Do you want to get healthy? Do you want to feel good about what you eat? Do you want to say awesome things such as "MEAT IS MURDER?" If the answer to these questions happen to be yes, welcome, you have found your home.
If you gave me one last meal in this life, I must say, it would certainly be something that was originally concocted in Mexico or Latin America, and then completely bastardized modified by some guy in some kitchen North of the Border in the U.S. of A. (Here, we tend to do that to ALL food that is imported) These imports never taste truly authentic until we modify them ourselves in the States. Enchiladas are no exception. They are traditionally made with a mole` sauce. Here in the states, we don't even try to find something similar to mole`, we either use salsa (like myself) or canned tomato sauce (eek). In Mexico, the traditional tortilla used is corn. Here in America, where Monsanto is the devil, we skip the genetically modified starch and opt for the health conscious whole wheat tortilla. In Mexico, enchiladas usually contain Cotija or Queso Blanco cheese. Here, it is plain ol' Vermont Cheddar, which in case you are not up to date with your geography, happens to be just north of nowhere near the Mexican border. It's the American way. We take imports and we absolutely ruin modify them to our liking. Forget it, let's Dish!!!
Nice rims?
Suggested music on Spotify: Since we are modifying foreign imports from their original state to suit our American needs, let's go with Los Del Rio, Latin American music, modified to bring happiness to generations of wedding guests.
Suggested Kitchen Dance:Since we are listening to Los Del Rio, we will obviously be doing a whole lot of Macarena.
Suggested Beverage: Might as well stick with the going theme, tonight, we drink La Cerveza de Mexico, with the lime wedge. Another fine import modified with a piece of fruit to "enhance" the taste of the beer. All of these modifications are giving me a headache, let's drink a whole six pack.
Ingreients:
8, 10 in whole wheat tortillas
2 cups cooked wild rice
1, 15 oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
2 medium bell peppers, chopped
1 packet taco seasoning
2 1/4 cups medium salsa, divided
1 1/2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Coat a 13×9″ baking dish with nonstick cooking spray and spread 1/2 cup of salsa over the bottom. Lay your tortillas out on a clean work surface.
In a large bowl, mix the rice, beans, peppers, taco seasoning, and 3/4 cup salsa. Divide evenly among the tortillas. Roll each tortilla tightly and place seam side down in the prepared baking dish. You may have to place some of the filled tortillas horizontally to make them fit. Pour the remaining 1 cup salsa evenly over the tops of the rolled tortillas in the baking dish. Sprinkle the cheese over the top. Bake for 18-20 minutes, until the cheese has melted. Serve with hot sauce and sour cream.
Slather it on. We will be using A LOT of salsa.
I had a bunch of this leftover and have been mixing it with my eggs in the morning.
You will see later why this is being served on boring wheat bread.
Howdy ho to all of my web based neighbors! Happy Saturday morning to all. I hope everyone has had a nice week so far and had a safe and fun Friday night.
So most Saturday's between May and October, my wife and I drag the kids kicking and screaming from their beds and we make the long journey to the best farmers market in New Jersey, the Collingswood Farmer's Market. By long journey, I am really only talking about a 5 minute drive. If you do not currently go to a farmers market, I highly recommend you do so as soon as possible. Sure, the produce may be a bit more expensive then what you would buy at a supermarket, but it is totally worth it. You can taste the difference in how fresh the produce is, plus, if you go week in and week out, sometimes, the people working the stands get to know you and may slip you some extras into your order, to reward your faithfulness.You will still have to buy some produce at the grocery store and that is o.k., but why buy lettuce from Chile that was picked two weeks ago, when you could have lettuce form Williamstown that was picked yesterday? Isn't the 20 cent increase worth it to support local farmers who, let's make no bones, are struggling to stay afloat? Get out there and support your local farmers. The links below will take you to some of the local market sites for hours of operation.
Feel free to throw me some questions about farmer's markets in the comment section. I would be more than happy to help!
Now that I have finished that little diatribe about becoming a local-vore, let's get down to business. When ever making a good meat-less burger, you will almost always find at the heart of the ingredients a bean of some sort. There are a few reasons for this, first, when mashed, beans can be molded and formed into patties much like ground meat. From a practical standpoint, beans are a cooks best friend. Second, legumes in general can take on the flavor of seasonings and other vegetables added to the mix pretty easily, while leaving their own footprint in the finished product. Lastly, beans provide protein like no other plant on earth, so naturally when replacing meat with a vegetable for a hamburger, we look towards something that is going to rival the protein content. The great thing about using beans as opposed to bovine animals as a replacement for the base of the burger is you do not have to use an air gun to slaughter the beans before they go to market. They are also far healthier for you too. Let's dish it up, party people!
