Black Beans and Rice

The flavors of cumin and turmeric come together fabulously in this black beans and rice.  Use this easily as a side dish for a Mexican night or as a meatless main dish.  This recipe is quick, easy, and full of ingredients you probably have lying around your kitchen; perfect for those days when you want to make dinner, but just haven’t had time to get to the store.

Ingredients:

1 tbsp olive oil

1 onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

3/4 C uncooked rice

1 1/2 C chicken broth (or water)

2 tsp cumin

2 tsp turmeric

dash of cayenne pepper

1 (14.5 oz) can black beans, drained and rinsed

1 (14.5 oz) can corn, drained

1 (10.5 oz) can diced tomatoes with green chillies

1/4 c cilantro, chopped (optional)

Directions:

1. In a medium sized pot, saute onions and garlic in olive oil.  Add rice, chicken broth, and spices; bring to a boil.  Cover, lower the heat, and cook for 20-25 minutes, until all the broth has been absorbed.  Stir in beans, corn, tomatoes, and serve.  Top with cilantro if desired.

Sweet Potato Tagine

One of the reasons why I decided to write this little blog was because I am always shocked by the number of people my age who can’t (or more precisely don’t) cook.  In my mind, cooking is so easy, and since you have to eat, you might as well save yourself some money and make something really delicious yourself.  My friend Ali doesn’t really cook very much, and much like other people my age doesn’t really think she knows how to.  So now when she comes over for dinner, we’re cooking more together and I’m showing her the ropes.  This was our first collaboration dinner, a yummy Moroccan-style dish made vegetarian!  If you’re a big meat eater though, add diced chicken at the beginning, yum.  Serve over couscous or rice.

Ingredients (serves 6):

1 tbsp olive oil

1/2 onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped

1 (15.5 ounce) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed

2 carrots, peeled and chopped

1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes with juice

1 (14 ounce) can chicken broth or vegetable broth

1 tbsp sugar

1 tbsp lemon juice

1 tbsp cumin

1 tsp salt

1 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp cinnamon

dash cayenne pepper

 Directions:

1. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat, and cook onion, and garlic until onions become translucent.

2. Mix the sweet potatoes, chickpeas, carrots, tomatoes with juice, broth, sugar, and lemon juice into the skillet. Season with salt, cumin, coriander, cinnamon, and cayenne pepper. Bring the mixture to a boil, and continue cooking 30 minutes, until vegetables are tender.

Vegan/Vegetarian Shepherd’s Pie

The other day at school, one of the other teacher’s I work with was reading a book about becoming vegan.  After judging her a little (half the vegans I’ve met are annoying as hell about it), I started thinking about changing recipes to make them vegan (or at least vegetarian).  At that same time, I got an email update from The Scrumptious Pumpkin (a lovely food blog by someone who takes WAY better pictures than me) with a recipe for winter vegetable shepherd’s pie.  I was intrigued by this recipe a. because of the sneaky cauliflower.  I HATE the taste of cooked cauliflower, but I know it’s really good for you, so I was interested in sneaking in cauliflower where I wouldn’t be able to taste it. And b. because I got thinking about how easy it would be to transform it into a vegan/vegetarian version!

The mashed potatoes and cauliflower really are yummy, and I may try doing the combination every time I make mashed potatoes!  I used the mushrooms in this recipe to take place of the ground beef in traditional shepherd’s pie, and their flavor is really enhanced by the wine.  Fantastic.  Obviously, if you’re a meaty person and need the ground beef in this recipe, go for it and brown up a pound before you saute your vegetables.  It’ll be delicious for sure, but it’s not at all needed in this meal.  This dish takes a while to make, but most of that time is the prep.  If I’d been smart, I would have prepped the vegetables ahead of time (you know, like yesterday when I did NOTHING).  Prepping things ahead of time will cut the time in half, so I’d definitely recommend that.

Ingredients (serves 6):

3 small potatoes, chopped

1 head cauliflower, cut into small florets

3 whole cloves garlic

1 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese, divided (omit if you’re making this vegan, it’ll still be delicious, don’t worry)

1/4 cup chives, chopped

2 tbsp olive oil

1 medium onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

3 medium carrots, diced

3 medium parsnips, diced

2 c baby portabella mushrooms

1 tbsp dried oregano

1 tbsp thyme

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 tbsp tomato paste

1/2 c red wine

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees and roast 3 cloves of garlic in foil for about 20 minutes.

