Tex-Mex Quinoa

 Well, this recipe takes me back! I was searching for vegetarian recipes and it hit me - I have a tab on the side of the blog of recipes that I have found and made over the years and absolutely loved.

As I was searching through the recipes, I found one that we used to make all of the time, and I loved it.  It’s a Tex-Mex Quinoa, and it’s made with a recipe I found on Chelsea’s Messy Apron.  NOTE - I’m not receiving anything from sharing the link - I want to give credit where credit is due. The recipe is awesome!

I like this recipe for so many reasons. It’s a crock pot recipe.  We put it in the crock before we headed out, and when we got back - dinner was ready! The ingredients were easy to find, and overall it was relatively inexpensive. When you use the garnishes as Chelsea suggests, it elevates this plain looking bowl of  quinoa to amazing. My favorite garnish is Guacamole. (With a capital G.) 

We used to make this recipe for 5 of us.  (2 of those 5 being hungry teenage boys.) When we made it over the weekend, we ended up having enough for us to eat a really good dinner and to have leftovers for 2 days of lunch!  (Pictured above - one of my lunches, ready to go in the fridge.)

Whoop!  That’s a win!

External Link to Tex Mex Quinoa Recipe: https://www.chelseasmessyapron.com/slow-cooker-tex-mex-qunioa-casserole/#_a5y_p=2118221

Vegetable Pasta

I pick up a box of produce from our local farmer every couple of weeks.  For $25, I get a huge amount of vegetables that last for the better part of two weeks. 

It's also my favorite time of year - Asparagus Season! I just can't get enough of the tasty vegetables cut fresh from the plant.  So, I took a whole bunch of asparagus and combined it with my other favorite spring veggies and came up with this fantabulous dish!

Vegetable Pasta

Cook 1 box of macaroni noodles as directed on the box.
Drain pasta, and leave sitting in the colander.

In a skillet, saute the following vegetables in olive oil (slice them, cut them, anyway you want)
I used
Peas in Pods (sliced diagonally)
Onion
Asparagus
Mushrooms
Small Bell Peppers
Tomatoes

Season well with Mrs. Dash.
Add the macaroni to the vegetables, stir to combine.

Instant Pot

Disclosure Notice: This post contains Affiliate Links.  

Do you have an Instant Pot??


I bought one a few weeks ago, and it has changed my life.  Since beginning to work full time, dinner has been hit or miss.  I get home from work around 5:30, and dinner has been as late as 8 recently.

Since picking up this most wonderful of appliances, I have been able to put dinner together before I leave for work - or even the night before.  I cover the inner pot with foil and put it in the fridge.  When husband gets home at night, he pulls out the pot, removes the foil and puts it into the pressure cooker.  By the time I get home,  dinner is ready!  Even better, there's left overs for the next night's dinner.  Success!!!!

I really am enjoying this gizmo.  Not only is it a pressure cooker, it's also a slow cooker.  You can also saute your stuff - IN THE POT - before you set it to pressure cook or to slow cook.  And the insert is stainless steel and goes into the dishwasher to clean.  No ceramic insert to wrangle into the sink and hand clean.

My Mom had a pressure cooker that she used frequently when I was growing up.  However, I remember many battles with the rubber gasket and the counter weight on the top.  The "chick-chick-chick" sound that it makes as it reaches it's target temperature and weight is one of those constant memories of my childhood and family dinners.  The Instant Pot doesn't make that "chick-chick" sound, but it does flawlessly and quickly cook just about anything.

One Dish Cuisine

The safe version of Hostess Style Cupcakes!

I don't think I've ever reviewed a restaurant before, but this place deserves some recognition.

One Dish Cuisine is an allergen friendly restaurant.  Everything they make is free of gluten, soy, oats, egg, fish, shellfish, sesame, and tree nuts - except for coconut.

They have two separate kitchens.  One is dairy free.  The other is dairy full. 
Their food is absolutely amazing.

I believe that they are the only restaurant of their kind on the East Coast.  I KNOW that they are the only restaurant of their kind in this area.

Husband and I went there on Friday to celebrate our anniversary.  It was amazing!  The food is wonderful.  If they hadn't assured me that everything was safe for me to eat, I wouldn't have known that it was dairy and gluten free.

Husband and I split a pizza and an order of Chicken Parm.  The pizza crust was warm and crusty, and tasted just like pizza should taste.  The Chicken Parm was, hands down, the best I've ever tasted!

The baked goods were delightful.  Full of taste, moist and tender, my mouth still waters at the thought of those cupcakes.

The refrigerators just inside the door contain frozen and refrigerated food available for carryout.  The items are clearly labeled with Blue (Dairy Free) and Green (Dairy Laden) labels.  Not only can you eat a great meal, you can pick up safe food to take with you.

