Black Bean Veggie Burgers

Chris found this recipe on Allrecipes.com one day when we ran out of my veggie burgers from Costco. As it turned out I like these better than the Costco ones so now they're the only ones I eat.

Black Bean Veggie Burgers

2 (16 oz) cans black beans, drained
1 red/orange/yellow/green bell pepper, cut in to small pieces
1 large onion, cut in to small pieces
6 cloves garlic, peeled
2 eggs
2 tbsps chili powder
2 tbsps cumin
2 tsp Thai chili sauce or hot sauce
1 cup - 1 1/2 cups bread crumbs

In a medium bowl, mash black beans with a fork until thick and pasty.

In a food processor, finely chop the bell pepper, onion and garlic. Then stir in to the mashed beans.

In a small bowl stir together the egg, chili powder, cumin and chili sauce/hot sauce.

Stir the egg mixture in to the mashed beans. Mix in the bread crumbs until the mixture is sticky and holds together.

Divide mixture in to 8 to 12 patties, depending on the size of the patties you want.

You can cook the burgers immediately or put in the freezer to use when you need them.

To grill: Preheat outdoor grill to high heat. Lightly oil or spray PAM on a piece of aluminum foil and place patties on foil. Grill about 8 minutes on each side. Add a slice of cheese near the end of the 8 minutes on the second side.

*Note: Chris always sprinkles some Worscheshire sauce and a little salt on the burgers when he cooks them.

To bake: Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place patties on a baking sheet lightly oiled or sprayed with PAM and bake about 10 minutes on each side.

To freeze: Place the patties on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper and once frozen remove from tray and place in a Ziploc until you're ready to use them.

Serve with avocado, grilled onions, tomatoes, and lettuce!

Enjoy!

Chimichangas

I've never thought I liked Chimichanga's until Chris made one for me. I'm sure it's the fact that it's fried, but I couldn't believe how much I loved it. And they're super easy to make which is a bonus when you don't have much time to make dinner.

Chimichanga's
Tortilla's
Refried beans
shredded cheese
lettuce
tomatoes
sour cream
Cholula hot sauce, optional

Heat a thin layer of oil in a frying pan, just enough to fry one side of the Chimichanga at a time.

If using uncooked tortilla's like we do, grill a tortilla then fill with refried beans and some cheese.

Fold the sides of the tortilla over the beans and cheese and then fold the bottom up over it as well.

Place the folded side down in the oil and fry until golden brown, then flip it over.

Place on paper towels and pat the excess oil off and serve immediately, topped with sour cream, chopped tomatoes, sliced avocado's (or guacamole), chopped lettuce and Cholula.

*Note: You can of course make a chicken, beef or pork Chimichanga, but we love the bean and cheese ones!

Enjoy!

Homemade Chocolate Ice Cream

Chris experimented with chocolate ice cream recipes and finally settled on just adding cocoa to the vanilla recipe we always use. He tried using baking squares but he wasn't satisfied with the end result and said it had a waxy feel to it. After making it quite a number of times he decided that 3/4 cup of cocoa is the perfect amount. It's so yummy I want some just posting about it;)

You can of course add anything you want, but we've added Oreo's (2 1/2 sleeves out of the big Costco box) to make a Chocolate Cookies and Cream as well as marshmallows (because I love Rocky Road but always pick out the nuts).

Homemade Chocolate Ice Cream
4 eggs
2 1/2 cups sugar
5 cups whole milk
3 cups whipping cream
3/4 cup cocoa
2 1/2 tbsp vanilla
1/2 tsp salt

Beat eggs until light. Add sugar and continue to beat until thick. Mix the cocoa and milk together until the cocoa is dissolved. Then add the whipping cream, vanilla and salt and mix well. Pour into a 4 quart freezer and place in ice cream maker, surround with ice and rock salt and allow to mix. Check periodically and add more ice as necessary.

*Note: If you have a 5 or 6 quart machine, then use 6 cups whole milk, 4 cups whipping cream and 1 cup of cocoa.

