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black beans

Sweet Potato Foil Packet Tacos

May 12th, 2012
by erin.
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Sweet Potato Foil Packets

Date: 5/8/2012

Recipe: http://tastykitchen.com/recipes/main-courses/sweet-potato-foil-packet-tacos/

Modifications: I used ground turkey, black beans, and did not peel the sweet potatoes. I didn’t have tomato sauce, so I just used some crushed tomatoes instead. We use this taco seasoning recipe.

Time to table: 30 minutes, plus 30 minutes of baking time

Servings: 6 adults

Ben: Love

Erin: Love

Annie: Like

Notes: My friend Chelsea sent me this recipe, and I immediately knew it would be a winner in our house! The best part about these is that you really can prep everything completely beforehand, and then just pop the foil packets in the oven when you’re ready to eat. Ben has an oven at work and was able to bring the extra packets to work the next few days. It is important to layer the packets with the sweet potatoes on the bottom, if they are on top they won’t get cooked through. We served with tortillas and sour cream.

Sweet Potato Foil Packets

Chili Macaroni and Cheese

Apr 20th, 2012
by erin.
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Chili Mac n Cheese

Date: 4/18/2012

Recipe: http://weelicious.com/2011/02/02/four-bean-chili-mac-cheese/

Modifications: I added a lot of sour cream since I was using 2% milk and because sour cream is delicious, and I think I used too much pasta so I added more chili and cheese to compensate.

Time to table: 20 minutes

Servings: 5 adults

Ben: Love

Erin: Love

Annie: Love

Notes: Again, this was so easy – I LOVE the concept of using leftovers to make a slightly different meal. We will definitely be trying this more! We all loved this meal in both forms – Annie probably enjoyed it a bit more here – mostly she just picked out each noodle though :)

Annie eating the noodles

Annie eating the noodles

Four Bean Chili

Apr 19th, 2012
by erin.
1 comment

Four Bean Chili

Date: 4/16/2012

Recipe: http://weelicious.com/2011/02/01/four-bean-chili/

Modifications: I used ground turkey instead of beef, and added a chopped bell pepper.

Time to table: 30 minutes prep, 6-8 hours cooking time.

Servings: A lot – this nearly filled our crockpot – at least 8 adults.

Ben: Love

Erin: Love

Annie: Love

Notes: This chili was really good!  We all are bean lovers, so this went over well. Annie enjoyed narrating which bean she was eating at that time :) This is part of a 3 in 1 meal that weelicious posted, so the next post will be what we did with the leftovers.

Beans for Four Bean Chili

Four Bean Chili

Mexican Baked Eggs

Apr 4th, 2012
by erin.
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Mexican baked eggs

Date: 3/31/2012

Recipe: http://www.closetcooking.com/2011/09/mexican-baked-eggs.html

Modifications: I only used one jalapeno and just realized that I forgot the oregano. It also seemed to take longer than 5-8 minutes for our eggs to cook, more like 15 minutes, however the yolks were far more done than they appeared visually.

Time to table: 30 minutes

Servings: 4 adults

Ben: Dislike

Erin: Like

Annie: Like

Notes: This was one of those meals that kept getting pushed off. I thought it was pretty good, would have been better if we hadn’t overcooked the eggs. The leftovers would be great in a tortilla – Annie had that for lunch the next day and seemed to enjoy it. Ben thought it tasted just like salsa with eggs and wasn’t a fan.

Mexican baked eggs

Mexican Lasagna

Mar 23rd, 2012
by erin.
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Mexican Lasagna

Date: 3/20/2012

Recipe:

1/2 lb of ground turkey
1 28oz can of crushed tomatoes
1 14 oz can of black beans
1 14oz can of kidney beans
1 14oz can of pinto beans
1 diced sweet potato
1/2 packets of taco seasoning (I just threw in some cumin, adobo seasoning from Penzey’s, chili powder, paprika, garlic granules and cayenne)
1/2 an onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
4 cups of shredded mild cheddar
1 packet of Spinach Tortilla wraps

Coat the bottom of a larger, somewhat deep saucepan, with extra-virgin olive oil. Let it warm up (burner on medium heat), then throw in onion and garlic. Sautee for about 2 min. Add ground turkey and cook until no longer pink. Add all the beans and sweet potato and stir. Then add taco seasoning and about 1/2 cup of water (or more if it gets too dry), stir. Finally, add crushed tomatoes.  Lower heat, simmer, and stir occassionally for about 20-25 min.  (Meat and bean mixture cooked the night before, tastes better the next day. But, it’s still good same day : )

To layer ingredients: 1 9×13 inch pan.  Thin layer of meat/bean mixture, tortillas (cut to fit pan), then cheese. Then repeat: meat/beans, tortilla, then cheese.

