Coming up on the 15th anniversary of my blog (May, 2024- YAY!), I know and maybe you know, too, there are mostly original recipes here. I also know there’s nothing new under heaven, so it’s your guess how many of my dishes first existed elsewhere. I often, though not always, don’t want to know if someone else has come up with it before me. I’m happy in la la land, thinking I made it up, imagining I have a little creative bone of some sort in my body–and I do. But this doesn’t stop me from happily cooking or especially baking dishes others have perfected before me. (Why reinvent every wheel?) Both of the recipes featured in today’s FRIDAY FISH are happily-credited adaptations from other fine cook-writers (see recipe headnotes–which is where you should see credit to other cooks and writers or books) and luscious they are together. I wanted a different flavoring for salmon and thought, “Chili.” Author Andie Mitchell had already figured it out and thank you to her! I also knew my May, 2023 Black Bean Pasta Salad would be the perfect companion for a southwestern-flavored fish. When I needed a black bean salad for 50 last spring for my friend Sylvie’s high school graduation, blogger Cookie and Kate had a solid, flavor-full basic idea I only needed to embroider and enlarge. Together, the two recipes are all you want for dinner…and the salad leftovers could be lunch for a couple of days. Double win. Should you, however, want more, I include ideas for appetizers, wine, and dessert for a dinner party or special occasion. (See just below the recipes.)
Continue readingBlack Beans
Slow Cooker Black Beans with Chorizo + Ham

Jump to Recipe
Thinking ahead to Thanksgiving? Click here for ideas for the meal and the leftovers.
Thanksgiving Music: Wednesday – Sunday
Need a gift for your Thanksgiving host? Make some cranberry-apple-nut granola to take along!
It’s been a crazy sort of few weeks around our house. Which made it a great time to work on a new slow cooker meal that’s up and cooking a big pot of dinner in not too many minutes at all. Isn’t that how slow cooker recipes should be?! Welcome SLOW COOKER BLACK BEANS WITH CHORIZO AND HAM….just in time for November football games and holiday gatherings…or for just the two of you with a few quarts in the freezer for later. Move over chili, there’s another great pot in the house easy to customize with your very favorite usual suspect toppings, including crushed tortilla chips, red onions, queso fresco or Cheddar, lime crema, tomatoes, avocado, sliced jalapeƱos, or….
But….why has it been crazy? For quite a while, we’ve barely held our heads above water. Good pun, but you’ll need to know the story. Sad, but true.
Continue readingBlack Bean Pasta Salad

I thought it was time for a new pasta salad for summer not because I needed one but because Sylvie did.Ā Ā Sylvieās graduating from high school, you see, and of course sheās having a graduation party.Ā Ā Since Sylvie, a stellar singer and dancer, has cooked and baked with me since she was a wee girl, Iām thrilled to work out something fun and luscious to go with her dadās great pulled pork tacos and bring it along to fete one of my favorite students and people.
Continue readingFRIDAY FISH: Fish Fajitas and Black Beans

Looking for St. Patrickās Day Ideas? Just click on āSt. Patrickās Dayā in the categories section at right to find my favorites including Salmon on Caraway Cabbage, Irish Soda Bread with Potato Soup, Salmon on Colcannon, Colcannon Soup, Traditional Kerry Apple Cake, and more.
You know how when you eat with that same someone in various restaurants over the years, you can nearly look at the menu and figure out what they’ll order? “I knew you’d get that.” Hm. Right again. Such smugness. It’s not totally always, but my husband will regularly choose the fish tacos should they have, like magic (not), appeared on the list. And if he has a choice of beans (pintos or black), he’ll choose black even though at home he swears by my pinto beans. So if I’m one smart cookie, I’ll keep nearly-always-the-choice fish tacos on permanent rotation at our house. And I do. But they need a little tweaking or updating from year to year, especially during FRIDAY FISH weeks. This time, not only did they morph into “Fish Fajitas,” but they’re made in the air fryer. Because I could. But could you bake them in the oven? (See recipe) Of course. Might you fry them in oil? Sure. But I hope you’ll choose the air fryer method. It’s fast; it’s healthy; it’s fun.
Continue readingBlack Bean Soup with Fresh Corn and Bacon Salsa

