Super Fast, Super Good Supper

I love Woman's Day magazine. I've subscribed for many, many years and always look forward to receiving a new issue in the mail. On the cover of the February 1 issue, one particular "teaser" caught my eye - "50 Ten-Minute Meals." Now, ten-minutes meals I can really get into. Here's the first one I tried. It doesn't have a name but was number 25 on the list.

Super Fast, Super Good #25

Brown ground beef in large skillet, stir in canned chunky tomatoes and green chiles, tomato sauce and chili seasoning mix. Simmer until slightly thickened; stir in canned corn and rinsed beans. Heat through.

Now, that's my kind of recipe; leaves a lot of room for individual preferences and doesn't dirty up the measuring cups. I used frozen corn that I had set out earlier to thaw and I used a can of black beans. We had one tasty meal and it was on the table in a big hurry, which is my usual, normal speed. Perfect!

Easy Cheesy Garlic Biscuits

I got this Bisquick recipe from the Betty Crocker site, but when I made it I changed it a little bit. First the original version, then I'll tell you what I did.

Cheese-Garlic Biscuits

Prep Time: 5 min
Start to Finish: 15 min
Makes: 9 biscuits

2 cups Original Bisquick® mix
2/3 cup milk
1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese (2 ounces)
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder

1. Heat oven to 450ºF.
2. Stir Bisquick mix, milk and cheese until soft dough forms. Drop dough by 9 spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet.
3. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until golden brown. Stir together butter and garlic powder; brush over warm biscuits.

Now, that sounds really good and resembles the biscuits they serve at Red Lobster. When I made these to go with a big pot of soup the other night, my cheese grater was in the dishwasher waiting to be washed. Lazy me, I didn't want to take time to mess with that and didn't have pre-shredded cheese, so I grabbed the big container of parmesan cheese and used that instead!

Clever, huh? You know what? We loved the biscuits with the parmesan cheese! They turned out very light and fluffy, exceptionally so for drop biscuits, and tasted great with our homemade chicken/turkey noodle soup. I will be making that variation again, and very soon. Let me know if you try it.

Ham and Bean Soup

Got leftover ham? Here's a perfect recipe to help you use up that ham as well as warm your insides on a chilly, wintery day.

Win-Win Ham and Bean Soup

1 bag dry navy beans (2 cups)
6 cups water
1/4 lb ham, cubed (throw in the ham bone if you have it)
1 medium onion, chopped
1 or 2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 cup diced celery
1 carrot, diced
1 potato, peeled and diced
2 tsp instant chicken bouillon
salt and pepper to taste (there's enough salt in the ham and the bouillon for our tastes)

Sort and wash beans, cover with water and bring to a boil; boil 2 minutes, cover and remove from heat. Let stand 1 hour. Add remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer 2 or 3 hours until tender. Remove the ham bone and pull off the bits of ham and return to the soup. (Those bits are my favorite part.) Add 6 cups of water during cooking. Serve with cornbread.

You already know that beans are good for you, and this is such a flavorful bean soup, so those two things make this a win-win recipe in my book. We love it.