2. Steam potatoes and cauliflower over a pot of boiling water until fork tender, about 10-15 minutes.  Transfer to a large bowl and mix in 3/4 c cheese, about 3/4ths of the chives, roasted garlic, and salt and pepper to taste.  Mash mixture with a potato masher (if you’re fancier than me) or fork (because I’m cheap).  Cover and set aside.

3. Meanwhile, saute onions, garlic, carrots, and parsnips in olive oil for about 5 minutes.  Add mushrooms and salt and pepper to taste; continue cooking for 2-3 more minutes.

4. Add tomato paste, oregano, thyme, cinnamon, and wine.  Simmer for 5-10 minutes, until sauce reduces and thickens.

5. Pour mushroom mixture evenly over the bottom of a casserole dish and top with potato and cauliflower mixture.  Sprinkle remaining cheese over the top and broil for 5-10 minutes or until the top of the potatoes have browned.

The final product out of the oven

Yum!

Cilantro Hummus

Giant Eagle (PA-based grocery store chain we have in NE Ohio) has this fabulous hummus quartet that my sister bought for our Christmas appetizer party.  The odd, baby green hummus, was cilantro hummus.  At first, this struck me as strange, simply because I’ve never had cilantro hummus before, but it was really good.  I like that section of the quartet better than all the others actually (regular, garlic, and red pepper).  I’ve got quite a bit of cilantro in my fridge that needed to be used up, so I thought I’d try my hand at re-creating it.  Well, it’s not as the same pastel green (something tells me they used dyes to achieve that…), but otherwise this hummus is really delicious and not a bad knock-off.

Ingredients:

1 (14.5 oz) can chickpeas

1/3 cup chopped cilantro

1 clove garlic, minced

1 tsp salt

pepper

dash paprika

2 tbsp lemon juice

2 tbsp olive oil

 

Directions:

1. Combine all ingredients in a blender or food processor and  blend until smooth.

Curried Butternut Squash and Pear Soup

Oh. My. God.  So good.  My dear friend Elizabeth made this soup for her family over the Christmas holidays.  When she told me about it, I begged for the recipe and have been wanting to try it out ever since!  I made a few changes to the original recipe and to Elizabeth’s version, but the essence is the same.  Wow, it is truly fantastic.  I served with some warm spiced naan, delicious.  The squash and pear flavors really go well together, though you can substitute the pears for crisp apples in a pinch.  While this definitely sounds ridiculously fancy (normally I’d skip over a recipe with a name like this as too much hassle), it really didn’t take long to make!  Plus, now that I have my handy-dandy emulsion blender, it was actually really easy!  Also, I absolutely must admit that after my experiments this year I am completely converted to being a fan of butternut (and really any) squash!

The leftovers of this soup are fantastic as well, they make a great curry!  I sauteed some diced chicken and onions with curry and ginger and then added the leftover soup and a can of chickpeas.  I simmered the mixture until it was warmed through and served over rice.  Fab.

Ingredients (serves 8):

3 tbsp olive oil

1 (2lb) butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1 in chunks

2 firm pears, cored and cut into 1 in chunks

1 onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 tsp ginger

1 tbsp curry powder

1 tbsp cinnamon

1 tsp nutmeg

1 teaspoon salt

4 cups chicken broth (substitute vegetable broth or water if you’re making it vegetarian/vegan)

1/2 c heavy cream OR 1 can light coconut milk

Directions:

1. Preheat an oven to 375 degrees.

2. Toss squash and pears in olive oil and roast in preheated oven until soft, about 20-30 minutes.

3. Heat 1 tsp olive oil and stir in the onion, garlic, ginger, curry powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Cook and stir until the onion is soft. Pour the broth and roasted squash and pears into the pot, and bring to a boil. Simmer until the pears and squash are very soft, about 20 minutes.

4. Using an immersion blender or food processor/blender (in batches), puree until smooth. Return the soup to the pot, stir in the cream or coconut milk, and reheat. Add additional spices to taste.

Italian Spinach and Chickpeas

I sort of made up this recipe a while back when I was making dinner for a vegetarian friend.  It’s vaguely based on a recipe for Italian Chicken and Chickpeas from allrecipes.com.  The original recipe is delicious (I made it about a year ago), but I realized it was so flavorful that it really didn’t even need the chicken!  So I decided to experiment by scrapping the chicken and adding LOTS more veggies.  The result is a great vegetarian dish that totally works as a main dish if you want, but would also be a great side dish to any Italian inspired main dish.  If you want the meat I’d recommend keeping everything about this dish the same (the added veggies really make it so much better) and cube a few breasts of chicken and saute them in olive oil with the rosemary before adding the rest of the ingredients.

