Watercress and Mushroom Omelet

I am currently looking for ways to eat watercress which happens to be in season right now too. I was curious to find out how to eat it (besides throwing it in a salad with other greens) and discovered that it is quite the little nutrition powerhouse and is apparently fairly inexpensive too. This recipe is delicious! I made this to serve two people.

1 tsp butter

3 mushrooms, sliced

2 scallions, chopped fairly small

about 1/2 to 3/4 c fresh watercress, stems removed and chopped roughly

3 lg eggs

1-2 T half n half

black pepper

swiss cheese

Reserve about 1/3 of the chopped watercress to add after cooking with the cheese.

Melt just enough butter to cover the bottom of a nonstick skillet.

Sauté mushrooms sprinkled with black pepper on low heat about 2 minutes, add scallions continue to sauté another 2 minutes, then add watercress and saute 1 more minute. I didn't brown any of these just softened them.

Combine eggs, black pepper, and half n half (or milk or water) in a bowl whisk them until well mixed. Pour over the softened veges and cook over medium to low heat. Flip and put cheese and reserved watercress on half then fold over. Turn off heat when eggs are done and allow to sit about one minute to melt the cheese.

Tropical Papaya Fruit Salad

2 c papaya

2 grapefruit

2 oranges

1 can of pineapple in its own juice

Mix and chill.

Note: I saved most of the pineapple juice for another use.

Pork with Apples and Sweet Potatoes

I had purchased a whole pork loin and froze 2/3 of it without cutting it first so then had to thaw all of and come up with several recipes to use it up. This was pretty easy and even tastier than I expected.

 

about 1 lb of pork loin

apple, chopped, not peeled

sweet potato, chopped

Orange wedges and juice

sprinkle brown sugar

drizzle of honey

crushed fennel seed

crushed rosemary

black pepper

garlic powder

water

The amounts will depend on how much meat you have and how many people you are feeding, and how much you like each seasoning. Go light on the brown sugar as this is meant to be a savory dish

Put chopped apples and sweet potatoes on bottom of 7x11 pyrex baking dish (or whatever) and rest roast in center sprinkle seasonings on vegetables and meat. 

Bake 40 -60 minutes depending on the size of the roast.

Note:

I like to crumble the fennel seeds and rosemary so you don't get to much in one bite...

I usually put a little water (or other liquid) in the bottom of the pan to keep things moist and prevent the juices from burning while baking.

I think I will try adding some chopped onions next time to give it a little more complexity.

Cuban Style Black Bean Soup

I am finally getting around to making my black bean soup for the first time this winter (well okay its Spring now but you get the idea). I am posting the recipe I have been using for years although I made a few change this time which i will note at the end.

1 pound bag of dried black beans (soaked)

1 large (or two small) sweet onions, chopped (yellow would be fine since the're being cooked)

3-4 stalks of celery, chopped

3-4 carrots, sliced (I used 1/2 of a 1 lb bag of baby carrots)

3-4 large garlic cloves (more if small)

1 large jalapeño, finely chopped

1 ham bone (with some meat left on it)

1 15 oz can Hunts tomato sauce

1 c low sodium chicken stock or vegetable stock

6-8 c water

3 T red wine vinegar

1 bay leaf

1 1/2 tsp oregano

1 1/2 tsp cumin

1 tsp thyme

1/4 tsp summer savory

1/8 tsp allspice

black pepper

drizzle of olive oil to sauté the vegetables

In large soup pot, drizzle the olive oil and heat on low. Add the chopped onions, chop the next vegetable, add, stir and so on until all are in the pot then continue to sauté until onions and celery are soft, taking care not to let them brown.

Add remaining ingredients and make sure the ham bone is covered by liquids. Simmer about 2 hours. Remove ham bone after 1 1/2 hours and pick meat off, shred and return to pot (discard the bone).

Serve with a dollap of sour cream and chopped cilantro. I like to serve with corn bread but had some tamales in the freezer and served them instead.

Notes:

I normally use crushed red pepper but put in jalapeño instead this time. I keep some in the freezer most of the time and it seems like a more traditional ingredient so I made that part of the main recipe.

I used a 29 oz can tomato sauce this time, 1 c chicken broth 1 cup vege broth and a little less water. It was a more tomato-ey soup than usual but was very good.

I want to try adding a green bell pepper next time but did not have one on hand today.

I happened to have about a cup of chopped butternut squash in the frig so I threw that in and it was very good, plus added a little color.