Black Bean Nachos

This was a quick "throw together" meal.

Needed: tortilla chips, taco seasoning, shredded cheese, black olives, chopped tomatoes, onions, avocado, jalepenos, salsa, sour cream...whatever you like on or with your nachos.



Filled the bottom of a 9" pie plate with some multigrain tortilla chips.

I heated up a can of black beans and seasoned them with my taco seasoning and a little water. Once that was done, I topped the nachos with the seasoned beans.

On that went a TON of cheese. Whatever it was that we had in the fridge...probably farmer's marble.

Sliced black olives, very finely chopped onion, diced (seeded) tomato, and a little more cheese went on top of the cheese.

It was baked in a 350 degree oven for about 15 or 20 minutes until all the cheese was gooey.

I chopped jalepenos and put them on the side because Quinn doesn't need that kind of surprise. The avocado was on the side as well because I don't like it warm. At all. Salsa and sour cream on the side as well, works.

Bean and Portobello Burgers

I saw this recipe on Self Magazine's site and adjusted it to suit us.



4 tblsp olive oil
2 medium portobello mushrooms, diced
1/2 red onion, diced
1/2 green pepper, diced
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp garlic powder
Freshly ground black pepper
2 egg whites
1 tblsp honey mustard
1 tblsp worcestershire sauce
1/3 cup oatmeal, ground (or more - or you can use breadcrumbs)
4 whole wheat pitas, naan, or buns
Barbecue sauce
Spring mix (or lettuce leaves)
Tomato slices
Shredded cheddar cheese

Heat 2 tblsp olive oil in a large skillet and cook mushrooms, onion and bell pepper until pepper begins to soften (6 mins or so). Add beans, paprika, garlic powder and black pepper. Stir and smash beans with the back of the spoon for another couple of minutes

Transfer mixture to bowl and let cool slightly (a couple of minutes). Add egg whites, honey mustard, worcestershire sauce, and oats.

Note: Grind oats in a food processor to help bind the burgers. You can use breadcrumbs instead. You may need to eyeball the measurement depending on the moisture content of your mixture. You want to be able to form it into a patty and have it stay together (without it being as heavy as a rock).

Wipe skillet and heat remaining oil to medium. Form mixture into four patties (or more) and cook in the skillet until burgers are golden brown and have a nice crust.

Dress burgers with lettuce, tomato, barbecue sauce and cheddar cheese (or anything else you may like).

I served mine with a cold broccoli salad (raw broccoli dressed with a combo of mayo, apple cider vinegar, sugar, a touch of salt, and fine dice of red onion).

We all really enjoyed this burger, but it needed...something. Maybe a little cilantro would brighten it up. Next time!

Jack and the Bean Stack

This is a recipe from my Crazy Plates cookbook by the Podleski sisters.

The original recipe calls for flour tortillas, but I'm using corn tortillas from a local Mennonite joint. I would have used diced avocado on top (because we love avocado) but there weren't any ripe ones in the store today.



3 tomatoes, seeded and diced
1/2 cup whole-kernel corn
1/2 cup diced onions
1/2 cup diced red bell pepper
1/2 cup unpeeled, diced zucchini
1/3 cup grated carrots
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
3/4 tsp chili powder
1 cup canned black beans, drained and rinsed
1/4 cup chopped, fresh cilantro
1 tblsp lime juice
6 small corn tortillas
1 cup shredded Farmer's Marble cheese
1/4 cup chopped green onions
1/3 cup sour cream
1/2 cup chopped lettuce
Sliced black olives
Chopped fresh cilantro for garnish

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a nonstick saucepan, saute most of the tomatoes, onions, jalepenos, carrots, zucchini, bell pepper, corn, garlic, chili powder and cumin for about 5 minutes. Add drained and rinsed black beans and cook an additional 2 minutes.

Place 2 tortillas on a cookie sheet. Spoon veggie/bean mixture onto both tortillas, top with cheese. Pop on a second tortilla, spoon more veggie/bean mixture, top with cheese, and finish with a final tortilla and a little more cheese.

Pop in oven for 15 minutes. Until cheese is melted and edges have a little colour.

Serve with black olive slices (if you like), some chopped tomato, fresh chopped cilantro, sliced green onion, and lettuce. Serve with sour cream.


It was a little difficult to cut with the corn tortillas (the flour would have been easier), but this would make an incredible veggie taco deal. That's how we'll eat it next time.

