Kira creates Bean Dumplings and wins!

Simply marvelous!  You can read the recipe on her blog.

Over the summer, the girls have a way to make money... Find or create a new recipe and blog about it.  They get paid $2-10 for the recipe.  Desserts earn less money than super healthy dinners.

the whole enchilada

The other day, Kira found this enchilada recipe and she made it with her friend.  I've never made enchiladas before, but I happily tried it.  It was good.  Good job finding a new dinner, Kira! We decided to make it again. 

I changed things a little from the original site.  I put kale, onions, and corn in mine (Nick's and Natalie's), but Kira (and Tia) stuck with black beans and rice (no veggies).  She used a little Daiya Cheese (and so did Tia and Natalie).  Nick and I enjoyed ours sans the Daiya cheese.  We made the cashew sour cream for topping.  OMG!  It's good! The whole recipe is good.

I plan to change the sauce a little next time by adding a little less chili powder, adding more tomato paste, and adding a little cumin.

Here's the recipe with the modifications I plan to make:

Enchilada Sauce
    • 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
    • 1/4 cup flour
    • 2 tsp garlic powder
    • 2 tbsp oregano
    • 1 tbsp cumin
    • 5 tbsp chili powder
    • ½ tsp salt
    • 1 7-ounce jar of tomato paste
    • 3.5 cups vegetable broth
(If you want more kick add a little cayenne and/or chili powder.  The original version of the sauce had 8 tablespoons and it seemed like too much, but I haven't tried making this with 5.  I'm guessing 5-6 tablespoons will be the sweet spot.  I'll fix when I make this again and decide.) (I doubled her amount of sauce because I like sauce and there are 5 of us.)

Cashew Cream
    • ½ cup raw cashews
    • 2 tbsp lemon juice
    • 1 garlic clove
    • ¼ cup water
    • ½ tsp salt
    • ¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper

Kale Filling
    • ½ tbsp extra virgin olive oil
    • 1 yellow onion, diced
    • 4 cups frozen kale
    • ½ cup corn kernels  

Black Beans
    • 2 15oz cans of black beans (cooked with 1 clove of minced garlic, 2 tsp cumin, and ~3/4 tsp salt--'cause my beans were unsalted.)

Directions:
Enchilada Sauce
    • Heat oil, add flour; whisk until smooth.
    • Add spices, tomato paste, and vegetable broth. Whisk until smooth. Simmer for 10-15 minutes. It will thicken.

Cashew Cream
    • Add all ingredients to a food processor or high-powered blender and process/blend until very smooth.  (If you're using a food processor you may want to soak the cashews for 20 or so minutes first.)

Kale Filling
    • Saute onion in a little olive oil or broth (your preference), and cook until softened, about 5-10 minutes.
    • Add Kale cook until soft
    • Add corn cook until warm

Rice
We also made some rice for the tortillas 'cause that's what 2 of my girls wanted.

After everything is cooked, preheat your oven to 350F and pour some of the enchilada sauce on the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish.  Fill each tortilla with about 2 tablespoons of veggies to a tortilla, add rice (if you want) and a spoonful of black beans.  Roll it up tightly, and place seam-side down in your baking dish. Repeat with remaining tortillas. (We made 10 tortillas, but had to use two pans.) Pour the rest of the enchilada sauce over the enchiladas, cover everything well. Cover the baking dish with foil, (I used a silicon baking sheet) and bake for 15-20 minutes, or until the sauce is bubbling. Serve with a cashew cream




   

Black bean soup

Basically this recipe http://www.forksoverknives.com/recipes/cuban-black-bean-soup/, but tripled.

My vegan who doesn't like vegetables loves black bean soup. She asked if I'd blend the onions so she couldn't see them.  I did.

1 small onion (blended into juice)
1 tablespoon (heaping) cumin
1 tablespoon chili powder
3 cans black beans (drained)
4.5 cups of veggie broth
1-2 garlic cloves
salt to taste (I used 1 teaspoon as our beans were unsalted)

Put the onion and a little broth in a soup pan and cook for 5 minutes or so.

Add everything else listed above; cook for 20-30 minutes.

Put 1 container of salsa (15 ounces) <--one more ingredient not listed above, in blender with 1/2 to most of the beans.  Blend. Pour back in the soup pan.

Add 1 tablepoon lime juice <--and again one more ingredient not listed above.

