The Beans Blog: April 2012

Creamy Chicken & White Bean Enchiladas

This is delicious.

For the Chicken and Beans:

Olive Oil
Onion, 1/4 cup, finely diced
Garlic, 2 or 3 cloves, minced
1 can chopped green chilies
1 can Cannellini (Navy) beans
2 chicken breasts, cooked and shredded
1/3 cup water or chicken stick. (if not using stock, add a stock cube to the water)
1 tsp cumin

Heat olive oil. Saute onions and garlic til soft. Add green chilies, beans, water (or stock) and cumin. Mix and cover. Simmer on low for 10 - 15 minutes or until it's thick and the liquid has pretty much boiled away.

For the Sauce: (about the time I start making this, I turn on the oven to preheat to 180C/375F)

1 tsp butter
Onion, 1/2 cup, finely diced
2 TBLS whole wheat flour
1 cup chicken stock
2 cans chopped green chilies
1/2 cup greek yoghurt
salt

Melt butter. Saute onion til soft. Add flour and mix into butter/onion mixture. Add chicken stock, stirring continually til sauce becomes smooth. Bring to the boil (over med heat) and let sauce thicken (5 minutes or so) Add chilies. Salt to taste. Stir and let simmer another minute or two them remove from heat and stir in greek yoghurt.

Everything Else You'll Need:

250g Mexican cheese ( this is a mix of cheddar, colby jack and queso quesadilla)
Flour Tortillas
Fresh Coriander (Cilantro)

To Assemble:

Spread a bit of the sauce on the bottom of a 9x13" baking dish. Fill each tortilla with a couple of spoonfuls of the chicken/beans. Roll and place in baking dish. Continue til baking dish is full. Top with sauce and then cheese. Cover with alfoil and bake 20 minutes or til cheese is melted. Top with fresh coriander (cilantro).

What We Ate ~ Week 16 ~ 2012

Sushi ... at Sushi Train

I was given Jamie's Dinners for my birthday. I made two recipes out of it this week. This one is ... Chicken Tikka Masala (I've linked to the recipe on his website !!). SOOOOOO good. I made homemade naan to go with it, and tried a new eggplant side dish since I had picked an eggplant out of our garden that morning. I'll share that recipe with you soon. It was delicious !

Steak ... that Rory cooked on the BBQ. SJG potato salad. Green Salad.

This is another one out of my new Jamie book. I LOVED THIS SOUP !!
It's called Pumpkin Rice Laksa Soup, it is so good. You should try it !!

Thursday nights ... our crazy nights. Made even more crazy for a few weeks ! Nothing much gets cooked if I'm not well prepared. As you can see, I wasn't this week. 2 minute noodles ...

I really need to be more prepared this week. Crock pot ? Something I've cooked the night before ? We'll see ...

I let the kids choose dinner Friday night. Nachos it was. I just chop up a tomato, olives ... green and black, spring onions, sometimes beans, I make a bit of guacamole. We top corn chips with an assortment of those toppings, plus shredded mozzarella cheese and then melt that in the microwave. Only takes a minute or two. Then we top with the guac and sour cream and sometimes salsa.

The boys went to the footy last night so we girls had a sushi picnic and watched Dolphin Tale. Great movie.

What We Ate ~ Week 15 ~ 2012

I was sick on Sunday night. Headache and upset stomach.
I tried to stay up but just couldn't. Rory made me some pastina and sent me to bed.
I slept for 12 hours !

Calamari with Fresh and Delicious Quinoa

Homemade sushi

Mexican Cous Cous and Asparagus

Japanese Mince and Rice

Homemade Pizza ... at a friends place. Pictured ... The Funky Lime.

Greek Lamb with Spinach and Orzo (but we couldn't find any Orzo so used Israeli Cous Cous)

And there you have it folks ... another week of What We Ate.

What did you eat ? I'd love to see !

If you post it to your blog, link in the comments so I can come see !

What We Ate ~ Weeks 13 & 14 ~ 2012

I missed last week. Not because I wanted to but because we were on a little mini vacation and I didn't have access to a computer ... So, here you go ... two weeks at once.

Chicken Enchiladas

I'll post the recipe this week.

This was a throw together meal. We had some leftover bacon and cream that I had bought to make a ganash but didn't end up making ! ( I had prepared for a dinner party A WEEK EARLY !! oops ) I just cooked up the bacon with some onion and garlic, a few mushrooms too. Added the cream at the end, cooked it til it thickened a bit then poured all of that over the cooked pasta. Rollini, this is. We like it. Bit of fresh parmesan cheese on top and you're done !

Leftover sushi and two minute noodles ...

Take away Indian dinner with our neighbors before we both headed off for vacation.

Thai Chicken Soup

Slow Roasted Pasta Sauce (without the meat) and Black Olive Salad

Tonkatsu Miso Ramen ... at our favorite Noodle Shop

Forgot to take a photo this night ... we had fish and chips at the dock !

Dinner out. This was a BBQ Ranch Chicken Sandwich. I'm pretty sure they forgot the ranch ...

A Taste of North Indian. Delicious ! My favorite was the mango chicken ...

Rory's carbonara and Black Olive Salad

Subway ... My standard order ... turkey, avocado, bacon (extra crispy please !), lettuce, tomatoes, black olives and extra pickles. White bread (only at Subway !). Mayo and Chipotle Southwest sauce.

Third time in two week ... Black Olive Salad ! Chicken on the Grill. Spicy Potatoes.

Homemade Energy Bars

I love a good bar. Since I made the big switch to exercising more and eating less I've looked for a good mid morning snack option. I tried several different bars, some I liked, some I didn’t. So we decided to make our own.