**Note: If you are concerned about Salmonella you have 2 options. You can substitute the eggs with an egg substitute such as Egg Beaters (follow instructions on carton). You can also heat the egg/milk mixture to 160 degrees F slowly then cool it quickly in the fridge or freezer.

Pizza Sauce

I taught a class on how to make homemade pizza at Church last night and thought I'd better post my recipe for pizza sauce for those who will be looking for it on here. I should mention that I typically just throw the spices in without measuring them, but for those who feel a little more comfortable following a recipe with actual measurements I did my best to estimate the amounts of each spice that I use.


Pizza Sauce
1 - 6 oz can tomato paste
6 oz water (use the empty tomato paste can to measure)
1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp garlic salt
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp basil
1/4 tsp oregano

Combine the tomato paste and water until well mixed. Add the rest of the ingredients and spread over dough.

This makes enough to cover 2 pizza's.

*Note: If you're only making 1 pizza you can freeze the rest.

*Note: This can also be used as a dipping sauce for your pizza or breadsticks.

Coconut Curry Chicken

I've made this once before but after I made it tonight Chris said he liked it more than the last time so I figured I should write down what I did before I forgot. And mum wanted the recipe, so here we are. I have to say I enjoyed it a lot more this time as well... probably because I didn't have the chicken flavour in it as I made a separate little pot for myself so I wouldn't have to pick it out.

*Note: I just wanted to add that this really is not a spicy curry dish at all. In fact, I gave some to Eliana who is now 9 1/2 months old and she loves it.

I've posted two versions of the recipe, a small batch (feeds about 5 people) and a large batch (feeds about 10 people) to make things easier.

Coconut Curry Chicken (Small Batch)

2 large chicken breasts, cut into small pieces (1/4 - 1/2 inch cubes)
salt and pepper
vegetable oil (not measured but guessed about 1 1/2 tbsp)
2 tbsp curry powder
1 medium onion, sliced
lots of minced garlic
1 1/2 cans (14 oz) coconut milk
1 large can (28 oz) stewed tomatoes (or 2, 14.5 oz cans)
1/2 can (5.5 oz) tomato paste
1/4 cup + 1 1/2 tsp sugar
1/4 cup water


Coconut Curry Chicken (Large Batch)

4 large chicken breasts, cut into small pieces (1/4 - 1/2 inch cubes)
salt and pepper
vegetable oil (not measured but guessed about 3 tbsp)
1/4 cup (or 4 tbsp) curry powder
1 1/2 large onions, sliced
lots of minced garlic
3 cans (14 oz) coconut milk
2 large cans (28 oz) stewed tomatoes (or 4, 14.5 oz cans)
1 can (5.5 oz) tomato paste
1/2 cup + 1 tbsp sugar
1/2 cup water

Season chicken with salt and pepper and cut in to pieces.

Heat oil and curry powder in large skillet over medium heat for a few minutes. Stir in onions and garlic and cook for another minute. Add chicken, tossing to coat with the curry oil. Reduce heat to medium and cook for 7 to 10 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through.

Pour coconut milk, tomatoes, tomato paste, water, and sugar in to the pan and stir to combine. Stir and cook approximately 30-40 minutes.

Serve over rice.

* Note: This recipe freezes well if you want to make a big batch and save half of it for another time;)

* Note: You can also use any cooked chicken meat you want. My mum bought two rotisserie chickens and cut up all the white meat on them for me to use tonight and everyone said it was just fine.

Yummy Baked Quesadilla's

I love these quesidilla's. I make mine without chicken in them, but make Chris's with chicken. Of course when Chris makes them mine have chicken in them as well (he claims "the baby wants it").

They're really pretty simple, but very very yummy! And sorry there's no exact amounts for anything as it all depends on how many you're making and of course how full you like your quesadilla's.


