Crispy Black Bean Tacos

When I saw this recipe on Big City Cooking, I knew it would work perfectly for us since it was quick and flavorful. Then, yesterday, Cara at Cara's Cravings blogged about these and how she baked them instead of fried them to reduce the amount of oil used. I thought that was a great idea, so I followed that path. I also made a few other adjustments to the original recipe, including adding cayenne pepper to the black bean mixture for an added kick. Like Cara, mine made 6 tacos instead of the 4 that the original recipe yields.

These were really delicious. The cayenne contrasted nicely with the cool tanginess of the lime and feta coleslaw. I promise you won't even miss the meat!

Crispy Black Bean Tacos
adapted from: Bon Appetit via Big City Cooking and Cara's Cravings

Ingredients

2 cups cooked black beans

1/2 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp cayenne

2 tsp olive oil

1 lime, juiced

2 c. coleslaw mix

2 green onions, green part only

1/3 c. cilantro, chopped

6 corn tortillas

1/2 c. feta cheese
Hot sauce or salsa to top (optional)

Preparation

Preheat oven to 425-degrees F.

Place beans, cumin, cayenne, and garlic powder in bowl and partially mash. In a separate bowl combine coleslaw mix, green onions, cilantro, lime juice, and 2 tsp oil. Season with salt and pepper.

Place bean mixture in tortillas and place tacos on a baking sheet. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes or until tortillas are crispy. Remove from sheet and stuff with feta and coleslaw mixture. Serve immediately. (If you want some more heat top with hot sauce or salsa.)

Pasta with Roasted Garlic Cream Sauce and Broccoli

Now, this is by no means low-fat or low-calorie, but I figure if I'm going to eat something indulgent, I'm better off making it at home where I know what goes into it and where I can control the portion size. The roasted garlic adds so much to this cream sauce. I love the distinctive sweet flavor, and I get quite a bit of pleasure from squeezing the roasted cloves out of their papery skin. If you roast the garlic before hand, this recipe takes practically no time to put together, and roasting the garlic doesn't take too terribly long to begin with.

Roasted Garlic Cream Sauce
source: Elizabeth's Cooking

Ingredients
1 head garlic, roasted (instructions to follow)
Olive oil
1 cup cream or half & half
2 TBSP milk
1-3 TBSP butter
1 clove garlic, minced
dash salt
1/8 tsp pepper
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Red pepper flakes, optional
Pasta (This made enough sauce for about a half package of pasta.)

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.

Cut the garlic head in half (you should have a top and bottom half, not a left and right side). Place each half on a sheet of tin foil. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt & pepper. Bake for about 25 minutes. Remove from oven, let sit about 5 minutes, and then open the tin foil to let the garlic cool.

Meanwhile, cook the pasta to al dente. Drain & set aside. (I put the pasta in while the sauce was coming to a boil and threw in cut-up broccoli florets for the last few minutes of the pasta cooking.)

In a medium skillet, combine cream, milk, butter, minced garlic, and salt & pepper. Thicken by whisking in about 2 tsp flour, if necessary. Bring to just boiling. Reduce heat to low. Add cheese and whisk till smooth. If sauce is too thick, add some stock (chicken or veggie) or some more milk.

Now, squeeze the garlic out of the paper-y skin. The bottom half should take a bit more work than the top. They should just sort of fall out of the top with just a little squeeze from the top. You might have to dig a little on the bottom. Mash with a metal potato masher or the back of a fork. Add to the cream sauce and whisk together. Cook for about 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Sprinkle with red pepper flakes.

Serve over pasta. Sprinkle with more red pepper flakes (I added parsley as well) to taste.

Light Buttermilk Pancakes with Blueberries

These are the best pancakes I have ever had outside of Pancake Pantry here in Nashville. This recipe makes the lightest, fluffiest pancakes, and the buttermilk contributes such a rich flavor. I threw in some frozen blueberries that I had in the freezer and served these with some turkey bacon for a Sunday morning breakfast that didn't break the calorie bank but still felt indulgent. I did have a slight problem with the pancakes cooking all the way through. They get so puffy that it's hard to tell when the inside is cooked, so leave them on a little longer than you might normally.

