Rice & Beans, Corn Soup, And A Plum Cake



I don't know what came over me, but tonight I was really in a kitchen mood. I had been looking for inexpensive dinner ideas yesterday, and someone suggested rice and beans. I couldn't imagine that being a dinner on its own (my own failing) so I decided it must be accompanied by soup.

I decided on a simple corn soup recipe (found here) and used two bags of frozen corn instead of the fresh corn it calls for, added a little dash of MimicCreme, and decided to leave the "salting to taste" to individual tastes. I can't rave enough about this soup. Yaakov and I both loved it and it was so incredibly simple to make. It took all of 30 minutes and only cost me about $5 to make about 6 servings.

For the rice and beans, I went to an old favorite of mine, Skinny Weight Watcher's Girl. I've made a number of her recipes in the past, and they tend to be pretty good. Knowing the nutrition facts is definitely an added bonus. So I knew that if I made this, I'd be getting a decently balanced meal out of it. This came out pretty tasty and I didn't change a thing. Follow her instructions and it makes a pretty good meal or side dish.



Now, after dinner, I found myself thinking about those plums I picked on Sunday and how they're not disappearing as quickly as they should. Earlier today, while hanging around on TasteSpotting.com (a great way to waste time on the internet if you're a foodie, like me), I had found a recipe for a Peach Cake, but finding my peach supply dwindling and seeing that it can also be used for plums, this seemed like a good solution.

Now on the cake, I made a couple tweaks.

For one thing, I had no raw sugar, but I DID have some vanilla sugar, so I substituted that in the topping.

Also, I decided while mixing the batter that a little lemon extract seemed like a great idea to really rev up the tartness factor.



It was. :)

You can find all the recipes by following the links above. Enjoy!

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