Black Beans and Rice

I know I said I'd be back to post about my birthday cupcakes, but I actually have this delicious black bean and rice dish banked, and if I don't post about it now, I know I'll forget and it will never happen. But don't worry! The cupcakes are coming! And you're not losing anything by getting this post first. In fact you're gaining because this dish is delicioussss! And really quick and simple! It's also versatile.
The first thing you need to do is cook up some rice. One cup (dry) to be exact. I didn't take a photo of rice cooking, though, for what I feel are obvious reasons. It's boring. It's self-explanitory.


The real fun starts with what I call the "dressing." In a large bowl you combine olive oil, lime (or lemon) juice, chili powder, ground cumin, turmeric, crushed garlic, salt, pepper and a can of green chilies. We use mild chilies because we don't like spicy food that much, but you can use any kind of green chilies, depending on how spicy you like your food!


Add in some chopped green onions and tomato...


and a can of black beans (rinsed thoroughly first, of course!).


Give it a good stir and wait for your rice to finish.


Then throw your rice in (we like basmati), mix it up well, again, and serve!

It's really that simple. Now, you may be wondering how you serve this dish. Well, as I said, it's versatile! The recipe is originally a wrap filling. Whip up some guacamole and your own tortillas, if you're feeling ambitious, chop up some lettuce and cheese and you've got yourself some delicious and healthy wraps. I've also baked this, with cheese on top! I've also stuffed peppers with it and baked them in the oven! But normally, we just eat it as a side dish with some form of protein (meat for Anders, vegetarian hot dogs for me, usually), and some cooked vegetables! It's really very tasty and when you can use it for so many things, you can't really go wrong! It keeps well in the fridge and makes a great quick snack as leftovers.

Now, before I move on to the recipe, I wanted to give myself a little shameless plug. I'm starting a very long photography project tomorrow, and while I don't know how many people actually read this blog regularly, I thought I'd plug it here, in case anyone who does read it is interested! There's nothing up there, now. My first post will appear at 12AM, eastern time. Thanks!

Recipe
Black Beans and Rice

1 cup dry rice, cooked
1-2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons lime (or lemon) juice
2 teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1 medium clove garlic, crushed
salt and pepper to taste
1 can (114 ml) (mild) green chilies
1 cup tomato, chopped
6 green onions, diced
1 can (540 ml) black beans, drained and well rinsed

Cook rice and set aside. Meanwhile, in a large bowl combine the remaining ingredients. Add cooked rice and mix well. Serve as a side dish, baked with cheese on top, or stuffed in peppers.

Guten Appetit! Continue reading...

Canadian Thanksgiving... over a month late

I'm sorry it's been so long. This semester has been riddled with bad luck accompanied by stress. First I found a member of my family is very ill, then I fell off a horse and injured my tail bone and hip, then I pinched my sciatic nerve as a result of limping from the injured hip, as soon as that got better I rolled my ankle really badly and sprained it, and that only really started getting better a few weeks ago, and last week I had the worst cold I've had in years which kept me in bed for days straight. And through all that I either haven't felt like or haven't been able to bake or cook much out of the ordinary, day-to-day sustenance.
But Anders and I did make a small Thanksgiving dinner together and I took photos. We had been at my cousin's wedding the day before and neither of us were able to spend Thanksgiving day with out families, so we made a small dinner together. Now, Canadian Thanksgiving was over a month ago, but since American Thanksgiving is coming up, I thought I'd finally post about it!


Here's what our little table looked like. Delicious!


This is Anders' plate, complete with turkey (I don't eat meat).

I didn't really use recipes for any of this. For the turkey breast, I made a rub with softened butter, salt, pepper, and poultry seasoning. Then I rubbed it all over the breast and under the skin. I put a large piece of onion in the small "cavity" created by the ribs on the underside of the breast and put it in the oven for about an hour.
For the dressing we tore up rye bread, tossed it with celery, onions, salt, pepper, poultry seasoning and olive oil. Neither Anders nor I like mushy stuffing cooked inside the bird (especially me... since I don't eat meat), so we baked it in a dish until it got crispy and tasssty.
Steamed vegetables and a mashed potatoes are pretty straightforward, so I don't think I need to explain that, right? The only thing I will say is that for mashed potatoes, Yukon Golds are GREAT. I also find that it works best to mash the potatoes with a masher first, then add in milk and (lots of) butter and whip the whole thing with a mixer. It makes for very smooth and tasty mashed potatoes!

The dinner was really great, except that the turkey was apparently pretty disappointing. I didn't have any, so I wouldn't know, but Anders didn't like it much. I got the breast from a butcher nearby, but I should have known better, because Anders has never really cared for any of the meat I've gotten there. Everything else was delicious though, and we were so happy to be able to have a small Thanksgiving dinner when we couldn't be with our families.