Ingredients (Serves 6)

2 tbsp olive oil

1 small onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 tsp dried rosemary

1 can tomato sauce

1 (15 oz) can Italian-style diced tomatoes

1 tsp Italian seasoining

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

2 tsp sugar

1 bay leaf

1 cup mushrooms, sliced

2 cups zucchini, halved and sliced

1 (15 oz) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed

1 (15 oz) bag frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dry

Directions:

1. Saute onions and garlic in oil until onions are translucent. Add the tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, Italian seasoning, cayenne pepper, sugar, bay leaf, and red pepper flakes to the skillet; stir. Add mushrooms and zucchini and reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer until zucchini are tender, 10 to 12 minutes.

2. Stir the garbanzo beans and spinach into the skillet; continue cooking until the beans are heated, 2 to 3 minutes more.

Black Bean and Rice Salad

It’s been a little while since my last post, definitely a bit of a busy week again.  I’ve been cooking, just haven’t had the time to post about it lately!  Our last regular season football game was this weekend and, of course, there were Halloween shenanigans to enjoy.  Before the football game Friday a few of us had dinner together, which was lots of fun.  My friend Grady grilled some steaks (like a boss) and I made this awesome rice and black bean salad as a side dish!  I decided to make this dish because it’s a pretty quick recipe (as long as your rice takes to cook) and really easy.  I was helping out at the museum in town Friday afternoon before our dinner, so I didn’t have a lot of time to cook or go to the store and buy any extra ingredients.

I made a black bean and rice salad similar to this the first time we had a pre-football game get together that also involved green onions and red pepper.  It was delicious, but I didn’t have either of those this time, so instead I thought I’d add some of the beautiful cherry tomatoes the librarian at our school brought me from her garden!  It turned out fabulous this way as well, but if you do have a red onion and about half a sweet onion, go for adding those in too.

Ingredients:

1 cup uncooked rice

3 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp lime juice

2 tsp red wine vinegar

1 tsp cumin

1/4 cup cilantro, chopped

1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved

1 (14.5 oz) can corn, drained

1 (14.5 oz) can black beans, drained and rinsed

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Cook rice according to package directions.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together olive oil, lime juice, red wine vinegar, and cumin.  Add cilantro, tomatoes, corn, and black beans and toss to coat.

3. When the rice is fully cooked, add to vegetables and mix well.  Salt and pepper to taste and add extra cumin if desired (I always desire this…).  Serve immediately or refrigerate before serving.

(Sorry for the slightly crappy picture, by the way, my phone camera kind of sucks…)

Lentil and Mushroom Soup

Lentils and I have an interesting relationship.  I may have said at one point or another that lentils were the bane of my existence…but then if you know me, you know there are a lot of things that are the bane of my existence, so….In my defense, the one attempt I’ve made to cook with dried lentils really did give me a huge headache.  A few years ago I attempted to make Dal (awesome Indian lentil dish)…it didn’t work out well.  The stupid lentils wouldn’t cook down enough to mash.  It was a terrible experience and made me swear off cooking with lentils.  Which is sad, because lentils are delicious.  So today I decided to make a (slight) attempt to cook with lentils again.  It doesn’t really count though, I couldn’t have screwed up the lentils in this recipe, but maybe it’ll still give me the confidence I need to make an attempt to cook with dried lentils for real.

There’s this show on the food network called Semi-homemade.  I’ve only seen it a few times, it’s not one of the programs I watch often when I watch food network, but it’s not a bad one to catch once and awhile.  Anyway, the whole idea of the recipes on this show is using some pre-prepared items to make your meal.  So it’s still a homemade meal, but you’re getting some help along the way to save time and effort.  Thus the “semi” aspect.  Well this recipe is in that same vein.  The original recipe is from a lovely little soups and salads cookbook I got last year from my favorite bookstore here in the Delta.  It turned out pretty delicious, but I definitely needed to make a few adjustments.  Also, I made this recipe vegetarian, but the original recipe suggests cooking bacon with the mushrooms and crumbling that into the soup when you add the mushrooms.  Now I love bacon as much as the next kid, but we didn’t have any bacon and I didn’t really feel like buying any.  But I’d highly encourage you to include bacon if you are so inclined and happen to have some on hand when you make this soup.

