As a thank-you for my guest post on their blog, the BeeWell team sent me some treats last week ago, including this canned crab. I knew immediately what it was time for – crab cakes!

I used Ellie Krieger’s crab cake recipe, because I think it’s, hands-down, the best crab cake to come out of my kitchen. Be sure to dice the bell pepper and scallion super fine (I usually chop them in my mini food processor), because you don’t want lumpy crab cakes that don’t hold together! While the crab cakes baked, I whipped up a simple spicy mustard sauce (recipe below), fried a few eggs, and massaged some kale for a salad. Perfect Friday meal!

Spicy Mustard Sauce

Ingredients

• 1/4c mayonaise or veganaise
• 1/4 jalapeno pepper (remove the seeds if you don’t want it spicy! You’ll still get the flavor without all the heat)
• 1/4 red bell pepper
• 2 1/4t Dijon mustard
• 2t dried chives (or 1T fresh)

Method

1. Combine all ingredients in a food processor until smooth. Keep chilled until ready to use.

Enjoy!

And the kitchen looks like this:

But we managed to clean up enough to make eggplant burgers this week. And I managed to catch my breath long enough to blog about them.

I snapped this picture during a (very) late dinner after a (very) long day at work, so it’s certainly not as piled high with toppings as I would normally enjoy. I was more interested in getting the food straight to my belly!

Eggplant Burgers

Ingredients

• 1 eggplant, sliced into 1/4″ discs
• olive oil
• 1/2 red onion, diced
• green bell pepper, diced
• 1T dried parsley
• 14oz great Northern beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 small handful of walnuts
• 1/2c hummus
• 2 cloves of garlic, smashed
• 1t salt
• 1t cumin
• 1c bread crumbs

Method

1. Preheat oven to 400. Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray and arrange eggplant in a single layer. Mist lightly with olive oil.
2. Roast for 10 minutes on one side, then flip and roast for an additional 5 minutes. Remove eggplant from oven and set aside.
3. Meanwhile, heat 1T olive oil in a skillet over medium high heat and saute onion until soft, 8-10 minutes.
4. When eggplant is cool enough to handle, quarter each slice.
5. Place eggplant, onion, bell pepper, parsley, beans, walnuts, garlic, salt, and cumin in a bowl and stir to combine. Add hummus and stir.
6. Place the mixture into a food processor and mix until everything comes together (only about 30 seconds).
7. Return the mixture to the bowl and add breadcrumbs, using your hands to make patties (I got 8).
8. Line a baking sheet with foil and spray lightly with cooking spray.
9. Place the patties on the foil and cook for about 40 minutes, flipping them halfway through.
10. Serve on buns with spinach/lettuce, tomatoes, onions, avocados, or any of your other favorite burger toppings. Enjoy!

I actually followed the recipe until step 6 over the weekend, then tossed the mixture into a tupperware and stuck it in the fridge. I had a few meetings late after school this week, so all Brian had to do was come home, turn on the oven add breadcrumbs to the eggplant mix, and form the patties himself. The mixture is much easier to work with when it’s cool anyway.

Enjoy!

Last year I made a whole bunch of resolutions. I kept some of them (I ran my second half-marathon, read more, brought less work home, saved money) and didn’t keep some of them (cooking from a cookbook 1x a week, doing more yoga, running 1000 miles). Quite frankly, 11 resolutions was a lot to keep track of!

This year, I want to focus on self-reliance.

For me, a big part of learning to cook has been learning to make things that I used to buy all the time. Nut butter, bread, pickles, BBQ sauce, marinara, salad dressing, pesto, etc. It’s fun realizing that I can make all of these things myself and exciting to save money, reduce packaging, and control things like salt and preservatives. Why wouldn’t you make your own when had have the opportunity?

Today, let’s talk about making something that I always assumed was kind of complicated and time-consuming – cooking your own beans.

We eat a lot of beans here at Casa Ellis. And while paying $.099/can is not a terrific hardship, I was sure that by cooking my own beans I could cut down that cost significantly.

I started with 2 pounds of dried black beans from the bulk section at Sprouts. They cost $1.67/lb, so I paid $3.34 total.

When I got home, I sorted the beans, removing any broken ones, and rinsed them. Then, I dumped them in my slow cooker with 12 cups of water (6 cups per pound), turned it on high, set the timer for 4.5 hours, and walked away.

I checked them at 4 hours and they were nice and tender, so I drained them, rinsed them, and set them aside to cool. When they were cool enough to handle, I weighed them out into 15oz baggies. I ended up with 6 bags, bringing my cost per can (bag) to $0.56, a savings of $0.43. It might not sound like a lot, but when I buy 5 cans of black beans a week, it certainly adds up. And when bulk beans go on sale, which they are sure to do, you can bet I’ll be borrowing my mom’s slow cooker to make a mega-batch!

