Enchilada Lasagna

I am really excited to be sharing this recipe with you today. I have seen the idea of an enchilada lasagna around for a while, and after making some homemade tortillas, I thought, why not try it out! The tortillas that I made were not the roundest and most even looking tortillas so I thought they would fare well in this recipe.

Tortillas are actually really easy to make and taste infinitely better than most of the grocery store varieties. Not to mention the short ingredient list. Flour. Oil. Milk. Baking Powder. Salt. That's it. No glycerides, no fumaric acid or a number of other presumably preservatives. I used this recipe from the Homesick Texan. I used half whole wheat flour and they seemed to turn out well. When you make these, don't forget to have one when it is still warm and fresh. You will not regret it.

This recipe from Perry's Plate was the inspiration for using the tortillas for an enchilada lasagna, instead of making just plain old enchiladas. The recipe is totally adaptable to your taste and preferences, but this is how I did it:

Enchilada Lasagna adapted from Perry's Plate and Simply Recipes
serves 4-6

Sauce:
1 tbsp olive oil
1 medium onion
3 garlic cloves
1 cup of salsa
1 can of crushed tomatoes
3 tbsp tomato paste
1/2-1 cup of water

Tortillas (I suggest you make these; I doubled the recipe)

1 tbsp olive oil
mushrooms
red peppers
corn
black beans
spinach
shredded cheddar cheese

1. Heat olive oil on medium heat. Saute onion and garlic until cooked. Add salsa, tomatoes, tomato paste and water. Add water to make the sauce according to your desired consistency. You don't want it too thick because it will thicken up even more in the oven, but too thin will result in soggy tortillas.
2. Reduce heat to low and keep warm while preparing the lasagna.
3. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
4. I decided to do sautéed vegetables. In a large pan, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add all vegetables except for the spinach and beans. Once the vegetables are cooked, add the black beans and stir to combine.
5. In a large greased baking dish, add a little bit of the sauce to the bottom and spread around. Place a layer of tortilla. Add 1/2 of vegetables, top with sauce and spinach. Place a layer of tortilla, add the rest of the vegetables, add sauce and spinach. Place the final layer of tortilla, add a little bit of sauce, and sprinkle some shredded cheddar on top.
6. Bake at 450 degrees F covered with foil for 20 minutes. Remove foil and bake for another 10 minutes. Allow to sit for 5-10 minutes before cutting.

This is an amazing dish. It makes great leftovers, and is very easy to assemble. I cannot wait to make it again!

BBQ Baked Beans

In the last 5 or so years that I have been a bean eater, I have never once eaten a can of 'baked beans.' Unless those beans served at a rib fest pulled pork stand were indeed from a can. But I doubt it. Either way, I have only had baked beans once, and the sauce was reminiscent of BBQ sauce. To me, baked beans should taste smokey, as if they had been meat in a previous life which had been charred on the grill slathered with sweet smokey goodness.

On that carnivorous note, I have recently decided to eliminate meat from my diet for the time being. Now, if you follow the blog, you could probably tell that I don't eat meat often anyway. However, usually once a week, I have dinner with my parents which normally involves meat. So this Sunday I wanted to have a protein item that could be easily incorporated into my family's dinner without too much trouble. Ribs were on the menu, along with baked potatoes and lots of veggies. Beans came to my mind right away. I would have them in some kind of sauce, over a baked potato, topped with guacamole. mmmm... But it wasn't until my dad coated the ribs in BBQ sauce, when the recipe for these baked beans really came together. One or two tablespoons is all it took for that smokey flavour to come though.

BBQ Baked Beans

1 tbsp olive oil
1 small onion
2 garlic cloves
1 can black beans, rinsed well
1 cup water
1/2 small can tomato paste
1-2 tbsp smokey BBQ sauce
1/4 tsp lemon zest

1. Heat olive oil in saucepan on medium heat. Add onions and sauté until soft. Add garlic and sauté for 1-2 minutes.
2. Add beans, water, tomato paste, and BBQ sauce. Stir and bring to a simmer.
3. Add lemon zest and stir in. Simmer until desired consistency is reached (0.5 to 1 hour). Once desired thickness is reached, cover and keep on low heat until ready to serve (up to an hour).
4. Serve over baked potato or with good crusty bread.

From my experience, these beans are good over regular and sweet potato. I also imagine it would be good served on their own with some good crusty bread. It has been a while since I have come up with an original recipe in which I would not really change anything next time around, so you should definitely try these. I also see this turning into a great lentil sloppy joe recipe.

Did I mention these kind of taste like summer? While the weather is telling us otherwise, this is definitely a recipe to get you in the mood for summer.

