Black Beans with Rice

This is a truly delicious way to make use of the last bit of a bone in ham.

The ham bone create a wonderfully flavored broth. The beans make it thick and hearty.

Vegetable Stock – Budget Friendly

It seems like every time we go grocery shopping we have to toss out a few leftover vegetables that have started to go limp after two weeks in the fridge. Not much, just a few stalks of celery, a handful of baby carrots. Maybe a little parsley.

It also seems like an awful waste to toss our those vegetables. What could we do with them? Well we often have a need to buy stock for various dishes especially soups. So it seems like there might be a great opportunity here.

Why not make vegetable stock from them? In fact, the more I investigated the idea the more frugal and practical it seems. Because even the trimmings from vegetables used during the week can be used. The stems of various herbs, the root end of an onion and other trimmings from an onion, etc. can all be put into baggies and frozen until enough accumulates to make stock.

The options seem endless.  One recommendation I did see, though, is to be careful to keep the flavor of the stock fairly neutral flavor. As some recipes may not combine well with a strongly spiced stock. For instance, you may not want a lot of garlic in a stock you might want to use in soup. However, another dish might benefit from such a stock. Well it is easy enough to add it, but you can’t take it away once it is there.

So below is a simple neutral recipe:

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Smoky Haricots Verts and Mushrooms

So here is the second of the sides our friends brought over for a dinner on the 4th.

This was a delicious combination. Especially with the crisp green beans. There is nothing worse than mushy vegetables. Add the bacon and mushrooms and you have a hit.

Bistec Encebollado – Steak and Onions

This is a classic Puerto Rican Dish. If that is your kind of food, than you will definitely want to try this recipe

Spicy Cashew Chicken

Submitted on 6/9/2016 by John for Asian Theme Week (the week of 6/26/2016)

Author bio: Contributing Author for JaquesKitchen.com

Recipe country of origin China

Description: This is a Thai version of a Chinese recipe. You may have tried an Americanized version of this at The Cheesecake Factory.

Strawberry and Snap Pea Salad

During the summer it seems like we always want something light to eat. The heat and increased activity seems to make us want lighter dishes.

This is a wonderful light summer salad that is the perfect sides for so many summer dishes.

Homemade Spaghetti Sauce

Homemade Spaghetti Sauce is the only way to go. It is so much better and so so easy to make.

Slow Cooker Chicken Tinga

Submitted on 6/12/2016 by John for Latin week (week starting 6/19/2016)

Author bio: Contributing Author for JaquesKitchen.com

Recipe country of origin Mexico

Description: Chicken Tinga is a simple dish that can easily be made in a slow cooker it consists of shredded chicken slowly cooked in a sauce of fresh ripe tomatoes, chipotle chilies and other spices.

This dish can easily be used for many different meals, tacos, burrito filling, tostadas, let your imagination run wild.

Swedish Pork Chops with Mushroom Gravy

We wanted to try Swedish Baked Potatoes. Well if you do that you have to have a Swedish protein with it. So I went out and looked at several recipes for Swedish Pork Chops. In the end this is what I came out with. I don’t know if it is truly Swedish. But it is Swedish inspired.

Spinach Salad with Cherries

 

This is the perfect light summer time dinner salad. It is a great contrast between sweet and sour.