I think I’ll try garbanzo beans next – we don’t eat a lot of them during the winter, but I go through cans of them like crazy when it gets warmer.

Do you cook your own beans?

I blogged all of 4 times in December without offering nary an explanation, but I am now here to explain it all. If you follow me on Pinterest, you may have noticed a new board pop up about three weeks ago titled Calabazas. And in this Calabazas board, you may have noticed my home design interests becoming more focused (greens and blues and linen) and a whole lot of DIY projects and paint colors popping up.

And if you follow me on Twitter or Instagram, you may have noticed this little picture:

Brian and I have been insanely busy and I’ll be back in a day or two to bring you up to speed on all the latest developments. Today, I wanted to pop in and share the lovely box of treats I received this month from Megan at Eat My Beets. I got this box almost two weeks ago but haven’t had the opportunity to really dig into it yet because of all our holiday obligations.

Megan sent me lots of goodies that I’m super excited to sample, including:

• Extra-large Virginia peanuts
• Virginia apple butter – yum!
• Her favorite natural peanut butter
• Bob’s Red Mill Oat Bran
• The dry ingredients for her chocolate peanut butter protein balls (I can’t wait to mix these up and snack on them!)

I loved how Megan’s gifts were divided in Virginia staples and her own must-eat staples – it’s so fun seeing what other people love to eat and such a great surprise to get a box of food from someone you don’t know who has a lot of the same food interests as you! Thanks, Megan!

I sent out a box this month too, so you’ll have to visit Molly at Hungry, Hungry Runner to see what I shipped all the way to Chicago!

I’m sitting January out for reasons I’ll explain soon, but if you want to participate in January’s Foodie Pen Pal Exchange (it’s so fun!), send an email to Lindsay at theleangreenbean@gmail.com and include the following information:

-Your full name
-Your email address
-Your blog name/address
-Your twitter handle (if applicable)

Hurry! She needs to hear from you by January 4 to pair you up with another blogger!

Happy New Year!

Check out my recommendations for 12 kitchen staples for healthy and easy cooking this holiday season.

Big news coming soon (and only 3 days until Christmas break)!

~~~~~

I made this butternut squash soup last week and it was so delicious, I ate all of it before taking a picture. Oops. You’ll have to trust me when I say this is up there with some of the tastiest things I’ve ever made.

Creamy Butternut Squash Soup with Shrimp

Ingredients

• 2T unsalted butter
• ~1lb frozen large shrimp (peeled and deveined), thawed*
• 1 medium onion, diced small
• 1T dried sage (or 2T fresh, finely chopped)
• 1/2 large butternut squash
• 1/4t cayenne pepper
• 3c vegetable broth
• salt
• 1/4c Greek yogurt

*This was a LOT of shrimp. You could easily make this soup with 3/4 or even 1/2 pound of shrimp and it would still be filling and delicious.

Method

1. Peel the squash, cut it into small pieces, and set aside.
2. In a large Dutch oven or heavy pot, melt butter over medium heat. Add the shrimp and cook until opaque throughout, about 6 minutes total. Flip halfway through. Transfer shrimp to a plate and cover with foil.
3. Increase heat to medium-high. Add 1T butter, chopped onion, and sage. Cook until onion is soft, about 8-10 minutes. Add squash, cayenne, and broth and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, partially covered, until squash is tender (about 20 minutes). Season well with salt and add Greek yogurt.
4. Carefully pour soup into a blender or use an immersion blender and puree until smooth. Add shrimp and stir to combine. Serve with fried sage leaves, if desired.

~~~~~

I feel bad giving you a picture-less post, so here’s a ridiculous photo I snapped during class last week while my students were playing the Status Game (we were about to read Hamlet, and understanding status is important for the play). This particular kid is from Sweden and makes me laugh crazy hard every single day.

He only had an 8 of spades.

These weren’t a huge hit with the kids because they aren’t total sugar-bombs, but my coworkers and I loved them. It’s like the flavors of pumpkin pie with the consistency of a brownie. And chocolate chips, obviously.

