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Feb 12

Piano Soup

Sometimes the evening meal hour takes me by surprise. You would think that after all these years the pattern of daily recurrence would be imprinted on my brain, but too often I find myself at 5:00 staring into the pantry wondering how I failed to remember that hungry boys would need to eat AGAIN!

One of my favorite standbys for this sort of predicament is Piano Soup. I learned the basic concept from my friend Christa in Germany when she served it for lunch one day. She used white beans, but when I needed a bigger batch one time and didn’t have enough white beans, I added black ones and re-named the soup to cover my lack of planning. Now I hum “Ebony and Ivory” and dance like Stevie Wonder while throwing it all together. It makes a delicious soup that college students and kids both love, and only takes about 10 minutes.

You’ll need some chopped cooked chicken, which I usually have on hand from periodically roasting rowing chickens….remember these guys? They get de-boned, chopped up and placed in quart-sized freezer bags to be used when I need “some chicken.”

Here are the ingredients you’ll need from the pantry.

Rinse the black and white beans – however many you need for the amount of soup you want. It takes four cans for my family.

Pour in some green chili enchilada sauce. The amount is a matter of taste. I only use half of a can this size and put the remainder in a freezer bag for next time.

And some chicken broth – however much it takes to cover the beans.

Drop in the thawed chicken.

Add a dash of sugar if you need to cut the heat. I throw in about ¼ cup for a batch this size.

Stir.

Heat.

Eat.

Meal time crisis averted!

Next I’ll post a slow cooker recipe…because after forgetting about an evening meal, the pendulum often swings the other direction and I start cooking in the morning.

Feb 10

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Another Black Apron in Ku-Ki-Do

Megan’s was one of “our” college students in Pullman. You’ve seen her before on this blog, in my kitchen, and here she is holding her graduation cupcake.

Before starting pharmacy school, she decided to master Ku-Ki-Do – evidence that she already understands good medicine! She’s been texting me pictures of the learning process and I have to say this award is actually overdue. She’s probably given up by now!

Here’s a picture of the first really successful batch that emerged late last summer after some initial trouble shooting.  These were peanut butter chocolate chip. Yum.

Here’s a batch of straight-up chocolate chip.

A couple of weeks ago, she sent pictures of another perfect looking batch, I would show them to you, but the photo isn’t enlarging well from my phone. It made me hungry trying to work with it though!!

So, without further delay….here’s your black apron, Megan! Congratulations – and send the recipe for that peanut butter chocolate chip variation my way!