Tag Archives: soup

Tin Bins

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IMG_0914Eating by the St. Croix River during a balmy summer or fall day in Stillwater, Minnesota makes any meal a tranquil experience. Savoring breakfasts, sandwiches, or salads as delicious as the fare offered by Tin Bins is an added bonus. Fresh bakery goods, coffees and espressos tempt from the moment you approach the counter to place your order. Regulars and first-time visitors line up for just a pastry and a cup of joe, or for a tasty breakfast, fresh lunch, or light dinner. If you’ve come for a meal and not just drinks and treats, there’s plenty of interesting options to choose from.

The basket pictured here housed a toasted ciabatta bun with Rondelé garlic cheese spread and honey toasted pecans, with sliced apples and provolone as well. My sandwich had ham added, a suggestion from our server. I had commented on the sandwich being vegetarian, and she’d said, “Oh, you can add some ham, and then get a side salad of greens and strawberries.” It sounded great, so I agreed. Then when my meal was delivered, there were huge chopped ham chunks plopped on top of the salad. Apparently I gave a colossal eye-roll at the error, which cracked up my cousin Vonnie as I marched back into the kitchen to ask for slices on my sandwich…instead of cubes smothering the greens. Once the situation was amended, I thoroughly enjoyed the salad that was loaded with tender greens, fresh berries, and drizzled with a zesty vinaigrette. The toasted bread warmed the herbed cheese and honey pecans, making for a wonderfully light and tasty sandwich. My other relatives enjoyed their meals as well—the fresh ingredients were perfect parings with the herbs and seasonings.

Tin Bins doesn’t just offer interesting food—the history of the place is intriguing as well. The grain elevator structure tells you of it’s humble beginnings. Then the place had a stint as a climbing gym and outdoor clothing store called Otterfitters. Next Mike McGuire, one of the owners of the neighboring Dock Cafe bought the building to provide a venue a little different than the Dock, a place with a European coffee shop vibe. To further the Euro flare, the Tin Bins offers poetry readings on Thursday nights, and bands or acoustic guitar on Friday and Saturday evenings. Even with all that evening entertainment available, they say breakfast is their most popular meal. Whether you go for breakfast, lunch or dinner, patrons settle in at the outdoor patio or trendy tables indoors, and are in no hurry to leave their serene surroundings.

Tin Bins

413 Nelson Street East, Stillwater, MN 55082
(651) 342-0799
Parking available next to building.

Current Hours

Monday–Wednesday: 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Thursday schedule varies due to poetry readings: usually 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Friday & Saturday: 7 a.m. to 9 p.m., bands or acoustic guitar
Sunday: 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Visit tinbinscafe.com for current entertainment schedule and menu.

Savory Sweet Potato Biscuits

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FullSizeRender-1When you need something to round out your barbecue, soup, or stew menu (and happen to have sweet potatoes on hand), these easy biscuits are sure to garner “ooohs” and “aaaaahs” at your table. The original recipe for these biscuits came from the Deen Brothers website (sons of Food network star Paula Deen) and is a healthier version of traditional southern biscuits. Their recipe used sweet seasonings like pumpkin pie spice, etc., but we found that too sweet for bread you want to eat with a meat or soup, so have substituted in cumin and coriander instead. The sweet potato, yogurt, and oil add moisture to the dough, so you won’t miss the usual buttery biscuits one bit. 

IMG_0844If you happen to have any leftover, rejoice! The savory flavor makes them great second-day, layered with sandwich meats and cheese, and a dab of mustard or fresh hummus. Some fresh spinach and sweet peppers add crunch as well as extra nutrition, as you see pictured here. My son Mitch loves these in his lunch bag, and will request them for supper just to get a tasty sandwich the next day. (Hey Judy, my yeast-fearing sister, here’s a bread recipe sans yeast! Will you try this one?)

Makes 10-12 biscuits

1 cup cooked, mashed sweet potatoes (1 large sweet potato)
¼ cup Greek-style yogurt
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon maple syrup
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2½ teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon coriander
½ teaspoon cumin
½ teaspoon salt
¼ ground ginger
¼ cup fat-free milk

Preheat oven to 400° Fahrenheit. Bake sweet potato in preheated oven for 1 hour, or until it yields to gentle pressure. (Can do this a day ahead and store cooked potato in frig.) Line large baking sheet with parchment, or spray with non-stick cooking spray and set aside.

Combine mashed sweet potato, yogurt, olive oil, and maple syrup in small bowl and set aside. Whisk together the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, coriander, cumin, salt, and ginger in large mixing bowl. Alternately add sweet potato mixture and milk, stirring with wooden spoon until dry ingredients are moistened.

