Black Beans

From Sweet Mama Janisse’s Kitchen

Black Bean Soup
(Makes 4 to 6 servings)

Ingredients:

1 onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 celery ribs, finely chopped
¼ large red bell pepper, finely chopped
2 small chicken bouillon cubes
1-½ cups boiling water
2 (15 oz) cans black beans, undrained
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon cumin
Juice of ½ a lemon
1 ½ Tablespoons cornstarch

Directions:

In a pot, combine the first six ingredients; simmer for 10 minutes.
Add half a can of beans, salt and cumin; cook for 5 minutes.
Puree soup (you can use a immersion blender and puree right in the pot).
Add the rest of the beans to the soup.
Combine the cornstarch with 1 ½ Tablespoons water.
Add the lemon and the cornstarch to the soup; cook until thickened.

Stuffed Mirlitons

Stuffed Mirlitons

From Sweet Mama Janisse’s Kitchen

Bless My Soul Café

Stuffed Mirlitons

(Makes 2 dozen)

2  8-ounce mirliton squash

      

Cook squash, covered, in enough boiling

salted water to cover squash, about 40

minutes or till tender.  Drain. When cool enough to handle,

cut mirliton lengthwise in half.  Remove seeds. 

Scoop out pulp to within ½ inch of skin.  Set

shells aside.  Chop pulp.  Drain. Squeeze

pulp between paper towels to remove excess liquid.  Set aside.

1 medium onion, chopped         

1/4 cup chopped celery            

1 clove garlic, minced             

1/4 cup butter or margarine

For stuffing, cook onion, celery, and garlic in butter till tender. 

Remove from heat.

8 ounces fresh or frozen shrimp

           

Reserve 4 whole shrimp for garnish,cooked, shelled           

if desired.  Cut remaining shrimp into small shrimp pieces. 

Stir shrimp, mirliton pulp, toasted breadcrumbs, parsley,

salt, red pepper,and black pepper into squash shells.

1-cup soft breadcrumbs,toasted (1 ¼ slices)

      

2 Tablespoons snipped parsley

1/8-teaspoon salt               

1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper   

1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper   

Celery leaves (optional)               

 

Place shells in a 10x6x2-inch baking dish.

Bake stuffed squash, uncovered, in a 350?

oven about 30 minutes or till heated through.
Garnish with shrimp and celery

 

http://www.southerneasyrecipes.com/1_Rec_Class_06e.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chayote

Cabbage

The Food of the masses

From Sweet Mama Janisse’s Kitchen

Bless My Soul Café

 

1 large head of cabbage, sliced

6 slices bacon

1/2 an onion

1-tablespoon flour

1-cup cream or evaporated milk

1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg

Cook; bacon in a large skillet or Dutch over until crisp.  Remove bacon reserving drippings in pan.  Crumble bacon and set aside.  Cook; sliced onion in reserved drippings over medium heat about 2 minutes, stirring often.  Add; cabbage and remaining ingredients.  Cook; one minute, stirring constantly.  Cover and cook about 3 minutes.  Sprinkle with bacon & serve.    

Beans:

Beans: they can be used in many different ways:

 A bean pie recipe with  beans, butter, and spices.

Ingredients:

    2 (15 ounces each) cans beans,     drained

    3 large eggs

    1 1/4 cups sugar

    1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted

    1 teaspoon vanilla extract

    1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

    1 teaspoon ground nutmeg or use freshly grated

    1/4 teaspoon ground allspice

    1 teaspoon baking powder

    1/2 cup evaporated milk

    1 pie crust, 9-inch, baked, cooled

In mixing bowl, make sure to beat and drained beans until smooth. Then blend eggs, sugar, butter, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice. In a separate bowl, combine baking powder and milk. Add to bean mixture. Beat mixture well to blend; pour into the cooled pie shell.

Bake the pie in preheated 350° oven until set. Let pie cool.

Green Beans

Green Beans

Creole Green Beans w/Bacon & Red Onions
(Makes 4 servings)


1/4 lb salt pork or bacon
1 lb fresh green beans
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup water
1 tablespoon flour
1 small red onion, sliced   


Brown bacon, add beans, cook slightly then add onions and cook a little more.
Then add flour to coat.  Add water cover and simmer on a low flame until beans are done. 

Marie shares some history of southern easy recipes

Marie shares some of the history of these great southern easy recipes

Sweet Mama Janisse Products

Sharing a moment with famous blues man Taj Mahal

Marie and Taj talk about the business of making good sauce.

It proved to be a skill that served her well in her earlier catering days when she catered in Southern California for such celebrities as Arnold Schwarzenegger, Magic Johnson, Jerry Seinfeld, Bill Cosby, the Seattle Supersonics, Los Angeles Clippers, Keith Richards and Little Richard — to name a few; but she adds “not every movie star I wanted to meet.”

Her sauces are famous and purchased from people all over the world, and, as was previously reported in this paper, her Sticky Love Sauce occupies a spot at the National Mustard Museum in Mount Horeb, Wis. after winning a bronze medal at the Worldwide Mustard Competition in Napa years ago.

With gold-medal sauces and beloved Southern-inspired entrees like fried catfish, creole pork, jambalaya and jerk-fried chicken, as well as an entire vegetarian and catering menu, an inflated ego would be forgivable in such a successful soul — but that isn’t the case with Sweet Mama Janisse.

She said she does it all for the smile on her customer’s face who come to enjoy her good cooking in person- at her Bless My Soul Cafe. “My pleasure is seeing them enjoy the food,” she said of her customers of all ages who frequent her cafe. “That’s the beauty. When you’ve made someone that happy.”

Hours are 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. on weekends. Take-out and catering services are available by phoning 707-445-1090. A full menu and a view of Sweet Mama’s biography is available on the Web site, as well.

(Read More) Medals every year !