Experimenting with Cooking
I’ve always enjoyed baking. I’m comfortable with recipes, measurements and directions. I’ve built my confidence up enough over the years to even experiment a bit with changing recipes to make them my own. This enjoyment has never transferred into cooking for me. All the great cooks in my life are the types that just wing it; they don’t need to use recipes. That intimidates me; I’m a recipe gal.
I also think I like baking so much because it doesn’t seem like a chore. When you bake something it is usually a treat. People savor it and the item usually last longer than one meal, unlike dinner. You have to prepare dinner every single night, usually slaving over it for at least an hour and then when you finally sit down to eat it’s all over in less time than it took to prepare. There is one exception, dinner parties. I don’t mind cooking for a crowd. Somehow it is more rewarding, not so mundane.
My husband has always done the majority of cooking in our house. He is a fantastic cook! He is amazing at just throwing some stuff into a pan and poof: perfection! I wish I had his ability to cook. He seems to enjoy cooking even when it’s only for the two of us. Or maybe that’s just what I tell myself in order to justify not contributing my fair share to dinnertime.
To my husband’s sheer delight, I’ve recently challenged myself to take on 50% of the meal preparation. This is a BIG deal. I want to succeed. I want to enjoy cooking for my family. I’m attempting to set myself up for success by seeking out new recipes to try, experimenting with making them my own and blogging about it by sharing recipes with you regularly. So far so good, I bought myself a slow cooker and was referred to
A Year of Slow Cooking by a friend on twitter (Tatiana from
It was a Very Good Year). It is a fabulous blog full of delicious crock-pot recipes. I’ve also been experimenting with creating my own crock-pot recipes–today I’d like to share one with you.
Chorizo Black Bean Soup
250g Mild Spanish-Style Chorizo chopped
2 -540 ml cans Black Beans drained and rinsed
4 cups low sodium chicken broth
½ a large brown onion
1 red pepper
1 green pepper
½ - 398ml can crushed pineapple
2 cups salsa
1 ½ tsp cumin
½ tsp coriander
½ tsp chili powder
Using a 4-quart crock-pot, place beans at the bottom. Mix the rest of the ingredients except the chicken broth together and place in the crock-pot. Pour in the chicken broth. Cook on low for 6-8 hours. Once cooked, use a hand blender (like a Braun) to thicken the broth. I didn’t blend it too much, just enough to thicken the broth but still leave lots of chunks.
You can serve as is, with garlic bread or we found sourdough to be a great pairing. Or serve with garnishes such as shredded cheese, avocado slices or sour cream.
Hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we have.
~Sarah
Labels: Chorizo Black Bean Soup, Cooking, Recipe, Sarah
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