Bean Burrito with Potatoes

Blogging Marathon# 66: Week 3/ Day 1

Theme: Kid's Delight -- Lunch Box Recipes

Dish: Bean Burrito with Potatoes

We are starting a new week of blogging marathon today and my theme for this week is 'Kid friendly-Lunchbox dishes'. I am hosting Valli's Kid's Delight event this month with the same theme. Packing lunches for my kids is quite a task since they are quite picky and it gets really challenging to come up with dishes they would eat in school.

Both my kids have very different tastes. My son likes pasta, sandwiches or wraps to school whereas my daughter prefers rice with broccoli, brussels sprouts, carrot etc. With such varied tastes, it becomes so difficult to make something that both of them would enjoy. Luckily until last year, my little one was going to school only 3 days a week, but come September she will be going full time, which means packing lunch for both for the whole week.

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Pasta Salad with Black Beans (Vegan recipe)

Memorial day is right around the corner and if you are looking for a dish to make, then here's an easy to make and tasty Pasta Salad with black beans and veggies. It's completely vegan, if you use vegan mayo but if you have regular mayo then go ahead and use it instead.

I am always looking for opportunities to try new dishes, so last weekend I took this pasta dish when I went to meet my blog buddies, Sushma, Rajani, Usha, Mir and Amara. The good thing about this dish is it can be made ahead of time and chilled until ready to serve, which makes it a great dish to make for picnics. barbecues or for take along lunches.

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Cuban Black Beans for #Food of the World (Vegan Recipe)

For this month's #Food of the World event, we are traveling to Cuba. Cuban cuisine is quite new to me. I've never made any Cuban dishes at home nor tried anything outside. So I took to Google looking for vegetarian Cuban recipes.
Cuban cuisine is a fusion of Spanish and Caribbean cuisines. Cuban recipes share spices and techniques with Spanish cooking, with some Caribbean influence in spice and flavor. Traditional Cuban meal is not served in courses, all the dishes are served that the same time.

The typical meal consists of plantains, black beans, Cuban bread, pork with onions and tropical fruits. Black beans and rice, referred to Moros and plantains are staples of the Cuban diet. Garlic, cumin, oregano and bay leaves are the dominant spices.

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Vegetarian Sincronizada (Quesadillas)

Blogging Marathon# 53: Week 1/ Day 1

Theme: Tortilla based Dishes

Dish: Sincronizada

We are starting a brand new edition of Blogging marathon today and my theme for this week is 'Tortilla based dishes'. Valli gave us a list of tortilla dishes to choose from to make our lives easy. Tortilla is nothing but the Spanish version of Indian rotis. They are soft and made with finely ground wheat flour or corn flour.

So for the first day, I picked Sincronizada. The name seemed very complicated but making it is not complicated at all. Sincronizada is usually confused with Quesadilla, but they are considered are completely different dishes. Quesadilla is traditionally made with corn flour and is single folded. Whereas sincronizada is made with flour tortilla, has 'ham' as a mandatory ingredient and is usually made as a sandwich.

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Migas with Black beans

Blogging Marathon# 49: Week 1/ Day 3

Theme: Brunch Recipes

Dish: Migas with Black beans

Eggs form a very important part in breakfast and brunch menus, for egg eaters that is. So when I'm planning a brunch for my egg eating friends, I usually make a frittata (a big fat baked omelette with lots of veggies) or a quiche (egg based pie). One of my Turkish friend recently introduced me to Menemen (Turkish scrambled eggs with veggies) and that tasted awesome.

While looking for some egg based dishes for this week's Brunch theme, I found this Migas recipe on Pioneer Woman site. This Migas is different from the traditional Spanish & Portuguese migas. In this Tex-Mex version eggs are scrambled along with corn tortillas, veggies and cheese. It is typically served with refried beans and corn or flour tortillas are used to fold all the ingredients into tacos.

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Taco Pizza (Vegetarian Recipe)

Blogging Marathon# 47: Week 2/ Day 3
Theme: Kid's Delight Event -- Pizza & Pasta
Dish: Taco Pizza

Today's dish is a Mexican - Italian fusion dish, Taco pizza. My son loves tacos and pizzas and this seemed to be a great dish which combines both of his favorites. I saw the recipe being made on TV by the Pioneer Woman and I knew I will be making it for my kids real soon.