Ingredients (serves 6):

2 (15 oz) cans of lentil soup

2 cups water (only if your soup is condensed, otherwise, skip this)

2 cups white wine

1/3 cup molasses

1 onion, chopped

1 stalk celery, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

salt and pepper to taste

2 bay leaves

2 tbsp olive oil

5 cups mushrooms, sliced

1/3 cup green onions, chopped

Directions:

1. In a large pot, combine soup, water (if necessary), wine, molasses, onion, celery, garlic, salt, pepper, and bay leaf.  Bring to a boil and simmer for 15 minutes.

2. In a small skillet, saute mushrooms in olive oil for about 5 minutes.  Add mushrooms to soup and simmer for 15 more minutes.

3. Remove bay leaves.  Garnish with green onions before serving.

Sesame Green Beans

I made these delicious fresh green beans a while back and just remembered that I had the pictures, but never posted it.  This recipe came from my favorite Taste of Home magazine in the lovely “weeknight solutions” section.  So helpful, there were quite a few quick and delicious sounding recipes there!  This recipe takes virtually no prep and is really incredibly simple, yet produces a delicious (and impressive) side.  Serve these green beans as a side for any Asian inspired main dish, like cashew chicken (that’s what I did!).

Ingredients:

1 lb fresh green beans

1 red pepper, sliced

1 tbsp rice vinegar

1 tbsp sesame oil

1 tbsp soy sauce

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Preheat over to 425 degrees.

2. Coat green beans and red pepper with rice vinegar, sesame oil, and soy sauce.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.  Place on a greased baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes, or until tender.

Spicy Potato Curry

Living in the Delta is difficult when you love ethnic food.  Our cultural options are Tex-Mex and Chinese takeout here in Greenwood.  Allegedly there’s a Lebanese restaurant in Clarksdale, but I’m not sure I believe it.  Since I can’t go to Memphis every week and get something delicious and out of the ordinary, I had to start trying to make ethnic food myself.

My first attempt at Indian food last year was a really interesting peanut stew.  It was delicious and definitely made me want to try my hand at other Indian food recipes!  I waited a long time to try out this potato curry for a couple of reasons.  First, I highly doubted Jess (my old roommate) would have liked it much.  She’s not much of a spicy food person, plus she’d never really had Indian food before…it sounded like a gamble I didn’t want to take.  Then there was the fact that this recipe calls for garam masala.  Yeah, if you don’t have that in your spice cupboard, you’re not alone.  I definitely did not have garam masala, hell, I’d never even heard of it before!  Needless to say, this was not an ingredient readily available in the Delta.  When I was home in Ohio I went to a market in Columbus and bought a ziplock bag of garam masala from an Indian food stall.  I feel bad that this recipe is breaking my rule that I’d only include recipes with “normal” ingredients.  But, seriously, it’s too delicious to keep from you guys.  I’m sure the recipe would still be delicious if you wanted to make it without the garam masala anyway, so don’t count this out entirely if you can’t find it.

Also, an added bonus for this recipe: it’s not only vegetarian, but it’s vegan too!  I’m quite happy to say that if I ever have a vegan over for dinner, I will have something delicious to cook!

Ingredients:

6 redskin potatoes, chopped

2 tbsp vegetable oil

1 onion, diced

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 cups eggplant, chopped

2 tsp ground cumin

1 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

4 tsp curry powder

2 tsp garam masala

1 tsp ginger

2 tsp salt

1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes

1 (15 oz) can chickpeas, rinsed and drained

1 (15 oz) can peas, drained

1 (14 oz) can coconut milk

Directions:

1. Place potatoes into a large pot and cover with salted water. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until just tender, about 15 minutes. Drain and allow to steam dry for a minute or two.

2.Meanwhile, heat the vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Stir in the onion and garlic; cook and stir until the onion has softened and turned translucent, about 5 minutes. Add eggplant and season with cumin, cayenne pepper, curry powder, garam masala, ginger, and salt; cook for 2 minutes more.

3. Add the tomatoes, garbanzo beans, peas, and potatoes. Pour in the coconut milk, and bring to a simmer.

4. Simmer 5 to 10 minutes before serving.  Serve over rice.