White Beans

Revising write up based on Round 2:

1 med onion
3 large cloves garlic
1 can Navy Beans (or other white beans; I used Great Northern in Round 2)
1 can Diced Tomatoes with Green Chilis
1/2 t. salt or to taste
1/4 t. ground Mustard
1/2 t. dried Rosemary
1/2 t. dried Sage
1/2 t. dried Thyme
1 t. dried Basil
1/8 t. ground Cloves
1 Bay Leaf
2 T. Marsala

Tried this again today with mods based on experience with Round 1:  cut the dried mustard from 1/2 t. to 1/4 t. and tried to pre-wet the dried herb ingredients.  A quick search of the internet suggested alcohol as an edible surfactant suitable for cooking, so I pre-soaked the dry ingredients in 2 T. of Marsala.   "Why Marsala?" and "Why 2 T.?" you ask...'Cause there was a bottle of Marsala with 2 T. left in it in the liquor locker, of course.  I let it soak for about 3 hours just 'cause that's how the timing worked out.  Seems to have solved the problem of running into bits of "dry hay".

The whole point here was to come up with a different seasoning base for beans:  I like cumin but seriously, there has to be another way.  These came out pretty well.  Can't say I won't play around with the mix some more, but they're worth a try.

Marinated Mushrooms

I recognize that this might be the wrong crowd cause most of ya'll have some weird aversion to mushrooms, but has anyone tried making marinated mushrooms?  I guess I'm mostly asking Mom/Dad since most everyone else probably doesn't love them.

I just tried some for the first time this week.  Turned out pretty good, but needs some tweaking.  Here's what I did...

• Boil 8oz of mushrooms until just tender.
• Throw them in a bowl with equal parts olive oil and vinegar.  The recipe I was using called for white wine vinegar but all I had was apple cider.  In the future I would try a different vinegar than apple cider.
• In the bowl add some finely diced red onion, peppercorns, oregano, red pepper flakes, a dash of brown sugar, salt, and minced garlic of course.
• Threw that in a jar and put it in the fridge overnight.  

The result is better today (about 4 days later) than it was the day after.  As mentioned I'd try a different vinegar next time.  I think it could be fun to throw a hot pepper or something in there, but that might be weird. 

Anyway, if you've given it a try, let me know if you had some success.  It was a fun experiment.  I'm going to try it again cause I loooooove marinated mushrooms.

Molly

Polenta Pizza

Had some roasted corn meal mush that needed to be used, some left over (really good) spaghetti sauce that Mom made the other night, and shredded mozzarella that was looking a little peak-ed this morning.  Well, that spells polenta pizza, right?

Sliced and fried the mush (I used coconut oil, of course), warmed the sauce and spread liberally over the fried polenta slices, added shredded mozzarella, also liberally, plus some slice black olives for Mom's, and popped it all in the toaster oven 'til the cheese melted.  Served for breakfast; I dropped a poached egg on it, of course; Mom opted for a fried drain stopper on the side, as usual.

This is awesomer than it has any right to be.  Plus, it's gluten free, grass fed, free range, non-GMO, new-age, kaleless, and just plain-old tasty.