3 Layer Bean Dip

Does anyone know what day tomorrow is? May 5th! Cinco de Mayo! Basically, a perfect excuse to eat Mexican food, which I love. This recipe comes at a perfect time then. I made this dip about a week ago to have with the chips I bought at Whole Foods. It is comprised of "refried" beans, guacamole, and salsa. This dip can easily be prepared with pre-made versions of the three layers, but can also be made from scratch fairly quickly. I opted for a store bought salsa however.

3 Layer Bean Dip

for the "refried" beans
1 can black beans
~2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 medium onion, chopped

for the guacamole
1 avocado, chopped
1/2 medium onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 tomato, chopped
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 jalapeno minced after seed removal

salsa

1. Combine ingredients for bean layer in food processor and process until smooth.
2. Combine ingredients for avocado in food processor and pulse until combined with some chunks still present.
3. Layer into a dish. Top with salsa.

It is really that simple. My dip was a bit bean heavy (as you can see in the picture) so I would probably layer less next time. This is my favourite guacamole recipe and the salsa I used was very flavourful and tasted fresh. Because of this, I was forgiving of the fairly bland bean layer, since the guacamole and salsa made up for it. This was my first time using black beans to make a dip, and next time I think I would kick it up a notch with some garlic or seasonings. The beans had a great texture though.

This dip went will with chips (obvi), carrots, and even spread on some toast.  It is incredibly versatile and would make a great addition to any Cinco de Mayo spread. Along with some lime margaritas of course.

Lentil and Black Bean Vegetable Soup

As promised here is soup #2 of the winter season. I made it quite a while ago now (nov 19) and as usual I didn't write down what I put in it! So let's see how my memory will serve me today. Usually when it comes to soup I go light on the seasonings and stick to the basil, bay leaf, rosemary variety. That's just how I like it. This time however I went for the cumin, garlic, coriander, chili flavours. While still mild in flavour it was just different enough to make this soup a little bit more exciting.

What also made this soup exciting was that I literally emptied my crisper and made a dent on my pantry while making it. I was just grabbing veggies, cans, and jars left right and center. To my pleasant surprise it turned out rather delicious and not so surprisingly, very hearty.

Lentil and Black Bean Vegetable Soup

1 carton vegetable broth
1 can of stewed tomatoes
water (about a tomato can full)
1 can black beans
red lentils (1/2 cup?)
1 butternut squash, peeled and cubed
1 crown broccoli, chopped
1 can sliced mushrooms
1 can corn
4 celery stalks, chopped
1 bunch of kale, chopped
cumin
garlic powder
coriander
dried chili pepper
cayenne pepper

1. Heat broth, stewed tomatoes, and broth on medium-high until a simmer is reached.
2. Add all veggies (except for kale), black beans and lentils.
3. Once a simmer is reached, reduce heat to medium-low and add spices. I don't remember the measurements but it was about 2:2:1 for cumin to garlic powder to coriander. I just sprinkled them on there. Then the chili pepper and cayenne pepper is to your own taste. Depends on how hot you like it!
4. Simmer for 30 minutes or so until the lentils and squash are soft.
5. Add the kale and simmer for another 10-15 minutes.

This soup is very thick and hearty. Almost like a chili. I added some black pepper and crumbled goat cheese on top. I suspect cheddar would be fantastic as well.

Yup, that is me eating in front of my computer. Not as much of a regular affair as it used to be (a positive thing I think).

I have quite the lineup of food photos for you. I don't think this one post a week deal is nearly enough to handle them. Hopefully I will be able to post some more as the term comes to an end and the Holidays begin!

Mexican Fiesta!

Here I go again with the Mexican food. It wasn't my idea this time I swear! Will said he was bringing avocados to make guacamole and tortillas to make homemade chips. You cannot avoid wanting some beans and rice to with.

We decided to make a Bean and Corn Chili Salad as well as Mexican Rice. I used these recipes as a guide to get the desired Mexican flavours. Will had seen a recipe for the Avocado Salsa Verde and the homemade tortilla chips and started off with that. I am working from memory here and these dishes were made almost a week ago. I hope I get the avocado salsa verde recipe right, although, you can't really mess up guac.


Avocado Salsa Verde

3 avocados
1 small bunch of green onions
2-3 jalapeno peppers
1-2 limes, juice only

Add everything to the food processor and blend until creamy smooth. To make sure leftovers to do not brown, sprinkle some lemon juice on top.


Whole-Wheat Tortilla Chips

tortillas
olive oil
salt and pepper

Cut the tortillas into triangles like a pizza. Brush with olive oil and add salt and pepper to taste. Bake in a 400 degree F oven until crispy and lightly browned.

These were absolutely delicious! While not the healthiest dipper, they are quite a treat and are much better than store bought corn chips. I could see adding different seasonings such as cumin and cayenne to these to get great flavoured chips!

After we devoured the appetizer, it was time to make our main dishes.

