Black Bean Sweet Potato Burritos

I just saw this on my friend Bri Hoopes' FB page. Looked so good- so I'm copying it here!

2 whole sweet potatoes peeled and cubed
2 jalapenos (de-seeded/membranes scraped out) diced 
2 red peppers diced 
1 LARGE red onion diced small
1 tablespoon Olive Oil
2-3 teaspoons Cumin
2-3 teaspoons Chili Powder
1 teaspoon Salt
1 teaspoon Pepper

2 cans of black beans drained and rinsed 
1/2 (or more) cups chopped fresh Cilantro
1+ cups of Costcos organic frozen sweet corn
Juice of 1 lime

Shredded Cheddar cheese
Any type of tortilla you would like

In a bowl, toss your raw veggies in olive oil and season with spices. Place in a large baking dish (I use a casserole dish) and roast in 425 degree oven for about 30 minutes. Toss every ten minutes and once sweet potatoes are tender, it is done. 

Let cool. Add black beans, corn, cilantro and lime. Combine gently. At this point, mixture can be stored for later use in the refrigerator. 

Warm your wheat tortillas or wraps in microwave according to directions on package. Spray a casserole dish with nonstick spray or olive oil spray (I use coconut oil).

Add vegetable and bean mixture to center of wrap. Top with shredded cheese. Fold over, fold in sides, place in pan and continue to roll the others. Place into your baking dish, seam side down so that they stay together.

Bake at 375 degree oven for about 15-20 minutes or until golden brown. Baking this way will make the tortilla wrap crisp. For a softer burrito, spray burrito with nonstick spray, then wrap in aluminum foil and bake for same amount of time.

I also love having this mixture by itself without the tortilla. I think it is so yummy. Play around with the spices. It has taken me a while to get them right, yet I go by taste and add a bit more if needed. These burritos freeze awesomely! Dan takes them to work and microwaves them, and dips them in guacamole! These rock my socks off! Kid friendly too! Loaded with all sorts of goodness, and versatile! Enjoy!

What do you eat?!

Whenever I tell people I try to cook mostly vegetarian meals for my family the response is usually, "What do you eat?!" It's funny how as americans we don't consider food a meal unless there's meat in it somewhere.

I'll admit, it's not always easy. This week has been a good one though, so I thought I'd review what we've been eating.

Sunday- Jake went to Alaska at the beginning of the summer and brought home fabulous amounts of frozen halibut filets. That means fish tacos are definitely more frequently in rotation. When we had friends over for dinner Sunday night, fish tacos was on the menu! I mix flour, bread crumbs, tempura and corn meal with some salt, pepper, and paprika for the breading. We make sure to skin and get the dark pieces off the fish, toss them in the breading and then pan fry them in PREHEATED butter or olive oil. You have to have it hot, because cooking the fish fast is the trick to a nice light and flaky fish. Then we stack them with cabbage, cheese, fresh salsa, and some sort of cream/sauce. So delicious!

Monday- It's zucchini time and one of our favorite ways to eat zucchini is in omelets! I chop up the zucchini  and then saute it in bacon greese (nobody's perfect;) and you can use some other fat of your choice) with garlic and other veggies (mushrooms, peppers, ONIONS, spinach, diced baked potato, etc). I set that aside. Then I whip up 3 eggs with a little greek yogurt. I pour half of it into the hot, greased omelet skillet. Throw in the veggies, some fresh tomatoes or salsa, and Cheese and then fold in half. We top them with a little more greek yogurt and avocados and Jake adds some hot sauce.

Tuesday- We ate one of my vegetarian standbys- Rumbi Rice bowls. I've linked it on here before I think, but here it is again:http://www.favfamilyrecipes.com/2011/04/our-version-of-rumbi-rice-bowls-with-rumbi-rice.html. I make mine without the chicken, and I just use bottled teriyaki sauce. I half the rice, but still use a whole can of coconut milk and don't add any sugar. I think my kids are starting to get a little tired of this one, but Jake and I still love it!

Wednesday- Last night I made Easy Pad Thai: http://browniesfordinner.com/2010/05/11/easy-pad-thai/  I followed the recipe exactly, but doubled it. We had left overs, but not a tone, so I'm glad I doubled it. Everyone gobbled it up!!!

Tonight- Tonight I'm planning on making fancy grilled cheese sandwiches and salad, inspired from a pin I saw that took me to this blog post: http://anediblesymphony.blogspot.com/2009/04/tff-fic-grilled-cheese-forever.html  I've got ripe avocados and tomatoes all ready!

And over the weekend I'm sure we'll eat out and have some meat on the menu- but hey, when you've been eating vegetarian all week, that's no big deal! So see, it's very doable. Plenty of variety in 5 days worth of vegetarian dinners!