The service is fantastic, friendly and warm.  I enjoyed meeting the owners - who insist that you list your food allergies every time you order.  They both take the time to talk with you, get to know you, and assure you about your food safety.  (It's hard for those of us with food allergies to relax in a restaurant.  We ask a lot of questions.)

If you are ever in the Washington/Baltimore area, and you have any food allergies at all, this is your go to place for a meal.

It's taken me a while to venture down here - they've been open for several years, and I've been hearing about them since the day they opened.  I can guarantee that it won't be very long before I'm back again.  I've got a very long list of food that I haven't been able to safely eat in a very long time that I'm looking forward to eating!

You can visit their website, see their menu, and check out their monthly bread and baked goods clubs online here:  http://onedishcuisine.com/

Note: I have received absolutely nothing in exchange for this review.  This is a genuine reflection of my experience at this restaurant.  My opinions are my own!

Apple Chickpea Hash

Note: This post contains links to a third party website.

source: https://nu.spoonuniversity.com/recipe/apple-chickpea-hash/

Daughter found this amazing recipe online a couple of weeks ago.  She's made it for dinner three times in the last two weeks.  It's tasty, it's filling, and it's healthy!  We made it over the weekend, and we found ourselves doubling the recipe, it is that good.

The ingredients are simple: Garbanzo Beans, Apples, Onions, and Kale.  It takes less than 30 minutes to assemble this fantastic meal!

Quick, easy, filling and healthy!  It's what's for dinner.


You can find the recipe here: https://nu.spoonuniversity.com/recipe/apple-chickpea-hash/

Vegetable Quinoa

I'm working my way through the backlog of stuff that we have in the freezer.  I want to eat through as much as we can so that I can defrost it and get it ready for the garden goodness I will have coming my way this summer! 

I have an odd combination of veggies, meat and some Chipotle Chiles in Adobo sauce.  I had bought a can of the chiles for a who knows what reason when I was still spaced out on drugs from my colonoscopy, and I ran them through the food processor and made a paste out of them.  I froze what I didn't use in tablespoon size heaps on a cookie sheet, and then stored them in a plastic baggie.

This particular night found me staring at the bag of frozen chile piles and a bag of "southwest blend" veggies.  The blend included black beans, corn, onions, and pablano peppers.

As I was foraging around in the cupboards, attempting to figure out what this could become that wasn't another batch of chili, I hit upon a bag of Quinoa.

We make a Quinoa Pilaf on a fairly regular basis.  What if I tried making a "Southwestern" pilaf?   I was hungry, so it was worth a shot.

The result was fantastic.  We really enjoyed the flavor mix.  Didn't even have any leftovers!  (I'm going to have to make this again so that I can get a picture to add!)

Southwestern Vegetable Pilaf
2 cups Quinoa, rinsed
3 cups vegetable broth  (or water and a couple of broth cubes)
1 bag of Southwestern Vegetable mix frozen vegetables
2 TBSP of Adobo Chile mix

Bring quinoa and broth to a boil, add the Adobo Chiles, lower temperature and cover, simmer for 20 minutes.  Stir occasionally, and add extra water to keep Quinoa from sticking to pan as necessary. 

Add more water to the Quinoa if necessary to keep it moist and not sticky, then add the bag of frozen vegetables.

Stir it all together.  It should take about 5 minutes for the vegetables to warm up enough to eat.

Enjoy!!!

In Search of the Perfect (Vegan) Grilled Cheese

Disclosure Notice: I am receiving nothing in exchange for this review.  These are my honest opinions about products I purchased on the advice of my friends with my own money.

 

I found out that I was allergic to milk in November - just before Thanksgiving.  I posted about it last week, as I finally feel comfortable enough about my new reality to share it.  I am still not that fond of anything that is labeled Gluten-Free/Dairy - Free, but I need to learn to adapt.  So, I've been slowly learning to adapt to the new and different tastes.

I have been craving a grilled cheese sandwich lately.  I asked my Vegan friends what they do when they want to have a grilled cheese sandwich.  They unanimously weighed in with rave reviews for Daiya cheese.  BUT, when questioned on which type of fat to use to grill the sandwich in, the reviews were evenly divided between Grapeseed Oil, Avocado Oil, and Earth Balance Buttery Sticks.

Today, I decided to taste test the Earth Balance blend.

Using my favorite gluten-free bread, I layered in the cheese, and used a generous portion of the buttery sticks to grill the bread.

I probably should have defrosted the bread before I started, as it took the cook time up longer, and it took longer for the "cheese" to melt.  Give it enough time and press down on the bread with the spatula, and it does speed up the cooking.