Drop dough onto lightly floured surface and knead a couple times until dough holds together. Do not over-knead—dough will be sticky. Shape into oblong, then roll out with rolling pin (moving from center to outside edges) until dough is about 1” high and 10”x13” in shape. Cut into 10-12 biscuits and place on prepared baking sheet. Bake for 12-14 minutes or until bottoms and corners of biscuits are golden brown. Remove to cooling rack until cooled. May serve warm or room temperature.

Black Bean Soup

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Black Bean Rice Bowl IMG_0601You’ll yield a wonderful, slow-cooked flavor when you simmer this black bean soup on the stove top. This is a Saturday soup as it needs a few hours of simmering to soften the beans, but it’s totally worth the wait. Serve this over some über-healthy brown rice and it’s a whole meal. 

It makes a hearty batch—about a gallon—so you’ll have plenty leftover for lunch at the office, or dinner some night when you’re in a rush. I usually package up a quart to give to my son Justin who lives on his own, and he’s always thrilled to get this in his “mom” bag. Another plus to this recipe? It’s a budget buster. I think I figured this costs about a buck a bowl to make. As for the origins of this recipe, I got it from my girlfriend’s mother several years ago, and it’s scribbled on the back of a hockey practice schedule. I can’t tell you any more than that!

(My husband thinks I should have captioned this photo: “Husband starves to death while wife does photo shoot of his dinner for blog.” He’s fine, people, really, he’s just fine.)

Serves 8

1 pound dry black beans
1 teaspoon vinegar
1 ham shank or meaty ham bone
1 yellow onion, chopped
¾ cup celery, chopped
½ to 1 green pepper, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 can (15 ounce) tomato sauce
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon cumin
½ teaspoon black pepper
½ teaspoon oregano
1 cup brown rice, cooked according to package directions
Sour cream (optional)

Cover the black beans with cold water in large Dutch oven, and soak overnight. Drain and rinse beans, then add fresh water to 1-inch above beans. Bring beans to a boil, then add vinegar and ham shank or bone. Reduce to simmer and cook for 2 hours.

Remove ham shank or bone from soup and set on plate to cool. In sauté pan on medium heat, cook onions until translucent. Add celery and green pepper, and cook until tender. Add garlic and cook a minute more. Add tomato sauce, salt, pepper, cumin, and oregano and stir to combine. Stir vegetable mixture into cooked beans. Return heat to high and bring mixture to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer, and cook another hour with cover cracked open to allow steam to escape. Soup should reduce down and thicken as it cooks.

Remove as much meat as possible from the ham bone and shred. Add meat to soup and stir to combine. Serve over cooked brown rice. If desired, top with sour cream.

White Bean and Chicken Chili

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FullSizeRenderIt was April in Minnesota and I was still seeing snowflakes out my window (noooooo!!!), so I decided soup was still on the menu. This recipe is not as heavy as a traditional chili, but more a cross between chicken soup and chili and is a whole meal in itself. I used to make it only when I had extra turkey on hand after Thanksgiving, but now I’ll buy a whole roasted chicken at the grocery store, and use that to get going on the soup. Make this when entertaining a crowd, or for a few, and freeze some for later. Since it’s not milk-based, it freezes really well. I found the skeleton of this recipe online years ago, but have tweaked and added to it so that it no longer resembles the original. The trace amount of ground cloves in the broth give a unique, yet compelling flavor twist to this southwestern-style soup.

Makes 8 servings

For soup:

2 tablespoons butter
1 large onion, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 cups ½-inch pieces cooked chicken or turkey
3-4 cups canned or homemade chicken broth
2 tablespoons fresh cilantro, or 2 teaspoons dried cilantro
1 teaspoon dried basil
2 teaspoons chili powder
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
2 cans (15-16 oz. each) great northern beans, drained
2 cans (15 oz. each) corn, drained
2 cans (15 oz.) diced tomatoes, undrained

Garnish:

Blue or yellow corn tortilla chips, crushed
Sour cream (optional)
Grated Monty Jack cheese (optional)

Melt butter in large Dutch oven over medium heat. Cook onion first until translucent, and add green peppers to sauté until slightly tender, about 3 minutes. Add garlic and cook for 2 minutes more, stirring often. Stir in all remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer. Cover and simmer for 1 hour, stirring occasionally. Serve soup with crushed chips and sour cream or cheese, if desired.

NOTE: This recipe is gluten-free if you make your own chicken broth, and use 100% corn tortilla chips.