New Menu Monday – Annie DeMoranville

Monday Menu: Washday Beans and Rice

What am I freezing this week? Lots of soup and red beans and rice.

From JeffreyW’s archives

A great meal on the first cold days of fall, and perfect to use in the freezer cubes. I don’t make this recipe often, because it make enough to feed most of the neighborhood. With the freezer cubes, it makes it a nice dinner and eight additional servings for later.

Cornbread also freezes well and reheats either in a toaster oven or microwave.

This is a quick version of the all-day cooking method. For a more traditional version click here. Bonus, there is a photo of an original recipe from Louis Armstrong.

Washday Beans & Rice

1 cup rice
1 cup water
1 cup chicken broth
14oz can red kidney bean
4 links Italian or Andouille sausage (sweet or spicy) – slice each link into 4 pieces
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp to 1 tbsp Cajun Creole Seasoning (start with teaspoon and work your way up to taste)
4 green onions, chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
1 large green pepper, chopped
1 large tomato diced (or 14 oz can)

2-quart saucepan and skillet

Monday Menu: Creole Vegetables with Black Beans and Rice

Creole Vegetables with Black Beans and Rice

1 cup Jasmine Rice
1 -15 oz can no salt black beans (drained and rinsed)
lime juice
1 tbsp olive oil
6 green onions, chopped (including greens)
1/2 each: green, red and orange pepper, diced
1 stalk celery, diced
2 carrots, diced
1-14 oz can no salt diced tomatoes
salt to taste

Monday Menu: Freezing for the Week

What I’ve been freezing in my food cubes this week.

Ropa Vieja – I was craving it for some reason and chuck cross rib roast happened to be on sale. Perfect timing all around. I froze the leftovers in the 1 cup cubes. Enough to serve over rice or on a salad.

I also froze grilled hamburgers (to crumble over salads), more shredded chicken, rice, and mashed potatoes.

My experiment this week will be diced potatoes and diced hard boiled eggs. I wanted to see if they would then thaw and make a decent potato salad. My first attempt – freezing leftover potato salad did not work. I want to see if freezing them separate and then adding the mayo mixture after they thaw will make a difference. I know it’s not the potoes, they freeze well. It might be the eggs are the deal breaker.

Finally, as the garden started to deliver more fresh veggies, I had enough cucumbers to make a small batch of this Korean Cucumber salad.

Monday Menu: Gochujang Chicken, Rice and Veggies

A friend sent this to me, knowing I love Korean food. It’s a very easy recipe, though you’ll need some specific ingredients. I could get both gochujang and gochugaru locally, but it also available on Amazon.