Refried black beans are spread on the pizza instead of tomato sauce here and then baked with some grated cheese on top. What happens after the pizza comes out makes it a Mexican specialty.

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Xalapa (Mexico) -- Vegetarian Mexican Brunch (Huevos Rancheros with Black beans)

BM# 44: A-Z Cooking Series -- Around the World in 30 days
Country: X for Xalapa -- Mexico

Dish: Vegetarian Mexican Brunch -- Black bean Huevos Rancheros, Spicy Home Fries & Sangrita

Today we are going to Xalapa, Mexico. Technically ther are no countries starting with X, so as a group it was decided that we pick a place that starts with X and then make a dish from that place or the country it belongs to. 'X' is the only alphabet that I didn't have a country or dish planned. First I decided to a place in Spain, but then I didn't want to miss the opportunity to cook from my favorite Mexican cuisine, so ended up with Xalapa, Mexico.
Another factor that made me want to do Mexican is Bobby Flay's Mexican brunch that he made on Cooking Channel. Every he made looked so good that I wanted to recreate the whole meal at home. Huevos Rancheros has been on my to-make list forever, so this gave me an opportunity to try it.

Huevos Rancheros or 'rancher's eggs' is a popular breakfast dish that has eggs and is traditionally served on rural Mexican farms. This dish consists of fried eggs served over fried corn tortillas and topped with tomato-chili sauce.

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Costa Rican Refried Rice & Beans (Vegan Recipe)

Cinco de Mayo (5th of May) is on Monday and I wanted to post a quick and easy recipe to make on that day. I found this recipe in Viva Vegan cookbook that fits the bill perfectly. If you have cooked rice and beans, then this recipe is a breeze to make.

Each Latin American country has its own version of Rice and beans. In Costa Rica and Nicaragua, it is called Gallo Pinto -- which literally means 'painted rooster'. It is a delicious mix of precooked rice, beans that are refried with extra vegetables, herbs and spices.

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Salad with Black beans & Corn and Citrus Blasamic Vinaigrette

Blogging Marathon# 38: Week 1/ Day 2
Theme: Soup or Salad with Sides 
Dish: Salad with Black beans & Corn with Cheese Quesadilla

For Day 2 of BM# 38, I have a simple salad served with cheese quesadilla. This salad is inspired from a dish that is on Chili's menu -- Quesadilla explosion Salad. We were at Chili's couple of weeks ago and saw it on the menu, though I didn't order it. Not sure if I already told you, I don't order salads when we go out. I feel like I have to eat actual food and not salads at restaurants. In my mind, I think I can make salads at home and don't want to spend money on a salad at a sit down restaurant.

Well anyway, coming back to the Quesadilla explosion salad; I googled for the recipe and found that it is one of the unhealthiest salads served at a restaurant. It has a full day worth of salt and ¾of the day's worth calories. It made me feel even better because you would think ordering salad is a good thing -- but apparently it's not such a good thing afterall.

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Poblano, Corn & Veggie Tostadas (Vegetarian Recipe)

Blogging Marathon# 37: Week 3/ Day 2
Theme: Street Food from Around the World 
Dish: Poblano, Corn & Veggie Tostadas from Mexico

After exploring Korea, we are going to Mexico for today's Street Food from around the World. Mexican food was probably the first international cuisine that I really liked when I came to US. In those days, there were not too many International restaurants in India and the only international dish I ate back then was Domino's pizza, which if I remember correctly didn't really like.
But after coming to the US, I became more open minded about trying new dishes and Taco Bell soon became my favorite fast food place, both because of the vegetarian options available and it was affordable for a graduate student. One dish that I still order, at least one, is Nacho cheese chalupa. I make Mexican food atleast once a week and I have quite a few recipes posted here already.