Bake in 375 degree for aluminum pans, 400 for glass for about 15-25 min. Or until cheese on top is bubbly.

Modifications: I didn’t want such a huge batch, so I made this in a 8×8 pan and froze the other half of the mix.

Time to table: an hour of prep (some is simmering) and 25 minutes baking.

Servings: original recipe serves 8 adults

Ben: Love

Erin: Love

Annie: Loved the sour cream that it was topped with…

Notes: This is a meal that was brought to our neighbors who also have a new baby, and shared with us. We both loved it so much we had to get the recipe from her friend Karen, who apparently adapted it from a Rachael Ray recipe. I further adapted it from what she sent to include a sweet potato and to reduce the amount of meat. The original also called for corn, but I didn’t have that so did not include. There is another Mexican lasagna recipe on the blog too, but I preferred this one.

Mexican Lasagna

Chicken enchiladas

Feb 15th, 2012
by ben.
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Enchiladas

Date: 2/15/2012

Recipe:

  • 3 cooked and shredded chicken breasts
  • 2 onions, diced
  • 2 green peppers, diced
  • 3 cans (15 oz) black beans, drained and rinsed
  • 1 T cumin
  • 1 T chili powder
  • 1 T garlic granules
  • 4 cups shredded cheddar cheese
  • ~20 tortillas, the tortillas we used were ~8 inches in diameter
  • 1 can enchilada sauce (28 oz) plus one extra can (14 oz)
Steps:
  1. Cook and shred the chicken
  2. While chicken is cooking, saute the onions and green peppers in oil or butter for a few minutes, adding the cumin, chili powder, and garlic granules for the last 30 seconds
  3. Move vegetables to large mixing bowl.
  4. Add all the black beans to the vegetables
  5. Shred the chicken and add to the black beans and vegetables
  6. Open the smaller can of enchilada sauce and add about half of it to the chicken mixture and stir to combine.
  7. Assemble the enchiladas using the following steps:
  • Spread a thin layer of enchilada sauce on the inside of a tortilla
  • Spoon about 1/4 cup or so of the chicken mixture into the tortilla, spread the mixture into a line
  • Sprinkle some shredded cheese on top of the chicken mixture
  • Wrap the tortilla up and add it to a 13 x 9 pan
  • Continue until you run out of tortillas or chicken mixture
  1. Now, with a full pan of enchiladas, pour the remaining enchilada sauce over the top
  2. Top with more shredded cheese
  3. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes

Time to table: 90 minutes

Servings: 7 dinners (21 enchiladas)

Ben: Love

Erin: Love

Annie: Like

Notes: We made these as part of our freezer meal stash for when the baby arrives and cooked three of them for our dinner tonight, with 18 leftover which we froze in sets of three so we can cook individual meals with them. Adding the cumin, chili powder, and garlic granules to the sauteed vegetables greatly contributed to these being better than I remember them, I don’t normally add any seasonings to the vegetables. We had these topped with sour cream and sriracha (for me) and they were delicious. Annie enjoyed eating the sour cream most of all.

Enchilada pack

Enchiladas

Tortilla and Black Bean Pie

Jan 18th, 2012
by erin.
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Black Bean Tortilla Pie

Date: 1/17/2012

Recipe: http://www.marthastewart.com/336692/tortilla-and-black-bean-pie (I also made this before WAY back in the day right after I’d started my blog)

Modifications: Used whole wheat tortillas – and the ones we got (Mission 100% whole wheat “soft taco”) were EXACTLY the perfect size for my 9” springform pan so that was awesome. I used water instead of beer – I’m sure the alcohol cooks off, but it feels weird cooking with any alcohol for a pregnant woman and a toddler… so yeah, just water. I added some additional seasoning – Penzey’s Adobo seasoning. Also added a chopped green pepper to the onion/garlic/jalapeno mix to up the veggie content.

Time to table: 30 minutes active, 20 minutes baking

Servings: 6 adults

Ben: Love (with the addition of a fried egg for him)

Erin: Love

Annie: Love

Notes: We are on a ROLL with the triple love meals over here! I knew this one would be a hit – we have loved it all the other times we’ve made it and this was no exception. I forgot to add sour cream and salsa to mine but it was still quite good even without that. We even had this on a weeknight and Annie devoured it – proving that it’s a keeper!

