered! Most of us find ourselves with a longer than usual “to do” list in December and the gift of time, along with a homemade meal, will be greatly appreciated.
If you need some creative ideas for soups, stews, chilis, and meatloaves, the CDKitchen site is full of them.
This year I am going to make Black Bean Soup for some of my friends. I’ll package it with a few jars of salsa, blue corn chips, and a bag of grated Mexican cheese. All they’ll have to do is get out the sour cream, quarter a few limes, chop up some fresh cilantro, and “dinner is served” leaving them more time for relaxing and enjoying the holiday season.
Made with sour cream, yellow onion, black beans, olive oil, cumin, kosher salt, cayenne pepper, chicken broth, salsa
Serves/Makes: 4
- 1 large yellow onion
- 2 cans (16 ounce size) black beans
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/8 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
- 2 cups low sodium canned chicken broth
- 1 cup chunky salsa, drained well
***Garnishes***
- 4 tablespoons sour cream
- 4 tablespoons finely chopped fresh cilantro
- 4 lime wedges
Chop onion into 1/2 inch dice.
Empty the black beans into a fine mesh strainer. Gently rinse the beans under cold water until the water runs clear, and thoroughly drain them. Divide the beans in half and place each portion into small bowls. Set aside.
Add the olive oil to a four quart soup pot over medium high heat, add onions and saute (stirring constantly with a wooden spoon to prevent sticking) until the onions are softened but not browned (about 3-4 minutes).
Add the cumin, salt and cayenne pepper to the onions and cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly to evenly coat the onions with the spices and prevent sticking or burning.
Add the chicken broth to the pot, stir to combine and bring to a boil. Turn heat down to medium.
Add the salsa and stir to combine. Simmer gently for 5 minutes. Stir occasionally to prevent sticking or burning.
Add half of the rinsed and drained black beans (reserving the other half) to the soup pot and simmer for 5 minutes. Stir occasionally.
Remove pot from heat and use immersion blender to puree the soup in the pot (Note: You may also puree the soup, 1 cup at a time, in a blender. As you blend each cup of the soup mixture, set the puree aside in a heatproof bowl. When the entire pot of soup has been pureed, return all of the puree to the soup pot).
Add the reserved beans to the pureed soup, return the pot to the stove and simmer on medium heat for 5 minutes to heat the beans through.
Serve the soup warm in bowls. Top each serving with one tablespoon sour cream and sprinkle each with one tablespoon of the chopped cilantro. Serve a lime wedge on the side.
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