Lazy Friday Chipotle Black Bean Salad

It's Friday, it's the end of the week, and I got back from the gym and did not want to make the rather complicated Black bean soup I had originally planned on making. However, I still wanted to make something with black beans. Yay for improvisation!

Honestly, I didn't measure anything when creating this recipe. My suggestion is to start with the beans and add the seasoning to taste. One can of beans makes enough for two nights or so.

Chipotle Black Bean Salad
By Caroline Mac
Ingredients:
1 can black beans, drained
Chipotle hot sauce
1 yellow bell pepper
Sun dried tomatoes
Salsa verde
Southwest seasoning

Step 1: Add tomatoes, seasonings, pepper, and sauces to beans and mix thoroughly. Serve warm, cold, or room temperature. I had mine as a side with a mixed green salad.

Enjoy!

Sweet and Sour Tofu with Coconut Rice

Tonight was my first night of group cooking! Well, two person cooking. I had my friend Emily over for  dinner, who is also a vegetarian and also gluten-free! I eat gluten, but I was totally up for making a gluten-free recipe. This was a relatively elaborate meal, but it was so worth the extra effort. Better yet, I finally know how to make a delicious sweet and sour sauce! We both agreed as we ate this meal that it was delicious. Utterly delicious.

Sweet and Sour Tofu with Coconut Rice
Adapted from Peachy Palate
Ingredients:
Tofu
1 block extra firm, high protein tofu (Drained and cut into triangles)
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 orange bell pepper, diced
1/2 white onion
2 T diced pineapple
1/3 c bamboo shoots
1 T olive oil

Sauce
Note: Separate 1/3 of the sauce once made for cooking the veggies
4 1/2 T Rice vinegar
1 1/2 T cane sugar
3 T tomato Ketchup
3 t minced garlic
6 T pineapple puree


Rice
1 bag Trader Joe's frozen brown rice, defrosted/ cooked
1/2 cup lite coconut milk
3 t shredded desiccated coconut
1 t coconut oil
1/2 t black pepper
pinch salt

Step 1: Combine all rice ingredients in a mixing bowl and stir until rice is evenly coated and sauce completely mixed. Set aside. Reheat rice in the microwave for 40 seconds when everything else is ready.

Step 2: Combine all sauce ingredients and whisk until completely blended. Transfer to a sauce pan and heat until boiling. Stir constantly. Reduce heat slightly and continue to cook sauce until it thickens. This should take less than 5 minutes. Remove from heat and separate 1/3 of the sauce for the veggies.

Step 3: Coat the tofu with the remaining 2/3 of the sauce and set aside to marinate for 15-20 minutes.

Step 4: Once the tofu is marinated, add red bell pepper, orange pepper, and  half of the onions to a pan with olive oil. Saute until onions begin to go clear. Add the bamboo shoots, pineapple, and tofu. Cook until tofu begins to turn golden, constantly stirring (6-8 minutes).

Step 5: Add remaining sauce to the pan and stir until veggies and tofu are evenly coated. Let simmer for a couple more minutes.

Step 6: Serve tofu and veggies over coconut rice with a sprinkling of onion.

Enjoy!

Simple Hummus

I've made a rule for myself regarding buying food: If I can make it easily, I don't buy it. My first product I've decided to make myself is hummus! What could be easier to make than hummus??? So I made a basic recipe without extra seasoning, so I can build on it in the future.

Simple Hummus
By Caroline Mac
Ingredients:
1 can chickpeas, liquid reserved
1/2 cup Tahini
3 T lemon juice

Step 1: Combine chickpeas, tahini, and lemon in food processor and blend until smooth. Add reserved chickpea liquid until you've reached your desired consistency. I like it to be thick, but creamy and spreadable.

Add ins- Feel free to add some flavorful mix-ins, including sun dried tomatoes, garlic, olives, basil, and anything else you see fit. Don't be afraid to be creative!

Enjoy!