The finished product!  The "cheese" is perfectly melty, and the taste of the buttery sticks is phenomenal.  Actually, I think this cheese melted better than a certain name brand American Cheese Product.  After almost 3 months without a grilled cheese sandwich, this tasted very close to the real thing!

Overall, this was a phenomenal taste, and I enjoyed this Vegan Grilled Cheese Sandwich!  Maybe this no-milk diet won't be as hard as I thought it would be after all.

Pumpkin Purée

I bought a half-bushel of winter squash at the local farm stand before they closed for the winter.  A

half bushel of squash is a lot of squash - by the way.  It it was only $15- an irresistible bargain. And good gosh, is it healthy for you.  I did promise when I bought the squash that I would share with you how we used it all up.   

Over the weekend, I made pumpkin puree.  Puree is the basis for a lot of pumpkin dishes.  When you buy a can of pumpkin from the store, you are buying pumpkin puree.  But the stuff fresh off the vine (technically, off of the vine and sitting in a cool spot in the house) tastes even better.  Especially when the pumpkins you are using are little heirloom varieties!  My half bushel of squash included 4 little pumpkins.  (Some people call these sugar pumpkins.  They're smaller than the pumpkins you use for Jack-O-Lanterns.)   We gave the outsides of the pumpkin a quick rinse in order to get rid of any dust that may have accumulated on them since we brought them home.  I pre-heated the oven to 350*, and covered a jelly roll pan in olive oil. 

Here is how we made our pumpkin puree:

1) Sliced the pumpkins up into smaller chunks.  I tried to leave them in halves, but they weren't snugging up next to each other in the pan as well as I would have liked.  So, I sliced them down a little more.  After slicing them down, remove the seeds and the stringy parts around the seeds.

2) Place the pumpkins, cut side down but with the skins still on, onto the pan.  I probably should have used 2 pans, but since I really didn't want to clean 2 pans, and I wanted the pumpkins to steam as much as possible, I just kept snugging them together as tightly as I could.  Eventually, I had to layer a few extra pieces on the top.  (I really didn't want to wash another pan!)

3) Bake the pumpkin in a 350* oven for an hour.  When the orange middle part is soft enough to pierce with a fork, you are finished.  Pull the pumpkin out and let it cool for a while.  Remove the skins from the pumpkin "meat" - either by pulling it off with your hands, or using a knife to cut the rind off.  Put all of the pumpkin into a large bowl.

Now, you can puree your pumpkin in a blender.  In a food processor.  In a food mill.   With a hand or stand mixer, or with a potato masher.  I really wasn't in the mood to clean a lot of extra dishes, so I opted to smash my pumpkin down with the potato masher.  Since the pumpkin was already so soft, mashing it down took me just a couple of minutes.  It took me longer to pull the rinds off of the baked pumpkins than it did for me to mash these guys up.

4) Once the pumpkin is all mashed and smooth, let it cool and then transfer it into containers for freezer storage.  I put one cup of pumpkin into each bag, because almost every recipe I have seen for pumpkin stuff calls for 1 cup of pumpkin.  Seal the pumpkin bags, and lay flat for freezing. 

5) I laid my pumpkin puree on a cookie sheet to keep it flat, and then put it in the freezer.  I left two cups of pumpkin out.  I put them in glass jars in the fridge, to use today and tomorrow.

From the 4 little pumpkins, I ended up with 8 generous cups of pumpkin puree.

The first of the two jars of reserved pumpkin will be used to make GF Pumpkin Muffins, which I'll freeze for my breakfasts this week.

The second jar is going into Pumpkin Enchiladas.  I had some fantastic Pumpkin Enchiladas at a restaurant last month, and this recipe looks very similar to what I had there. 

Delicata Squash

Have you had one of these beauties before?  I had never really seen them until a couple of years ago, as part of our CSA delivery.  (Community Supported Agriculture)

source: Burpee

I know yellow summer squash.  And I know zucchinis.  But Delicata?  What on Earth are those guys all about?

Delicatas are an heirloom variety of squash, harvested in the fall.  Their skin is softer than that of a Butternut, and is edible.  They are similar in taste to a Butternut.  Unlike other winter squash, Delicatas will only last a couple of months.

Care of all winter squash is much the same.  Wipe them down with a very mild bleach solution, and then store them in a cool, dry place.  (This is what a Root Cellar is for!)

For the longest time, these guys could only be found in the fall in farmer's markets and at farm stands.  Recently though, I've been seeing them at some grocery stores.  If you're looking for something to "break in" winter squash, Delicata is an excellent way to begin!

Roasted Delicata Squash

One or more Delicata Squash - cut in half lengthwise and seeded.
Olive oil
Salt
Pepper

Heat oven to 350*.  (Since we have just the two of us, I make this in the toaster oven, on a small baking pan.)