Anyway, I'm hoping to be able to do more baking soon - I've missed it a lot, especially since I haven't been able to do any of my other normal activities like horseback riding and running. And with Christmas coming up, I should have an excellent reason to do so!

Until then, guten Appetit! Continue reading...

Guacamole and Home-made Flour Tortilla Chips

Once upon a time, I made flour tortillas to use as wraps for a meal I made for myself and Anders. I never posted them because when I rolled them out they turned out to be more pointy and mishapen than circular. But they were tasty. Now, the other day I bought a bag of avocadoes. I don't really like avocado that much, but they're full of healthy fat and nutrients so I decided to just get them and maybe make myself like them. Instead I just went ahead and made guacamole a few days after buying them because that's really the only way I like to eat them. And to eat guacamole you need some chips. But have you ever noticed how much crap is in tortilla chips? Ugh. I have. So I decided to take that recipe for soft tortillas I had made before and make them into chips! That's right, folks. This post is a twofer! Guacamole and tortilla chips ho!

I started with the tortilla chips first, because the dough needs time to rest in between steps.

I started with some flour, baking powder, salt and canola oil.


I added some warm milk.


And that's it. Five ingredients, minimal mixing and I got this pleasant lump of dough, which I kneaded until it was well combined and smooth.


I threw the dough into the bowl I mixed it in and put a damp dish cloth over top. I let it rest for about 20 minutes.

Now, this next part is a lie, because I was multi-tasking the whole time and while the dough was resting I started on the guacamole, but to keep things simple, I'll continue with the tortilla chips.


After 20 minutes, I split the dough into four more or less equal parts.


And let them rest again. This dough needs a lot of rest, or it will be tough and gross.


After the second rest, I split each ball of dough in half and I rolled each one out very very thin. They do shrink back up a bit though. I didn't worry to much about how circular they were, because I was just going to butcher them anyway to make the chips.


Using my (dry, unoiled) cast iron pan, I...fried, baked?... each tortilla for about 30 seconds per side. They start to puff up a bit and turn brown in spots, so it's easy to tell when they're done.


When they were all done, I cut each tortilla into 8 triangular(ish) pieces.


I put those on a baking sheet, which I had first sprayed very lightly with canola oil. I also gave the soon-to-be-chips a light spray. This is what they looked like after baking for about 12 or 13 minutes.

Next, I worked on my guacamole!


Naturally enough, I started with avocadoes! What a lovely colour!


Next, I Chopped up some tomato.


And some green onion.


I threw those two things into my bowl with my avocadoes along with some lime juice, chili powder, cumin, salt and pepper.

Now look. I know you're supposed to put cilantro in guacamole. And no, I haven't done that. I have a confession. I hate cilantro. And I know very few people who DO like it so I don't feel bad about it! It makes me feel like my throat is closing up. That isn't a good feeling when you're eating! So I avoid it. I hope you understand.

Anyway... I don't like to mash my avocado before adding the other ingredients. I find that it just turns into paste when you do that and I don't like it. Guacamole should be think and rustic, not smooth and pasty.

So instead I just take a metal spoon to it and stir, breaking up the avocado as I see fit. And I also add some garlic because I realise I forgot it... and then I don't add enough. Whoops!


There we go. Oooh, look at it. Tastyyy.


Ooh, both together. Don't you want to just dive into the photo?


Delicious!

Okay. So I love guacamole. But it's nothing too new or exciting, so let's talk about the tortilla chips. They were good! They weren't WAY too salty like the store-bought ones, they had a nice light flavour and they were just... tasty. My only complaint is that some of them were a bit too crunchy but that was my fault. The only ones that were too crunchy were the darker ones, so they were obviously a bit over-baked. Next time I do this, and I definitely will do this again, I would decrease the baking time slightly. Other than that, they were great! I was pleased to be able to just sort of make it up. I spent a lot of time looking online for a recipe for tortilla chips, but I came up with nothing. Luckily it was easy to simply decide to make these into chips.

Recipes

Flour Tortilla Chips

×××

2 cups of all-purpose flour
1 ½ teaspoons of baking powder
1 teaspoon of salt
2 teaspoons of vegetable oil
¾ cups of warm milk

×××

Mix together the flour, baking powder, salt and oil. Slowly add the warm milk. Stir until a loose, sticky ball is formed. Knead for two minutes on a floured surface. Dough should be firm and soft. Place dough in a bowl and cover with a damp cloth or plastic wrap for 20 minutes.
After the dough has rested, break off eight sections, roll them into balls in your hands, place on a plate (make sure they aren’t touching) and then cover balls with damp cloth or plastic wrap for 10 minutes. After dough has rested, one at a time place a dough ball on a floured surface, pat it out into a four-inch circle, and then roll with a rolling pin from the centre until it’s thin and about eight inches in diameter. Don’t over work the dough, or it’ll be stiff. In a dry iron skillet or comal heated on high, cook the tortilla about thirty seconds on each side. They should start to puff a bit when they're done.
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Cut the cooked tortillas into eighths and arrange a few pieces on a very lightly oiled baking sheet (canola oil spray works well). Spray the tops of the tortilla pieces very lightly with canola oil. Place in the over for 10 to 12 minutes, or until the chips are brown and crispy. Cool slightly before eating.