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bars

Ingredients

• 1c flour
• 1t unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1t baking powder
• 1/2t cinnamon
• 1/2t allspice
• 1/2t nutmeg
• 1/4t salt
• 2/3c packed brown sugar
• 1/2c canned pumpkin puree
• 1 whole egg
• 2 egg whites
• 2T vegetable oil
• 1/2c chocolate chips

Method

1. Preheat oven to 350 and spray and 8×8 cooking baking dish with nonstick spray
2. In a small bowl, whisk together the first 7 dry ingredients.
3. In a larger bowl, beat together the brown sugar, pumpkin, eggs, and vegetable oil.
4. Slowly add dry ingredients to wet, beating on low to combine.
5. Mix in chocolate chips by hand.
6. Pour evenly into baking dish and bake for 15-20 minutes, until it tests done in the center. Allow to cool to room temperature before cutting to serve.

~~~~~

The winner of the Semifreddi’s biscotti giveaway is:

You didn’t leave an email address, so get in touch with me (meganrose.ellis {at} gmail {dot} com) so I can get your biscotti to you!

Speaking of gifts, I got a lovely package in the mail this month, courtesy of Lindsey’s Foodie PenPal program!

I love coming home from work to find a mystery box at my front door!

I was paired up with Jaima from Jaima’s Journey and she totally hooked me up!

I was surprised with a box full of all kinds of goodies, including homemade granola, homemade apple sauce, eggnog tea (SO GOOD!), Justin’s nut butter, dried mango, chocolate and cookies, KIND bars, and a vanilla bean (one of my favorite gifts to receive!

I put a box in the mail too, but you’ll have to check out Erin’s post to see what I sent her!

If you want to participate in the Foodie PenPal program, it’ super easy – here are the details from Lindsey. If you want to participate in December, make sure you contact her by the 4th!

• On the 5th of every month, you will receive your penpal pairing via email. It will be your responsibility to contact your penpal and get their mailing address and any other information you might need like allergies or dietary restrictions.

• You will have until the 15th of the month to put your box of goodies in the mail. On the last day of the month, you will post about the goodies you received from your penpal!

• The boxes are to be filled with fun foodie things, local food items or even homemade treats! The spending limit is $15. The box must also include something written. This can be anything from a note explaining what’s in the box, to a fun recipe…use your imagination

• You are responsible for figuring out the best way to ship your items depending on their size and how fragile they are. (Don’t forget about flat rate boxes!

• Foodie Penpals is open to blog readers as well as bloggers. If you’re a reader and you get paired with a blogger, you are to write a short guest post for your penpal to post on their blog about what you received. If two readers are paired together, neither needs to worry about writing a post for that month. *US Residents only please at this time- hopefully we can expand soon!*

If you’re interested in participating for December, please send an email to Lindsay at theleangreenbean@gmail.com and include the following information:

• Your full name
• Your email address
• Your blog name/address
• Your twitter handle (if applicable)

Happy last day of November!

I got so much great feedback on my 2010 Gift Guide that I knew I needed to revisit the guide for 2011. Of course, all of my ideas from last year still stand, but here are a few new ideas to add to your list.

Calendar Journal

I love calendars, and this is the cutest present and such a cool idea for a family with a new baby. It would look so pretty in a ceramic berry box like this one from Crate and Barrel.

A Monthly Delivery Box

How fun would it be to surprise a friend or family member with a subscription to Birchbox (beauty samples) or Lollihop (healthy, organic snacks)? Most services like these have the option to buy a 1-3 month gift subscription. I’m especially excited about the new Turntable Kitchen Pairings Box – a curated food and music discovery box!

A CSA Share

Another great monthly gift option is a CSA share! You can use LocalHarvest.org to find one near you or your gift recepient.

Gifts for Pampering

This year, I’m especially smitten with the idea of filling stockings with gifts for pampering, like this gorgeous eye makeup compact from Stila, or these AHAVA Dead Sea Salt wands for your bath, or this lovely Jurlique Rose Love Balm. And who doesn’t love a new scarf? I want one of these gauze scarves in every color, thanks.

And if you’re in the mood for DIY, you could make a batch of bath fizzies or a sea salt body scrub or a peppermint foot scrub. Cheap, easy, and totally indulgent.

Foodie Gifts

Of course, it wouldn’t be a Running Foodie Gift Guide without lots of foodie gift recommendations!

If you want to do the cooking yourself, consider making preserved lemons, BBQ sauce, enchilada sauce, nut butters (my two favorites), energy truffles, or a chai concentrate.

If you’re gifting to a cook or foodie, I love the idea of receiving an ingredient that I wouldn’t pick up normally or might consider a splurge, like whole vanilla beans, saffron, star anise pods, whole nutmegs, or fancy sea salts (like pink Himalayan, wild porcini, or truffle). I would also love to open some fancy coffee, unique pasta, or crazy chocolate, like these Chuao chocolate bars, which come in fun flavors like Potato Chip, Earl Grey, and Firecracker (with chipotle, sea salt, and popping candy!).

I have one box of each flavor to give away to a lucky Running Foodie reader. Just comment below telling me about the best gift you have ever given. The giveaway will run until midnight PST on Friday, December 2 and I’ll announce the winner (selected via Random.org) on Saturday.

Good luck, and happy giving!