Black Bean and Corn Quesadilla

I found a recipe for this quesadilla on vegweb.com. It's really simple but SO good.

What I used:

1 can black beans…drained and rinsed
1 cup frozen corn
1 small onion….diced
1 medium red bell pepper….diced
2 teaspoons cumin
salt and pepper to taste
the juice of 1 small lime
Mozzarella cheese of your choice. I used Daiya, vegan cheese.

Heat everything in a pan until the veggies are softened a bit. Take a masher and mash everything up a little.  Heat a skillet sprayed lightly with oil. Place one tortilla in the pan, add a 1/4  or so of the mix to the tortilla. Top with cheese and another tortilla. Mash the top down so the mix spreads.  Once one side is toasted flip it over. The second side usually cooks faster. Repeat until the mix is gone. I made 3 quesadillas with the last being super filled for Bobby. I could have easily turned it into 2 but by then I was ready to eat!

Cut and serve. They were great as is and with salsa. Even my toddler liked it.

Snobby Joe's

Snobby Joe's

Tonight I made Snobby Joe's from the Post Punk Kitchen. Basically it's sloppy joe's with lentils instead of beef. They were very tasty.  It has a tomato sauce base with mustard and maple syrup. Although I used Agave Maple Syrup. Chili powder gives it just enough spice but it's not hot at all. And it was sloppy enough that I ended up eating it with a fork. I didn't have proper rolls and used Flax Sandwich Thins, which were indeed…thin. I can see putting this in the rotation.

Chocolate Chip Oatmeal

It was an oatmeal kind of morning. Especially after discovering Mrbreakfast.com with tons of oatmeal recipes. I have never really deviated from Quaker Oats Instant and thought it was time to shake things up.  Making your own is healthier as you can control what goes into it.

Chocolate Chip Oatmeal original recipe

I modified it to suit my personal needs:

1/3 cup instant oats
1 cup soy milk
1 big teaspoon sugar free cocoa powder
dairy free semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 teaspoon almond butter
Stevia liquid sweetener

Bring the milk to a boil and add oats. Cook until thickened….about 2 minutes.  Add the cocoa powder and almond butter. I found using a whisk helped dissolve the cocoa powder better.  Remove from heat and add stevia to taste. I used 2 drops and it wasn't very sweet at all. The taste of dark chocolate really came through. Top with chocolate chips.

This was decadent and so very filling.

Vegan Enchilada Casserole

Here's a pretty simple casserole to put together. There are so many of these on the internet so what's one more? I say, why not?

1 can low sodium black beans, drained/rinsed
1 cup corn (I used frozen)
1 medium onion diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 green bell pepper, diced
1 tomato, diced
1 package corn tortillas
1 can enchilada sauce
1 cup vegan Mexican shredded cheese
1 1/2 tablespoon cumin
2 teaspoons chili powder
Juice of one lime
salt to taste

Preheat oven to 350.

Saute onions and garlic until onions are translucent. Add peppers and cook until softened but still green. Add corn, tomatoes and beans and lime juice. Add spices and salt to taste. Cook all for about 10 minutes to combine flavors.

Place corn tortillas in bottom of a lightly greased casserole dish. Top with half of the veggie mix.  Add another layer of corn tortillas, top with the rest of the veggies and a final layer of the tortillas. Sprinkle the vegan cheese on top and then cover with the enchilada sauce.

Bake for 30 minutes. I sprinkled onions on top before serving.

The vegan cheese melts into the sides of the dish and as you eat and makes it creamy and delicious.  I really enjoyed this and I know it will be even better tomorrow. These are the kind of meals that my meat eating husband enjoys and doesn't feel he's missing anything.

Spicy Aztec Bowl….revised

Happy Herbivore's Spicy Aztec Bowl as interpreted by me:

What I did differently:

I added diced a yellow onion instead of green onions. I also added some cumin, garlic powder and a little chili powder. Skipped the hot sauce and served the refried beans on the side.  Salsa was a great topping. Also, I decided not to use the avocado. A simple green salad completes it.

It was filling and tasty.

Creole Rice and Beans from Happy Herbivore

I recently started getting Happy Herbivore's weekly meal plans, complete with menus and shopping lists, as a way to help me stay on track with cooking nutritious meals. Here is one of the recipes I made: Creole Rice and Beans

It was pretty simple to make and it helped that I had the rice already prepared. Open up a few cans, chop a few vegetables and throw in some spices and you're done. I try not to use processed foods but canned beans don't count! Even my 2 year old liked it and that is saying a lot.

