Black Bean Salad (Christmas Eve 09)

Black Bean Salad
{courtesy of foodnetwork.com}

Prep time: 10 min.
Serves: 6-8 servings

Ingredients:

• 2 cans black beans, drained, about 30 ounces
• 1 (15-ounce) can corn, drained
• 2 Roma tomatoes, diced
• 1/4 cup diced red bell pepper
• 1/4 cup diced red onion
• 1/4 cup diced green onions
• 1/4 cup diced pineapple
• 1 tablespoon chopped cilantro leaves
• 1 jalapeno, seeded and minced
• 4 tablespoons sherry vinegar
• Juice of 1/2 lime
• 3 tablespoons honey
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• pinch ground cumin

Directions: mix all ingredients in a bowl and refrigerate for 1 hour. {we mixed the liquid ingredients-the last 6 ingredients-in a separate bowl and then poured over the bean mixture}.

I doubled the recipe for the par-tay on Christmas eve. Kody was the one who picked up all the ingredients while I was at work and accidently got a green pepper rather than the red that it called for. Worked just fine. We also just used apple cider vinegar since we already had it on hand.

gingerbread houses

Megs posted about our family G-bread activity. 'Twas fun, fun. Reminded me of when I made and assembled 33 Gingerbread houses for the YW to decorate. I had no place to store 33 houses and it was too humid in our house so I stored them in our van. I drove around oh so carefully for a week and managed not to break any. Made the van smell nice, too.

I am always experimenting with the dough as it requires different properties than regular cookie dough. Needs to be sturdier and bake evenly. I have several I have used in the past that I like, but this year stumbled upon one from Taste of Home that I really, really like.

Gingerbread House Dough

2 cups shortening (no substitutes)
2 cups sugar
2 cups dark molasses
2 tablespoons cinnamon
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
9 to 10 cups flour (all purpose)

In a 5 quart pan, heat shortening, sugar and molasses on low, stirring constantly until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat; add cinnamon, baking soda and salt.
Stir in flour, 1 cup at a time, until dough can be formed into a ball. Knead dough until even in color and smooth. (Not crumbly or dry), adding more flour if needed. Form into a log, cut into five equal pieces; wrap in plastic wrap.

Chill dough.

(At this point I work the dough a little, sometimes adding water if not pliable enough. It needs to be able to roll out like play doh). Place your house patterns (that have been greased) on rolled out dough (remember roll them out on the back of the cookie sheet) and cut out. Use scraps to re-roll.

Bake at 375 for 10-14 minutes or until cookie springs back when lightly touched. From past experience the edges will barely start to burn. That's okay as it needs to baked very firm. Remove from oven; immediately replace patterns on dough. (Use a hot pad to cover the cookie or you'll burn your hand) Cut around the edges to trim off excess cookie. Cool 3-4 minutes or until cookies begin to firm up. Repeat with remaining dough and patterns.

Don't attempt to put house together until it's completely cooled. Takes a couple of hours. Then you can assemble the house using meringue or royal icing or even better burnt sugar. Burnt sugar works great but is a little tricky. I like it because it's instant and doesn't waste or use up a lot of icing. It eventually gets covered up with icing and candy anyway.

Here's how:
Get a frying pan. Put one Tablespoon of regular sugar in pan. Melt it over med heat. When it turns liquid spoon it or dip edges of house into it and working very very quickly connect the edges of house together.

Meringue Powder Icing
8 cups powdered sugar
6 Tablespoons meringue powder
3/4 to 1 cup warm water
Parchment triangles or bag
Decorating tips
Candies

In large bowl, (metal bowl) beat the sugar, meringue powder and 3/4 cup water on low until blended. Beat on high for 8-10 min or until stiff peaks form, adding additional water, 1 tablespoon at a time if needed. Place a damp paper towel over bowl and cover tightly until ready to use.

Can buy meringue powder wherever cake decorating supplies are sold. Michael's sells them.
I prefer to use meringue powder over Royal Icing because if it starts to harden in the bowl you can re-beat it and still use it.

Here are a couple of good sites that offer free patterns/templates:

http://www.gingerbread-house-heaven.com/gingerbread-house-patterns.html
scroll all way down for free templates

http://www.graphicality.co.uk/gingerbread/gingerbread_patterns.htm

http://www.pastrysampler.com/Questions_and_Answers/gingerbread_house.htm
again, scroll down a ways for a list of additional sites and patterns.