 Cook for 5-10 more minutes.

Serve with  chips, rice, or quinoa and whatever toppings you like (the vegan who doesn't like vegetables loves Daiya cheese).


Very easy and very tasty.  

Garden Chipotle Quinoa

I don't make enough dishes with quinoa. There's this one and it's pretty good. But I usually make Mexican Casserole with Quinoa as I like it better. Everytime I make that Mexican Casserole, I wonder why I don't make it more often.

Tonight, I wanted to make something a little different and I played around with the one-pot quinoa wonder recipe (the first recipe linked above) and came up with Garden Chipotle Quinoa. It's awesome. I heart Garden Chipotle Quinoa.

You may remember the the homemade adobo sauce recipe--if you don't go read; I used the sauce in the quinoa dish and WE LOVED this quinoa dish!  OMG! Weeeeeee!

The dish came about because I had carrots and fava beans from our winter garden and I wanted to use them. I diced up:

carrots (2-3)
1 onion
2 cloves garlic
then added
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
2 teaspoons cumin
1 can of black beans
2 cups of veggie broth
1 can of diced tomatoes
1.5 blocks of my adobo sauce (that was frozen)

All this went in a big skillet... it's probably a 14-inch very deep skillet. After it all had cooked for about 15 minutes I added:

1 cup of quinoa
1.5 cups frozen corn
fava beans (~1 cup--I don't know, we just picked some for fun today and I wanted to see what they were like.  I didn't measure)

At the very end of the cooking (for about the last 5 minutes) I put in a little kale from the garden (next time I'll add more).

 
(You can see the fava beans and a little kale; the carrots are hard to see.)

Yum! I have decided that the adobo sauce, quinoa, and whatever vegetable is in season in the garden will go into this dish; that is why we will (forever) call it Garden Chipotle Quinoa.

(I ate too much! I am stuffed.)


Sent from my iPhone

Mexican Quinoa version 2

We love Mexican and we love quinoa. This was tasty and super easy! Three out of 6 liked it (my brother is visiting).  We'll make it again!

I started with this recipe, but didn't want to wait an hour so I just did it in one pan on the stove.

What I did:

1 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1.5 cups uncooked quinoa (rinsed)
3 cans diced tomatoes, with liquid (14.5 ounces)
½ cup water
3 tbsp nutritional yeast (optional--it's very nice in here--I'm not a huge fan, but it does add a nice flavor dimension)
1 tbsp tomato paste (or ketchup, but I recommend the paste!)
1 tablespoon cumin
1-2 teaspoons oregan
1-2 teaspoons chili powder (more if you like things spicy)
Salt & freshly ground pepper
1 or 2 cans black beans, drained
1 cup corn kernels (I used frozen)
3 cups baby kale or spinach (I used kale)
Toppings of choice: vegan sour cream, avocado, cilantro, vegan cheese, etc.

Add all ingredients in the list down to the black beans. Bring to a boil and simmer for 10-15 minutes. Add the beans and corn and cook for another 5-10 minutes but make sure it isn't sticking! Add a little more water if you need it and stir often. Reduce heat to very low and add the greens. Put the lid on stir and serve when the greens are wilted to your preference.

I made extra 'cause I read it would freeze well. I am excited to have a new, easy, tasty dinner!  Pictures soon or see the site linked.

Modifying another recipe: Mexican Soup

I'm going to try to make soup on Sundays so that we have something quick and easy through the week and then have some (hopefully) extra to freeze. This is one of my tips here. It's a tip other people give; with tips like these, it's good to say them over and over because they are so easy to forget, but they really do make a difference and make life easier. It's the little things.

This past Sunday, I went back through my recipes and decided I wanted to make an old recipe that I have on here, but I wanted to change a few things. It's rare when I don't change something in a recipe when I make it. I cook by taste and by mood. My recipes often evolve. For me, Mexican Soup started here and now it's here:

Makes at least 8 servings.  (We've had 5 servings and we still have a lot, so I'm guessing more like 10-12)
Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups cubed sweet potatoes (I used a bag of these)

1 large sweet onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves, chopped fine

1 jalapeno pepper, chopped

1 large red pepper, chopped

2 zucchini diced

1 16 oz. jar of salsa (I used a "medium" chipolte salsa from Whole Foods )

1 tablespoon cumin

2--14.5 oz. can of black beans, drained & rinsed

2 cans of Muir Glen Fire Roasted Tomatoes (make sure they are diced, otherwise the chunks are too big and you'll have to dice them yourself)

6 cups of low-sodium vegetable broth + 2 cups of water

1 cup cashews blended into cashew cream

1 bag of kale/spinach (I used about 6 ounces of kale, but you can NEVER add too much kale, in my opinion).


