Spicy Black Bean Gazpacho

After a long hiatus and a 5-week trip to Europe, I'm back!

While Rob and I were in Europe, we collected a list of recipes to try when we get back, some inspired by the food we are while we were there, and some not. The following recipe is one I have made before, but never got around to blogging about!

Ingredients:

1 red pepper, seeded and chopped

4 green onions, chopped

2 cloves of garlic, chopped

1 or 2 jalapeno peppers (depending on how spicy you'd like), seeded and chopped

3 tomatoes, chopped

1 540 ml can of tomato juice

1 540 ml can of black beans

2-3 tbsp of red wine vinegar

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Put red pepper, green onion, garlic, and jalapenos into food processor. Blend until finely chopped.
2. Add tomatoes and blend until smooth.
3. Stir in the tomato juice, black beans, and vinegar.
4. Season to taste.
5. Serve ice cold.

This recipe is really refreshing, but I did make a few small changes to it. I like to add a bit of cucumber (peeled and chopped) into this recipe. You can also use coriander to season it, or add some tabasco sauce for a bit more bite.

A refreshing meal for hot summer days!

Grilled Pineapple Salad

This is my first post in a while, but I've been a busy lady! 

Here's another delicious recipe from chef Michael Smith's show, Chef at Home.  It's a grilled pineapple salad accented with grilled onions and mint.

Ingredients:

1 whole pineapple

2 large red onions

1 red pepper

1 cup of fresh mint, diced

zest and juice of 1 lemon

salt and pepper

3 tbsp olive oil

Directions:

1. Preheat your grill.
2. Slice pineapple into rings, about 1 inch thick.
3. Slice onion into rings, about 1/2 inch thick.
4. Cut the red pepper into quarters and remove the seeds.
5. Brush the pineapple, onion, and red pepper with olive oil.
6. Season with salt and pepper.
7. Place the pineapple, onion, and red pepper on the grill. 
8. Grill the pineapple for 5 minutes per side, and the onions and peppers until soft.
9. Chop the pineapple, onions, and red peppers until 1 inch sections.
10. Toss the grilled stuff in with the lemon juice, lemon zest, and mint. 
11. Adjust seasoning to taste.

Let me say, this is a DELICIOUS salad. When the pineapples are grilled, the sugars carmelize, as do the sugars in the onions and the peppers. The mint and lemon dressing is really fresh and light. It would be the perfect thing to bring to a backyard BBQ this summer... and it would go perfectly with a nice tropical drink!

Squash and Sage Pasta

This recipe was passed along by a good friend of mine, someone who knows so much more about food than me! Mercy knows a ton about food and also believes in cooking using only fresh, organic ingredients, especially when she's cooking for her two young children. So when she passed this recipe to me and said she cooked it for her kids, I knew I had to try it!

Right off the bat, I had to make a few alterations to it, simply because we didn't have the main ingredient - frozen pumpkin- in the house! First, I'll present the recipe as Mercy gave it to me. Then I'll post the recipe with my own alterations.

Ingredients:

Frozen squash (one 10oz bag for every 2 people).

Fresh or dried sage (at least 2 tbsp)

4 tbsp olive oil

4 tbsp butter

Cooked pasta (bowties or penne)

Directions:

 

1. Cook the squash in a pan with  2 tbsp olive oil and 2 tbsp of butter.
   
2. Set aside in a dish.
   
3. Heat 2 tbsp of olive oil and 2 tbsp of butter in a pan.
4. Add in the sage and cook until the aromas are released.
5. Add in the squash mixture to sage. Stir to combine.
6. Toss the cooked pasta into the sauce mixture.
7. Salt and pepper to taste.

Now, as I mentioned, we didn't have frozen squash, so we had to change it up a little bit. Here's my interpretation of the recipe:

Ingredients:

1 fresh squash 

Fresh sage (at least 2 tbsp)

4 tbsp olive oil

4 tbsp butter

1 cup half and half cream

Cooked pasta - I used fresh ravioli stuffed with basil and romano cheese.

Directions:

1.  Cube the squash.
   
2. Set inside a microwavable bowl, half full with water.
3. Microwave on high for about 10 minutes, or until squash is soft enough to pierce with a fork.
4. Put the squash in a deep pan or wok with  2 tbsp olive oil and 2 tbsp of butter. 
   