Southwestern Chicken Salad with Chipotle Lime Dressing

This is another Chef Michael Smith gem. It will be added to our regular rotation for sure!



Dressing
1 chipotle pepper in adobo
Zest of 1 lime
Juice of 2 limes
2 tblsp agave syrup or honey
1 tbslp dijon mustard
Pinch of salt
4 tblsp olive oil

Salad
2 chicken breasts, boneless and skinless
1/2 cup fine cornmeal
1 tblsp chili powder
Pinch salt
3 tblsp vegetable oil
Mixed baby greens
1 bunch cilantro
4 green onions, sliced thinly
2 ripe tomatoes, chopped
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
2 avocados, pitted, peeled and sliced
1 cup frozen corn, thawed (not heated)
Tortilla chips, crumbled by hand

In a blender, puree all of the dressing ingredients (adding the oil in a slow, steady stream at the end, as the blender is running).

In a shallow bowl, whisk together cornmeal, chili powder and salt. Slice chicken into long thin strips. Preheat a skillet and add vegetable oil. Dredge chicken strips in cornmeal mixture and fry in pan until chicken is cooked through.

Lay a bed of lettuce on a plate (or salad bowl), sprinkle cilantro and green onions over top. Mound tomatoes, black beans, avocado and corn on top of lettuce. Arrange chicken strips and drizzle dressing over the whole works. Crumble tortilla chips on top.

If you like, you can shred a little cheese on top.

I served the salad with cornmeal muffins.

Mexican Pizza & Cold Avocado and Leek Soup

The pizza is something I've made for a while, but the soup was adapted from Fast, Healthy Food from Readers Digest. I'll admit that I've never had cold soup. Really. I'm not kidding. The thought of a cold avocado soup made me a little twitchy, but I do love avocado, and adore the creaminess of it...and I had a few leeks in the fridge that needed to be used up, so I gave it a go.

It was a win!

I would recommend starting the leek part of the soup a few hours earlier, to allow it to cool.

Cold Avocado and Leek Soup



1 tablespoon olive oil
1 leek, whites thinly sliced
1 garlic clove, minced (I grate mine right into the pot)
3 cups vegetable stock
1 ripe avocado
1 small container plain yogurt (like, the single sized serving)
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
Salt and pepper

In a saucepan, heat oil and soften sliced and cleaned leeks (remember, slicing the leeks and floating them in a bowl of cold water allows the dirt and grit to fall to the bottom and the clean leeks remain at the top) for a few minutes. Pour in veggie stock, bring to a boil, and reduce to a simmer for 10 minutes or until leeks are very soft.

Put aside to cool.

Once cooled, pop leeks and broth in a blender and puree.

You don't want to open the avocado too soon because it will turn brown and the flavour will lessen. I'd serve this soup within an hour of mixing it up.

Cut avocado and remove pit, and scoop flesh into blender. Add yogurt, lime juice, and cilantro and whirr it up until smooth. Pop back into fridge to cool completely.

Serve with a little fresh cilantro on top.

The cookbook mentions that you can also serve this soup hot, but would replace the yogurt with sour cream.

Mexican Pizza



1 pizza crust (I use a PC Thin pizza crust, but you can make your own...just bake it off first)
1 cup refried beans (canned or homemade, or you can use black bean dip - see below)
Shredded cheddar
Any toppings you wish to add (or not)
Chopped fresh cilantro

Preheat your oven to 400 or so, pop in pizza stone (or you can use the underside of a cookie sheet, or other pizza pan...whatever you have). Remove stone or pan from oven, oil as necessary, and place pizza crust.

Smother beans on top - sometimes I'll use canned refried beans and add half a packet of low sodium taco seasoning. This time I used the canned beans and added some chipotle salsa I had in the fridge for seasoning. Sometimes I use a bean dip (recipe below) instead of the refried beans.

Top with shredded cheddar and anything else you'd like to add (that you want to heat up) and pop into the oven until pizza is hot and cheese is melted.

Pull out of the oven, and top with chopped cilantro and anything else you might want to put on there...I like raw green onions and I had some kicking around, so I put them on at this point.

Black Bean Dip (alternative to refried beans)

1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 onion, diced
1 clove garlic, grated in
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
2 tablespoons lime juice
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tablespoon (or so) fresh cilantro, to taste

Heat oil in saucepan and soften onions and garlic. Place in food processor and add rest of ingredients (aside from salt and pepper). Process until smooth, taste, and season with salt and pepper as needed. Sometimes I like to add a couple dashes of hot sauce.