Pb(2) and Jelly Smoothie

Smoothie time! Have I mentioned my newest discovery, PB2? I'm a huge peanut butter fan, but you can't really eat that straight out of the jar 24/7... PB2 is essentially dehydrated peanut butter, aka, Peanut butter without the fat. All you do is mix the powder with water and voila! Peanut butter-ish stuff. It doesn't taste identical to the original, but it's pretty close. I used some of this wonder powder in my latest smoothie recipe.


PB2 and Jelly Smoothie
By Caroline Mac
Ingredients:
1 banana
1 individual container nonfat plain Greek yogurt
1 cup unsweetened soy milk
1 T PB2
2 T rolled oats
1/2 cup frozen mixed berries

Step 1: Combine banana, yogurt, soy milk, and PB2 in a blender. Puree until smooth.

Step 2: Add berries and rolled oats and blend until smooth.

Enjoy!

Fig and Apricot Quinoa Salad

What happens when Caroline plans on making a recipe and then loses the link? She completely improvises and creates her own version! This turned out to be one of my favorite recipes yet. This dish is great both warm and cold and tastes so refreshing!

Fig and Apricot Quinoa
By Caroline Mac
Ingredients:
1 cup uncooked quinoa
2 cups vegetable broth
1/2 cup chopped apricots
6 fresh figs, chopped in large pieces
1/2 cup parsley, chopped
Dressing:
1/2 cup olive oil
3 T lemon juice
1t minced ginger

Step 1: Combine quinoa and vegetable broth in a sauce pan and heat until boiling. Lower heat and let simmer until all broth is absorbed by quinoa (about 15 min.). Remove rom heat and fluff quinoa with a fork.

Step 2: Whisk together olive oil, lemon juice, and ginger until thoroughly blended.  Set aside.

Step 3: In a large bowl, combine quinoa, apricots, figs and parsley. Stir until evenly mixed. Drizzle with dressing and stir until dressing is evenly mixed in.


Enjoy warm or cold!

Nutty Apricot Energy Cookies

Here's yet another yummy energy bar recipe! This may be my favorite recipe yet. Thanks to Vicki at Watching What I Eat for the inspiration for this recipe!

Nutty Apricot Energy Cookies
By Caroline Mac
Ingredients:
1.5 cups rolled oats
1 banana, mashed
1/2 cup sliced almonds
9 dried apricots, chopped
2 T peanut butter, softened
1 cup unsweetened apple sauce
1 T vanilla extract
1 T pie spice

Step 1: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix and wet ingredients and spices in a large mixing bowl. Add dry ingredients and mix until evenly blended.

Step 2: Spoon out the dough on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper. You should get about 12 cookies, depending on the size you want.

Step 3: Bake for 15- 20 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool. Refrigerate until eating.




Enjoy!

Vegan and Nearly Raw Fettucini Alfredo

One of my favorite restaurants back in Portland is Prasad. It's a vegan cafe located within a yoga studio. If you're ever in the Pearl District, be sure to check it out. Prasad introduced me to a new raw and ultra healthy phenomenon: Veggie noodles. That is, vegetables cut in such a way that they are nearly pasta-like in consistency. The dish I had at Prasad was a zucchini noodle linguini with pesto and a cashew ricotta. It was delicious! Tonight, I made my own version of this tasty dish. I used my Zyliss julienne peeler to slice zucchini into pasta-like strips, made a cashew cream, and cooked up a veggie burger. The end result was delicious!

Vegan and Nearly Raw Fettucini Alfredo

Ingredients:

2 zucchinis

1.5 cups raw, whole cashews

1 cup boiling water

1 clove garlic

Pinch of salt

1t Italian seasoning

1 veggie burger (or one per person dining)

Step 1: Run cashews in the food processor until finely chopped. Add Cashews and water to a blender and puree until smooth and creamy. Add garlic, salt, and seasoning and blend thoroughly. 

Step 2: Using a julienne peeler or spiralizer, cut long, thin strips of zucchini so it resembles noodles. Set aside.

Step 3: Cook your veggie burger according to the directions on the package. I used a Dr. Praeger's California Veggie Burger.

Step 4: Dish out zucchini noodles and toss with sauce to taste. Top with a crumbled veggies burger.

Enjoy!