Happyherbivore.com

Lentil Tacos

Another favorite around here are tacos. But since I'm no longer eating meat I thought I'd be reduced to using soy crumbles. And then I found this recipe:

Lentil Tacos

So easy and so fast, especially if your lentils are already cooked. I cooked mine yesterday so all I had do today was chop a few veggies and season everything. I was still more rushed while making this than I like to be because I wasn't feeling my best and was anxious to get it done. So I'm sure when I make it again it will be outstanding because it was still pretty great. I didn't feel like messing with a lot of toppings so I just topped it with some diced onion. I also used Mexican soy cheese, which I won't do again. It wasn't needed and really if soy cheese isn't being used melted, it's not worth it. It's not bad, it just doesn't add anything to the dish. She recommended Ancho chili powder but I used regular. I also didn't add hot sauce on the slight chance the baby would try it. She didn't. Too bad because the hot sauce could have helped with my sinus issues!

To respect the people who's recipes I've tried, I'm not going to post the actual recipe  without their permission.  I'll add a link to their site or recommend their cookbook.

Faux Tuna Salad….Really!

Have you heard of Happy Herbivore? She writes fantastic vegan recipes and here's one I was skeptical about. I love tuna fish salad. In fact, it was the hardest thing for me to give up when I transitioned to a vegan diet recently. Years ago, when I was a vegetarian, tuna salad was the one thing I craved the most and it started me back to eating meat, fish and poultry. So to find a recipe that claimed to taste like the real thing was promising but come on….how could chick peas really taste like tuna?  And then I noticed something for the first time. When I opened the can of chick peas, it actually smelled reminiscent of canned tuna!

Check out HH's site. Here's the recipe: Happy Herbivore Mock Tuna Salad

I am truly amazed. If I hadn't known, the first bite would have fooled me for sure. It's very tuna salad-like but doesn't have the "fishy" taste that some people dislike about tuna. There is also no fishy smell so it's perfect to take to work when you share an office.

Note: original recipe used kelp, which I didn't have. I'll have to acquire some soon!

Spicy Black Beans, Corn and Rice

Here's a spicy, fast meal to throw together on a busy weeknight.

8 oz cooked brown rice (I used Uncle Ben's)
1 can low sodium black beans, rinsed and drained
1 can yellow corn, rinsed and drained
1/2 a red onion, chopped fine
1 medium tomato, chopped
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
juice of 1 lime
1 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
hot sauce to taste (I used Uncle Frank's Original….noticing a theme here with the Uncles….)

Heat the onion in a little olive oil, add the rest of the vegetables and spices. Cook for about 5 minutes, add rice, lime juice and hot sauce and heat on low for about 10 minutes.

The corn stays crunchy and the spices blend together for a nice spicy heat.  I ate it plain in a bowl but you could use tortilla chips, put it in a tortilla or on a salad. So easy and so good.

Sun Dried Tomato and "Chicken" Stuffed Shells

Wow. This was SO good. I found the original recipe at Maplespice.com and tweaked it to suit my needs. It's vegan and just wonderful.

Preheat oven to 350.

Ingredients I used:

1 box of jumbo pasta shells, cooked to package instructions. Drain and cool.
Galaxy Nutritional Foods Vegan Mozzarella shreds.

4 Gardein "chicken" scaloppini, defrosted.
A handful of fresh basil leaves.
8 pieces of sun dried tomatoes in oil
1/2 cup diced onions
1/4 teaspoon of smoked sea salt

Pulse all of the above in a food processor until creamy and blended. It had the consistency of cream cheese once done. Stuff the shells with the mixture and place in baking dish.

For the sauce:
1 32 oz can crushed tomatoes
2 teaspoons garlic powder (NOT garlic salt)
2 teaspoons Italian seasoning blend of dried spices
1 glug red wine
1 teaspoon sugar

Heat all in pan and simmer for 20 minutes (while the noodles are cooking and you are making the filling.)

Cover stuffed shells in sauce and cover with Galaxy Vegan mozzarella cheese shreds.
Bake for 30 minutes.  Place pan under broiler for  few minutes more to "melt" the cheese.

1. Delicious and very satisfying. Didn't taste like "fake" anything.
2. The sauce was a bit liquidy in the pan after it was cooked. But I think this will help keep the leftovers from drying out.
3. The cheese didn't melt as I'd hoped but it tasted good.
4. Next time I'll add spinach.
5. This is a weekend meal as it required more time than I can afford to spend in the kitchen during the week.
6. My picture isn't so pretty but boy is it good!

Chickpea Fajitas

You can find the original recipe here. Her photographs are gorgeous.

I made this pretty spicy and it was really tasty and filling. My adaptation:

1 can chickpeas…drained
1 red bell pepper cut into strips
1/2 white onion….chopped
1 clove minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon Ancho Chili Powder
Juice from a lime…1/2 to a whole.
A dash of salt.
Whole wheat tortillas….toppings such as salsa, avocado, etc.

Saute the onions and garlic until onions are translucent. Add peppers and chickpeas and spices and salt.  Heat through for about 10 minutes. Add lime juice.

Serve on warm tortillas. I used a medium heat salsa and it was really good. This also is a great meal to throw together when you don't have a lot of time.