Black Bean Tortilla Pie

Ben's black bean tortilla pie w/ fried egg
Ben’s serving topped with fried egg

Holding her food out for me to take a photo :)
After I took a photo of my dish, Annie held hers out for similar treatment :)

Sweet potato chili…….again

Oct 14th, 2011
by ben.
3 comments

Sweet Potato Chili
Date: 10/12/2011

Recipe:

28 oz. can of crushed tomatoes
2 cups water
1 cup dried black beans (or one 15 oz can)
1 medium sweet potato, cubed
1 onion, diced
1/2 chipotle pepper in adobo sauced, seeded and diced
6 cloves garlic, minced
2 small bell peppers, diced
1 packet of chili seasoning (or make your own) 

Soak the beans overnight (if you’re using dried beans)

In the morning, chop up all the veggies.

Put the tomatoes and water into the crockpot with the seasoning and mix it in well

Add all of the ingredients

Cook on high for 6-8 hours.

Serve with shredded cheese and sour cream if that’s your thing (and it is most definitely OUR thing). I also love having my chili over pasta, ever since my friend Scott introduced me to that concept a couple years ago.

Time to table: 45 minutes prep, 6 hours cook time

Servings: 4 adult dinners, 2 toddler dinners

Ben: Love

Erin: Love

Annie: Love

Notes: I totally screwed up the beans here. I let the soak overnight and then put it all in the crock pot in the morning, but the beans didn’t finish cooking by the time we ate it, so the beans were hard on the outside still. Certainly edible and it was still delicious, but it would be even better with fully cooked beans. I partly blame our crockpot because it doesn’t seem to get as hot as other crock pots. We served this with leftover frozen cornbread muffins. Annie devoured all of this with reckless abandon.

Sweet Potato chili

Eating Sweet Potato chili

Corn bread skillet

Oct 4th, 2011
by ben.
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Cornbread skillet

Date: 9/27/2011

Recipe: This recipe was from our CSA newsletter and it was great because it used a ton of the veggies from our box:

2 T oil
1/2 medium onion, chopped
1 leek, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp coriander
2 medium potatoes, diced
1 poblano pepper, diced
1 medium bell pepper, diced
juice & zest of 1 lime
5 tomatillos, cored and chopped
1 large tomato, cored and chopped
salt and pepper to taste
1 can pinto or black beans
3 T cilantro, minced
1 c cornmeal
1/3 c all purpose flour
1 T sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 egg
1 c plain yogurt
1/2 c shredded cheddar cheese

Heat oil in oven proof skillet and saute onions for a couple minutes and then add the leeks. After another minute add the garlic, cumin, coriander, potatoes, and peppers. Saute for a couple minutes and add the lime juice/zest, tomatillos, tomatoes, salt, and pepper. Continue to cook, stirring periodically, for about 8-10 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 375 and prepare the cornbread topping: sift together the dry ingredients. Whisk together egg and yogurt and mix into dry ingredients and set aside. Stir beans and cilantro into skillet and top with cornbread batter. Bake at 375 for 15 minutes. Add shredded cheese and return to oven for 3-5 more minutes, until golden and browning on the edges.

Time to table: 75 minutes

Modifications: I didn’t use any tomatoes because we didn’t have any, and we had also just used the all the leeks in the soup the night before, so we didn’t include that.

Servings: 2 adult dinners, 3 adult lunches, 1 toddler dinner

Ben: Dislike

Erin: Like

Annie: Like

Notes: This was kind of blah. Definitely should use more cheese than is called for. I think the cornbread is a little too dry and crumbly for this kind of dish, it would have been better with a fluffier dough I think. Oh well, we got some lunches out of it and it used up a lot of veggies.

Cornbread skillet

Cornbread skillet
Looks like scrambled eggs with cheese!

Spinach & black bean enchiladas

Aug 22nd, 2011
by ben.
1 comment

Spinach and Black bean enchiladas

Date: August 18th, 2011

Recipe: http://ellysaysopa.com/2011/03/07/meatless-monday-chipotle-and-tomatillo-sauced-black-bean-enchiladas/

Modifications: I doubled the amount of cream cheese because we had half of a package left and I wanted to use the whole thing up.

Time to table: 75 minutes

Servings: 4 adult dinner, 2 toddler dinners

Ben: Love

Erin: Like

Annie: Love

Notes: We used a salsa verde recipe from our CSA newsletter this time that used some stuff from the box (tomatillo, jalapeno, garlic, cilantro) and we used a green pepper instead of a red pepper because that’s what we had on hand. This was a delicious recipe that we’ve made before and we’ll definitely make again as it’s so easy and would probably be a good freezer meal. I used a dry, white cheddar cheese that didn’t melt too nicely and while it tasted fine, the pics don’t make it look too appetizing.

Annie eating enchiladas

Spinach and Black bean enchiladas

Spinach and Black bean enchiladas

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