Guacamole

×××

4 small or 3 medium avocadoes
2 small or 1 large tomato(es), chopped
6-8 green onions, chopped
3 tablespoons lime juice
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 teaspoons chili powder
2 teaspoons ground cumin
salt and pepper to taste

×××

Cut avocadoes in half and scrap fruit into a bowl. Add chopped tomato and green onion, garlic, chili powder, cumin and salt and pepper. Stir and break up avocado. Serve with tortilla chips or pita bread or something equally delicious.

Guten Appetit! Continue reading...

Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal Muffins

I realise it has almost literally been forever, but I have a few things to post about and the first one is some delicious, healthy muffins!



As usual, this recipe started with the dry ingredients: whole wheat flour, white sugar, brown sugar and some oats.


Next I washed two lovely Ida Red apples.


And skinned and chopped them up.


The wet ingredients: water, oil, eggs and vanilla.


I threw the wet ingredients in with the dry ingredients, and then added the apples and some cinnamon... because I forgot to add it with the dry ingredients.


All mixed up.


I filled a greased muffin tin, and put it in the oven.


They rose quite nicely and smelled amaaaazing while baking.

This is a recipe I sort of made up based on my chocolate chip muffin recipe, but it turned out so well. These are great for breakfast. It's like eating apple cinnamon oatmeal. The only thing I'd like is for them to have less sugar, so the next time I make them I will try them with less. The healthier, the better!

Recipe

Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal Muffins
1½ cups whole wheat flour
½ cup rolled oats
1/3 cup light-brown sugar, packed
1/3 cup sugar
cinnamon to taste
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup milk or water
1/2 cup oil
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
1½-2 cups chopped apples

×××

Preheat oven to 400°F and grease a muffin pan.
In a large bowl, stir together flour, oats, sugars, cinnamon, baking powder, and salt. In another bowl, stir together milk/water, eggs, oil, and vanilla until blended. Make a well in centre of dry ingredients and add wet ingredients, stirring just to combine. Stir in apple.
Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups and bake for 15-20 minutes or until a muffins pass the toothpick test.
Allow muffins to cool on a wire rack for five minutes before removing from pan to continue cooling.
Serve warm or completely cooled. Muffins can be frozen.

Guten Appetit! Continue reading...

Tortilla Soup

This soup was inspired by my friend and faithful reader Irina. Her recipe is very loose and vague, so I really just did whatever I wanted to, and based it on her recipe. Oh man, it's exciting.


I started by sautéing some salt and pepper, garlic, chili powder and a tiny amount of red pepper flakes in olive oil. I also put on a pot of rice, but I didn't really take photos of rice cooking... it's kind of like paint drying... pretty self explanatory.


Next I chopped up some green onions (I like them better than yellow or white onions).


And then some red peppers.


I added both those things to the pot and let them cook until they were a bit tender.


Then I poured in some vegetable broth.


While the broth was heating up, I chopped some grape tomatoes in half. Okay, so it was just supposed to be chopped tomatoes, but 1) there weren't any good ones AT ALL at the grocery store and 2) I thought it was be awesome.


Anyway, then I threw those tomatoes into the broth. I also threw in some tomato paste.

And while that was cooking a bit, I opened a can of kidney beans and a can of black beans...

and rinsed them!

I threw them into the broth, along with the cooked rice.

I let that cook for about 15 minutes and then it was time to eat!

Irina suggested putting chips and cheese (soy cheeseloaf, if you're actually Irina) in the bottom of the bowl and then pour the soup on top, but I really can't do soggy things.
And Anders doesn't do cheese, so he put chips on the bottom of his bowl, and I elected just to put some on top along with my cheese.

This soup was absolutely great and delicious and quick. It was like eating nachos in soup form or something! I also like that I can just throw in what I/the grocery store happen/s to have on hand. The other excellent point is that Anders liked it. We don't eat soup like... ever. When he eats soup, it's usually from a can and with big hunks of beef in it. It did happen to be a little spicy for him, but we both really enjoyed it a lot.

