Souper Sunday: Black Bean Soup

So.
I ruined the magic of my blog for my mother this evening.  I told her that as I watch the potential storm brew out my patio doors and collect on the the top of the hot tub I was going to write 2 blog posts.  I blog in fits, really, based on when I make things.  I have a habit of new food weeks or weekends.  Fodder for days!  As a result, if I'm cooking a lot, we may have eaten what's showing up well before it's here.
Now I've ruined the magic for you too.  Ironically, this will post tomorrow.
But this past Sunday, I went looking for a new soup recipe to take for lunch this week.  I hauled out the same Taste of Home Soup magazine that I've used in the past with predictable results.
J and I are fans of Mexican flavours.  When I saw this recipe for Black Bean Soup, it was different from anything I'd ever made in the past that would need an immersion blender.  But that doesn't make it bad.  In fact, it's a really nice soup.
I present to you now Taste of Home's Black Bean Soup recipe from Mary Buhl of Duluth, Georgia:

Got Milk?

So.
I grew up in a house where there were always cookies in the cookie jar.  A smiling Friar Tuck stood on our counter with "Thou Shalt Not Steal" emblazoned into the hem of his ceramic cowl.  My mother has a big sweet tooth, and one of the first things that I got to make all on my own was chocolate chip cookies.
I have a cookie jar, but it has snowmen on it, and it spends most of the year (if not all of it) in a box on a shelf in the basement.  I don't often bake things like cookies simply because then they're around the house begging to be eaten.  But in the name of recipes for the Magazine Challenge, and the fact that I had a full bag of chocolate chips in the cupboard, I decided to make these cookies.  We'll even call them healthy with the addition of raisins.
I present to you now Chocolate-raisin Oatmeal Cookies from the January/February 2005 issue of Everyday Food:

Planning: February 22 - March 1, 2013

So.
To say I've been lax this month in the cooking department would be a gross understatement.  Things have been busy here on the mountain and we haven't been making it to the grocery store.  It's hard to cook when there's no food.  Today, however, we tried to rectify this by going to the grocery store and spending gobs of money to replace all of the things I've run out of.
To go with this, I've fallen horribly, horribly behind in my magazine challenge.  This is something that I'm also trying to rectify this week.  I've decided that if I don't get all the recipes made this month, I'll hold onto them to use in the future.  Vegetable burritos will be good, no matter what month it is.  I'd like to complete the minimum numbers from each magazine this year.
On that note, I have lots of EDF recipes on the menu this week, and have started perusing the March issue for 6 recipes that I want to make.  I suggested a couple to J and he nixed them.  We'll see.
But for now, here's what's on the agenda this week.  I planned Sunday to Friday, with 5 meals so that there's a little leeway for a night when I don't want to cook.  Here's the plan:

Sunday:  Black Bean Soup.  The TOH recipe doesn't look like a typical black bean soup.  But it sounds yummy.  Maybe I'll get wild and make cornbread too.  This will be the basis for lunches this week.
Monday:  Fish Tacos.  This gets J's fish for the week in, and is a recipe from EDF.
Tuesday:  Chicken Meatballs in Tomato Sauce with Spaghetti.  The original used spaghetti squash.  J didn't think that sounded good either.  It's an EDF recipe, and a reason to break out the Spong again.
Wednesday:  Burgers.  I have guitar and get home late.
Thursday:  Lemon Parsley Pork Chops.  J doesn't like pork.  That's why I'm not fighting him on the squash.  He says it's always too dry.  I'm out to prove him wrong.  And cross another EDF off my list.
Friday:  Not sure.  Perhaps we'll go out to celebrate eating at home all week.

To go along with this, I'm making oatmeal chocolate chip raisin cookies from EDF, and Candy Cane ice cream from Pinterest.  We'll even get dessert.  Yum.

Dinner with Friends: Chicken Parmesan Bake

So.
I've actually started making new things again.  It's very exciting.  Pinterest has been a fount of new ideas that for the most part have worked out well. 
I find that if I'm having people in for a meal, I'm more than likely to make new things.  If they don't work, I have people to help eat the disaster, and if they do work, it's a good meal.  I don't make a lot of disasters, but there are some things that work out better than others.
This is the story of something that could have worked out slightly better.  I need to learn how to tell time.  But despite being a little overcooked, this is something I'd make again. 
I present to you now Food Wishes' Chicken Parmesan Bake:

Dinner with Friends: Pesto Chicken Stuffed Shells

So.
Since moving, J and I haven't had people in for dinner.  The mountain has been in a constant state of partially packed, and the dining room table has been covered with papers.  But we're always trying to change our ways and invite people in more often.  We finally made up for it this weekend by having people in Friday and Saturday night.  The good things about that?  I made a layer cake and it's all gone.  I made new recipes.  The bad thing?  I did so many dishes over the weekend.
But dishes or no, we like to entertain.  And the food was fantastic.  I may not be getting anywhere with my magazine challenge, but I made 2 more Pinterest wins.  One of them is the recipe for today. 
I present to you now What's Cookin Chicago's Pesto Chicken Stuffed Shells.

Yummy: Marla's Maple Pork

So.
A while ago, pork tenderloin was a really good price at the store and I stocked up.  Like, I bought 6 packages stocked up.  Not that I had any clue what the plan was, but I was ready.  Enter a weekend where I didn't want to go out, and no plan.  I knew there was pork tenderloin, if I could just find something to do with it. 
I grabbed my Looneyspoons Collection, and it didn't take long to find something to do with it.  I present to you now Marla's Maple Pork:

Pintertest Kitchen: Loaded Baked Potato Soup

So.
As I look back over my past few Pintertest Kitchen posts, I've made some okay but not great things.  I want to make something great from Pinterest again.  Great like the Mexican Shells.  Great like discovering the easy way to shred chicken.  I had high hopes this month with this gem of a pin:

I love potato soup.  I'm always looking for a great recipe because the California Dreaming one I have is amazing...and scary when you look at the heavy cream.  This recipe came from Cooking Light, so it should be better, right?
I present to you now Loaded Baked Potato Soup from Handle the Heat:

Magazine Challenge: Sole with Lemon Butter Sauce

So.
I haven't been cooking much recently.  I think about it a lot.  Mostly while feeling guilty that I don't have time, that I'm not meeting the challenge I've set for myself, that I'm eating a whole lotta fries and drinking a whole lotta pop.  I have, however, made a few things recently and seem to be getting my groove back.  I hope so.  There are too many good things to make to spend all my time in restaurants.
Here is a case in point.  It's February, and I'm finally making the first recipe in my magazine challenge.  I am still looking for new ways to cook fish that are easy, and that J and I both like.  The beginning of the year EDFs are always the healthy magazines.  There are a couple of fish recipes that I want to try.  This one went together fast, and I would be willing to eat it again.  I also had never tried poaching before.  It was easy.
I present to you now EDF's Sole with Lemon Butter Sauce: