Cuban Black Beans

This is one of my favorite recipes that I have been making for a long time.  I have served this for company many times and it always gets rave reviews.  It is exceptional with fresh squeezed lime juice.



Serves: 6 to 8
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 3 hours 15 minutes (includes 2 ½ hours baking time)  This recipe is adapted slightly from America’s Test Kitchen Family Cookbook

Serve these beans with plain white rice, sour cream, hot sauce, lime wedges and chopped tomatoes.  

Ingredients:

2 ounces bacon (2 slices), chopped fine
2 onions, chopped medium
1 red bell pepper, stemmed, seeded, and chopped medium
1 teaspoon cumin
Salt
6 garlic cloves minced
2 teaspoons minced fresh oregano or ¾ teaspoon dried
6 cups water
1 pound dried black beans (2 cups), picked over and rinsed
2 bay leaves
¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
½ pound chorizo sausage, quartered lengthwise and sliced ½ inch thick (you can also remove the casing and crumble it or use smoked sausage)
¼ cup minced fresh cilantro, optional (I omit the cilantro b/c we don't like it)
Pepper

1. Adjust an oven rack to the lower-middle position and heat the oven to 300 degrees. Cook the bacon in a large Dutch oven over medium heat until crisp, about 8 minutes. Stir in the onions, bell pepper, cumin, and 1 teaspoon salt. Continue to cook until the vegetables are softened, about 8 minutes.
2. Stir in the garlic and oregano and cook until fragrant, about 15 seconds. Stir in the water, scraping up the browned bits. Stir in the beans, bay leaves, red pepper flakes, and baking soda. Bring to a boil. Cover and transfer to the oven. Bake stirring every 30 minutes, until the beans are tender, 2 to 2 ½ hours.
3. Remove the lid and stir in the sausage. Continue to bake, uncovered, until the liquid has thickened, about 30 minutes.
4. Discard the bay leaves. Let the beans sit for 10 minutes. Stir in the cilantro and season with salt and pepper to taste.

To Make Ahead

After cooking, the beans can be cooled to room temperature and refrigerated, wrapped tightly in plastic wrap, for up to 4 days. Reheat over medium-low heat before serving.

From the America’s Test Kitchen Family Cookbook Copyright © 2006.  Published by America’s Test Kitchen.  All Rights Reserved. 

I made this Cars pull-apart cupcake cake for my oldest son's birthday this summer.  It was actually pretty simple to make.  I put a small amount of frosting on the bottom of each cupcake (so they would stick to the cake board) and pushed them close together to make this S shaped road.  My son's name starts with an S.  I colored some frosting black and frosted the cupcakes together as if they were a cake.  I then cut large flat shaped marshmallows into smaller pieces and painted them yellow with food coloring spray to make the markings on the road.  I used small white sprinkles to look like gravel along the side of the road.  To make this an authentic Cars cake, I raided the toy box for Lightening McQueen and Tow Mater, gave them a bath in the dishwasher and then placed them on the cake.  

The hardest part was keeping the kids out of the cake at the party.  They wanted to drive the cars on the cake.