Yummy Baked Quesadilla's

chicken breasts or tenderloins, cut into small pieces (approx. 1 tenderloin or 1/2 breast per full quesadilla)
zucchini, sliced and halved
red, yellow, orange peppers, julienned
onions, sliced
Wishbone Bountifuls Simply Santa Fe or Kraft Zesty Italian dressing (regular, low fat or fat free)
cumen, very generous sprinkling
shredded cheddar cheese (sometimes I used pepper jack for Chris's as well)
sour cream
tortilla's (2 for every quesadilla)
tomatoes, chopped
cilantro, chopped (fresh is preferable, however dried works as well)
lettuce, chopped
avocado/guacamole

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and prepare a large baking sheet with tin foil.

Over medium heat and in a frying pan (sprayed with PAM) add the cut up chicken and drizzle a generous amount of dressing on top, followed by the cumen (again be generous).

When the chicken's about half way done I start my veggies in a separate frying pan (also sprayed with PAM) and again drizzled with the dressing and cumen on top.

Of course if you're making chicken/veggie quesadilla's then you can add the veggies to the same frying pan as the chicken.

When the chicken and veggies are almost finished lightly cook the toritilla's (we always buy the uncooked ones from Costco, so if you have precooked tortilla's already then you can skip this step).

To prepare the quesadilla's, place one tortilla on the baking sheet and sprinkle with a little shredded cheese, followed by a nice thick layer of the chicken / veggie mixture. Sprinkle some chopped tomatoes, cilantro and more cheese on top of the chicken and veggies. Then spread a thin layer of sour cream on the other tortilla and place on top of the first tortilla. Continue with as many as you're wanting to make and then bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes or until the cheese is melted. Remove from the oven with a lifter/spatula.

Serve with guacamole/avocado, sour cream, chopped tomatoes, and lettuce on top.

Enjoy!

*Note: You can also make a 1/2 quesadilla by of course using only one tortilla and folding it in half.

Creamy Veggie Chicken Pasta

I got this recipe from my sister in law Shannon and as noted below had to make some alterations to it (I've included notes at the bottom that show her original recipe). It's a yummy creamy pasta with a little bit of a zing to it!

Sorry there's no pic, but another sister in law just asked for the recipe so I thought I'd put it up without a picture for now...I'll be sure to add a pic the next time I make it!


Creamy Veggie (w/ optional Chicken) Pasta
1 lb noodles of choice (penne, bowtie, rigatoni, shells, corkskrew, etc), approximately

Sauce:
3 tbsp butter
3 tbsp flour
2 tbsp mustard*
1 1/2 cups milk
1 cup veggie/chicken stock
1 cup cheddar cheese, grated
2-3 tbsp parmesan cheese
salt and pepper to taste

2 chicken breasts (or 4-5 tenderloins), cubed
1/2 large onion
1 medium zucchini, chopped and halved**
1 red pepper, julienned (or orange or yellow peppers)
1/2 cup creamy ceasar dressing (or ranch dressing)***


Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Over medium heat fry onions in a little olive oil and when the onions start to soften add the chicken. After the chicken is about half way cooked add the zucchini, red pepper and ceasar dressing. Cover and slightly reduce heat.

Boil the water for the noodles while you start the sauce. Cook the noodles to al dente.

Sauce: Melt butter over medium heat. Add flour and whisk until combined. Add mustard and whisk until combined. Mix stock and milk together and gradually whisk into the flour mixture. Bring to boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Add cheddar and parmesan cheeses and salt and pepper.

Combine the noodles, chicken/veggies and sauce together in a large casserole dish. Sprinkle the top with cheese and cook in the oven at 350 degrees for 30-45 minutes, or until bubbling.

Serve with garlic bread, breadsticks, etc.

Enjoy!


*Note: Original recipe called for 3 tbsp mustard, but as I'm not a fan of mustard I found that was too much mustard for me.

**Note: My sister in law makes this with an added 1 lb bacon (fried and cut into 1/2 inch pieces) and uses 1 head of broccoli (chopped into bite sized pieces) and mushrooms (a couple handfuls of sliced) instead of the zucchini and peppers. Again because Christopher won't eat broccoli or mushrooms I had to improvise. I've never made it with the bacon in it, but I'm sure Chris would love it if I did...I just wouldn't;)

***Note: I wanted to make this once and I didn't have any creamy ceasar dressing on hand so I used ranch dressing instead and it turned out just as yummy.