Most of the dishes we get here in the US are the American version of Mexican food. So I wanted to see what is traditionally served as street food in Mexico. Street food in Mexico is called Antojitos, or small cravings. Most of them include corn as an ingredient. These dishes include tacos, chalupas, tamales, gorditas, tostadas etc.,

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Corn & Scallion Pancakes

Blogging Marathon # 26: Week 3/ Day 2
Theme: Pick 1 ingredient and Cook from 3 books - Breakfast Combo
Dish: Corn & Scallion Pancakes

When I started looking for breakfast dishes with corn, most of the recipes used cornmeal instead of whole corn. I found this savory corn pancakes recipe in the King Arthur Flour catalog. These can be served for breakfast or even brunch with black bean salsa and a dollop of sour cream.

Recipe uses Sourdough starter and since I'm always looking for ways to use my starter I made these pancakes right away. I made a few changes to the original recipe to make it eggless and add some fiber. Pancakes turned out great - they looked and tasted like cheelas (chickpea dosas/ crepes).

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Spinach, Black Beans & Cheese Enchiladas

Today's Calcium-rich dish is a very creamy, filling and delicious Mexican dish: Spinach, Black bean & cheese filled tortillas baked with creamy enchilada sauce and more cheese until gooey. This is a great make ahead dish -- make the filling, roll it up in the tortillas, pour in the sauce - freeze at this stage and when ready, bake until cheese melts and everything is heated through.

Recipe adapted from Martha Stewart's site. Original recipe had a no-cook filling, but I cooked them briefly.

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South Western Couscous Salad

For Day 3 of BM# 17, I made this very quick and easy South Western Salad with couscous. I think any grain can be used instead of couscous and the salad would taste equally delicious. Using couscous cuts down the cooking time considerably. Recipe is from Whole Foods website.

This is a very colorful and healthy salad. Ingredients can be easily substituted with what you have on hand. A perfect dish for summer BBQs and the leftovers taste great chilled the next day for quick lunch.

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Vegetarian Tacos with Soy Chorizo, Beans & Spinach

Today’s the last day of our 7 day blogging marathon. I’m going to miss doing this every day and will miss all of my fellow marathoners. I have an excellent 30 minute meal recipe that is very versatile and super delicious.

Tacos are nothing but corn or flour tortillas wrapped around a filling. I used ingredients I had on hand to make the filling, but there are endless variations to make these. Here’s how I put my tacos together.

Ingredients:
Soy chorizo – 6 oz. (½ of 12oz. package) (substitute with 1 cup of cooked soy granules or TVP instead)
Black beans – ¼ cup
Spinach – 1 cup, chopped (thawed if frozen)
Tomato paste – 1tbsp
Onion – 1 medium, chopped
Garlic – 1 clove, minced
Red pepper flakes – ¼ tsp
Cayenne pepper – ½ tsp (or to taste)
Salt – to taste

For garnish:
Lettuce
Avocado
Pepper jack cheese
Sour cream
Grape tomatoes etc.

Method:

• Heat 2tsp oil in a sauce pan; add red pepper flakes, onions and garlic and sauté until onions are lightly browned around the edges, about 5 minutes.
• Add the soy chorizo and cook for 2-3 minutes, stirring constantly.
• Next add tomato paste, cayenne pepper, salt and mix well. Cook for another 2-3 minutes. Sprinkle some water if the mixture starts to stick to the pan.
• Add spinach, salt and black beans; cover covered until spinach wilts and beans are heated through, about 5-6 minutes.
• Warm taco shells and place 2-3 tbsp of filling in the middle, top with your favorite garnishes and serve.

Check out what my fellow marathoners have cooked up for the last day of the marathon:

30 Minutes Meals:

Priya Mahadevan

Seven Days of Salad:
lla
Divya Vikram

For Ongoing 7 Events:
Priya Suresh
Harini
Suma Gandlur

Kids Friendly:
Vatsala
Jay
Kamalika

Seven Days of Rice:
Veena Krishnakumar
Priya Vaasu
Padma Rekha

Cuban Style Black Bean Soup

Veganmofo Day 14:

I bought “Viva Vegan” by Terry Hope Romero recently and have started to make recipes from it. The first recipe I made from the book is this yummy green pepper-onion relish called “Sofrito”. This recipe is super simple to put together and once you have stocked it in your fridge/ freezer, you can use it as a base for a ton of dishes.

