Our youngest son is turning seven today, which is so hard for us to believe! …
Happy New Year’s Eve! I can hardly believe that our week of holiday vacation is coming to an end. We’ve enjoyed six wonderful days of fun with our extended families, including more board games than we’ve probably played all year (except maybe during our week of summer family vacation!) and more food and drink than we should probably consume in a month! And now we are relaxing with four days of downtime at home with just the five of us. It feels like a good way to end one year and begin another.
There were many favorite recipes that we made over the holiday break and I will try and share as many as I can in the weeks to come. I’ll start today with a quick and easy recipe for Ham and Bean Chili that we made using leftover Christmas ham and would be a great family meal to share on New Year’s Day!
We enjoyed a smoked ham – along with quinoa and kale stuffed acorn squash, riced cauliflower, corn casserole, cranberry-apple chutney, and homemade pumpkin pie – for our Christmas dinner. What a feast!
I ordered a 10-pound ham from our local butcher, Saylors and Co, to feed the 11 family members who would be gathering at our house on Christmas night. I purposely bought a ham that was way too big so that we would have leftovers to use all week! (And because I live in constant fear of not having enough food for people to eat! It runs in the family. The night before, on Christmas Eve, my mom made an entire extra pound of pasta for her Chicken Marsala dinner. In our family, FOOD = LOVE and you can never serve up enough of either!) Needless to say, we had lots of leftover ham. So far, we’ve enjoyed it in egg omelets for breakfast, on salads and sandwiches for lunch, and even in a “quinoa surprise” dish that Joe created with all of the leftovers combined in one skillet!
This recipe for Ham and Bean Chili is one other way you can use up any leftover ham in your fridge or freezer. Because it is wintertime, we used frozen green bell peppers that I had chopped and frozen from our CSA back in the summer months. We also used canned tomatoes this time around but we’ve made it before with farm fresh tomatoes, which always tastes better! I like to purchase dried beans in bulk so I soaked the cannellini beans overnight the night before and cooked them in the morning. Then we added them to the pot at the end of cooking, just as the recipe says.
I am also including a second recipe for Brazilian Cheese Rolls that pairs amazingly well with this chili recipe! I first tasted these type of cheese rolls at a Brazilian restaurant in Gaithersburg, MD, while having a girls’ weekend with my mom and sister and sister-in-law. I had recently started trying to avoid gluten and was excited to find a “bread” product that was naturally gluten-free. After returning home from our trip, I came across this recipe in the Savory magazine that our local grocery store gives away for free each month. I made the rolls for our 6-year old’s birthday party, along with this chili recipe, and they were both a big hit!
I hope that these recipes warm up your kitchen on one of these cold winter nights! And we wish you and your family a very Happy New Year!
AuthorMaria[cooked-sharing]
1 cup sun-dried tomatoes, sliced
1 red onion, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp chili powder
3 cups ham, chopped
2 cups green bell pepper, chopped
6 cups cannellini beans (cooked or canned)
4 cups tomatoes, diced (or 28-oz can)
salt and pepper, to taste
¼ cup parsley, chopped
1
Place the sliced sun-dried tomatoes in a bowl and cover with hot water. Set aside. (If the sun-dried tomatoes were packed in oil, use this in place of olive oil for the next step in the recipe.)
2
Heat your choice of oil (olive, avocado, or reserved sun-dried tomato oil) in a large pot over medium heat. Sauté the onion, garlic and chili powder for 5 minutes, or until the onion is softened. Add ham and pepper to the onion mixture and cook for another 5 minutes.
3
If using canned beans, drain and rinse the beans. Drain the sun-dried tomatoes, reserving 1 cup of the soaking liquid. Add the diced tomatoes, sun-dried tomatoes and reserved liquid, and beans to the pan. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, to taste, and stir in parsley. Enjoy!
CategoryDairy-Free, Gluten-Free, Main Dish, Nut-Free, Summer
Ingredients
1 cup sun-dried tomatoes, sliced
1 red onion, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp chili powder
3 cups ham, chopped
2 cups green bell pepper, chopped
6 cups cannellini beans (cooked or canned)
4 cups tomatoes, diced (or 28-oz can)
salt and pepper, to taste
¼ cup parsley, chopped
Directions
1
Place the sliced sun-dried tomatoes in a bowl and cover with hot water. Set aside. (If the sun-dried tomatoes were packed in oil, use this in place of olive oil for the next step in the recipe.)
2
Heat your choice of oil (olive, avocado, or reserved sun-dried tomato oil) in a large pot over medium heat. Sauté the onion, garlic and chili powder for 5 minutes, or until the onion is softened. Add ham and pepper to the onion mixture and cook for another 5 minutes.
3
If using canned beans, drain and rinse the beans. Drain the sun-dried tomatoes, reserving 1 cup of the soaking liquid. Add the diced tomatoes, sun-dried tomatoes and reserved liquid, and beans to the pan. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, to taste, and stir in parsley. Enjoy!
AuthorMaria[cooked-sharing]
1 egg
⅓ cup olive oil
⅔ cup milk
1 ½ cups tapioca flour
½ cup feta cheese
2 tsp salt
1
Preheat oven to 400°F.
2
Add all ingredients to a blender and blend on low to combine. Scrape down the sides of the blender to combine and blend one more time to incorporate all ingredients.
3
Grease a mini muffin tray with butter or olive oil. Divide batter among 24 muffin cavities and bake for 20 minutes, or until rolls rise and are firm to the touch. Serve warm. Enjoy!
CategoryGluten-Free, Nut-Free, Side Dish, Vegetarian
Note: Original recipe found in Feb/Mar 2017 issue of Savory magazine
Ingredients
1 egg
⅓ cup olive oil
⅔ cup milk
1 ½ cups tapioca flour
½ cup feta cheese
2 tsp salt
Directions
1
Preheat oven to 400°F.
2
Add all ingredients to a blender and blend on low to combine. Scrape down the sides of the blender to combine and blend one more time to incorporate all ingredients.
3
Grease a mini muffin tray with butter or olive oil. Divide batter among 24 muffin cavities and bake for 20 minutes, or until rolls rise and are firm to the touch. Serve warm. Enjoy!
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Oh my goodness, that chili looks delicious!! What an interesting combination with the sun-dried tomatoes. Can’t wait to try it! Happy New Year!
I might try those little rolls with coconut flour!
Great idea, let me know how they turn out!
Those cheese balls are devilishly good. Possibly the best recipe find of 2017!!