Slice the squash about 1/4" thick.
Place in pan.
Add a glug of olive oil
Add salt and pepper to taste

Stir together until all of the squash is evenly coated with the salt, pepper and olive oil.

Bake in a 350* oven for 30 minutes or until squash pierces easily with a fork.

Serve immediately.

Pinto Beans

Beans, beans, the magical fruit, the more you eat, the more you toot!

Who doesn't love a great pot of pinto beans?  They're cheap and easy, tasty, and oh so full of protein and healthy for you!

Oldest child is heading off to grad. school in the fall, and he will be cooking for himself.  Middle child will be living in an off campus apartment.  He will still be using the on campus meal plan, but he is working hard to learn how to cook cheap, easy, and healthy foods.

With that thought in mind, we made a pot of pinto beans the other day.  Not only are they filling, you can save the leftovers, mash them up and fry them to make refried beans, or you can use them to make fillings for burritos or enchiladas, (and freeze to eat later), or you can freeze just the beans and then add them to chili or just heat them up for a filling dinner on another day.

A thick, delicious bowl of pinto bean soup.

The night before, you are going to want to pick through the beans to make certain there aren't any rocks or small pieces of debris mixed in.  Rinse the beans thoroughly under running water and then place in a pan, covered with about 2 inches of water overnight.

The next morning, drain the beans, add more water to cover, and bring to a rolling boil.

Add the beans to your slow cooker, and set it on low.

To the pot, add:

*NOTE- this recipe is for TWO pounds of dried pinto beans.

One large, or two medium onions, diced

Two or three cloves of garlic, diced

2 tsp. chili powder

2 tsp. cumin

2 tsp. oregano

1 can of diced green chiles

1 or 2 cans of diced tomatoes

Cover, and cook on low for 8 hours.  Stir well before serving.  Serve as a soup.


Costs:
Canned Tomatoes: $0.55
Pinto Beans, 2 lbs. $1.89
Diced Green Chiles $0.50
Onion (produce stand) $1.00

Total:  $3.94

For the second night, we made enchiladas.

I used this homemade enchilada sauce recipe I found on Pinterest.  http://www.littlespicejar.com/homemade-red-enchilada-sauce/

We drained the liquid out of the beans, reserving all of the liquid.  The beans were smashed down, and then fried.  We used the leftover liquid from the pot to thin the beans.  (Can you believe a lot of recipes ask you to throw away that bean broth and just use plain water?  What a waste of that protein filled tasty broth!) My Mom and Grandma both used to fry their beans in lard... I'm not quite ready to go back to lard to fry my beans, even though it's REALLY good!

Put about 1/4 cup of beans down the center of a corn tortilla.

Roll it up, and place the enchilada, seam side down, in a 9 x 13 inch pan.

Pour the enchilada sauce over all.

If you don't have dairy allergies in your family, you can layer cheese over top of it all.

I served this with a spinach, berry, and red onion salad from ingredients I picked up at one of the local produce stands.

Costs:
Corn Tortillas: $1.50
(but I didn't use all of the tortillas.  The other half of them will be used in another meal.)
Tomato Sauce: $0.49.
1 jar chipotle peppers: $1.50
Veggie Broth: (I make my own, so????  I really don't know how much this would cost. I pulled a couple of broth cubes out of the freezer for this.)
Spinach and other goodies from the produce stand: $3.50

Unfortunately, we didn't have any leftovers for a third night of beans.  Who would have thunk it?  2 pounds of beans served 5 people 2 very decent meals.  (Oldest son ate 4 bowls of bean soup, husband ate 3.  I have some very big eaters in my family!)

If you're tracking the costs, we got 2 meals for 5 people for a little over $11.  If you're looking at the number of servings, we had 20 servings for $10.93.  That comes out to $0.55 a serving.

I know, making the enchilada sauce from scratch took a little extra time.  So did the veggie broth.  However, I am able to control the sodium, sugar, and other additives in these foods.  So to me - it's well worth my time.  (Enchilada Sauce and Broth both can hide gluten and msg, both allergens for our family.)

McCormick Recipe Inspirations

Have you ever tried these things? They're pre-measured spice kits from McCormick.  Each card contains the spices in little plastic cubes.  The back of the box contains a recipe card, with the ingredients you will need to finish making the recipe as well as the cooking directions.




This past week as I was cleaning out the kitchen, I found a stash of 20 of these.  Varying recipes, involving pork, chicken, and beef.

I had never really tried them - I had just picked them up.  Since I had so many of them sitting around, I thought I would give them a try.


