Sweet Corn

Quite a few years ago I got a bunch of sweet corn from a vendor at work and my mom and I shucked, boiled, cut the corn off the cob, and froze it.  I did not have enough room in my freezer for it all, so my mom took most of it home to "store" it for me.  I loved it, I am not sure why it has taken me so long to do it again (ahem, kids).  Today I did 28 ears of corn (ate 3) and ended up with approximately 10-14 cups of corn (7 sandwich bags).  It took me 1 1/2 hours shucking through washing dishes.

Sweet Corn

a few dozen ears of sweet corn

Shuck the corn.  Take a large pot, fill most of the way with water, leaving some room for the corn.  Bring the water to a boil.  Some websites say not to salt the water because it can make the kernels tough.  I did salt the water because I already had my water heating up by the time I read that, and mine tasted just fine.  Boil the corn for about 5 minutes, or at least until the water comes back to a boil.  If you will be cutting off from the cob and freezing, fill your sink with cold water and place the corn cobs in the cold water after they are done cooking.  This will stop the cooking process and also cool them enough to make them easy to handle when you are cutting the corn off from the cob.  I recommend inverting a small bowl into a larger bowl so that you have something to set the ear on while you cut and still have room for the corn that has been cut.

Black Beans

Jer had mentioned that he wanted to have black beans the next time we had tacos.  He took all of the kids with him on a car ride to nana's while I made dinner, so I decided to do more than just heat up a can.  I looked online for a recipe, and settled on this one from Allrecipes.com.  I am not a huge onion fan, so I reduced the amount of onion and I made a couple of other changes.  It was so good!  Jer said that they tasted like Mexican restaurant black beans.

Black Beans

1 can black beans
1 T onion - diced
1 garlic clove - minced
dash salt
dash red pepper flakes

Drain the liquid from the top of the can and pour the rest along with the beans into a saucepan.  Add onion, garlic, and season with salt and red pepper flakes.  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes.

Roasted Cauliflower

I found this recipe in one of the many allergy-friendly cookbooks I have been checking out of the library.  It looked great and tasted better!

Roasted Cauliflower

1 head cauliflower - cut into florets
2 T olive oil
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
2 cloves garlic - minced
1/4 tsp thyme

In a small prep bowl, mix olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic, and thyme.  Place cauliflower on a large baking sheet with edges.  Drizzle with oil mixture.  Use clean hands to mix until well coated.  Bake at 450° for 20 minutes, turning cauliflower halfway through.

Doubled Recipe

2 head cauliflower - cut into florets
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
4 cloves garlic - minced
1/2 tsp thyme