Saturday, May 17, 2008

The Heat is On, in more ways than one!

We've been having a mini heat wave so I've been sweating my ass off in the gym, and making iced tea and fruit smoothies!
Green Tea and Papaya Smoothie

Slice papayas as you would melons, cut into smaller chinks and spread them on a small baking sheet lined with parchment, (or foil), and freeze. Combine frozen papaya chunks, tea, squeeze of 1/2 lemon, 1 tsp. sugar or honey, 1/2-1 c. ice, in blender. (I add 2tbl. pysillum fiber to mine)

Papayas are not that sweet, so combining them with another, more sweet fruit is also a good idea, like 1/2 mango, 1/2 banana, sweet strawberries, pineapple, etc. Pictured above is a Mexican papaya (large, dark orange), and a Hawaiian papaya (smaller, more yellow, more expensive, lol!)

************************************************************************************* Roasting Jalapenos

Just before I got to make my first shopping trip on Thursday to Whole Foods, I had an abundance of jalapenos, so I roasted them not knowing exactly what I was going to do with them, but I knew that I could always freeze them to use another time.

I had black beans in my pantry and a frozen smoked turkey leg in my freezer, so I was thinking black bean soup w/smoked turkey and roasted jalapeno cream, which I made Friday morning in my pressure cooker, before going to yoga! Thank goodness I picked up my secruity veggies...celery and carrots...and I got one bunch of collard greens in my CSA box that I also added to the soup.

Place jalapenos on grate over open flame on gas stove, turning, until the skin becomes charred on all sides, using tongs. Place charred peppers in plastic bag for 5-10 minutes, so the heat can steam and loosen the skin.
Cut of all four sides of roasted jalapenos, leaving the seeds with the stem. Scrape off charred skin.
Cut into strips to top tacos, bean dip, crostini, toss with pasta, throw into salads, or just eat them on they're own!
I put them in a food processor with plain yogurt and a pinch of salt to make roasted jalapeno cream to top my black bean and turkey soup. (Also good as a topping for any mexican dish, like tacos, enchilada, burritos, etc.)

Black Bean Soup

onion, diced
celery, diced
carrot, diced
red bell, diced
garlic, crushed
cumin, oregano, 2 tsp.
4-6 c. water (or stock)
black beans, 1 1/2 c. pre soaked
smoked turkey leg or thigh
collard greens, 1 bunch de-stemmed and sliced into ribbons.

This soup is made in the classic order....Saute diced veggies for 5-10 min., adding garlic in the last minute (seasoning with salt should be a "given"). Add spices and cook for one more additional minute. Add water, beans, turkey, and cook according to pot. Pressure cook bringing to high pressure and cook for 25 min, letting pressure come down naturally, or in stockpot, bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer 1-1/2 hours, (check beans for doneness). I added collard greens to hot soup, turned off heat, and put the lid on for 15-20 min.

I used water instead of stock because the turkey had a bone to flavor the soup.

12 comments:

Lauren Brooks said...

Wow you are so creative. The papaya smoothie tea looks amazing and so does all the roasted jalapenos.I am now going to get some papayas and jalapenos. Thanks for the idea!

Anonymous said...

Thanks for sharing this recipe Tracy. I decided to make this after I diced all the stuff for the salad for the week.

I used organic chicken stock instead of water and no turkey bone. I cooked it in the crock pot for 2 hours I put it on high till it boiled, than reduced the heat to low and let it sit. I added the collard greens at 2 hours and than ate it 20 minutes later. I only put in 4 cups of stock, and I think I cooked it too long...as it was more like a side dish than soup--it was delicious! Thanks so much for the idea! for the soup. I ate it with grilled buffalo burger patty and grilled salad on the stick for dinner. (which this blog gave me the idea for both! Thanks again.

Tracy Reifkind said...

Lauren,

If I lived down south like you I would be making Cherimoya smoothies like crazy! Screw papaya!

I ended up turning the rest of the jalapeno cream into salad dressing!

Tracy Reifkind said...

Regina,

Wow! Now you can take soup for lunch for at least a few days!

So next time you know how you need to 'tweak' it to work better. And you can use whatever kind of beans you have, whatever kind of veggies you have, the technique is the same! Doing it and making it a habit (cooking), is more important than the 'recpe'. Make up your own!

Tori said...

Looks yummy! I can't get papayas here though. We do have plenty of jalapenos, I make homemade salsa with them all of the time!

Tracy Reifkind said...

Tori,

I know I live in a very ethnically diverse area, but alot of times if you can find an ethnic market, like an Asian, or hispanic market you can find papaya, mango, fresh coconut etc.

For some reason I'm not a "salsa maker", lol! One of my friends makes killer salsa though.

fawn said...

It must be hot if YOU are sweating! LOL! I suppose I would be a puddle on the floor.

Happiness Within said...

The smoothie looks fantastic. I have been thinking about adding a smoothie to my morning routine (8 oz). The soup looks delicious.

I started cooking last night and couldn't stop. I have a problem. LOL I read cookbooks for pleasure.

Tamikka

Lauren Brooks said...

Tracy,

Speaking of Cherimoya's I tried my first one yesterday, thanks to you. It was super sweet. I bet a smoothie with a cherimoya would be delicious. But they are EXPENSIVE down here. I went to the farmers market in Encinitas and one Cherimoya was almost $5. I ate that up in 10 minutes. 8-)

Tracy Reifkind said...

Fawn,

It should be nice a 'steamy' in June and August, next time I see you. That moist heat has got to be sticky!

Tracy Reifkind said...

Tamikka,

I think my blog profile asks about favorite books, to which my answer was "cook books, I read them constantly" 1

I rarely by a cookbook brand new at retail price, I usually pick them up at garage sales during the summer, but I bought one on Sunday that I can tell will be added to my kitchen staples. I'll write about it soon.

In fact I'll have to write a blog post about cookbooks in general. People have too many recipes, and not enough practice!

Tracy Reifkind said...

Lauren,

Yes, the Cherimoya is expensive, but what a treat! And we're so worth it...don't ya think? lol

I was tempted to mix the Cherimoya with another fruit for a larger smoothie, but I can't bring myself to take anything away from the uniqueness of it's flavor!