Let me tell you, these things are amazing!
The recipe is already thought it.  The measuring is done.  All you have to do is cut something, give the spices a little swirl, and put everything in the oven.  Absolutely the easiest cooking I have done in quite some time!

We cooked the Asian Sesame Salmon, Rosemary Roasted Chicken with Potatoes, and the Spanish Chicken.  Dinner was quick and easy, and I much appreciated the fact that the sides were included on the recipe list.  For some unknown reason, I've always struggled with adding the right side to round out a meal.

Hey- I don't get anything out of pushing this product.  The picture is from my Amazon Associates Account, but I get nothing from McCormick for this.  I just really, really liked this product.  It made my dinner planning considerably easier!

Even better, these little gems are fairly reasonably priced, coming in at less than $5 per packet, but if you can find coupons in the paper and combine it with a sale, you have a bargain on your hands!

Pinterest Recipe

I love the recipes on Pinterest!  When I'm waiting for someone, I'll scroll through Pinterest on my phone, and pin things that I intend to get back to at another time.  Especially recipes.  Good heavens, have I pinned the recipes!  Vegan, Vegetarian, Meatatarian, and Gluten Free, I've pinned them all.  I'm always on the look out for a new recipe.

On Sunday, I finally tried one of those recipes that has been on one of the boards for a while now.

Slow Cooker Quinoa Tex-Mex

image: http://www.chelseasmessyapron.com/slow-cooker-tex-mex-qunioa-casserole/#_a5y_p=2118221

The link to the recipe:
http://www.chelseasmessyapron.com/slow-cooker-tex-mex-qunioa-casserole/#_a5y_p=2118221

My Notes:

The recipe says to spray the crock pot well with non-stick spray.  MAKE SURE YOU DO.  I did not spray well enough, and the quinoa became one with the walls of the slow cooker. 

This really is a fast cooking recipe.  I know that the author of the recipe calls for 4 hours at high.  I cooked it for 3 hours at high, and it was DONE.  Check this every hour.  Seriously.  Open the crock pot lid and give it a stir every hour to check on it.  If you cook it too long, or on low, the consistency of the quinoa is going to be compromised.

We made this vegan- no cheese for the lactose intolerant one.  I added cheese to my dish alone before I ate it.

Let me tell you, this was amazing!!!  Pop this in the slow cooker on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon,  and you have a no fuss dinner waiting for you!

Hey, what do you know?  It's an epic Pinterest Success Story! 

Kale

image: www.eatingwell.com

Kale.  It's what in season right now - but how do you eat it?  I will cut it up and put it into salads and
my scrambled eggs, and I've even been known to put a few handfuls into my smoothies this time of year.

I know that it is extremely healthy, listed on many websites as full of fantastic vitamins that will help your body fight cancer.

But cooking it?  I've always struggled with how to cook it.  I am always on the lookout for new and different recipes that taste good.

I found this recipe for Portuguese Kale and Red Bean Soup in Eating Well Magazine.  We made it for dinner.  Oh my stars, was it fantastic!!!

Since daughter is a vegetarian, we made this as a vegetarian soup.  Instead of chicken broth, we used vegetable broth, and omitted the sausage entirely.  We also cooked up a little bit of brown rice separately and then each person added it to their own bowl according to their own taste before adding their own soup.

Taco Soup

We made a huge crock pot of taco soup for dinner over the weekend.  We had leftovers.  Enough for me to make enchiladas by wrapping them up into corn tortillas, put them into a 9 x 13 pan, and covered it all with the enchilada sauce I had leftover from the enchilada sauce I made this past week.  I covered the pan with foil, labeled it, and put it into the freezer so that we'll have a quick and easy dinner some other day.

Taco Soup

1 jalapeno pepper, diced
1 pablano pepper, diced
2 green peppers, diced
1 large red onion, diced
1 tsp. garlic
1 can black beans
1 can kidney beans
3 cups of water
3 veggie bullion cubes
2 TBSP taco seasoning mix (I use the recipe here: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/taco-seasoning-i/)
1 can corn
1 can fire roasted tomatoes

1. In a skillet, saute the jalapeno, pablano, green peppers, red onion and garlic until the onions are soft.
2. In the crock pot, combine the pepper mixture with the rest of the ingredients.
3. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours.

Serve with tortilla chips.

If you want to make this a meat based recipe:

Raw meat: cook the meat in a skillet, then pick up with step #1 above. 

Cooked meat: dice the meat, and add it to the crock pot along with the other ingredients.

In the crock pot!

With Cheese!  This one is mine!