Tuna Salad Pitas

Made this last night. It was a quick and tasty dinner for summer weather!

Tuna Salad Pitas

6 Pita flatbreads
2-3 cans of tuna in water, squeezed dry and flaked
1 large tomato diced
2-3 Tbsp mayo
juice of half a lemon
2 Tbsp finely chopped cilantro
Salt and pepper to taste

optional garnish- lettuce, fresh salsa, cheese

Mix everything, except flatbread, in a bowl. Scoop into pitas, fold in half and enjoy!

I served with fresh fruit, tortilla chips and salsa. So refreshing!

Slow cooker Enchilada Casserole (vegetarian!)

I love using my slow cooker. It's so nice to throw some things in a pot during the day and then not have to worry about "what's for dinner". It's also nice to have something warm waiting when you're not sure exactly what time you'll be sitting down to eat. Timing food can be so hard. It seems like most crockpot meals feature meat- but this vegetarian creation went over very well :)

Slow Cooker Enchilada Casserole

2 cups peeled, diced, sweet potato
1 large tomato, diced
1 large bell pepper diced
1-2 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp garlic
1/8 tsp smoked paprika
1/4 tsp cumin
9 small corn tortillas
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 can favorite enchilada sauce
shredded cheese to your liking

1. Warm oil, garlic, and spices in pan. Add sweet potato and bell pepper. Sautee 2 min. Add tomato and beans, stir till combined and warmed.
2. Spray crock pot. Spread thin layer of enchilada sauce on bottom of pot. Then create one layer with 3 tortillas (can tear if you like). Then spoon over 1/3 of sauteed mixture. Pour another thin layer of enchilada sauce and sprinkle with cheese. Repeat 3 times. Turn on low 6+ hours. Serve with plain greek yogurt, salsa, avocado, or other garnishes of your choice.

Adapted Mulligatawny Soup

I was going to make a Mexican dish tonight- but my avocados still weren't quite ripe. I started looking through a file of recipes I'd been wanting to try. Found one that I tweaked a bit and it turned out SOOO yummy. Next time I'll plan ahead and make the Garlic Naan bread I have pinned to go with it! I love Indian food :)

Mulligatawny Soup (Jaime style)

1/2 cup chopped onion
2 stalks celery, chopped
2 carrots, peeled and diced
oil or butter
1 1/2 Tbsp flour
1 1/2 Tbsp curry powder
4 cups broth (I used chicken cause I was out of vegetable)
1 small apple peeled, cored, and chopped
1/2 cup cooked brown rice (or you could throw in uncooked white- but I had leftovers)
1-2 cups acorn or butternut squash- cubed or smashed- depending what texture you want (I had just roasted acorn squash so I kinda chopped it up, but it mostly blended in and made the soup thick and creamy)
1 small potato cubed
1 pinch of dried thyme
salt and pepper to taste.

Directions: Saute onions, celery and carrots in oil or butter (I used enough olive oil to cover bottom of soup pot) a few minutes or till they start to soften. Add flou and curry and cook a few more minutes- till fragrant and mixed well. Add stock and bring to a boil. While simmering add apple, squash, potato, salt, pepper and thyme. Simmer about 20 minutes or till all veggies/rice are cooked and soup is flavorful.

Enjoy!

Vegetarian biscuits and gravy?!

Vegetarian Biscuits and Gravy:

1 can refrigerator biscuits prepared as directed
1 can cream of celery soup
1 can water or milk of choice
diced broccoli, cauliflower, carrots

Saute veggies with some garlic and salt in olive oil. Add soup, and mix in water or milk till it reaches your desired consistency. I used a full can of water, and it was still creamy enough for me. Pour over your biscuits and enjoy.

I made this one night when the boys were gone to somewhere and I  wanted something simple, but also would use up some of the produce I had sitting in my fridge. I've also made a similar variation with this making mini veggie pot pies in muffin tins. That one I made for the whole gang and they really liked them. Next time I might add some marjoram, thyme, and oregano to add a bit more flavor.

Veggie stuffed calzones

A couple of tricks:

First- make your own pasta sauce. finely chop, saute, and then puree lots of veggies into and you'll get great flavor as well as hide lots of veggies into something you can use in several dishes. 

Next. Kids love pizza, right? I can make a plain cheese pizza for vegetarian nights and they'll eat it- but I think that's pretty boring. Problem is, if I load it with veggies, like I'd like, they pick them all off or turn their noses up at it. Here comes trick number two- stuff it all inside a calzone, and suddenly they gobble up the folded, veggie stuffed pizza without complaint. 

This time is used mostly broccoli, carrots, cauliflower and spinach in my sauce and calzones this time (along with tomatoes and onions of course) but I'm thinking mushrooms, spinach, artichoke hearts could make for great combos as well.