Here’s how I made Sofrito:

Ingredients:
Green peppers – 5 medium, seeded and chopped finely
Onions – 2 large, diced
Garlic Cloves - 4, peeled and chopped coarsely
Paprika – 1tsp
Ground Cumin – 1tsp
Ground Coriander - 1tsp
Olive oil – ¼ cup
Salt & Pepper – to taste

Method:

• In a large heavy skillet, add oil, garlic, green peppers, onions, salt and pepper. Cook on medium-high heat for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
• Lower the heat to low and cook for another 25 to 30 minutes, stirring occasionally until the veggies cook down and become mushy.
• Cool completely and store in a glass container for up to 2 weeks or freeze in 1-2 cup ziplock bags.

I thawed one of the ziplock bag and made this comforting Cuban style black bean soup.

Ingredients:

Prepared Sofrito – 1½ - 2 cups

Tomatoes – 2 ripe, chopped

Tomato paste – 2tbsp

Black beans – 2 16oz. cans (or equivalent cooked), rinsed and drained

Vegetable broth – 2 cups

Red wine vinegar or fresh Lime juice – 2tbsp

Dried Oregano - 1½ tsp

Paprika – 1tsp

Salt & Pepper – to taste

Method:

• Heat a soup pot, add sofrito (thawed if frozen), tomato paste and tomatoes; cook until tomatoes turn mushy.
• Add black beans, broth and the ground spices along with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil and simmer for 15 minutes.
• Next add red wine vinegar; mix well and simmer for another 5-10 minutes.

Serve hot with steamed rice or as is with some cheese and sour cream. It tastes pretty good without any added garnishes. Perfect for this chilly weather. Have a wonderful weekend.

Recipes for my Cinco de Mayo feast

This post has been due for quite sometime, I posted my pics for Cinco de Mayo feast on Cinco de Mayo day (1st of May). So better late than never, here are the recipes.

Rice & Beans:

Basmati rice – 1cup, rinsed and soaked for at least 15 minutes
Black beans – 1 cup, cooked
Chickpeas – 1 cup, cooked
Zucchini – 2 medium, chopped
Carrot – 1 medium, chopped
Onion – 1 large, chopped
Garlic – 2 cloves, minced
Tomato puree – 1 cup (I used canned crushed tomatoes with basil)
Cumin powder – 1tbsp
Chili powder – 2tsp (or to taste)
Lemon juice – 2 tbsp (optional)
Green onions – 2, for garnish

Method:

• Cook basmati rice and keep aside to cool.
  
• In a large skillet, heat 2tbsp oil on medium-low flame. Add onions and garlic and sauté until onions are translucent.
  
• Add zucchini & carrots; cover and cook till the veggies are ¾th cooked.
  
• Add the beans; cover and cook till the veggies and beans are completely cooked through. Add tomato puree, cumin powder, chili powder & salt. Simmer for 6-8 minutes.
  
• Add the cooked rice, mix well making sure that the rice does not get mushy. Add lemon juice (if using) and mix well. Garnish with green onions; serve with guacamole, salsa (or guaca-salsa) and sour cream.

For Guaca-Salsa you need:
Avocado – 1 small, pitted and flesh roughly chopped
Tomato – 1 small, deseeded and roughly chopped
Red onion – 2 tbsp, finely chopped
Jalapeno – 1 small, deseeded and finely chopped
Garlic – 1 clove, finely minced (use garlic press, if you have one)
Lime juice – 1tbsp (or to taste)
Salt & pepper – to taste

• Mix all the ingredients in bowl and mash with the back of a spoon or a fork. Taste and adjust seasonings.

I made these quesadillas with Trader Joes Corn-Chile Tomato-less Salsa and grated sharp & milk cheddar cheese. All I had to do is layer them on corn tortillas and they were just perfect, sweet & tangy from the salsa and oozing cheese. Yumm.