Vegetarian Enchiladas

It was very icy on Tuesday night, and I really didn't feel like braving the roads to head out and pick something up for dinner.  I scrounged some things out of my cabinets and refrigerator and put together the most amazing vegetarian enchiladas, ever.  These are not smothered in cheese--my husband and daughter are allergic to dairy products.  These are the honest to goodness, amazingly tasty enchiladas that we had for dinner!  Easy, fast, and on the table within 45 minutes.

Vegetarian Enchiladas

1 red bell pepper, diced
1 yellow bell pepper, diced
1 medium red pepper, diced
1 heaping tsp. minced garlic
1 can of chopped green chiles
1 28 ounce can corn kernels
1 32 ounce can of vegetarian refried beans
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. black pepper
1/2 tsp. salt
corn tortillas
Enchilada Sauce - recipe follows

1) Pre-heat the oven to 350*.
2) Saute the bell peppers, garlic and onion in a large skillet over medium-low heat.
3) As the onions begin to turn translucent, add the corn and the green chiles.  Stir together, mixing thoroughly.
4) Add the refried beans.  The mixture will be very thick, and can burn easily.  Keep heat on med-low, and stir frequently.
5) Add cumin, salt, and pepper. (Adjust accordingly if you like it spicier or milder.)
6) Lower the heat, and allow the mixture to simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Remove from heat when time is finished.

While the bean mixture is simmering, make the enchilada sauce.  Sure, you can buy the stuff in cans at the store, but this is better for you, and doesn't take long to make.  (Recipe follows this.)

Cover the bottom of the cooking pan with a layer of enchilada sauce.

One at a time, spread each corn tortilla with about 1/3 cup of the bean mixture.  Spread the mixture down the middle of each tortilla.  Roll the tortilla up, and place it, seam side down, in the pan.
(note- the corn tortillas WILL break apart.  That's okay. They're all going to snuggle up against each other in the pan, anyway.)

Fill each corn tortilla with the bean mixture, snugging the enchiladas up against each other, until the pan is full.  I usually have enough space left at the top of my pan to add 2 more enchiladas.  I use it.  I fill every available space with enchiladas.

Cover the entire mixture with more enchilada sauce.  If you made your sauce from scratch, don't use the entire pan!  You'll drown these guys!  Instead, Use about a cup to a cup and a half of sauce, spread evenly across the entire pan.

Put the entire yummy mixture into the oven and let it bake for 15 minutes.

Enjoy!

Note- If you want to punch this up, or stretch it out, add a cup of cooked rice to the bean mixture after the mix is cooked, but before you layer into the tortillas.  Stir thoroughly to incorporate before you spread it into the tortillas.

If you really want cheese on your enchiladas, add it to the pan, over top of the sauce, before you put it into the oven.


Enchilada Sauce
Make sure you have all of the ingredients measured and lined up before you begin!
 
Olive oil- enough to cover the bottom of the pan.  Rachael Ray would say "a turn of the pan".
2 TBSP Cornstarch
1/3 cup chili powder
3 cups veggie broth
14 ounce can tomato sauce  (or whatever size that is - not the small, 8 ounce can, but the next size up)
1 TBSP cumin
1 TBSP oregano

• In a sauce pan over med heat, stir the olive oil and cornstarch together until the cornstarch begins to brown.  You're toasting it.  It should take about a minute - keep a very close eye on it so it doesn't burn!
• Add the chili powder, stir constantly for another minute.  Remember, you're toasting the spices to bring out their full flavor.
• Add 3 cups of veggie broth  (I used 3 cups of water and 3 vegetable bullion cubes.)
• Add the tomato sauce, cumin, and oregano, stirring to make certain all of the spices are incorporated into the liquid.
• Bring everything to a boil, stirring frequently. (You can raise the heat here, if you need to.)
• Lower heat and simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

 Note- last one, I promise!  If I had any veggie broth cubes left over, I would have used 3 or 4 of them here.  I would have thawed them in the microwave before beginning the sauce.  If it didn't measure up to the full 3 cups, I'd add water to the thawed broth cubes to make 3 cups.)

Quinoa Pilaf / Quick and Easy Meals for College Students

I noticed I had only finished 4 of the 5 "Quick and Easy Meals for College Students" series that I was writing.  These are recipes I taught to my oldest son over the summer.  He wanted to add some variety and nutrition to his meals.

This is a Quinoa based meal.  Quinoa is a high quality protein, complete with all 8 essential amino acids.  It's also an ancient grain.  It's also gluten free.  Quinoa itself comes from South America.   BONUS- it's very easy to cook.

I want to start with a side note on Quinoa.  I've read differing reviews on whether or not to rinse quinoa.  I've cooked it both ways- rinsed and unrinsed, and I prefer the taste of rinsed Quinoa.  To this end, I have a fine mesh strainer that I found at a yard sale.  Quinoa is such a tiny grain that if you attempt to wash it in a regular strainer, it will fall through.  (Sad experience on my part.)  This fine mesh strainer that I picked up holds 1/3 of a cup of Quinoa and lets me give it a quick rinse.  I have seen fine mesh strainers in the kitchen area of stores.

