Black Bean Taco Salad

Remember how I talked and talked about how it was never going to be warm?  Well, here we are.  It's not warm, it's HOT.  So hot that we spent the day playing in the water attempting to cool down.  As a side note, our a/c has decided not to work today so that was a big thumbs down!  Needless to say, making anything with the stove or anything that took longer than 15 minutes was out.  I had big plans for our meal but I scratched all of it from the menu in favour of a very simple (and very delicious) taco salad.  A one bowl, easy clean up, filling meal served with some fruit kabobs... perfect for this very hot and humid day.  Now all I need is for someone to fix my central air...

Black Bean Taco Salad

1 chopped onion

3 cloves minced garlic

1.5-2 cups cooked black beans mash half

1 cup corn

5 chopped tomatoes

1 cup salsa

1 tbsp chili powder

2 tsp cumin

1 tsp oregano

salt and pepper

3 cups chopped lettuce

1.5 cups Tex Mex blend cheese

1 bag crumbled tortilla chips

*Saute onion and garlic in olive oil until soft

*Add beans, corn, tomatoes, and half the salsa, and spices and cook another 5 minutes.  Let cool slightly.

*In a large bowl, toss together lettuce, bean mixture, remaining salsa and 1/2 cup cheese.

*Serve bean/lettuce mixture on top of a bed of crumbled chips topped with remaining cheese.

Black Bean Sofrito

I have to be honest... before I found this recipe, I had never heard of a sofrito.  I had to google pictures to have an idea of what I was making.  But really, it had black beans in it so how could I resist?  One of my favourite things about the Vegetarian Family Cookbook is that it suggests options for side dishes. In this case, it suggested making the southwestern rice casserole to go with the sofrito, so I went with that and a spinach salad.  It's a good thing my husband put some in the fridge for me (I never eat before hot yoga) because that is all there was left.  This recipe is definitely going to be a frequently made meal around here!

Black Bean Sofrito

1 tablespoon olive oil 

1 medium onion, chopped fine 

4 cloves garlic, minced 

1 medium green bell pepper, diced I used yellow

1 medium red bell pepper, diced 

2-15 oz. cans black beans, rinsed & drained mash half

1 large firm tomato, diced 

2 tsp cumin 

1/2 tsp oregano 

1/2 tsp chili powder

Juice of 1/2 lemon 

Salt and pepper to taste 

1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

1/3 cup water

*Saute onion and garlic in olive oil until translucent

*Add in pepper and cook for 5 more minutes

*Add remaining ingredients and cook for 10-15 minutes

Finally back to it.

Getting home from a vacation, especially a road trip, is always a tough transition for me.  I'm tired, I have no groceries, and I have very little motivation.  I usually prepare a casserole to put in the freezer for our first meal once we arrive home but after that it's right back to real life and  I was in no mood for it this time around.  Today was the first day where I felt slightly creative and slightly (yes only slightly) motivated to make something of note.  Combining two of my favourite things (black beans and loaves) seemed like an obvious choice.  So here it is, served with a green salad and some roasted potatoes--a black bean loaf.

Black Bean Loaf

olive oil

2 sliced onions

2 cans black beans, drained, rinsed, and mashed

1 cup rolled oats

2 tbsp nutritional yeast

6 cloves roasted garlic, minced

2 chopped red peppers

3 tbsp ground flax seed

3 tbsp water

1/2 cup ground walnuts

2-3 tbsp braggs

3/4 tsp parsley

1/2 tsp oregano

1 tsp cumin

3/4 tsp chili powder

salt and pepper

topping

mustard, chili powder, brown sugar

*Saute onion and red pepper in olive oil  on low for 10-15 minutes, until soft

*In a large bowl, combine all ingredients and let stand for 5-10 minutes

*Brush on topping

*Transfer to a greased loaf pan and bake at 375 for 55-60 minutes

Quinoa Casserole

Today turned out to be just as great as yesterday!  We spent the day outside again and I feel totally rested (but also exhausted somehow?) and ready for the week.  We had my in-laws over for dinner and I thought we'd all really enjoy this quinoa casserole that I found on Savvy's website.  I served it with these black bean burgers (sans feta and curry paste but added parsley), and grilled asparagus and corn on the cob.