5. Stir on medium heat while lightly mashing the squash.
6. Puree squash in a food processor. 
7. Set aside in a dish.
   
8. Heat 2 tbsp of olive oil and 2 tbsp of butter in a pan.
9. Add in the sage and cook until the aromas are released.
10. Add in the squash mixture to sage. Stir to combine.
11. Fold in the cream and stir to combine.
12. Salt and pepper to taste.
13. Toss the cooked pasta into the sauce mixture.

So essentially, the recipes are the same, with just a few alterations. 

Another change I would make next time is to use only 1/2 cup of cream, and use 1/2 to 3/4 cup of vegetable broth to thin the sauce a bit. The sauce came out really thick!

However, I would definitely NOT change the combination of the sage, butter, and squash... It was so sweet and so flavourful! This is definitely going to become a staple recipe. 

What do you really know about food?

To my delight, the latest edition of Carleton's Alumni magazine came to me in the mail, and it was all about FOOD! The lead headline on the front cover read, "What's for dinner... is it safe?". The magazine touched on a number of issues, from the global food crisis, to fast food, to how children's food is marketed. All around, it was a great read, cover to cover. 

There was one quote in particular that really struck me. From the headlining article "What's for dinner... is it safe?", Professor Louise Heslop of the Sprott School of Business said, "We stopped cooking and now we know nothing about food preparation. We don't understand food anymore because life changed." Heslop goes on to discuss the reasons why we've lost touch with our food - households with multiple careers, and mainly the fact that our lifestyle is one that demands convenience. Furthermore, Professor Heslop reiterates that we often have no clue where our food comes from or what processes it went through to get to our dinner tables. Think about it - how many preservatives do you think is in that microwavable meatloaf that you see advertised on TV? Where did the meat come from? What sort of processes has it gone through to ensure that it stays preserved? In the past, we used to grow our own food in the garden, so we were well-aware of where the food came from. Can you tell me where the apple you ate at lunch was grown? What about the hamburger you ordered from that restaurant on the weekend? 

My goal with this blog is to help educate myself about food and its preparation. It is so important to be aware of what you eat and how it's prepared. That's not to say that I don't indulge in some KD every now and then (talk about processed food!), but my goal isn't to cut that stuff out immediately. My goal is to take a ride on the learning curve, and slowly ease myself into understanding food and appreciating it for its natural, unprocessed goodness. 

So next time you're thinking about dinner, think about making something yourself using local, organic produce, and minimizing the amount of pre-made ingredients. Whether it's a psychological phenomenon or what, food that you've made yourself tastes so much better. Give it a try and let me know how it works out!

Easy Antojitos!

The other weekend (forgive me for the late post!) Rob and I tested out a recipe for antojitos, which I got from foodtv.ca. It's a recipe by Christine Cushing, from an episode entitled "Student Food". Here's the recipe:

Ingredients

1 can of black beans, rinsed and drained

2 cloves of garlic, minced

8 flour tortillas

1 avocado, sliced

3 roasted red peppers, sliced

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground coriander

juice of 1 lime

1 cup of grated cheese

salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Mash beans with a fork or potato masher. 

2. Add garlic, lime juice, and spices.

3. Salt and pepper to taste.

4. Spread black bean mix evenly onto the tortillas.

5. Sprinkle with avocado, roasted red pepper, and cheese.

6. Roll and slice into 1 inch pieces.

Rob and I thought these would be better baked for a little while. I also found that maybe there was too much cheese. (I know, can there ever really be too much cheese!?).

The lime juice added a nice kick to the black bean mix. Maybe some diced jalapenos woud be good too?

This was an easy recipe, and is pretty healthy (much healthier if you leave out the cheese... but really, who does that? hahaha)

Enjoy!

Quinoa Colour Salad

I was at the gym on Friday and was watching Chef At Home, like I always do when I work out. Chef Michael Smith was doing an episode on healthy alternatives. He made a meatloaf with ground turkey instead of ground beef, an apple pie with whole wheat flour and oats crust (instead of lard and white flour!), and a quinoa salad. 