With this particular recipe, I also pick up a container of the pre-cooked veggies at the grocery store.  They are diced finer than anything I can dice, and contain peppers and onions.  Our grocery store calls it the fritata blend.

Quinoa Pilaf:
1 cup Quinoa, uncooked
1 small box fritata blend veggies
1 1/2 cups water
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
1 cinnamon stick
1 bay leaf
1/2 cup dried cranberries

In a deep skillet, brown the veggies in olive oil. (stir frequently)  When the onions look translucent, add Quinoa and toast for 1 minute.  Quickly add the water.  Bring the water to a boil, stirring ingredients frequently.  Add the cinnamon stick and bay leaf, cover and lower the temperature to med-low.

Cook covered, stirring occasionally for 20 minutes.

Remove from heat, stir in sunflower seeds and cranberries.  Let sit for 5 minutes, remove cinnamon stick and bay leaf, stir and eat.

*Note: pecans, almonds, walnuts, or pine nuts can be used in place of the sunflower seeds.  If using any of these heartier nuts, you are going to add them to the skillet with the Quinoa at the beginning and toast them. 

Even with the added cost of the pre-cut veggies, this meal still comes in under $5, and it will serve one hungry college student about 2 meals.  (Depending upon the size of their appetite.)

Another Stop on my Wellness Journey - Nutrition

So, one of the very cool things about the place where I am now working is their incredible focus on wellness.  Not only teaching wellness, but making certain that everyone who works for the institution is also well.

I've been putting in a lot of research on nutrition, and I've discovered many things.  Like the fact that you really can't eat too many vegetables.  And that herbal tea is really good for you.

This morning, I stumbled across a cookbook that I had to share with you.  The Longevity Kitchen.  Written by Rebecca Katz and Mat Edelson, this book is basically a "how to" guide for choosing healthy foods, which includes the reason WHY these foods are good for you, and what they do for your body.

Intrigued, I searched for and found her other books "The Cancer Fighting Kitchen" and "One Bite at a Time".  All of her books highlight the importance of food in fighting disease and keeping us healthy. One Bite at a Time is especially intriguing as it offers appealing recipes for people currently going through chemo.  The recipes are designed to appeal to those who's stomachs can be considered to be "tricky" at the best of times.

I have been intrigued beyond words with the thought of what food can do to help keep us healthy, but I've always been daunted at the thought of where to start.  These books solve that mystery.  You start smoothly, with foods that are in season, and appeal to you.  The included recipes are easy to understand and follow.

Our own family is having her recipe for Chicken Tortilla Soup for dinner tonight. 

I do admit to a driving curiosity about everything around me.  And so, I looked for and found more information about the authors. 

The website for Rebecca Katz is here: http://rebeccakatz.com/

If you have the time, take a look through her vibrant and informative web site.  I was so easily sucked into her web page, the plethora of information, and the ease of navigation kept me involved for much longer than it should have!

I especially enjoyed the "Culinary Rx", the list of 16 superfoods that will help to keep you healthy.

I found the recipe box to be very helpful.  While not all of her recipes are listed on this page, she does have a link to the recipe for a Walnut, Date, and Herb Salad that we are having for dinner tomorrow night.  The link to this beautiful salad and recipe is here:
http://rebeccakatz.com/the-weekly-yum/walnut-date-herb-salad/#more-1407

Tasty, beautiful, and easy to make recipes that will help keep our families healthier for longer?
Priceless!!


An additional note:
We just finished eating dinner.  The wonderful, fantastic Chicken Tortilla Soup on page 70 of The Longevity Kitchen.

30 minutes after I pulled out the cutting board and the knife, we were sitting down to dinner. 

The soup itself was scrumptious.

I used a vegetable broth, to accommodate the vegetarian in the family, and cut the chicken up separately so that anyone who wanted it could add it, and the soup itself remained vegetarian.

This recipe was definitely a keeper!

Dinner Tonight

I found this recipe on the ACE (The American Council on Exercise) website.  They have a plethora of healthy recipes.  This particular recipe is from their flier, Healthy Cooking on a Budget.  http://www.acefitness.org/acefit/PDF/healthycooking/ACE_HealthyCooking_1_BUDGET.pdf

We made this for dinner earlier this week.  It was so good!

I will say this: we did not have brown rice on hand when I went to make this recipe.  I don't like to run out to buy any one item, so I used the Bob's Red Mill Wild Rice blend that I had sitting on the shelf.  The recipe calls for cooked rice.  Make sure you cook it before you add it, or else you will end up with a boatload of rice!