Quinoa Carrot Zucchini Casserole

1 cup quinoa

1/4 cup currant

1/4 cup sunflower seeds

2 bay leaves

1 cinnamon stick

2 tbsp olive oil

1 cup chopped celery

2 chopped carrots

2 chopped small zucchini

1 tsp ground coriander

1/2 tsp paprika

pinch cayenne

1 tbsp grated fresh ginger

1 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp salt

1 3/4 cup vegetable stock

* * * * * * * * * * * *

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

ground pepper

*Soak quinoa in water for 1 hour

 *Saute celery in olive oil until translucent, add carrots and cook 5 minutes, add zucchini and cook 1 minute.

*Add remaining ingredients (up to the asterisks and not including the stock) and stir until browned

*Pour into casserole dish, along with boiled vegetable stock and cook (covered) at 350

*Cook until stock is absorbed (about 20 minutes) and remove bay leaves and cinnamon stick

*Add parsley and ground pepper and serve!

Burger Wednesday!

My most favourite burger cookbook has gone missing!  It's true!  I don't know if I gave it to someone or put it down somewhere in the house, but either way I can't find it :(  Anyway, my friend Shannon makes some bulgur burgers and the other day on Best Recipes Ever I saw another version of them!  Obviously I took this as a sign that I should be adding them to our menu, so here is my version.  We had the burgers with some mashed yams and a simple green salad. 

Black Bean and Bulgur Burgers

1 1/2 cups bulgur

3 cups water

3 cups cooked black beans

1 chopped onion

1 chopped shallot

4 cloves minced garlic

2 cups finely diced mushrooms

1/2 cup vegetable stock

2 cups oats

1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley

 salt and pepper

3/4 tsp thyme

2 tsp cumin

*Bring water and bulgur to a boil, cover and remove from heat, let sit for 20 minutes

*Saute onion, shallot, and garlic in a skillet until soft

*Add mushrooms and stock and simmer until reduced

*Mash black beans in a large bowl, add bulgur, and onion mixture

*Add oats, parsley, salt, pepper, thyme and cumin

*Form into 8-10 patties and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes

*Cook on bbq for 7-8 minutes per side

Wednesdays are love.

Today I woke up to snow.  Again.  In the middle of April :(  I shouldn't really be surprised but somehow I always am.  We had already planned on bbq type food but I decided to cook it all inside and continued to pretend that it was spring outside.  I'm tired of the pretending...anyway!  We spent the day inside cleaning (and cleaning and cleaning) and getting a whole bunch of stuff done that I've been avoiding.  The burgers were made this morning, starting from this recipe but then totally finishing off as something different!  Served with some roasted veggies and corn on the cob, it was the prefect way to avoid the weather outside.  Tomorrow is a new day and it's not looking quite so terrible.

Black Bean Burgers

2 cans of black beans, drained and rinsed

1 cup of cooked brown rice

1 chopped red pepper

1 chopped onion

5 cloves minced garlic

3/4 cup sliced white mushrooms

1/2 cup feta cheese

1/4 cup ground flax seed

1/4 cup water

1 tbsp curry paste

2 tsp cumin

1 tsp cilantro

salt and pepper

1 tsp hot sauce

1 cup bread crumbs

*In a large bowl mash black beans together with rice

*In a food processor, pulse together onion, garlic, pepper, and mushrooms

*In a small bowl mix together flax and water, set aside for 5 minutes

*Add flax mixture and vegetable mixture to black beans and rice

*Add remaining ingredients and let sit for 10 minutes

*Form into patties and cook on a skillet in olive oil for 5 minutes per side

*Grill burgers (inside or out) until heated through

Game Night!

My kids have been really into games lately (mostly cards but any board game will do).   After spending most of the day running around and snacking, a big supper would not have gone over well, so we had a snacking kind of meal while we played many (many) games!  Homemade pitas, roasted red pepper hummus, raw veggies, black bean dip, artichoke and spinach dip and chips.  It was as delicious as it sounds :)

Black Bean Dip

1 can of black beans, drained and rinsed

4 cloves of minced garlic

1 tbsp cumin

1 tsp chili powder

 2 tbsp olive oil

juice from 1 lemon

*Add all ingredients to food processor and pulse until you've reached desired consistency

*Chill before eating

Roasted Red Pepper Hummus 

 3 red peppers, roasted and blended

2 cans of chickpeas, drained and rinsed

4 cloves of minced garlic

1/3 cup tahini

2 tbsp olive oil

juice from 1 lemon

salt and pepper

*Pulse all ingredients together several times in a food processor

*Chill before eating

Pitas!  from Leora

2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
2 tsp salt
1 cup warm water
1 1/2 tsp yeast
1+ tbsp olive oil

*Combine water and yeast and set aside for a few minutes

*In a large bowl mix together flour and salt, add yeast mixture and oil, mix well.