Suggested music on Spotify: The Rentals, Seven More Minutes... The former bass player from Weezer started an epic band called The Rentals after leaving Weezer and although not nearly as popular, far greater than anything that Rivers Cuomo publish. Also, the music is always upbeat and fun to dance along to. Good music to get into a rhythm in the kitchen.
Suggested kitchen dance: Whenever I listen to The Rentals, I often end up randomly moving body parts at different times in no particular order. Usually it is a combination of 70's disco, The Tootsie Roll, and The Dip. Yes, The Rentals are THAT GOOD!
Suggested beverage: Burgers always pair well with any liquid that contains the word beer in it. Tonight, however, let's stay away from the barley soda and sip soda from the root. Root beer all the way. Classic Stewart's Root Beer is best.
Kid Alert: During the step of mashing the beans and potato's together, I suggest letting the kids help out with it. It's a lot of fun for them and the more you let them help, the more likely they will eat their dinner without the threat of physical harm from you, the parents.
Ingredients:
2 cans cannellini white beans, drained 1 large sweet potato, baked/peeled/mashed (about 2 cups) 2 tsp maple 1 tsp lemon pepper seasoning 1/4 cup flour
2 tbs. black pepper
2-3 cups Panko bread crumbs
1/4 cup of canola oil
Directions:
1. Bake sweet potato. Peel, place in large mixing bowl. 2. Add drained beans to mixing bowl. Mash beans and potato together. 3. Mash in seasoning, flour and any additional seasoning. Your mixture will be quite soft and moist. But you should be able to form a patty. 4. Heat 1/4 cup canola oil in a pan over high heat. 5. Form a patty from mixture and coat in Panko crumbs. Thick coating. Then drop the patty in the pan. Repeat until the pan is filled. Cook until browned on both sides. If you are looking to cut oil out of your diest you could also bake these. I would say 425 degrees for about 30-40 minutes on a cookie sheet. If baking, use less Panko. 6. Transfer cooked patties to paper towel. Cool for a few minutes. 7. Serve on toasted bun with lotsa toppings or put into a pita pocket.
It may look funky at this stage, but bear with me and you will be rewarded with deliciousness
Mashing beans today. 15 years from now, mashing the hearts of men everywhere.
He loved mashing, but the smell of canned beans was really rubbing him the wrong way.
Three phases of cooking. Raw, flipped once, and finished product.
So we planned on putting these on pitas.The organism growing on the bread had other plans.
Oh, hello there. I hope you enjoyed the first installment of "From the Wifey." Expect much more of those in the future. I can pretty much guarantee that she will not be posting pictures of the former governor of California, but you never know. If she's feeling really saucy, she may post a picture of the governor of the great state of New Jersey. Perhaps eating a vegetable. Wouldn't that be a treat for us all.
That is not a vegetable, but I am sure there are many people in the Garden State that want him to eat it.
Here is a little of what you can expect this weekend:
-White Bean and Avocado Wraps
- Sweet Potato Burgers
- A Thank You, A Confession, and an Opinion
- "From the Wifey: Beans and Quinoa"
I hope everyone is enjoying so far, but most importantly, I hope that everyone is finding use in the recipes and are having a little bit of fun in the kitchen.
Ok, please prepare yourself for a straight forward, delicious recipe, minus all the crazy dancing and weird side remarks that most people don't get :) Here is a recipe from the wife!
I never thought I'd be in a marriage where I don't do all the cooking. My mom is Italian and cooked 99.99% of the dinners in our household. I remember one time when my mom was recovering from surgery and my dad had to make dinner. He called it "Hawaiian Eggs" and he basically just took a some random ingredients from the fridge, mixed it with eggs, dressed us all in Hawaiian shirts and put on Jimmy Buffet, and tada.... Hawaiian Eggs were born.
But I digress....I got married and found out that my husband loves to cook. He loves looking up new recipes and trying them. That kind of freaks me out....I like to cook what I know. Unfortunately, a lot of what I know includes meat! So I had to figure out some new things to cook...or hand the skillet over to my husband.
This recipe, however, is one that I loved growing up (it was my grandmom's recipe) and it is so simple. Reheats great for the next day's lunch. This is also a great freezer recipe!
Greens and Beans
Ingredients
Olive oil
1-2 cloves of garlic
15 oz can of Hunts tomato sauce
2 15 oz cans of Cannellini beans (rinsed and drained)
1 large or 2 small heads of escarole (not curly). (I usually buy this fresh, but Wegman's was out, so I bought it in a bag)
Crushed Red Pepper
Directions:
1. Put oil in 4 quart pot to cover bottom and fry garlic.
2. Add 1 medium can of Hunts tomato sauce and 1 can of water.
3. Wash the cannellini beans and add. Cook for 15 minutes.
4. While the beans are cooking, rinse the escarole well. Boil the escarole in a large pot until tender, and then drain and chop.
5. Add to pot with beans and season with crushed red pepper. (add water if dry)
6. Serve immediately or let cool and freeze!
