Cuban Black Beans

So that isn't the best picture of this dish, BUT, it's so good I wanted to come on here and post the recipe anyway.

This dish is pretty versatile and you can pretty much serve it however you would like, and with tons of different options for toppings.

Ingredients:

-2 cups dried black beans, rinsed

-1 large onion, diced

-2 bell peppers, diced

-5 garlic cloves, minced

-2 dried bay leaves

-1 14.5 can diced tomatoes

-2 cups chicken or vegetable stock

-3 cups water

-2 tablespoons olive oil

-4 teaspoons cumin

-1 to 2 tablespoons chili powder

-few dashes of cayenne pepper (optional) 

-salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Combine all ingredients into your crockpot.

Cover, and cook on high for 6-8 hours (mine went for about 7.5 hrs)

Remove bay leaves and serve!

We served ours over brown rice, with lettuce, tomato, and a tablespoon of sour cream. Delicious! 

Chili, Vegetarian Style!

So first, I apologize for the cell phone pictures. AND that these are from the next day when I warmed some over for lunch. I totally forgot to take a picture after I made the dinner, but you get the idea of how it looks. But how it TASTES is what matters right? My husband kept sneaking into the kitchen to eat more, does that tell you it was a hit? lol! 

Ingredients:

1 Onion Chopped

1 Bell Pepper

Few cloves of garlic, however many you liked. I did about 4

Handful of pickled Jalapenos, chopped

1 can of corn

1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes

1 can drained and rinsed black beans

1 cup chicken or vegetable stock

10oz of Brown Rice, I used a packet of Trader Joes frozen Brown Rice (SO good! My go to rice) cooked

1-2 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons chili powder

1 tablespoon cumin

Salt and Pepper to Taste

1/4-1/2 teaspoon of cayenne pepper, optional, but its oh so good! :)

Directions:

If your cooking your rice from scratch, start that first. 

In a large pot, heat olive oil. Dice your veggies. Add the onion, bell pepper and jalapenos. Cook until they soften. I never add the garlic right away, Ina Garten from Food Network taught me to only add it the last few minutes of sauteing to not burn the garlic. But if you prefer to add it while the other veggies cook, you can. 

Once softened, add the garlic and the corn. Cook for a couple of minutes.

Add the spices, beans, crushed tomatoes, and stock. Stir well, and bring to a boil. 

Reduce heat and simmer for around 20-25 minutes. 

Add rice to the pot, you can add pretty much as much of this as you would like. I added the whole pack of the Trader Joes brown rice (found in the freezer section) and it was the perfect amount for us. But you can add more or less for the thickness your going for. 

Top with your desired toppings. We did a little sour cream and shredded cheese. 

YUM. Seriously...YUM. Definitely going to be a new favorite in our house! I plan on making a huge batch of this and freezing some for when Baby R arrives (in about 60 days SAY WHAT!?, I know time is flying) so I can defrost and cook real fast.

Enjoy!

Stuffed Bell Peppers

Stuffed Bell Peppers

4-6 Servings

This is one of my old recipes that I have replaced beef with veggie protein "meat". We honestly cannot tell the difference but you can definitely use ground beef or ground turkey for this recipe.

This recipe makes quite a bit of filling. We usually have left over filling we use for burritos for lunches because we only make 4 peppers, but if you probably used 6 it would fill all of them.

Ingredients:

4-6 Bell Peppers
1 package veggie protein meat (or 1 lb beef)
1/2 can corn
1/2 cup tomato sauce
1 small onion chopped
3 cloves garlic chopped
1.5 cups cheese (cheddar or jack works well....even better both!)
1.5-2 cups cooked brown rice (you could also use white rice if you prefer)
Taco Seasoning
Salt & Pepper
Cayenne Pepper
Chili Powder
Cumin
Oregano
(notice I didn't put measurements on the spice because I just sprinkle them in until it has the flavor I'm looking for)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Cut tops off of the bell peppers and remove the seeds and membranes.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil, drop your peppers in and boil for a couple minutes. Let aside to cool.

In a large pan, add your veggie protein (this is what I use, its our favorite!)

...or your meat. Along with the onions, and if you wanted to chop up the tops of the bell peppers after remove the stem add those in as well.

Let cook for a few minutes, and add your garlic, corn, tomato sauce and spices.

Cook for an additional 5-7 minutes. Add rice and cheese. Stir to combine. Keep a little cheese leftover to top your peppers with.

**the rice I use is trader joes frozen brown rice. They sell it in a box and I believe it comes with three seperate servings. It is the perfect amount for this recipe!

Once filling is combined, stuff your peppers.

Bake for 25 minutes.

Remove and top with remaining cheese. Let bake for another 5 minutes for cheese to melt.


Here is what it looks like cut in half!

Enjoy!

Vegetarian Enchiladas

So this is one of those recipes that you can mix up and make your own way. But I thought I'd share with you, MY way of making them.

I used to make chicken enchiladas, but since becoming vegetarian, I threw these together one night and we loved them MORE! But like I said, you could totally add chicken, or any other kind of meat you'd like.

Again, like I've said in other countless blog posts with my recipes, I hardly measure anything! But this is a very close estimate to what I did, you may want to add more or less!

Sauce:
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tsp cumin
1/4 cup flour
large spoonful of tomato paste, probably a tablespoon and a half give or take
14.5 oz vegetable broth
1/2 cup water
2 teaspoons taco seasoning
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
Sprinkle of cayenne pepper
Salt and Pepper to taste
2 or so tablespoons of sour cream

Enchiladas:
1.5 cups of pepper jack cheese
1.5 cups cheddar cheese
half a can of black beans
1/2 onion chopped
1/2 bell pepper chopped
half can of corn
6 green onions thinly sliced
3 cloves of garlic minced
7-8 flour tortillas (I can't stand corn tortillas but you can use those if you like them better!)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

In a saucepan heat the olive oil and cumin, flour and tomato paste. Cook a few minutes, whisking.

Whisk in broth, spices and water. Bring to a boil and simmer until thickened. Once it has thickened whisk in your sour cream. ***Let me just add, when I first made this sauce, it tasted "ok" but I didn't think we would like it very much. I believe its one of those sauces that doesn't taste that great by itself, but once its poured over the enchiladas, and baked, it is SO SO good!

Meanwhile, saute your bell pepper, onion and garlic in olive oil until onions are translucent.

Mix in a bowl all the filling ingredients, make note to only use 1 cup of each of the cheddar and jack cheese so your left with 1/2 cup of each cheese to top the enchiladas with.

Lightly spray your 9x13 baking dish with pam.

Heat tortillas in the microwave so they don't split when you fill and roll them.

Fill tortillas and place in your baking dish. Pour sauce over the enchiladas and top with the remaining cheese.

Bake for 15-20 minutes.

Remove and let cool for a few minutes.

I topped mine with some additional green onions, and served the enchiladas with some sliced cabbage and diced tomatoes from my garden!

Enjoy!

Ps. These are even better the next day!! :)