*Knead for several minutes on a lightly floured counter top

*Place in well oiled bowl, cover and let rise for 2 hours

*Divide into 10 pieces

*Flatten each piece into a disk and roll quite flat

*Bake at 500 for 3-5 minutes

The recipe for this spinach and artichoke dip can be found here. 

South American Black Bean Soup

Its finally seeming a little spring like here, even though everything is still buried under many feet of snow.  It was a beautiful day for opening the windows and eating a delicious bowl of soup.  I took this recipe from the same slow cooker cookbook that I take most of my Tuesday meals from 125 Best Vegetarian Slow Cooker Recipes.  I served it with a small green salad and some pita "chips" that took less than 10 minutes to make.  The kids were upset that they hadn't thought of dipping their chips in the soup (the REASON for the chips, lol) until after they finished.  This soup could have used a little more spice but the kids may not have liked it then.

South American Black Bean Soup

Olive Oil

2 chopped onions

3 chopped celery stalks

2 chopped carrots

3 cloves minced garlic

1 chopped jalapeno

1 tsp thyme

2 tbsp cumin seeds

1 tbsp oregano

1 tsp salt

1 tsp cracked black peppercorns

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

1 can tomato paste

6 cups vegetable stock

4 cups cooked black beans

1/3 cup freshly squeezed lime juice

chopped cilantro

*Saute onions, carrots, and celery and cook, until softened, about 5 minutes.

*Add garlic, jalapeno, thyme, cumin, oregano, salt, peppercorns and cayenne and cook for 1 minute.

*Add tomato paste and stir to combine.

*Transfer to stoneware and add stock and beans and stir to combine.

*Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours.

*Stir in lime juice.

*In the cookbook it says to puree the soup in batches.  I skipped this step today!

*Top with chopped cilantro

Curried Bean Burgers

bWe seem to be eating a lot of veggie burgers lately, just can't get enough!  I was flipping through some magazines on the weekend and saw a recipe of curried pork burgers, it sounded gross BUT I thought curried bean burgers sounded DELICIOUS.  So I spent the afternoon perfecting a recipe for the couple of cans of black beans I had in my pantry.  We had a few of the quinoa rolls left from the other day so I served the burgers on those, along with a toasted quinoa salad and some roasted caulifower.

 Curried Black Bean Burgers

2 cans of black beans

1 chopped onion

3 cloves minced garlic

1 inch grated ginger

1 jalepeno pepper, seeded and minced

3 tbsp curry paste

2 tsp cumin

salt and pepper

3/4 cup crumbled feta cheese

handful chopped cilantro

1 1/2 cups bread crumbs

*Place beans in food processor and quickly pulse a few times

*Saute onion, garlic, ginger and jalepeno until softened

*Mix beans, onion mixtre and the remaining ingredients until well combined, let rest for a few minutes

*Fry in olive oil for 5 minutes per side and place on baking sheet

*Bake at 375 for 15-20 minutes.

Black Bean Burgers

I wrote in my facebook status a few weeks ago about my new black bean burger recipe.  I must have gotten asked for the recipe at least 10 times!  Honestly, these are the easiest, most delicious veggie burgers I have ever made.  The best part is that you can use it with any kind of bean.  So far I have only tried "mixed beans" and black beans.

I got the recipe from this cookbook that I got for Christmas  this year.  I can't even imagine how much it will get used this summer once we can finally bbq again!  I served it with a simple salad and some yam fries (with a touch of cumin...ha!)

Black Bean Burgers

3 cups of black beans

4 eggs, beaten

4 tsp dijon mustard

1 cup chopped fresh parsley

1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

1 1/2 cups bread crumbs

salt and pepper

juice from half a lemon

olive oil

*Preheat the oven to 375

*In a mixing bowl, mash the beans.  Fold in the rest of the ingredients (minus the oil) and let sit for 5-10 minutes for the crumbs to soak up some of the moisture.  This step is very important!

*Form into 8 patties and cook in a frying pan (in the oil) for 6-10 minutes, flipping once.

*Transfer to a pan and bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes

I hope you are all enjoying reading this blog as much as I am enjoying writing in it.  For now though, I am going to enjoy a quiet house as my husband has taken all 4 children out.  *Bliss*