Tried & Tasted: Lisa’s Kitchen

Lisa’s blog Food and Spice is filled with so many yummy looking recipes that I was totally stumped on where to begin and where to end. I had way too many recipes bookmarked to try in so little time, so these are the ones that I tried for Aparna’s Tried & Tasted – Lisa’s Kitchen (Zlamushka of Burntmouth is the brain behind T&T). But I’m sure I’m going to go back and try all those that I bookmarked later.

Mushroom Pulao: My husband’s away for the past 10 days and I’m enjoying mushrooms like there’s no tomorrow. He doesn’t like mushrooms at all and I seem to like them, so I end up cooking mushrooms when he’s not around. Lisa’s pilaf is for mushroom lovers like me.

Black Bean & Corn bake: Weather’s been a little up and down last couple of days. It was in the upper 80s with A/C on cool for 4 days and suddenly plummeted to upper 50s. So turning the oven on for this dish made the home smell wonderful and warm. Simple and delicious recipe that I’ll be making many many times.

Chickpea & Pinto Bean Chili

Its still a little chilly in our part of the world and this chili is right for those nights where you just want something to warm you up.

Ingredients:

Chickpeas – 1 cup, cooked
Pinto beans – 1 cup, cooked

Onion – 1 medium, chopped

Celery – 1 stalk, chopped

Green Pepper – 1 medium, chopped

Garlic – 2 cloves, minced

Crushed tomatoes – 1 14 oz. can (I used crushed tomatoes with basil)

Bay leaf - 1

Vegetarian bouillon cube – 1 (optional)(I used 1tbsp vegetarian chicken base)

Chili powder – 1 tbsp

Cumin powder – 1tbsp

Salt & Pepper – to taste

Method:

• Heat 1tbsp oil in a sauce pan; add onions and garlic and sauté until translucent.
• Add celery and green peppers; cook until veggies are tender, about 10 minutes.
• Add the beans, crushed tomatoes, bay leaf, chili powder, cumin powder, bouillon cube (if using), salt and pepper; simmer for about 15-20 minutes on medium-low flame. Adjust seasoning and serve warm.

"Mexican" Pasta

I bought poblano chilies and fire roasted tomatoes to make Rachel Ray’s Chile Rellenos and I was all geared up to cook it last night. Even though it is supposed to be a 30 minute meal, a quick glance at my hungry husband and almost sleepy son, I didn’t want to make something that I was not sure about. So this Mexican chile rellenos inspired pasta dish started taking shape in my mind.

This is how I made it:

• I boiled whole-wheat rotini (tiny swirly pasta) according to package directions; took about 15-20mins.
  
• In the mean time; broiled poblanos (approximately 10-15 mins) and chopped green onions.
• Then I sautéed the chopped onions in olive oil with garlic. After the onions are cooked, I added black beans (rinsed and drained of course), chipotle in adobo chiles, fire roasted tomatoes, chili powder, corn, salt and pepper. Let the mixture simmer for 10-15 mins.
• Poblanos were already broiled and cooling down in a covered bowl. I peeled, chopped and added them to the simmering black bean mixture and simmered for another 5 mins.
  
• After that I dropped my cooked pasta in the bean gravy and oh.. my good.. was that one big pot of pasta or what. It was soo good, spicy and filling.
• Serve hot with a generous sprinkling of cheese (I used Mexican four cheese blend).
  

Ingredients:
Whole wheat rotini (or any short pasta) – 1 pkg
Olive Oil – 2 tbsp
Poblanos – 3 medium
Green onions – 2 bunches, chopped
Black beans – 1 15oz. can
Fire roasted tomatoes – 1 15oz. can
Chipotle in Adobo sauce – 2 chilies, chopped
Garlic – 1tsp, minced
Corn – 1 cup, thawed if frozen
Cheese - 1/2 cup
Chili powder – 1tbsp
Salt & Pepper – to taste

I’m sending this to Divya of Culinary Bazaar who graciously agreed to accept this Mexican inspired dish for her A.W.E.D (A Worldly Epicurean Delights) – Mexican event. It is a fantastic idea for showcasing world cuisine and I’m anxiously waiting for the round up to see what other blogger friends have come up with. Happy Hosting DK.