Optional:  Add 1 1/2 cups of frozen roasted corn
Throw in some quinoa for the last 20 minutes of cooking (or make it on the side).

Preparation:
Roast the corn and the red pepper to bring out the flavors. I microwaved the frozen sweet potatoes and then threw everything in the pot, brought it to a boil, and then let it all simmer for about hour.  Add the quinoa at the 45 minute mark (or start cooking it in another pan).

After about an hour, add salsa, cumin, black beans, & broth. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 10-15 minutes.

While it's cooking make your cashew cream.  (I used 1 cup cashews and 3/4 cup water and blended. Tip: Use warm water to make the cream blend into the soup more easily.)

Add in cashew cream. Whisk well and make sure the soup is hot. If you have the quinoa in the soup, it's a meal in a bowl. If you don't have the quinoa in the soup serve with rice, bread, or whatever else you'd like!

Let me know what you think and I'll let you know if I make any more changes to the soup.

Black bean burgers with Kale

I always forget about my my black bean burger recipe.  They are actually are "green black bean burgers" because they have so much Kale. I love them.  The vegan who doesn't like vegetables loves them, too.*  I need to remember to make them more often. They take a while to cook, but the prep isn't too bad. I notice that I'm much more comfortable using the food processor in the kitchen than I was even a year ago. If you're new to cooking as a vegan, it will get easier!

*Surprisingly, the vegan who loves veggies doesn't like them--she's a purist when it comes to her black beans.) 4 out of 5 in our family love them and so do others outside the family who have tried them.

Black bean burger wrap

I love to make wraps for lunch! I either eat a wrap or a salad (pretty much) everyday for lunch. (Salads when I go to work and wraps when I work from home.) I made black bean burgers the other night and I had some left over. I broke one up, added steamed broccoli, and dijon mustard and voilà, a burger wrap!

 

I did manage to close it, see?

 

However, I can't let go of the wrap.  Oh well, I'll just eat it!

Super fast black bean dip

When you're in a hurry for something filling, with protein, and tasty, we recommend our super fast black bean dip!

3 cans of Black Beans (BPA-free if possible)
1-2 cloves of garlic
1-2 tablespoons cumin
1.5 teaspoons of salt
~8-12 ounces of fresh salsa (like pico de gallo) but use very little of the juice.
Optional: Chili Powder, Onion Powder

Directions:

Put 1/2 a can of black beans (drained and rinsed), the salsa (without the juice), and the garlic in the food processor and process until smooth (you want to make sure the garlic is all chopped up).

Next, add the spices (cumin and salt) pulse a few times to mix them in.  Then add the remaining cans of drained and rinsed beans and process until mostly smooth.

Serve with veggies, rice, tortillas, tortilla chips, or whatever else you like.  I also love to add it to wraps.  This amount will usually last for (no more than) 2 days in our house with our family of 5.  We all love it.  It makes a super easy and fun dish to take to parties, too.

Mexican Sweet Potato Soup

I made this soup for the first time.  (Recipe pasted below.) It was good!  What would I change? Not much.  I'd add Kale, of course!  (Remember, I like it GREEN!)  I did add some kale to my bowl, and YUM! I think I'd also add Muir Glen fire-roasted tomatoes.  If you scroll down on this post you can read about Eden tomatoes being BPA free.

Oh, on the soup, I didn't saute the veggies.  I just threw everything in the pot and let it cook for a couple of hours.  Next time, I might saute the red peppers or if I were in a hurry, I'd add (jarred) oven roasted red peppers.

So it's been a while since my last post... where did I go and am I back now?  I have been busy getting ready for the fall.  I'll be working again and teaching.  I'm almost ready--kind of, but I don't want summer to end.  My brother is visiting and this coming weekend we have some birthday celebrating to do, so don't expect me back quite yet.  I've so enjoyed my summer off and hanging with the girls.  Thanks to my wonderful husband for encouraging me to take time off. 