Here is a recipe that you can as a base and experiment from there. The possibilities are endless.

Preheat oven to 325 F or 160 C

Wet Ingredients:

1-1/2 bananas, or pumpkin, mashed

3/4 cup light syrup, or honey, or agave nectar, or any combination you like.

1/4 cup juice– I use orange/banana/pineapple juice; orange juice is fine

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

2 egg whites

Dry Ingredients:

3-1/2 cups rolled oats

1/4 cup protein powder– we used vanilla flavor

1-1/2 cups nonfat dry milk

1 tbsp cinnamon

1/2 cup assorted nuts– we have used almonds, pecans, soy nuts, pumpkin seeds, and flax seeds.

1/2 cup dried fruit– we have used a number of combinations of cranberries, dates, and golden raisins, use what you like!

1/2 cup dark chocolate chips– these are not necessarily a healthful option, but we like them, a lot.

In separate bowls mix the wet and dry ingredients. Pour the wet bowl into the dry bowl and mix thoroughly. Really mix it. You don’t want any protein powder bits not mixed up.

After it is mixed well, drop portions onto a pre-greased cookie sheet. Depending on the size you make the amount of calories will vary. I use a 1/4 cup and this makes around 20-22. I shape them into a bar shape with a couple of butter knives and bake them for 15-18 minutes, or until the edges turn a nice brown color.

Take the bars out of the oven and place on a cooling rack. They will be soft, but as they cool they will firm up. We put a batch in tupperware before they cooled all the way and this was a mistake. Wait till they are cool!

Delicious! tastes even better around 10:30 a.m. when your belly is empty!

Depending on what you put in them and how you portion them, they have a calorie count of around 200, with almost 9 grams of protein. (using the 1/4 cup)

Enjoy.

Ryan

Salmon & Avocado Nigiri Sushi

I discovered this sushi at a local sushi place a while ago.

I love it. I've made it a few times at home.

Last night, I had my camera out so

decided to take photos

and now I'll share

the 'recipe'.

Here's what you need ...

Sushi (short grain) Rice, cooked

Sushi Rice Vinegar (you can buy it or it's EASY to MAKE)

Fresh Salmon (ask your fishmonger if it can be eaten raw), sliced

Avocado, sliced

Red Onion, as thinly sliced as you can make it

Kewpie Mayo

Tobiko (or Masago would do too)

I'm going to assume that you all know how to make sushi rice. If you don't, I explain it in this post.

If you don't know how to shape sushi rice, here is a video I just found to show you. It's in Japanese but you can see what he's doing.

Once that is done, top with salmon (if you don't know how to cut the fish, click on the 'sliced' link above), then avocado, red onion, mayo, and finally the fish eggs.

Serve with a dipping bowl of soy sauce. And wasabi if you like.

Southwestern Quinoa Salad

This is a yummy recipe I got from my friend Emily, who got it from Pinterest. This is my second time making it. It is so versatile, as long as you like Mexican food. Put it on any taco type food. Or dip chips in it. Or eat it with a spoon. Whatever you do with it, you're going to love it. The original recipe comes from here, but here is how I made it.

1 cup quinoa (I used red quinoa this time)

1 tablespoon butter

2 cups chicken broth (I used chicken bullion in boiling water and it was still tasty)

1/2 cup diced bell pepper, any color you wish.

1/2 cup diced red onion

1 cup corn (if you use a can, drain it, then use all the corn... it's over a cup, but tasty)
1 (15 ounce) can black beans, drained
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
1 large tomato, diced
Juice of 3 limes, or to taste
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon adobo seasoning (If you can't buy adobo, you can find a recipe for it here)
salt and black pepper to taste

Rinse the quinoa thoroughly under cold water, and drain. Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat, and cook and stir the quinoa until the water has evaporated and the quinoa is lightly toasted. The original recipe says this should take about 3 minutes, but I have found it to take much longer every time. Pour in the chicken broth, bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, and simmer until the quinoa has absorbed all the broth, about 10 minutes. Cool quinoa in refrigerator at least 10 minutes.

Mix together green pepper, red onion, corn, black beans, cilantro, tomato, lime juice, red wine vinegar, olive oil, and adobo seasoning, in a large salad bowl. Lightly stir in the quinoa, and season with salt, pepper, and additional lime juice to taste, if desired. Chill the salad at least 30 minutes before serving; serve cold.

What We Ate ~ Week 12 ~ 2012

Salmon, Prawns, Salad, Corn on the Cob

This was a bit of an experiment ... the salmon part anyway. I want to try it again and write down some actual measurements but for now, here's what I used. Juice of 1 lime, soy sauce, water, bulldog sauce, mirin, sesame oil and minced garlic. I used that as a marinade. Next time I won't. After the salmon was on the BBQ, Rory brought the marinade back in and suggested I reduce it. I did ... you know, put it in a pot on the stove, over a med-high heat and just let it bubble away (while stirring) til it got thick. We then poured that over the fish once it was cooked ... and dipped the prawns in it. It was really yum ! That is all we will do next time ... the marinade didn't actually seem to soak in, and it makes the salmon skin stick and burn on the BBQ.

Nachos

We love nachos and they are an easy dinner ! I just chop up a tomato, olives ... green and black, spring onions, sometimes beans, I make a bit of guacamole. We top corn chips with an assortment of those toppings, plus shredded mozzarella cheese and then melt that in the microwave. Only takes a minute or two. Then we top with the guac and sour cream and sometimes salsa.