Black bean soup

I really love the Vegetarian Black Bean Soup at Panera Bread, so when I came across a recipe for BBS on a can of beans, I had to try it. I'm not as concerned with the "vegetarian" part as others might be, but I'm thinking you could substitute a veggie broth for the chicken broth if you wanted to.

2 cans Black Beans (I used Bush's seasoned recipe, which is where this recipe came from. Do not drain the beans)
1 can low/reduced sodium chicken broth (or veg broth if you'd rather)
1/2 cup salsa (any kind you want, I used safeway brand mild, and put in 1cup total)
1/2 tsp chili powder (I didn't have any, so left it out. I am not that into the spicy stuff, so it worked well for me)

Mash contents of one can of beans with food processor or potato masher. Pour into saucepan with other can of beans and can of broth, and heat on stovetop. Add salsa and chili powder, and simmer until heated through. Serve as is, or add what we call "soup stuff" - sour cream, cheddar, onions, etc.

It was very tasty, IMO, and I'm looking forward to trying a bowl of leftovers cold as well.

Cake batter ice cream

I like cake batter. I like ice cream. I don't eat it much, but. Yum. Decided I was going to try my own homemade version and see how it turned out. Worked pretty well. I have an ice cream maker. I know there are other ways to freeze ice cream even if you don't have an ice cream maker so if you don't have one you could tweak this recipe. I don't like making ice cream with full fat milk or heavy cream so I usually use 1 or 2% milk and half and half. That sometimes leads to a less-creamy ice cream but this one came out surprisingly soft and creamy.

1 C of 2% or 1% milk
2 C of half and half (or heavy cream if you desire)
3/4 cup sugar
about 1 1/4 t of vanilla...to taste
1 package of powdered cake mix. I used Duncan Hines "butter recipe golden". You could use whatever you want I suppose!

Whisk the sugar and milk together until the sugar has dissolved in the milk. Then add the half and half and the vanilla, whisk in. Add the cake mix and whisk until lumps are gone. Pour into your ice cream maker and freeze per manufacturers directions.

I will say that this recipe never got really "frozen" in my ice cream maker. It thickened to slightly softer than the consistency of soft ice cream (and SOOOOOOOO creamy). We put it in containers in the freezer and it's a very pleasant consistency.

It's pretty sweet though I don't mind it but if you find you don't like it you might want to try lessening the amount of cake mix, maybe?

Being someone who loves cake batter (ahhh!)...this is a legal way to have it...heh. No raw eggs.

My Kids' Favorite Chili

My boys (9 and 5) aren't big on anything spicier that super-mild salsa, so getting them to eat chili can be a challenge. After a lot of testing, this is the recipe we all like the best. It makes a LOT, but there's 6 of us in the house, so it works, and we have great leftovers too. Could definitely be easily cut in half though, for smaller batch.

Ingredients:
2 -2.5lbs ground beef, browned and drained
1/2 -1 onion (Vidalia or white), chopped
1 can white corn, drained and rinsed
2 cans kidney beans (we like 1 light, 1 dark for variety), drained and rinsed
2 cans pinto beans, drained and rinsed
3 cans diced tomatoes
1 can tomato sauce
1C water
2 packets chili seasoning (generic Safeway brand is just perfect for my picky kids)

Directions:
Brown ground beef till cooked through, adding onions to cook. Drain, then add all other ingredients to large pot (I think ours is a 5qt?). Mix thoroughly, and simmer up to 1 hour. Serve hot, with shredded cheddar cheese, sour cream, tortilla and/or corn chips, etc.

It tastes even better the next day, too!