Empanadas

Empanadas with black beans, onions, queso fresco.

And a special edition - peanut butter and jelly empanadas!!

Baked:

Fried:

And filled with peanut butter and jelly (fried):

Whew....

Where did that week go?

And not a single picture this week - we scarfed all our food down too quickly to mess with photography!

Sunday: empanadas
-We made empanadas stuffed with various combinations of black beans, queso fresco, onions, and red bell pepper.  We fried most of them and baked a few.  While the baked ones were fine (and would be improved by brushing them with oil next time) the fried ones?  Wow.  That was a dangerous little discovery.  So, so good, and pretty easy.  Probably not a weeknight meal, but still, so good.

Monday: mac n cheese
-made from this recipe, using 1/2 mozzarella and 1/2 havarti with dill cheeses, gluten free flour and corn macaroni.

Tuesday: black bean tacos using leftover black beans and corn tortillas made from the last of the empanada dough.

Wednesday: celeriac and potato rosti
-coarsely grate one large potato and one medium celeriac.  mix with enough flour and egg until you think you can press it together to make a patty.  mix in chopped celery and press the whole deal into the pan.  cook over medium to medium high for 5-8 minutes, flip, repeat.  We made two rosti and put the first one in the toaster over at 350 while the second one cooked, and we both enjoyed the baked rosti more than the griddle-only one.  Serve with a mix of plain yogurt, sour cream, and dill.

Thursday: Indian take-out!  yum.  I was looking forward to this all week!

Productivity

Happy President's Day!

Let's wrap up since last post:

Thursday: was still a snow day. For dinner, we had giant salads (yum! green things!), the husband's topped with leftover chicken with a side of cornbread. Mine was just veggies, with chicken and melted cheese toasts on the side. Or was that Wednesday? We also had toasted chicken & cheese sandwiches sometime last week.

Friday: back to work for me. Dinner was mild Italian chicken sausage sandwiches with slaw.

Saturday: I had some sort of stomach bug, so I had plain white rice. Husband ordered a pizza from the Italian Pizza Kitchen with sausage and kalamata olives. I snuck a bite (or ten). It was delicious.

Sunday: pan-fried potatoes with onions, garlic, mild Italian chicken sausage, and chard.

Today, I took a trip (via Metro, since the car is entombed in snow) to Whole Foods and Giant to pick up a few things. Then, I bade a big pot of black beans in the oven and a veggie florentine lasagna to get ready for Lent. We've decided to go vegetarian for Lent, which starts on Wednesday.

Black Beans:

1/2 small onion, finely diced

3-4 garlic cloves, smashed

1lb dry black beans

saute 1/2 a small onion and a few smashed garlic cloves in a large pot

pick over the beans, removing any stones or broken beans

add beans to the pot and add water to about 1 inch over the level of the beans

cover the pot and place in a 325 degree oven for about an hour and a half. check after an hour or so and see if you need to add more water.

Tonight, I'm making seared scallops with creamy spinach risotto. Pictures to come!

Vegetarian Lasagna recipe coming on Wednesday!

It's Good to be Back in the Kitchen

Improvised Black Bean Vegetarian Chili

I had a container full of sauteed vegetables (onion, zucchini, portabella mushroom, butternut squash and black beans) in the fridge from making veg and goat cheese enchiladas a couple months ago. I let it defrost in the fridge for a couple days and then improvised chili tonight.

Here's what I did:

Saute about 1/4 cup diced red onion and 2 cloves garlic in about 1 Tbsp olive oil.

Add 2-3 cups of leftover chopped veggies out of the freezer, thawed in fridge and drained of any excess liquid.

Add about 2Tbsp tomato paste, squeezed from tube. Cook a few minutes over med-high heat to heat the veg and cook off any extra water out of the previously-frozen vegetables.

Toss in about 1tsp ground cumin and 3-5 shakes of cayenne pepper. Salt and pepper.

Stir in slices of an ancho chili pepper straight out of the freezer, along with a can of black beans (rinsed and drained) and one large can fire roasted tomatoes, undrained. I added them whole and tried to break them up with the spoon later. Next time I would chop the tomatoes before I add them to the chili.

Stir and let simmer. Taste and adjust seasoning as needed.

Serve with toasted tortillas, cilantro, lime wedges, cheese, sour cream, guacamole, and pickled jalapeno.