Brown Rice and Black Bean Enchilada Casserole

5 cups brown rice, cooked
1 can black beans, drained
1 cup corn
2 cups chopped vegetables
1 cup onions, diced
1 12 ounce bottle enchilada sauce
1/2 cup low fat shredded cheese

Preheat oven to 375*.  Mix all ingredients in a large mixing bowl, except for cheese.  Pour mixture into a baking dish.  Bake for 20 minutes.  Remove dish from oven and sprinkle with shredded cheese.  Bake for another 10 minutes or until cheese is melted and serve.


A few more notes:

1) Husband and daughter are allergic to dairy.  No cheese went into our version, it was amazing!

2) I made my own enchilada sauce.  It was so much easier than I was expecting! You can link to the recipe that I used for enchilada sauce here: http://www.gimmesomeoven.com/red-enchilada-sauce/

3) The website for the American Council on Exercise: www.acefitness.org/acefit/PDF/healthycooking/ACE_HealthyCo

4) This was amazing the second day when we served it in warmed corn tortillas!

Dinner Tonight

Dinner Tonight was another clean the crisper kind of night. 

Surprisingly, the meal turned out so well, I wanted to share it with you.

It's a hearty, meatless meal that will fill you up.  As always, don't go out and buy anything just to make this meal.  The idea is to use what you already have on hand in the crisper.  Add other things if you have them on hand, or keep them out if you don't have them.

Rice and Quinoa Pilaf

In a large skillet, sauté:

2 cloves garlic, diced
1 large onion, diced
4 stalks of celery, diced
4 carrots, diced
1/4 pound mushrooms, diced

When the veggies are nicely softened (after 5-10 minutes, when the onions are translucent),
add 1 cup rinsed quinoa, 1 cup of rice, and water- 4 1/2 cups.  (1 1/2 cups for the quinoa, 3 cups for the rice)

Add 3 broth cubes.  (I used my veggie broth cubes that I keep in the freezer.)

Bring everything to a boil, stirring to keep stuff from sticking to the bottom of the pan.

Cover, lower heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, chop about a cup of nuts.  (Your choice.  I love pecans, so we used pecans because I tend to have them on hand.)

When time is up, remove cover from the rice and quinoa.  Stir a few times, making sure that all of the water is absorbed.

Add pecans and serve.

(I didn't have any peas on hand, but I kept thinking that fresh or frozen peas would have been really good, tossed in at the end with the pecans.)

We made muffins to go with our bake.  Dinner was beyond awesome.  By the time I realized I had a keeper and that I should have taken a picture of this, everything was gone! 

Dinner Tonight

 

Actually, this was dinner Monday night.  Pasta Fagioli. 

 

I found the recipe here: http://theprudenthomemaker.com/index.php/pasta-e-fagioli.   The Prudent Homemaker is written by Brandy, who develops all of her own recipes.  This one looked different than any I had tried before.  At the very end of the recipe, you cook the pasta separately from the soup, and then add the pasta to the soup just before serving.  The combination of spices, and the processing that she used in this soup raised this from "just another bean soup" to "totally amazing". 

Since daughter is a vegetarian, I replaced the chicken bullion with vegetable stock.  (Remember my broth cubes I made from turkey?  I also made broth cubes from vegetable stock a few weeks back.)

 

 

Pasta Fagioli- ready for the fridge!

 

 

The recipe on the website gave me more than enough soup to feed the three of us for dinner!  (Now that the boys are back at college, I have leftovers again!)

 

So now, we have awesome leftovers!  I didn't actually process the soup.  This is going in the fridge.  I don't like to store things in plastic because I'm never certain what chemicals will leach into my food.  Instead, I store leftovers in small canning jars in the refrigerator.  I always have a few empty jars sitting around at any given time during the year.  When I can something up, I write the contents and the date on the lid in sharpie.  After we use up whatever is inside, I clean the lids and save them.  The writing on the lid of the jar lets me know that they are used, and I can reuse them to store things in the fridge.  The lid to this jar says "Grape Jelly, 2010". 

 

If you are looking for a warm, filling, over the top, simply sublime recipe for Pasta Fagioli, I recommend that you head over to the Prudent Homemaker's website and try this out!  http://theprudenthomemaker.com/index.php/pasta-e-fagioli

 

Once you journey over to Brandy's website, take the time to browse through her website and blog (http://theprudenthomemakerblog.blogspot.com/).  Brandy's husband had no source of income for almost a year, and she manages to feed a growing family on 33 cents a day.  33 CENTS!!!  And I thought I could pinch a penny! 

 

Have a wonderful Wednesday!