When the corn is way higher than “knee-high at the Fourth of July,”and is, in fact, “as high as an elephant’s eye” (that would be right now), it’s time to use every little bit of it without delay. The very best corn is cooked within a few hours of being picked or even sooner if you’re lucky enough to own a corn field, but if there’s an ear or two in the fridge cooked yesterday or even fresh corn that’s been refrigerated for longer than it should be (tsk, tsk), skip the corn-on-the cob side and and make my Fresh Corn and Bacon Salsa. (Of course really fresh corn is also totally acceptable!) Perfect with salty, crispy-crunchy tortilla chips, it’s even better as a black bean soup topping–or how about on chili?
Continue readingGrilled Mini Southwest Turkey Meatloaves with Cilantro Coleslaw and Tuxedo Cowboy Beans

For many Americans of my generation, meatloaf was a regular dinner event as we were growing up. Perhaps it still is? And while meatloaf is easy and simple, it’s neither easy or simple to make well. Just bring up meatloaf when you’re gathered with a few other people. The responses will range from…
Jump to Recipe Continue readingINSTANT POT: Black Bean + Butternut Squash Soup
Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Need Thanksgiving ideas? Scroll down to near the bottom of the post.Ā
Easy Chicken-Black Bean Soup: Dinner Done!
I don’t make Chicken-Tortilla Soup; I don’t know why. People like it; my husband likes it. Well, I think I did once make it now that I’m thinking of it. Ā A favorite gloppy, flaccid and nondescript overly-seasoned offering in many inexpensive restaurants, I’ve never gotten my mind around it because you can’t tart up a poorly-made cheap soup with freshly made tortilla chips and a half-cup of Cheddar for gods’ sake. I know, I’m just being snarky and nit-picky. Squinting my eyes, pulling my mouth to one side, and making a nasty guttural noise here. So when I hit the pantry looking for something to round out a little “leftover” (an unfortunate adjective if there ever was one) rotisserie chicken for dinner, I made the soup you see above and immediately thought of it as:
Easy Chicken-Black Bean Soup.
Grilled Tuna Bowl Tonight–Rice and Beans for Lunch Tomorrow
Have a healthy, happy Valentine’s Day!
Lately I’ve been looking for something I could make that would include:
- protein
- whole grains
- vegetables
- dark, leafy greens
Dave and I both love meals in bowls. The bĆŗns and salads at one of our favorite local Vietnamese restaurant, Saigon Cafe,Ā are perfect one-dish mealsĀ because they’reĀ full of noodles or greens, herbs, chicken or tofu or shrimp, and are happily topped by a tiny load of peanuts. TheĀ Chipotle bowls and salads are addictive and are happy layersĀ of rice and beans with loads of spicy meat or crumbled tofu, my favorite vegan lunch to eat out. Rich and filling without being fattening, you can add cheese orĀ guacamole if you’re feeling lean. The bright and just spicy enough pico de gallo is usually enough for me and I skip the extra fat calories.
At home I occasionally throw together similar meals, but generally leave it to the restaurants so we can enjoy the bowls there. Ā But when you eat all three meals together at home as we do (except when one of us travels, which is often), you begin to look for something that will be cooked up at either lunch or dinner, yet could provide leftovers for the next day so that you’re not always trying to create meals from scratch. Ā Today I spent the entire day going over the changes needed to be made to the book after the proof readers had their way with it. Ā I was buggy-eyed and sore-backed by the time I got out of my chair at 5. Ā (While it seems like it’s taking God’s own time, I’ve only been working on this book for a year and a half. Ā It’s just that I figured it’d be done just a bit more quickly. Ā Insert scream.) Ā In other words, I needed simple. Continue reading