Mexican Rice, adapted from allrecipes.com

3 tablespoons vegetable oil
2/3 cup diced onion
1 1/2 cups uncooked brown rice
1 cup chopped green bell pepper
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 jar of stewed tomatoes
1 can of tomato paste
salt to taste
1 clove garlic, minced
3 cups water

Heat the oil in a large saucepan on medium-high heat. Saute the onions until they are soft. Add the rice and stir to coat in oil. Add the rest of the ingredients in order. Bring to a boil, reduce to simmer, cover, and cook for 45 minutes, or until the rice is tender, stirring occasionally.

While this was pretty good, I think it could use some improvements. The end result was rather saucy, and I think next time I would leave out the tomato paste and maybe use less stewed tomatoes. I would also add more cumin and chili powder. Other than that, I love using different liquids to cook rice (such as tomato) and will definitely make this again (with modifications of course).

While the rice was cooking we made the bean salad which is SO easy to put together.

Bean and Corn Chili Salad, adapted from allrecipes.com

3 tomatoes, diced
1 can black beans
1 can white kidney beans
1 can low-sodium corn
1 1/2 cups chopped onion
cilantro (optional)

1/4 cup fresh lime juice
3 tbsp olive oil
2 1/2 tsp chili powder
2 1/2 tsp cumin
salt and pepper to taste

Rinse canned beans thoroughly, and mix with corn and onion. Into a seperate bowl, wisk together lime juice, oil, chili powder, cumin and salt and pepper. Add to bean mixture and toss to coat. Garnish with cilantro or mix in if you like.

Since cilantro and I are not friends, I photographed Will's plate for the full experience (cilantro and all). I really enjoyed this salad and wouldn't change a thing. It was even better the next day! You can really use any beans you like but I would always keep some black beans in there.

The highlight of this meal was definitely the salsa verde. My Mom loved it, and it is now the recipe of choice in this house. I have been able to do a lot of cooking and baking this weekend. Tomorrow I'll post about a meal I made with my friend Jenna that contains some some of the cutest produce at the Hamilton Farmer's market, as well as three recipes we have been dying to try!

Rice Paper Black Bean Burrito Failure

I thought of something that I thought would be revolutionary on the weekend and tried it out on Monday night. Like I have said before, I like Mexican food, including burritos. While tasty and can be healthy when packed with lots of veggies, the tortilla can ruin it. The ones you can buy in the grocery stores are not very tasty and are never as good as the one's in the restaurants.

To find a lower carbohydrate option I thought of rice paper. Ideally it would still hold all the contents together and could be baked. In case you missed the title of this post, this idea was a fail. This was a fail because not only had I never made burritos, I had never worked with rice paper, and therefore, had never used rice paper to make burritos. I will go through how I went about this and discuss some possible reasons for the failure.

I will admit that I was in a bit of a rush when making these. I made the filling using a similar recipe to the Black Bean Tomato Sauce I have made in the past.

Black Bean Burrito Filling

1 tbsp olive oil
2.5 cups cooked black beans
1/2 large onion
2 bell peppers
3 cups diced tomatoes
1/4 jalepeno (this was being timid)
1/2 can tomato paste
chili powder to taste
salt and pepper to taste

I highly recommend chopping the veggies up very finely, and slightly smashing up the beans. I didn't do this, but I think this gives it a better texture for a burrito filling.

I heated the olive oil on medium-high. The onions were sauteed for 3-5 minutes and then I added the peppers. After 5 minutes I added the beans, tomatoes, jalapeno, tomato paste and some chili powder. I made sure it was stirred well and allowed it to simmer on medium-low for about 10 minutes before tasting it for spice. From here you can add as much chili powder as you like. Then allow the mixture to simmer until the desired thickness is reached. You do not want much liquid left. You could even reduce the amount of tomatoes and add other veggies instead, be creative!

Like I said, these chunks are just too big (that is what happens when you are in a rush).

Another reason to make burritos is to have another reason to make and eat guacamole (as if I need another reason). I had half an avocado so I whipped up a 2 serving portion of guacamole.

Guacamole

1/2 large avocado chopped
1 garlic clove
1/4 cup diced onion
~1 tbsp lemon juice

Mash it all together or leave it chunky, its up to you!

Now I had the two stars of the burrito show. It was time to attempt to wrap them up in rice paper. To use rice paper, you soak it in warm water for about 5 seconds. I scooped 1/2 cup of the burrito mixture, 1/2 the guacamole and 1 tbsp cottage cheese into the center of the paper. I then folded each side up to form a sac. It held farely well together.

Unfolded rice paper (no guacamole in this one, how unfortunate):

After wrapping, before baking:

I should have saved some sauce to put on top but I forgot :( . I then baked the sacs (I refuse to call them burritos at this point), for 10 minutes at 400 F. The rice paper stiffened a bit and stuck to any rice paper that was close to it, resulting in a big mess! My make-shift burrito project was a fail.