Light Buttermilk Pancakes
source: Cheap Healthy Good
Makes 8-10 pancakes

Ingredients
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup low-fat buttermilk
1 teaspoon vegetable oil
1 large egg, lightly beaten
Cooking spray
(I added about a 1/2 cup of frozen blueberries.)

1) Lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife. Combine flour and next 4 ingredients (flour through salt) in a large bowl, and make a well in center of mixture. Combine buttermilk, oil, and egg; add to flour mixture, stirring until smooth.

2) Spoon about 1/4 cup batter onto a hot nonstick griddle or nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray. Turn pancakes when tops are covered with bubbles and edges look cooked

Black Bean Burrito Bake

I'm thinking about giving up meat for Lent this year, so I'm trying to work up a repertoire of vegetarian meals that won't bore me to death. Mexican dishes are always fine by me, and this has been in my recipe queue for about a month now. This was good and simple to throw together. You will most likely have these ingredients at home (or at least I do!), and I always appreciate recipes that don't have ingredient lists a mile long.

The filling is a little bland. Next time I'll add a little cumin or garlic powder. The quality of salsa that you use will also affect this recipe. I prefer spicier salsa, so I used Trader Joe's Chipotle Salsa. If you like things on the more mild side, you might only use half a chipotle en adobo pepper.

Black Bean Burrito Bake
source: Cheap Healthy Good

Ingredients

1 chipotle chile in adobo sauce
1/2 cup reduced-fat sour cream
1 (15-ounce) can black beans, rinsed, drained, and divided (I used 2 cups of soaked and cooked dried beans.)
1 cup frozen whole-kernel corn, thawed
4 (8-inch) flour tortillas
Cooking spray
1 cup bottled salsa
1/2 cup (2 ounces) shredded Monterey Jack or cheddar cheese

1) Preheat oven to 350°.

2) Remove one chile from can. Chop chile. Reserve remaining adobo sauce and chiles for another use. Combine sour cream and chile in a medium bowl; let stand 10 minutes.

3) Place half of beans in a food processor; process until finely chopped. Add chopped beans, remaining beans, and corn to sour cream mixture.

4) Spoon 1/2 cup bean mixture down the center of each tortilla. Roll up tortillas; place, seam side down, in an 11 x 7-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Spread salsa over tortillas; sprinkle with cheese. Cover and bake at 350° for 20 minutes or until thoroughly heated.

Dinner Divas: Baked Gruyere and Sausage Omelette

The second recipe I picked for Dinner Divas was this Baked Gruyere and Sausage Omelette from Giada de Laurentiis. I liked that it didn't require a bunch of ingredients that I wouldn't normally have at home, and I like that you could have this for breakfast, brunch, lunch, or a light dinner. It was definitely more like a crustless quiche than an omelette. I couldn't taste the gruyere very strongly and would use a less expensive cheese like swiss to make this next time. My changes are in italics below.

Baked Gruyere and Sausage Omelette
source: Food Network

Ingredients
Butter, for greasing dish (I used cooking spray.)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 small onion, diced
1/2 pound mild turkey sausage, casings removed (I used a half pound of pre-cooked sweet Italian chicken sausage sliced thinly.)
8 large eggs
1/3 cup whole milk (I used 1% milk.)
1 teaspoon kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 1/2 cups (4 ounces) grated Gruyere cheese
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Directions

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Lightly butter an 8 by 8-inch baking dish.

Heat the oil in a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook until translucent, about 3 minutes. Add the sausage and cook until brown, about 5 minutes. Set the pan aside to cool.

In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, salt and pepper, to taste, until smooth, about 20 seconds. Add the red bell pepper, 1 cup of Gruyere cheese and 1/4 cup of parsley. Stir in the onion mixture. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Sprinkle with the remaining cheese. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown. (Mine took slightly longer to bake.)

Cut the baked omelet into wedges and sprinkle with remaining parsley before serving.

Cook's Note: To make individual servings, divide the batter between 4 buttered 8-ounce ramekins. Bake for 15 to 18 minutes.