Sunday, March 29, 2009

Tortilla Bowls!

I had these at a friends place the other day and had to make them! So easy and waaaay healthier than their fried counterparts. As I said earlier they go great with the black beans down below. You'll need at least two oven safe bowls of different sizes to do this.

Ingredients:
Tortillas
Olive oil

Directions:
1. Take a tortilla and rinse it under cold water for just a few seconds.
2. Brush olive oil on both sides of the tortilla
3. Squish the tortilla into the bigger of the two bowls so it's lining the sides and then put the smaller bowl on top. (Basically your trying to make the tortilla take the shape of a bowl)
4. Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes.
5. Let cool then fill with yummy things and enjoy!

Black Beans

I just switched from canned beans to dried ones and I like this recipe because I can let it cook in my crock pot while I'm at school/the gym/taking over the world... Plus, people tell me dried beans are healthier!

Ingredients:
2 cups dry black beans
5 cups cold water
1/2 a medium purple onion minced
1-2 cloves garlic minced
1 stick of celery minced
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
Juice from 1 lime
3 ripe tomatoes minced
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp cumin
1 tsp red chilli powder
Salt to taste

Directions:
1. Heat up olive oil in a small pan
2. Brown up the garlic, onion and celery
3. Let the mixture COOL down.
4. Put the mixture, the black beans, the salt, oregano, cumin, chilli powder and cold water in your crock pot. If you don't have time to let the mixture completely cool down put in a few ice cubes to make sure the water is cold.
5. Let the beans soak over night.
6. Stir in the tomatoes and turn on your crock pot on high for 6 hours.
7. Once the beans are cooked add the cilantro and lime and let sit for 30-45 minutes to let the beans thicken up.


I like to serve these in baked tortilla bowls with salad and guacamole. (Check later this week for a recipe for the bowls!)

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Tabouli

Ok... So, my laptop caught on fire... hence, I haven't written in a while. Regardless of the laptop incident I've still been cooking. So, I picked up some bulgar wheat in the bulk section of my grocery store this week and decided to try and create Tabouli. This is what I came up with. I have to say I think it goes REALLY well with the hummus posted below.

Ingredients:
1 bunch of parsley chopped coursly
1 medium sized cucumber chopped
1 firm but red tomato chopped
2-3 tablespoons of roughly chopped mint leaves
1 cup bulgar wheat
1 lemon worth of juice
1 clove garlic minced
1/2 a purple onion diced
1 tbsp olive oil
2 cups warm water
Salt to taste
Optional: red chili powder to taste

Directions:
1. Put the bulgar in a large container with a tight lid.
2. Heat the olive oil in a small pot.
2. Once the oil is hot add the garlic and onion and reduce the heat to medium.
3. Once the garlic and onion have browned turn off the heat.
4. Let the oil, garlic and onion mixture cool.
5. Add the water and turn the heat back on and bring it to a simmer. Pour the mixture over the bulgar and cover. Let the bulgar sit covered for 40 minutes.
6. After 40 minutes uncover and fluff the bulgar with a fork. Try some if it's still hard microwave the mixture for 2-3 minutes at a time until it's soft.
7. Once the bulgar is cooked add in all your other ingredients and stir

Optional: 1-2 tsp red chili powder mixed in at the end.

Thursday, March 5, 2009

Hummus

I've tweeked this recipe a lot over the past year or so and I think I'm finally done with it. It's always a hit when I have people over. It's not like the hummus you get at restaurants because I don't use tahini. I think it tastes pretty good plus with out the tahini it has a whole lot less fat! So, eat as much as you want!

Ingredients:
1 can of chickpeas (16oz)
1-2 cloves of garlic coarsely chopped
1/2 tbsp olive oil (You can definitely use more! I'm just stingy with fat.)
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
4-5 fresh oregano leaves or about one shake of the dried kind
5-6 pieces of fresh thyme or about one shake of the dried kind
1-2 tbsp of lemon juice. About the amount it one lemon
1 tsp cumin
1/2 a large tomato (I usually use the kind on the vine or the plum variety)
1/2 tsp salt

Alternative: If you have a premixed bottle of dried Italian herbs you can substitute the oregano and thyme with 1-2 shakes of the Italian herb mix.

Directions:
1. In a pan heat up your olive oil
2. Once the oil is hot add in your garlic and let it brown
3. Throw your chickpeas into the pan and let them cook on medium heat for about 5 minutes
4. Let the chickpeas cool for a few minutes prior to transferring them into your food processor.
5. Once in the food processor add all your other ingredients in and blend. The consistency should be a little thicker and have more texture than the kind in restaurants. Be sure to taste for salt! Serve at room temperature.

I like to serve this with baked pita chips or use it as a spread in wraps and sandwiches. Yum! Oh, and if you wait a few days I'll put up a recipe for baked pita chips!

Sunday, March 1, 2009

Cake w/Blueberry frosting and chocolate sauce
































So, I didn't end up making cupcakes after all. Instead I made this fun little half cake. You can use any white/yellow 8" cake you want. I used this recipe from vegweb: http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=25720.0

Ingredients

Frosting:
1/2 cup margarine
2 cups confectioner's sugar
3 teaspoons blueberry sauce

Chocolate Sauce:
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
4 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp soy milk
1 tbsp margarine

Optional:
2 tbsp walnut pieces


Directions
1. Once your cake is cool cut it in half and put one half to the side.
2. Make your chocolate sauce:
- Place all the ingredients in a mug
- Then put the mug in bowl that it fits in comfortably and fill the bowl with water. This sounds silly but the idea is to create a double boiler that you can put in your microwave. Look at the picture up above if you're confused.
- Next put the bowl with the mug in the microwave. You will probably need to microwave for about 5 minutes but it will depend on the strength of your microwave. Check on it every minute and stir until the sugar has dissolved and you have a nice smooth sauce like consistency.
- Pour the sauce over half of the cake. I like to let it dribble over the sides
because I think it looks nice.
3. Make the frosting:
- Combine all the ingredients and mix together with an egg beater until the mixture is clump free and fluffy. Taste it too make sure the sugar is well mixed in and its not gritty. If it's gritty you need to mix some more until it feels smooth in your mouth.
4. Put the 2nd half of the cake on top of the bottom chocolate covered half. If you want before you cover it you can toss some walnuts over the chocolate sauce.
5. Frost the top half with your blueberry frosting.
6. Enjoy!


Note: The frosting can be made ahead of time but the chocolate sauce should really be made after the cake is out of the oven and cooled because you're going to want to pour it on while the sauce is still warm. Also, you can definitely replace the blueberry sauce with 1/3 cup of cocoa powder if you want chocolate frosting instead.