Pork & Mushroom Dumplings

Well, these were fantastic!  It's a bit of a project to assemble the dumplings.  It takes a little time but it's not that hard. And the effort is worth it. 

This recipe made 40 dumplings, so there were plenty leftover to freeze.  

One special ingredient I needed to track down was round dumpling wrappers.  My local supermarket has a decent supply of Asian ingredients, but only had square wonton wrappers, so I had to go to the Chinese speciality store for these.  But they only cost a buck!  

Here's what you need for these fantastic dumplings:

Lazy Cabbage Rolls

I can't say cabbage rolls have always been my favourite.  My family has cabbage rolls every year at Thanksgiving and Christmas, along with pierogies, meat sticks (breaded pork skewers), and turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, etc.  With all that deliciousness, the cabbage rolls are not the first thing on my plate.  And they always seemed complicated to make outside the holidays.

But these "lazy" cabbage rolls are pretty easy.  They are actually like mini-meat loafs. The recipe makes a whole bunch so I froze half and cooked them later and it made a fantastic quick weeknight dinner.  

Here's what you need for the cabbage rolls:

Putting up with: Green Beans

I am a canning and preserving dilettante.  A few years ago I did a fun marathon canning session with my best bud where we canned peaches, pepper, pickles and more.  Since then I've canned tomato sauce and jalapeño jelly, among other things.  I always hope to "put up" so many wonderful things in the late summer and fall but I get busy and fail to make it a priority.  

This post is about not about canning, it's about canning's simple little sister: freezing.

I found some particularly lovely fresh green beans at the market and bought more than could reasonably feed two people.  So I looked online and found some great advice about freezing green beans.  You can't just throw them in the freezer raw! You have to blanch them first.

I like to keep them long so I just cut off the stem end and leave the string end intact.  I rinsed them and boiled a big pot of water.

I also prepared an ice bath.

Just a bowl with ice and water to put the beans in after boiling to stop the cooking process.

I tossed the trimmed beans into the boiling water and let it come back up to a boil.

I boiled the beans for almost 3 minutes then fished them out with a slotted spoon and dropped them into the ice bath.

I let the beans chill in the ice bath for 3 more minutes.

Then drained them.

Portioned them into freezer bags.

Then worked to get as much air out of the bags as possible. You can actually suck out the air with a drinking straw if you want to get creative.

I popped them in the freezer so when I want the taste of fresh green beans I just have to lightly steam them and serve!  Summer all year round!

Market Trip

Just got back from the farmers market. Lots of plans!

Fresh tomatillos!  Very exciting.  Plan to make and can salsa verde using the jalapeños in our garden and fresh cilantro and onions.

Fresh cranberry beans!  I've never had these before but plan to shell and simmer them in water, herbs and oil for 20-30 minutes. So pretty!

Last peaches of the season. Plan to eat these for snacks.

Corn on the cob for dinner. Honeycrisp apples for lunches.

Fresh green & yellow beans for dinner. Cilantro for salsa verde.

And a bushel of fresh Roma tomatoes to combine with onions, peppers and basil for a huge batch of pasta sauce.

Recipes and results to come!

Bean Burritos

I'm not a big fans of beans but my husband loves them. We made a huge batch of bean burritos for the freezer so he can take one to work for lunch every day. 

I use this technique for cooking the beans. You don't need to pre-soak them overnight. Just bring a pound of dried beans covered in water and a bit of salt to a boil on the stovetop, cover and place in a 250 degree oven for about 75-90 minutes until tender.  

Cooking dry beans gives a nicer texture and flavour than canned beans. I use pinto beans which are so healthy for you! They have tons of fibre and protein.  

Once the beans are cooked, saute some onions, jalapeno and chipotle peppers in a little oil and then add the beans and mash together. 

You can also add some beer or stock or water at this point to get the beans to the right texture.

Once the beans are somewhat smooth, or whatever texture you prefer, prepare the other ingredients.

You can just use beans or add rice, corn or whatever you like.  

We added rice and corn to this batch.

At our local farmers market we get these great whole wheat tortillas made by Mennonite farmers from just outside town. 

Spread a couple of tablespoons of the bean & rice mixture on the tortilla...

...top with cheese...

...and roll up.

Package them for the freezer by wrapping them individually in plastic wrap. Posing with a superhero is optional.  

Microwave the frozen burrito for about 1 minute, or 30 seconds if it is thawed.