I am wondering if little mini burritos would have been better and then not bake them after wrapping. The rice paper wasn't designed to be eaten with a knife and a fork so making them smaller, to eat with one's hands, may have been a better approach.

Does anyone have any creative burrito-like ideas?

I just though of one now! Burrito potato skins! The skin of the potato is the best part anyway! Into a hollowed out potato, add the burrito filling plus any other toppings (guac and cheese obvi) and bake to melt it all together. I think this would be fabulous; a much healthier alternative to tortillas and a more successful alternative to rice paper.

Now what am I going to do with all this rice paper?!?

Birthday Cupcakes, BBQ Raddichio, Bean Pepper and Corn Rice...and some more

So it has been a week since I've posted and boy has a lot gone on in the past week. A string of McMaster convocations, a visit from a best friend from Alberta, parties galore, and my own convocation finally! I wont go into too much detail on some of the things I've made or else this post would be way too long.

Last Friday we celebrated a friend's 22nd birthday, and I was in charge of the cupcakes. I decided to make two kinds. I have been wanting to make this Old-Fashioned Blueberry Cake from 101cookbooks for a while. I wasn't sure how it would turn out, or whether people would like it, so I also made a classic Vanilla Cupcake with Buttercream Frosting. I followed both recipes completely and was fairly satisfied with both. I make the buttercream frosting purple, and dusted the blueberry cupcakes with icing sugar. The vanilla were a hit at the party.

I read so much about barbecuing veggies and fruit and it often looks so delicious. I love barbecued zucchini and eggplant, but I haven't really ventured further than that. I have seen some people barbecue radicchio so I decided to give that a try. It was really quick and browned easily on the BBQ after brushing the wedges with olive oil. Afterward I drizzled them with balsamic vinegar and it was quite tasty. Radicchio does maintain it's bitter flavour however so it would be best to serve the wedges on a plate of greens.

The next day I had nothing to take to work for lunch and I was again, craving mexican food. So I tossed some olive oil, onions, garlic, chilies, pepper, corn, and black beans into a pan and seasoned with chili powder. I had this over rice and it was quite good! This would have made a great filling for a burrito, of course with some added cheese and quacamole.

I had a busy day on Wednesday, I officially graduated! Afterwards some friends and their parents put together a wonderful potluck celebration and there was lots of great food! I did not think I would enjoy convocation day as much as I did, and I LOVED IT!

I drove home from Waterloo the next day and I picked up some farm fresh strawberries off of highway 52. They smell delicious, and I cannot wait to have some in my oatmeal tomorrow, and with yogurt, and then maybe some more on their own...

My mom and I also began preparing some things for Saturday. While at the grocery store, I picked up some yellow and red tomatoes on the vine. They were good, but I cannot wait to get some straight from my backyard, nothing compares. I chopped these colourful tomatoes up and tossed them in olive oil, balsamic vinegar and fresh basil and chives from the garden. It was very refreshing.

Hope to see you all on Saturday!

Black Bean Tomato Sauce

I often crave Mexican-type foods, especially black beans and salsa. I had some kasha buckwheat in the cupboard which I was wanting to try. I bought this toasted seed a while ago because I read that it is high in complete protein and is gluten free since it is not a cereal grain. I figured I would try it out by making a sauce, that way if I didn't like the kasha I could cover it up with tomatoey goodness.

On Monday I decided to test out the kasha with some mexican inspired tomato sauce. I started out with some canned tomatoes, black beans, half an onion, one carrot and a big clove of garlic. I had planned on adding tomato paste but the crushed tomatoes had a thick enough consistency for the sauce. This sauce is actually quite thick. Next time I would probably used diced tomatoes and then also add the tomato paste.



I chopped up the onion and garlic, and shredded the carrot.


I heated about a tablespoon of olive oil and then added the onion, garlic and carrots. Here I then added about 1/2 tsp oregano and sprinkled some cayenne pepper and chili powder. This was sauteed for about 3 to 5 minutes and then added the can of tomato and black beans (rinsed very well). After simmering for about 5 minutes I tasted the sauce and decided it needed some salt, pepper, and more cayenne and chili powder.


While the sauce was simmering on low I cooked the kasha. Pretty easy thing to make. Just boil 2 parts water, add 1 part kasha, cover, and simmer on low for 15ish minutes.

So turns out I don't like kasha very much. I still have about a cup of it in my pantry so I better think of something to make with it. The sauce was delicious though, and a dollop of cottage cheese on top completed it perfectly. I appologize for how nasty this photo looks, but I swear it tasted good.


This sauce would be good with rice, pasta, on a piece of toast or on anything really. It is also very good on breaded eggplant, the star of my next post.