Recipe

Tortilla Soup

2 tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons chili powder
½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
salt and pepper to taste
2 cloves garlic, pressed
6-8 green onions, chopped
1 large red pepper, seeded and chopped
4 cups vegetable broth*
1-2 cups tomato, chopped
1 small can tomato paste
1 can kidney beans
1 can black beans
1 ½ cups cooked rice

×××

Sauté spices and garlic in oil. Add onion and pepper and cook until they become slightly tender. Add broth and simmer for a few more minutes. Add tomato and tomato paste and continue to simmer. Add beans and rice and stir well. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes. Serve with tortilla chips and cheese.

Guten Appetit! Continue reading...

Cinnamon Buns

So... it's been a while. And I don't really have time to be doing this right now, but I need a break between finishing class for the day and studying for the entire afternoon (well, at least until I go horseback riding...). Hence, I present, cinnamon buns and their less well-known but just as delicious cousin, chocolate chip buns!

I started out by heating up some milk and mixing it in my largest bowl with eggs, some oil (which I swapped in for melted butter), half the sugar.




Once that was well mixed, I added the yeast and, gently mixed it again and let the mixture sit for a few minutes.


After that, I threw in the other half of the sugar along with the flour, one cup at a time...




Until it formed this big lump of dough.


I covered the bowl with a tea towel and put it in my oven, which I had heated up then turned off.


While that was in the oven (for about an hour), I mixed together some brown sugar and cinnamon.

No need to measure!

Once the dough had doubled in volume:


I took it out of the oven and let it rest for a few minutes.


Then I divided it in two.


I rolled each bit of dough out into a long, thin quasi-rectangular shape.


And spread on some butter.


For the cinnamon buns, I heavily coated the dough with the brown sugar and cinnamon mixture I had prepared earlier.


And for the chocolate chip buns, I sprinkled on some brown sugar a chocolate chips.


Apparently I don't have photos of the rolling or cutting process, but all I did was tightly roll up each rectangle, starting at the long end. I then cut each roll into six equally sized pieces.

These went into my small Pyrex dish

I prepared the dish by making little tin foil dividers to keep the cinnamon out of the chocolate and the chocolate out of the cinnamon... I really don't like it when food mixes.

While the buns were in the oven, I made some cream cheese frosting.


And when they came out, they were golden and delicious smelling!!


I let the buns cool a little bit before I put on the frosting, but you have to put it on before they cool completely.


Later that evening, Anders and I enjoyed them with two of our friends.

And everyone lived happily ever after, because of the deliciousness.

These were really quite good. The recipe I originally found claimed to be "clone of a cinnabon" and I certainly don't agree with that, but they were still quite scrumptious.
I definitely used too small a dish and the bottoms of the buns didn't bake fully... luckily, that's the way cinnamon buns taste best! I actually liked this recipe so much I made another batch (all cinnamon) the next day to take to one of my 8.30 classes in which we were writing a midterm. They baked more fully the second time and I liked them just as much!
Next time I make them (which I wish could be sooner rather than later, but I just have too much to do...) I think I'll try to roll the dough out thinner so that the dough to cinnamon (or chocolate) ratio is lower. All in all, a really lovely recipe though!

Recipe

Cinnamon Buns

Buns
1 cup warm milk (110° F)
2 eggs, room temperature
1/3 cup vegetable oil
8 gram package of active dry yeast
½ cup white sugar
4 ½ cups flour
1 teaspoon salt

Filling
brown sugar, to taste
ground cinnamon, to taste
1/3 cup butter, softened

Frosting
1 (3 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt

×××

Heat the oven to 200°F. Beat together milk, eggs, oil and half of the sugar. Add yeast and allow mixture to rest for 10 minutes. Next, add the remaining sugar and the flour, 1 cup at a time. Turn the oven off, cover the dough with a moist tea towel and place the bowl in the oven for about an hour.
After the dough has doubled in size turn it out onto a lightly floured surface, cover and let rest for 10 minutes. In a small bowl, combine brown sugar and cinnamon.
Roll dough into a 16x21 inch rectangle. Cover dough with butter and* sprinkle evenly with cinnamon sugar mixture. **Roll up dough and cut into 12 rolls. Place buns in a lightly greased 9x13 inch baking pan. Cover and let rise until nearly doubled, about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400°F.
Bake rolls until golden brown, about 15 minutes. While rolls are baking, beat together cream cheese, butter, confectioners' sugar, vanilla extract and salt. When buns come out of the oven, turn the pan upside down over another pan to allow cinnamon mixture to redistribute through buns. Spread frosting on warm rolls before serving.

×××

* To make chocolate chip buns, follow all steps up until the asterisk. At this point, sprinkle the brown sugar over the buttered dough, and then spread on the desired amount of chocolate chips. Continue to follow steps after the double asterisks (**).

Guten Appetit! Continue reading...