Black Beans and Rice Wraps

The protein of a poor college student. Black Beans. I love them, and love that they are good for you! This is a quick easy meal and tasty too!

Black Beans and Rice Wraps

1 tsp oil
1/2 onion, chopped
1 (15 ounce) can black beans, drain a little, but not all
1 (14.5 ounce) can stewed tomatoes, drained
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
2 plus cups cooked rice

DIRECTIONS
In large saucepan, heat oil over medium-high. Add onion, cook and stir until tender. Add beans, tomatoes, oregano and garlic powder; stir in rice. Stir and heat til hot. I cut up the tomatoes a little with my wooden spoon.

Serve on tortilla topped with shredded cheese and sour cream.

Fried Rice

First off, I would like to say that I am excited to join the blog! I love to cook and find new recipes. I have muchos to share, and hope they will be helpful.

I don't know about you guys, but I always make too much rice. This is a variation on a dish I used to make for Ches alot when he was younger. He loved it, and still does! Now it is a favorite side dish. I used to just make it up as I went, but then one day I found this recipe and tried it, and success! I loved it. It had the idea to put carrots in, which was a big hit! I hope you enjoy it. If you are interested and into chinese food, I can give you CJs recipe for sweet and sour chicken. I am afraid it is a fried food, so it is more of a special treat then a healthy meal, but we love it! Just as good, if not better then restaurant dishes.

Japanese Style Fried Rice

2 cups cooked rice (*left over rice is the best)(Rice must be cold, slightly hard, like old rice gets)
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup chopped carrot (I put in 1/2 plus cup)
1/4 cup chopped green pepper (I used 1/2 or more of frozen peas)
1/3 cup diced ham/pork (thickly sliced deli ham works)
2 eggs
1/2 tsp garlic salt
1 tsp chicken bouillon
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tsp vegetable oil

PREPARATION:
Put a wok or a pan on high heat. Add oil to the pan. Wisk the eggs in a small bowl. Put the eggs in the heated pan and scramble very quickly. Stop the heat and remove the scrambled eggs from the pan into a dish. Put the pan on high heat and add more oil. Saute vegetables and ham until soft. Add garlic salt and chicken bouillon. Add rice and stir well. Add the scrambled egg that was cooked earlier to the rice mixture and mix together. Turn the heat down to low, add soy sauce and stir quickly. Stop the heat right away and serve.

Have a Good Recipe??

I'd always rather try a recipe that a friend has recommended than out of a cookbook. If anyone else wants to join this blog and submit some favorite recipes, just email me and I will add you on. Eventually I plan to put the blog together in a book and I will have my own little recipe book with dishes that I know me and my family like.

South Western Chicken Salad

I am definitely making Ratatouille this week. Thanks Jackie. Aaron and I went out to eat on Friday and I had a delicious salad. I need to figure out how to make the yummy peanut sauce that was on it, but in the meantime, I am now in the salad mood so I am putting up a great recipe for South Western Chicken Salad. Like the Ratatouille, this recipe makes a lot. It's good for big groups. I never half it because I like it a lot and enjoy the leftovers.

1 lb. chicken - marinate in lime juice and chili pepper - chop into pieces
2 diced tomatoes
1 can black beans
1 can corn
1/2 red onion chopped
1 avacado diced
1and 1/2 cups grated cheese
8 cups of salad greens
Tortilla chips

Just mix it all together - including the chips and enjoy. (Obviously - don't mix the chips in all at once if you aren't going to eat it that day because they'll get soggy).
I use ranch dressing although the original recipe had some Chipotle dressing that was really good, but I have never found again. If someone finds it let me know.

Obsessed about Ratatouille

Did anyone NOT want to taste Ratatouille after watching the Disney Pixar Movie by the same name?

Well, my obsession actually increased after I tasted some baked Ratatouille that my good friend, Trina, made the other day. It was my first time trying that dish and I love it!

She finally sent it to me (two days after I tried it)via email and I plan on making it soon! I'll let you know how it goes and I'll take a picture... (But before I share this yummy recipe, I just want to thank Rachelle for letting me in on her vision of cooking healthy food for the family - a skill I am excited to cultivate. I can't wait to try out her delicious pesto sauce.)

Trina shared a few wise words of advice about this dish, "Keep in mind that this makes A LOT so use a very large skillet or stockpot for cooking the vegetables, and a large baking dish for when it goes in the broiler. And invite someone to dinner, or take part of it to someone. Seriously. We're still eating the leftovers from last week. We're getting sick of it, but that's a ton of expensive vegetables that would go to waste. The thing that takes the longest is the chopping. Once everything was cooking, it went pretty fast. Let me know if you have any questions - enjoy!!"

Chop up the following ingredients:
1 medium onion (small dice)
1 garlic clove
1 red bell pepper
1 green bell pepper
1 medium eggplant
2 zucchini (thin slices)
6 to 8 potatoes in bite-size pieces

Start cooking the onion, garlic, and bell peppers in a large pan. Mix in 2 14-oz cans of chopped tomatoes (do not drain, add the juice too), 1 can tomato paste, salt and pepper, and the following herbs: parsley, thyme, oregano, savory. There aren't really measurements for the herbs - use how much you normally would when you make other things. Cook this COVERED for 5 minutes, stir, cook covered for another 5 minutes.

Add the eggplant and zucchini and cook for another 10 minutes, this time UNcovered, until the vegetables are all soft the way you like them. Shorten the time a little if you like them more firm.

While the first vegetables are cooking covered, boil the potatoes separately until they are soft, then drain them.

Once everything is cooked, put the mixed vegetables in a big flat baking dish. Put the potatoes in a layer on top, then put cheese over the top.

Put under the broiler for about 5 minutes, until the cheese is melted and bubbling.

If you want, you can add chives over the very top after it comes out of the broiler.

Mom's Pasta

My Mom always makes up great dishes, just by tossing stuff together that looks good. This is one of those. Whenever I make this, I make extra pesto sauce and use it all week on sandwiches. It is yummier and better for you than mayo!!
Mom's shrimp pastaIngredients:
Penne noodles
Pesto Sauce (recipe at the bottom)
shrimp
tomato's
Artickoke hearts
peppers
Whatever else you like. Pretty simple. Just cook the noodles and toss together with all the other igredients and pour pesto sauce over the top. Serve warm.

Pesto Sauce

3 cloves garlic
2 cups fresh basil leaves
3 tablespoons pine nuts (pignolia) - (I use walnuts - much cheaper)
dash salt and pepper
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese grated
Just put all ingredients in your blender. Sometimes I add water if it ends up too thick.

Help!!!!

I don't know if anyone else has this problem, but cooking healthy isn't always easy. Whenever I make a dish that is full of butter and creamed soups and sour cream, I seem to get a lot of praise from my family, but a healthy dish is rarely commented on. This blog is my effort to find dishes that are healthy and delicious. I am trying to cut fat (obviously) and am interested in finding meatless dishes that still taste great. Each week I will keep a record of what we ate and if it worked or didn't. Please add any suggestions that you may have or recipes that you have tried.