spicy beef & black bean chili*

Week 1 of my new summer menus has come and gone with much success! I am in love with all of the new recipes we have had so far. Usually I am going in and changing several recipes because they either didn't go over well with the students or they really aren't feasible for our special situation. So far, however, I do not need to make a single change! WAHOO!

This spicy beef and black bean chili is probably my favorite of the week. It is pretty darn tasty if I do say so myself (and shhhh..it's healthy, too :).

Spicy Beef and Black Bean Chili
from The Girl Who Ate Everything

1 pound ground sirloin
1 Tablespoon less sodium Taco seasoning
1 (15 ounce) can whole kernel corn, drained
1 (15 ounce) can black beans, undrained
1 (10 ounce) can diced tomatoes with green chilies, drained
1 (10 ounce) can diced tomatoes with green chilies, undrained
1 cup water
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
6 Tablespoons reduced-fat sour cream
chopped green onion or cilantro for garnish (optional)

Cook beef in a medium pot on medium high heat until browned. Drain and return to pan.  Stir in taco seasoning and all of the other ingredients except sour cream and garnish. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 7-8 minutes or until heated through. Pour into bowls and top with sour cream and garnish. Yields 6 servings (1 cup each).

Each serving with sour cream: 298 calories


My suggestion: garnish with cilantro. I am a cilantro fanatic and it really added the perfect fresh touch that this chili needed! And DO NOT leave the sour cream out of the mix because the creaminess it adds is simply amazing! Oh, and I cheated and added some shredded cheese on top, too. I couldn't possibly let it be TOO healthy! We served this with a yummy piece of corn bread on the side. Oh man, I wish I had a big bowl of this right now - even though it is 93 degrees outside :).

-alyssa*

black bean and mango tostadas*

Sorry everybody, I have seriously been slacking! The husband passed along his flu to me, so I have been basically strapped to the bed/couch for most of last week and just started feeling good enough to escape to St. George for the weekend! But I'm back and better than ever :).

We started my new menus last week!! I am going to need to tweak them a little bit, but we definitely have switched things up. Yesterday we served these refreshing and gorgeous black bean and mango tostadas! They look so happy and make me wish it were summer! We served them along side the vegan quinoa and black beans I tested out a couple of weeks ago.

Black Bean and Mango Tostadas
from Two Peas and Their Pod

Corn tortillas
1 can of black beans, rinsed and drained and heated up
1 mango, peeled and chopped
1/2 red onion, chopped
2 tomatoes, chopped
Fresh cilantro, chopped
Romaine lettuce, chopped
1 avocado, chopped
Lime wedges
Salsa, if desired

1. Turn the broiler on high. Spray corn tortillas with cooking spray and sprinkle with salt. Place on a baking sheet. Put corn tortillas in the oven until crispy, about five-seven minutes. Flip them once to make sure each side is crispy.

2. Top corn tortillas with black beans, mango chunks, onion, tomatoes, cilantro, lettuce, and avocado. Dress with fresh lime juice and salsa.

Are these not so cute? And guess what?! If you serve it with my quinoa the entire meal is VEGAN!! As I have mentioned before, I really seriously jump for joy when I find recipes like this! We have some vegans at the school and let's be serious, there are not tons of options for them. And, they are super healthy (shhhh...)!

-alyssa*

vegan quinoa and black beans*

It's official. I have jumped on the quinoa bandwagon! There was a mysterious box of quinoa that was left from some vendor awhile back that has just been chillin in the kitchen waiting to be used. I have wanted to try it for quite sometime, but I'll admit, I was skeptical. I didn't think it would be very good. This recipe may be cheating because it definitely isn't lacking in flavor or ingredients, but I'm telling you I am going to start using quinoa more often! I ate lunch at 1:00 and it is now 7:30 and I'm still not hungry in the least. This stuff fills you up and it is AMAZING! Really, I am going to be living off this stuff until biggest loser ends. It is so healthy, it is jam packed with protein and it tastes delicious! Also, it is VEGAN! That probably doesn't mean much to most of you, but we have vegan students and when there is something that we can give them that actually tastes decent I literally jump for joy!

Vegan Quinoa and Black Beans
from Tablespoon

Yield:  8 servings

Ingredients
1 teaspoon vegetable oil
1 onion, chopped
1 1/2 teaspoons minced garlic
3/4 cup uncooked quinoa
1 teaspoon cumin
1 1/2 cups vegetable broth
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 Tablespoon lime juice
1 cup frozen corn
2 (15 ounce) cans of black beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
1 ripe avocado, diced (optional)
salt and pepper to taste

Directions
Rinse the quinoa in a strainer. Sometimes it can have a bitter taste on the outside so rinsing gets rid of this.

Heat the oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the onion and garlic, and cook for a couple of minutes or until onion is soft.

Add the quinoa and vegetable broth to the pan. Add the cumin, cayenne pepper, salt, and pepper. Bring mixture to a boil and then cover, reduce heat, and simmer for 20 minutes.

Stir in lime juice and frozen corn into the pan and simmer for 5 minutes or until corn is heated through.

Finally, mix in the black beans and cilantro. Garnish with chopped avocado if desired (I didn't because I really am not a fan).

Serve hot or cold. Store in refrigerator.

AMAZINGNESS in a bowl! Really, you gotta try this! I am being dead serious when I say that I will be living off this for over a month! Not only will I be living off of it, but I will be enjoying every second of it! And you better believe this replaced an item on my new menus!

