Black Bean Soup (revised)

Heat up in large sided sloped fry pan

• olive oil

Saute by adding one at a time as you chop fine to make soft, sauteed vegetable blend

• small onion
• celery stalk 
• 1/4 - 1/2 sweet pepper, any color
• couple handfuls kale or other green 
• small handful of cilantro if desired
• sunflower or pumpkin seeds ground fine, small handful
• small tomato
• 1-2 garlic cloves

Deglaze pan with

• juice from 1/2 lemon or lime

Add, stir to combine, and heat on low till warm

• 1 can black beans with juice (16oz)
• 1 can refried black beans (16 oz) 

Then add for more flavor and stir to combine

• juice from the other half of the lemon or lime

Mango Balls with Chia Seeds (Version 2)

adapted from: https://minimalistbaker.com/mango-energy-bites/



Soak in hot water for 5 minutes till soft and pliable, drain, then pat dry.

• 4-5 oz package of dried mango

While mango is soaking grind then set aside

• 1- 1/4c walnuts

 Grind to make paste with

• pliable mango
• 12 dates

Then add and blend together. (Can use hand if food processor won't do it.)

• previously ground walnuts 
• 1 T ground flax seed meal
• 1 T chia seeds
• 1/3 c coconut flakes
• 1/2 t. cinnamon

Roll into about 3/4" balls.

Roll balls in

• about 1/2 c or so of coconut flakes

See notes from Version 1
https://katsrecipes.blogspot.com/2018/12/raw-mango-balls-rolled-in-coconut.html

I didn't use any powdered sugar and they were sweet enough for me.

Less sweet raw chocolate covered peanut butter balls

1. Grind in food processor and set aside

• 2 c. walnuts

2. Grind in food processor

• 2 c. (about 8oz) dates 

3. Add

• previously ground walnuts
• 1 c. powdered sugar (previously was 2 c.)
• 2 c. peanut butter

 Roll into balls and place on wax paper covered cookie sheet

4. Melt in 30 second increments in microwave

• 1 bag dark chocolate chips (Or semi-sweet if you want sweeter)

5. Dip peanut butter balls into melted chocolate, let cool and harden.

My taste buds are moving away from super sweet foods so this year made everything less sweet. Hope everyone still likes the cookies. However, I still made the traditional rice krispie treats so those are plenty sweet. This year I don't have a gluten free kitchen and was making everything downstairs before running it upstairs to bake. What a pain.

updated 4 ingredient peanut butter cookies with almond flour

15' at 350F, Very fragile until they cool
about 3 pans of cookies

Mix together

• 3 c. peanut butter
• 1 c almond flour
• 2 c sugar
• 3 eggs

roll into balls, place on cookie sheet, flatten with fork in cross hatch pattern

Raw Mango balls rolled in coconut

adapted from: https://minimalistbaker.com/mango-energy-bites/

1. Toast 8-12 minutes at 350F. (Not sure if this step is needed, but it made the nuts smell very nice.)

• 1- 1/4  c. raw walnuts/cashews combined

2. Pour hot water over and soak for 5-7 minutes till soft & pliable but not soggy.

• 4-5 oz (about 1 c.) package dried unsweetened mango

VERY IMPORTANT. Drain and pat dry before using or dough will be too wet

3. Grind toasted nuts to find meal in food processor. Remove and set aside

4. Use food processor to make paste/ sticky dough

• Soaked, drained mango
• 10 dates (I used Tunisian.) 

 5. Add to food processor

• ground toasted nuts
• 2 T ground flax (didn't have hemp) (Add more if dough too wet) (add more dates if dough too dry)
• 1/3 c unsweetened finely shredded (desiccated) coconut (can grind flakes to this texture)
• pinch salt

6. Roll about a teaspoon into balls

7.  Roll balls into mixture of

• 1/4 c. powdered sugar
• 1/2 c. desiccated coconut

These have a very delicate flavor and weren't very sweet that's why I added the powdered sugar. I wonder what would make the mango flavor more intense. Or maybe cinnamon would be good in these?

Store 3-4 days room temp, 1 week fridge, 1 month freezer

Coconut balls dipped in chocolate

adapted from: https://minimalistbaker.com/5-ingredient-dark-chocolate-macaroons/

8-10' at 350 F
Makes 18-20 small cookies
(I line baking sheets with foil to try to keep gluten contamination down.)

1. Use food processor to make into a rolling dough like consistency that can be squeezed into balls.

• 8 oz package, about 5 cups coconut chips (that's all we had available) Only 1 package fits in my food processor so made batch twice and combined them.

 2. Add through food processor opening while running

• scant 1/2 t. vanilla extract
• 3 T maple syrup

(Note: Do not put dough in fridge before rolling into balls. It gets very hard.)

3. Roll about a teaspoon of mixture between hands to make balls and put on baking sheet.

I didn't brush tops with melted coconut oil and sprinkle with leftover crumbs. Maybe that would have browned the balls.

4. Bake 8-10' at 350F, let cool. Move to wax paper covered cookie sheet.

5. Dip bottoms in

• 1/2- 1 c melted dark chocolate chips (I had extra so made chocolate "X" on top of cookies

This recipe looks interesting.
https://minimalistbaker.com/dark-chocolate-golden-milk-macaroons/

3 day soup; crockpot chicken to green soup to fish soup

Crockpot Chicken (Day 1)

Put in crockpot set on high:

• 1 onion chopped
• 2 celery chopped (some on top of chicken)
• 2 legs with thighs attached chicken
• Cover with water
• about 1 T salt

Then right before you leave, turn crockpot to low and cook till you get home.

When you get home;

• Add thinly sliced carrots to crockpot
• Add sliced celery
• Cube and cook some potatoes, then flavor with rosemary, butter, and salt. 

Put leftover soup in covered soup pot infridge for next day.

Green Soup (Day 2)

While soup is heating, add

• can white navy / northern beans
• 2 thinly sliced precooked hot italian sausage

Once soup is hot, add

• well washed, thinly sliced, bunch of kale or other greens

Then turn off heat. Soup is ready to eat when greens are wilted.

Put leftover soup in covered soup pot infridge for next day.

Fish Soup (Day 3)

While soup is heating, add

• precook 2 potatoes cubed
• 2 cut in cubes tomatoes
• oregano
• dry minced garlic
• cayenne pepper
•  about 1/4 c cilantro

Then add 2 pieces of fish cut in cubes and turn off heat.
Add juice from one lime or lemon.

Leftovers can be frozen for another meal.

Minimal effort, 3 different winter comfort meals after working in the cold all day.