And now, Happy Healthy Librarian's Sister's Soup Recipe. 

Serves:  8 (2 cup servings)
Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups cubed sweet potatoes

1 large sweet onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves, chopped fine

1 jalapeno pepper, chopped

1 large red pepper, chopped

1 16 oz. jar of salsa (I used pico de gallo, but next time I might use a heartier cooked salsa)

1/2 tablespoon cumin

2--14.5 oz. can of black beans, drained & rinsed

6 cups of low-sodium vegetable broth (use 8 cups if you like a thinner soup)

1/3 cup Better'n Peanut Butter (low-fat), or PB2 equivalent, prepared, or real peanut butter

1 bag of TJ's frozen brown rice, microwaved (2 cups cooked brown rice)
Optional:  Add 1 1/2 cups of frozen roasted corn

Preparation:
Saute all the vegetables, with sweet potatoes for 5-7 minutes, until soft (I skipped this... I microwaved the sweet potatoes and just through everything in the pot and let them simmer for a couple of hours.  I do think softening the pepper a bit more might be good.)

Add salsa, cumin, black beans, & broth. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 10 minutes

Add in peanut butter. Whisk well.

Add in rice & cook 2 minutes longer.  (I didn't add rice, but maybe next time.  I prefer kale over rice.)

This is loaded with nutrients!

Almost homemade black beans

Yesterday, I shared my recipe for homemade black beans, but I'm too busy to make them, this week.  I should be honest, I have been too busy since last September.  (I'm hoping this summer will give me more time in the kitchen.)  Because necessity is the mother of invention, I came up with a way to do really tasty, almost homemade black beans in a short amount of time.

1.  Get some canned black beans.  My favorite ones are these: http://www.edenfoods.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=102980.  They are organic and in BPA-free cans.  They are also cooked with Kombu.  (Did I tell you that kombu makes beans more "digestible?"  It's good stuff.) 

2.  Decide how many cans to use.  

I typically use 3 cans (and it usually gives us 1- 2 meals for the whole family of 5 of us).

Put all the beans in a pan and add spices.  For black beans, my favorite spices are cumin, salt, a little chili powder, onion powder and garlic.

I put in 1-2 teaspoons of ground cumin per can of beans.

See the previous post for a link to how healthy cumin is for you! Or click this link to learn more about cumin.

Add approximately  1/2 teaspoon of salt per can

Garlic....  Note, I tend to go light on the garlic, but season as you like.  (This also depends on my mood.) You can use 1 teeny clove or 2- 3 big cloves (minced) per pan.   When I use dried and minced I use about 1/2 teaspoon per can.

1-2 teaspoons of chili powder for 3 cans and a few good shakes of the onion powder.  Season as you feel!  


Bring the beans to a boil and then turn down and simmer for at least 20 minutes.  I've simmered my beans for almost 2 hours (just making sure to keep them low) and they've been EXCELLENT.

Let me know if you try them!  These are super easy and good for you when you're busy.  See previous post for serving suggestions.  And, make sure you have salsa around!

These haven't simmered very long.  I let the juice cook almost all the way off.  Super tasty!

Homemade Black Beans

I remember when I had time to make homemade black beans. Sigh. It's a little busy right now, but I thought I'd post the recipe. I love black beans--they are so tasty and so good for you.  They have lots of antioxidants, fiber, and protein; recent research suggests they may lower the risk of colon cancer.  In short, black beans are a real super food!  I love black beans with:

Rice
Sauteed onions and red pepper
Broccoli
Kale
Spinach
Tortilla
All of the above combined... plus salsa.  I use a lot of salsa.

 I digress.

Here's the recipe, for homemade beans roughly...
1 lb black beans, soaked in water with kombu. (Kombu makes beans more "digestible.") Soak for at least 12 hours and drain the water at least once (after 8-12 hours). I usually soak them for 24 hours with the kombu (a piece or 2 of 2x3 inches (or equivalent as the pieces break).

When you start cooking, add 8 cups fresh water (I usually stick in another piece of kombu, too)
1 tsp (or to taste) salt
Couple of diced garlic cloves (to taste)
1-2 tablespoons of ground cumin (Don't be shy!  This stuff is good and good for you.) 