-alyssa*

santa fe foldover*

I am a subscriber to BettyCrocker.com and get e-mails frequently of different recipe ideas. Once in a while there will be a recipe that I cannot stop thinking about until I make it! This Santa Fe Foldover was one of those recipes! I have actually had it saved in my e-mail for a month or two, but haven't had the time to make it.

The reason it first caught my attention was because it was labeled "Cooking for Two". NEVER do you see something that is made for two people. This world just does not cater to such a thing. Or maybe just Utah? Weekly the husband and I are going grocery shopping and have a hard time buying a lot of things because 1. we don't want to waste half the meal or 2. there is no possible way we would use it before it expires unless we lived off of that one item for a week. So this whole "Cooking for Two" concept was really appealing!

After I got over the initial title, I looked at the picture. Can you say delicious?? And fancy looking! Plus, Mexican is one of our favorite things to eat so I knew that we would just love it! It looked like it might be on the difficult side, but it really wasn't! I had it all ready and put together and in the oven in no more than 15 minutes. Which was a great sign because that means that I may actually make it again! I am so busy that I really don't have the time or the energy for a meal that takes hours to make, especially once I get off work and have been cooking all day. This is good news for the husband! We may actually have one more thing to add to our 5 meal rotation :) haha!

Now, I modified this recipe just a tad. First off, it doesn't call for any meat. I am actually just fine with that, because I could be vegetarian - no lie. Meat is not my favorite thing. I like chicken...but I could live without just about anything else. However, for the sake of the husband I decided to add some lean ground beef seasoned with a little taco seasoning. However, once I added the ground beef to the recipe I think it would actually make 4 servings, so my cooking for two no longer applied. Oh well. Also, I didn't add the corn meal. I didn't have any on hand and didn't buy any because I knew I probably would never use it again and it would just chill in the cupboard til the end of time. I just added a little extra Bisquick and called it good. Worked beautifully! (p.s. again I apologize for the shadow-y pictures. Still haven't found a solution to my poor kitchen lighting :(..)

Santa Fe Foldover
adapted from Betty Crocker

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients
1 cup Bisquick Heart Smart Mix
1/2 cup very hot water
1 lb. lean ground beef
2 tsp. taco seasoning
1 cup canned no-salt-added black beans, drained and rinsed
1/3 cup salsa
2 Tbsp. sliced green onions
1/4 cup shredded Colby-Monterey Jack cheese blend
1/2 cup shredded lettuce
1/3 cup chopped tomato
3 Tbsp. fat-free sour cream

Directions
1.  Move oven rack to the lowest position. Heat oven to 375°F. Spray a 12-inch pizza pan with cooking spray.
2.  Brown your lean ground beef and add taco seasoning. Set aside.
3.  In a small bowl, stir Bisquick mix and very hot water until soft dough forms. Place on surface sprinkled with Bisquick mix, gently rolling to coat. Shape into a ball; knead about 5 times or until smooth. Roll dough into a 10-inch circle; fold into fourths.

4.  Unfold on pizza pan. Spread ground beef over the dough to within 2 inches of edge. In a small bowl, stir together beans and salsa. Spread on top of ground beef.

5.  Sprinkle with green onions. Fold edge over. Sprinkle cheese over beans.

6.  Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until crust is golden brown and cheese is melted. Top with remaining ingredients.

7.  Cut into fours and DIG IN!!

	I am so excited to make this again!! The husband even liked it and approved serving it a second time! That is not everyday folks!! We also topped it with some more salsa, Cholula, and some cilantro ranch. YUMMY!! -alyssa*

quick and easy black beans*

We made these yesterday to go along side our pupusas. They smelled so yummy while they were cooking! We could smell them from across the kitchen! I love black beans, but I know some people are scared of them. Or maybe it's because they have only had them straight out of the can with no spices or anything else. They're not the greatest all by their lonesome. 

These beans really are "quick and easy". My only challenge was I didn't have a smasher to smash them very well, so I used our immersion blender for the first time. This was quite the adventure! I am not lying, this thing is ENORMOUS! When I was blending the beans, I was holding the blender up literally over my head! I think it's about 2 feet, and that is no exaggeration! I should have taken a picture because I'm sure it would have been hilarious! However, it did just the trick (after making a huge bean mess all around me)! I actually blended up half of the beans so that they were a sort of refried bean texture, and then added the rest of the whole beans so it didn't look quite so mushy.

Quick and Easy Black Beans
from Our Best Bites
 
2 Cans Black Beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 T olive oil
2/3 C diced onion
2-3 garlic cloves, pressed or finely minced
2/3 C chicken broth (or water, I use broth for extra flavor)
1/4 t cumin
1/4 t coriander
1/4 t oregano
1/2 t salt
1/4 t pepper
1 lime

In a saucepan on the stove, heat the olive oil to med-high heat. Saute onions for about 3 minutes or until they just start to become translucent. Add garlic and saute abut 30 seconds more. Add beans, broth, and remaining seasonings and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a low simmer and simmer for about 7 minutes, stirring occasionally. When they are done cooking, remove from heat and add in a few squeezes of fresh lime juice. Then use the back of a spoon or rubber spatula so smoosh (yes, that's a technical culinary term) some of the beans. You don't want to pulverize them, but you want to take a bunch of good smooshes so that some of the beans are smashed, which will thicken the sauce. I like mine on the thicker side so I smoosh quite a bit. They will thicken more upon standing.

If you want a more soupy consistency, just add a little more broth.

makes 6 - 1/3 cup servings 

Delicious!!

P.S. today is day 1 of biggest loser! I am hoping to have some good and good for you food on here in the near future!! Guaranteed I will be having a green smoothie for breakfast everyday!


-alyssa*