Chili in a Wok
Olive oil
Boneless pork steaks, cut into strips
White onion, diced
Garlic, chopped
Canned beans: I used 1 can of kidney, 1 can of northern, and 1 can of garbanzo.
Kale, chopped in small sections
1 small can V-8 tomato juice (8 oz)
Chili powder
Cumin
Salt

In a wok, heat up the oil. Toss in the pork. When it starts to cook through, add the onion and garlic. Allow the pork to cook entirely. Open the cans of beans and drain the liquid entirely. I also rinse them to remove the goopy liquid. Add the beans to the wok, and gently stir.

Add the tomato juice, kale, and seasonings. Cook, stirring, until the kale begins to soften.

Serve with jasmine or basmati rice.

Now, my dish was a little on the spicy side because I used a lot of chili powder and cumin. You can adjust the recipe according to your likes.

So while this dish won’t win any beauty contests, it’s great comfort food for a cold, nasty day (which it was, that November evening). It’s easy to make and so healthy! I’ll be doing this one again.

Lately, however, a big favorite for meals is some kind of bean stew, with rice or grilled bread. Beans is such an easy meal, and with rice, it’s a “complete” protein that is extremely healthful. My Basic Bean Recipe is very versatile: we may try different beans or different variations of meat, but the technique is always the same. The kids love the bean dishes. And if the beans are soaked overnight and allowed to cook very VERY thoroughly, the beans don’t give your digestive system that unpleasant side effect. Also, the more frequently you eat beans, the less gastric issues you have with them. And who knows, maybe eating beans is even a best acne treatment or something…. So eating beans with rice is a win-win no matter how you look at it.

Basic Bean Recipe

1 bag of beans, any kind
1 pound of meat (ham, cooked sausage, leftover roast beef)
1 can chicken broth or your own stock
2 cups water
1 medium white onion, diced
1 carrot, diced
seasonings (I use Salamida’s Hickory Pinch seasoning– wow, it’s good)

Read the direction on the bag of beans to add water to the beans; soak overnight. (Remember to sift through them first! I have found gravel in the bag from time to time).

Next morning, drain the water. Place the beans in a large stock pot or crock pot. Add the meat (pre-cook it and drain it if necessary) and all the other ingredients. Allow to slowly simmer all day long, at least 5 hours. The smell will fill the house and drive your neighbors batty.

Serve with fresh rice or grilled garlic bread.

This meal is SO easy to make, costs very little, and is basically no-maintenance. Couple all that with the fact that it’s highly nutritious, and it’s a GREAT meal.

Notes:
You can experiment with the bean dish by adding other interesting ingredients: diced red peppers; minced garlic; pork chops; horseradish; etc.

If your kids are unhappy with bean dishes, add extra meat and fewer beans. Offer it regularly, and each time, add less meat and more beans. The kids will slowly become accustomed to the beans, and may even eventually cook the soup FOR you! (Mine do, anyway! Thanks, Alice!)

I love the colors, too. It looks like a plate full of toys or something. Pretty!

All you do is spread some hummus (we used Roasted Red Pepper hummus onto some flat bread. Layer it with salad greens and a few diced red peppers. YUMMMM. It’s surprisingly filling and it’s so healthy!

My recipe makes use of budget meat, packaged dried beans (although you could use canned), and bulk rice. It’s a very budget-friendly meal. I nabbed up a large package of Southern Style pork ribs at my local supermarket– they have them on sale for $1 a pound! The dried beans cost me $1.20, and the rice (5 cups) probably cost me around .50 because I buy my rice in bulk. So for feeding six adult-sized portions, this meal cost me about $5.70 to put on the table. And we still had leftovers, after that. I did add a salad, which raised the price of my meal, but you could add something like apples and oatmeal mixed together, or sliced fresh peaches, and that would drive the cost down. This is also a recipe that keeps well, so you could make two casseroles and serve one of them later in the week.

Here’s a quick and easy (what else?) recipe that’s perfect for a chilly winter’s day. This would probably be a great meal in the summer, too!

Wow Chow Pork and Beans Bake
serves 6-8

2 Tablespoons olive oil
3-4 pounds Southern Style pork ribs (bones removed and fat trimmed, cut up into large cubes)
1 bag dried black beans boiled/prepared to package instructions (or 3 12oz cans, drained)
1 small can tomato soup (save the can, you’ll need it to measure water)
1 tablespoon Adobo seasoning
Minced garlic (according to your liking)

In a large skillet, heat up the oil and sear the meat. Add the Adobo seasoning and cook a little longer. Once the meat is almost completely cooked, place the pieces into a large casserole dish. Pour in any remaining juices from the skillet.

Open the tomato soup can and pour all over the meat. Fill up the can twice with water, and pour it in the casserole.
Take your boiled beans and pour them on top. Add the minced garlic. Chop in the beans just a little, to mix with the liquid.
Cover tightly with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour; then, turn your oven down to 325 and bake for 3 more hours.
The house will smell GREAT.

Serve with rice and green salad or a fruit salad.

Wow Chow Black Bean & Ham Soup

4 15oz. cans black beans
2 15oz. cans chicken broth (or use your own)
2 Tablespoons minced garlic, chopped fresh or prepared in the jar (optional)
1 Tablespoon horseradish (optional)
1 Tablespoon olive oil or pat of butter
1 white onion, diced into small pieces
6 cups of diced ham or turkey ham

In a large stock pot, put in the olive oil or butter, and then the onions. Saute lightly, just until the onion is barely translucent. Toss in all your ham or turkey ham (I use turkey ham), and stir well to heat.

Now, drain your canned beans and dump them in the pot. Dump the broth into the pot. Add the garlic and horseradish if you include them.

Stir it well, and cook on low/medium for about 3 hours. I guess it would be technically cooked in 1 or 2 hours, but cooking longer thickens the soup and blends the ingredients more. This is a GREAT cold weather meal. It’s also a terrific “quickie” meal, for days when you’re too busy fooling around, doing housework and bills, blogging, making vacation plans and checking out www.goodsamesp.com, etc etc. Heh heh. It takes about 20 minutes to have everything ready to throw in the pot. The key is stirring it every once in a while. to make sure the beans don’t stick as the soup thickens. Alternatively, if you will be out of the house all day, you can throw these same ingredients into the crockpot and cook on low for 8 hours. The Flax Seed Bread is perfect with this!