Simmer forever or until the beans are really soft.  Once you get the beans in the pan, you can let them cook ALL DAY (or all afternoon).  They get better the longer they cook.  Serve with whatever you like (see my list above for ideas).  (My current favorite tortillas are Organic Sonoma Multi-Grain with Flax Tortillas.)

Black bean and kale burgers with a big KICK

I'll tell you about the kickin' cookin' in a minute. If you want to skip the recipe and go to the story, go down to the line divider. Otherwise, keep reading... Saturday night: I was making an approximation of this recipe from "Oh she glows," a great food / vegan blog. (And she originally got it here.)

I say an approximation of the recipe because I never follow recipes. I always adapt or change based on taste preferences, to add in extra veggies, or reduce the fat. I'm putting the version I made, below. (I increased the spices by quite a bit. Plus, I added kale for some greens, flax (for omega-3s), removed the oil, and added more oats because the burger mix, with my addition of kale, was way too moist.)

1-2 carrots
1 cup (frozen) kale
1-2 garlic clove(s)
1/4 cup pepitas (pumpkin seeds)
1 tablespoon cumin
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 tsp coriander
1 chia egg (1 tbsp ground chia + 3 tbsp warm water, mixed well)
1/4 - 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 - 1 tsp sea salt
2 cans black beans (rinsed and drained)
1 cup dry rolled oats
1/3 cup ground flaxmeal


Directions: Preheat oven to somewhere between 300 and 350F*. Add carrots, garlic, and kale to the food processor and process until finely minced. Next, add pepitas and spices to your food processor and process until close to the texture you desire. (If you want the pepitas more chunky, then add these later.) Add 3/4 of the beans, the chia egg, 1/2 the oats, and the flax. Process until lightly mixed.

Spoon the mixture from the food processor into a mixing bowl and mix in (by hand) the rest of the beans and oats. Form into 10-12 good-sized patties. Place patties on a lined baking pan. (I use a silicone mat and I love my silicone baking mat. The one I linked to is close to what I have, but I can't find the particular mat I have.)

Bake the burgers at 325F for 30-40 minutes, turning once very carefully after 15-20 minutes (Note: The patties are fragile, but I think the addition of flax and extra oats makes these burgers more able to stick together than the original version.) Hint, use a metal spatula for getting underneath them to flip them.

(Note from the other blog, I haven't tried it. If you want to grill these, pre-bake them for 20-30 minutes at 300F, then throw them on the grill to get a little extra cooking / browning.)

*My notes: I baked these in my convection oven at 300. It seems to take between 30 and 40 minutes to get these done depending on the moisture content of the carrot(s) and kale.

---

Okay, so now I'll tell you about how things got really hot! It took me two attempts to make the burgers.

First time around, I was almost done mixing things. I had added the beans before I added all the spices and was working on putting in the remaining spices. I grabbed (what I thought was) the chili powder and poured in a big heaping tablespoon, maybe closer to 2. I started the food processor and went to search for the coriander.

As I found the coriander, I thought, "Ruh-oh, I think I put in cayenne pepper instead of chili powder." With trepidation, I tasted the mixture...whew, it's okay, 1,2,3 WHOA BABY! Nope, it was cayenne that I poured into the recipe in mass quantities. How did I manage that?

I stood and wrung my hands for a few seconds; I was very upset for having wasted so much food. I tried to think creatively so I decided to take most (3/4s) of the mixture out from the food processor to see if it would work as a bean dip. My oldest daughter, tried it and deemed it edible, nay really good, but with a big kick. (She thought it was hilarious that I said WHOA BABY when I tried it.) All my girls liked it as a bean dip and they ate quite a bit of it. They amused themselves with eating the dip and then trying to cool their mouths down. Oh to be 6, 7, and 10, again. Heh.

I was a little happier and I decided that the "accident" would work well spread on tortillas that could be stuffed with broccoli or spinach. Whew! The food was not wasted! (I can't wait to try this spread on tortillas! I'll let you know how it is.) (I love vegan cooking because you can eat stuff RAW!)

After pulling 3/4s of the burger mix out, adding in new ingredients, and re-making the burger mix, I still had really spicy burgers, but at least this time they weren't too hot to handle. These burgers are really good when you put in the right amount of cayenne. To end this really long post, here's a picture of the two jars of spice that managed to confuse me. Don't make the same mistake as me!

How embarrassing! At least it turned out tasty!

Approximate calories and nutrition analysis added 9/2017