For those who don't know about it, quinoa (pronounced "kee-no-ah" or "keen-wah") is a grain that orginates in the Andes of South America. It cooks similarly to rice and looks just like couscous, but is packed with WAY more nutrients. Check this out:

Per 45 gram serving (cooked quinoa on its own):

180 calories

3.5 grams of fat (0 saturated, 0 trans fat)

7 grams of protein (This is phenomenal for all you vegetarian types!!!)

7% of recommended daily intake of Potassium

4% Vitamin A

2% Calcium

15% Iron (More awesome-ness for vegetarians!)

20% Vitamin E

6& Vitamin B1

15% Vitamin B2

8% Folate (the "pregnancy" vitamin!)

20% Phosphorus

25% Magnesium

20% Zinc (awesome for fighting colds)

Anyway, after seeing all this nutritional content, I decided to try out the Quinoa Colour Salad recipe - called so because it has so many colourful veggies in it! I'll save the whole wheat and oats apple pie for another time!

Ingredients:

1 cup quinoa

1 carrot, peeled and grated

1 red pepper, seeded and diced

3 green onions, sliced thinly

1 cucumber, chopped

Zest and juice of 1 lemon

1/4 cup olive oil

salt

pepper

Directions:

1. Rinse quinoa in cold water. It washes off the bitter coating that naturally covers the grain.

2. Cook as directed on package.

3. In the meantime, add all of your veggies to a bowl.

4. Add the lemon zest and lemon juice.

5. When the quinoa is done, fluff with a fork and add to veggies and lemon.

6. Add olive oil.

7. Salt and pepper to taste.

8. Toss well.

Notes:

You can serve this warm or cold. I tried it warm, and I think I would prefer it cold. 

The original recipe calls for fresh parsely, diced. I might add that next time, but I forgot to pick it up when I was at the grocery store. 

I might add some more veggies - tomatoes, seeded and chopped, would be great. Or sundried tomatoes... mmmm...

As an alternative to the olive oil, you could add a low-fat, oil-based salad dressing to season the salad.

Otherwise, the original recipe is pretty damn good.  Thumbs up!

Mushroom Cheddar Vegetarian Burgers

Rob and I tried out a veggie burger recipe this weekend, and we were pleasantly surprised! It was really easy, and the mess was minimal!!

The recipe is by Elizabeth Baird from Canadian Living Cooks. I found it online at www.foodtv.ca. (my favourite source for recipes!)

Mushroom Cheddar Vegetarian Burgers

Yield:  4 

INGREDIENTS:

2 tsp vegetable oil

1small onion, grated

1 1/2 cup finely chopped mushroom

1/2 tsp dried Italian herb seasoning

1 x 19 oz can white kidney beans, drained, and, rinsed

1 egg, yolk, lightly, beaten

2 tbsp dry breadcrumbs

1/4 tsp pepper

3 oz old cheddar cheese, sliced

4 lettuce leaf

4 whole wheat pita, breads

DIRECTIONS:

1. In nonstick skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat; cook onion, mushrooms and Italian seasoning; stirring, for about 8 minutes or until mixture is just starting to brown and liquid is evaporated. Let cool slightly.
   
2. In bowl, mash kidney beans with fork. Add mushroom mixture, egg yolk, bread crumbs and pepper; mix well. Shape into four 1/2 inch (1 cm) thick patties. (Make-ahead: Cover and refrigerate for up to 6 hours)
   
3. Place patties on greased grill over medium-high heat; close lid and cook for 5 minutes or until golden brown. Sandwich along with lettuce in pitas.

All in all, it turned out well... We made a few changes:

1. We used grated cheese and integrated it with the mixture, instead of putting it on top.
2. We added more mushrooms than the recipe calls for. Upon tasting the recipe the first time around, we decided it tasted too much like beans and not enough like mushrooms. 
3. We fried them in a pan instead of grilling them. (The snow was covering the BBQ).
4. We used burger buns instead of pitas. We also topped it off with your typical burger toppings.

Next time around, I'd like to try using a different kind of beans. Black beans, possibly. Chick peas would be good too. I'd also only use a half can to start, and add them in as necessary to bind everything together.  

This is a great recipe as it's very flexible. It would be great with portabello mushrooms and Swiss cheese, or you could do black beans and monterey jack for something a little different. You could add in jalapenos or olives or whatever you wanted to give it the flavour you like. 

Who has two thumbs and really likes this recipe? This girl. 

:)