Beans, Beans, The Musical Fruit...

Today I want to talk about food. I had fun cooking and tasting a few new foods today and thankfully it all turned out delish!
First of all,my new fascination is cooking with wine. Most all alcohols make me ill so I had never learned much about wine. The lemon artichoke chicken recipe I tried last week called for a dry white wine so for the first time ever,I bought a bottle. It added a savory rich flavor to the chicken and spiked my curiosity to use it more often. I used this recommended brand,Buckley's Cove and I got it CHEAP at Grocery Outlet.

I finally found quinoa (keen-wa) earlier this month and have patiently waited for an opportunity to try it...

I also went on a bean buying spree last week-black,black eye,pinto,split pea,soup blend...to name a few. I have a theory that beans are one of the keys to healthy frugal living. At 69 cents per bag,I am feeling a bit validated so far...
 Then I saw a cook on TV make turkey and Brie turnovers-it looked too easy! I headed on a quest to find pastry sheets. I returned with 3 boxes of them and a box of phyllo dough just in case.The cook on TV made an orange glaze to drizzle over her turnovers,it looked good but my mind turned immediately to  cranberries. Could I make a cranberry sauce out of jellied cranberries? I needed to know. These turnovers suddenly sounded too good to be true!

 So this all leads me to tonight's dinner..

Mixed bean soup with quinoa and veggies-I had been told that beans were a pain because of the soaking and cooking. Not true! Yes they do require an hour of soaking and a few hours of cooking but they are so worth it! Easy and cheap. Then I added sauteed garlic,onion and green pepper,homemade chicken broth frozen from last chicken,a little crookneck squash,1/2 cup of quinoa, a crazy mix of everything from canned mushrooms to dried veggie mix and some turkey. It was a thick hearty soup,perfect for this rainy day and cost me less than $5 to make! Quinoa is fun but strange. It's tiny little clear balls,similar to but smaller than tapioca, that kinda taste like rice and barley.

Quinoa is supposed to be a low fat and healthy "superfood"...but I think I will stick to rice and barley.

Turkey & Brie Turnovers- These look and taste impressive but are shamelessly easy to make! Defrost puff pastry and cut each sheet into 4 triangle pieces. In the middle of each triangle put diced turkey and a slice of Brie. Egg wash (another first for me-egg and a tsp of water) the edges and fold the pastry triangle in half.Press edges with a fork to seal and finish with a light egg wash on top. Bake in a 400 degree oven for about 15 minutes. Best eaten with hands and dipped in cranberry reduction...

Cranberry reduction ( a Cara original)-Empty one can of jellied cranberry sauce into a sauce pan. Add 1/4 of water and heat on medium while whisking the jellied cranberries into a liquid.Add a splash of white wine (this stuff is sooo much more fun to cook with than drink!),a big pinch of brown sugar and a pinch of salt to taste. Whisk and reduce for 5-10 minutes. Del was licking it off his empty plate..it was that good :)

I also made cupcakes and cookies but I have made those many times before..
I love to play with food.
Back to work tomorrow....