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Black bean and quinoa chili for Vegan February

February 2, 2011 in food, healthy, vegan, vegan challenge, Vegan February by Jessica | 5 comments

I was so excited to get an e-mail from Morgan yesterday about going vegan for a week in February.

It was funny, because I had been planning to go vegan for the entire month.

Why go vegan for February? Well, I’ve been wanting to do an elimination diet to see if it would help my skin, and this seemed like the perfect opportunity to do that. I’ll have to try to cut out wheat/gluten another time.

For my month-long challenge, I’m doing my very best to cut out milk, butter, cheese and eggs. Since I eat a mostly vegetarian diet, it shouldn’t be difficult to skip the meat. I’ll also be trying to steer clear of packaged vegan meals, though I do have some Kashi meals on hand just in case! I know myself and at some point I’ll be caught off-guard. And, like Morgan, I’ll be staying away from meat alternatives as best I can. Since I’ll be doing this all month, it may be a little more difficult, but I’m up to the challenge!

In preparation, I’ve been scouring cookbooks and websites for recipes, trying to plan ahead so it wouldn’t be too difficult. I’ve got stacks of recipes for the month and I’m excited to share them with you. I’m hoping to post 2 recipes I try each week and at the end of the month, I’ll do a little roundup on how it went.

But, come Day 1, I didn’t have time to make the meal I had planned, but I did have enough time to whip up this black bean and quinoa chili from Fat Free Vegan just before leaving. It’s simple, quick and super healthy. The quinoa adds protein and the beans make this a filling meal. (Find more quinaa recipes here.)

black bean and quinoa chili

Black bean and quinoa chili
Adapted from Fat Free Vegan

1 cup rinsed and drained quinoa
2 cups water
1 large onion, diced (I used a few tbsp. dried minced onion)
1 red bell pepper, seeded and diced
1 cup chopped celery
1 tomatoes, cored and diced
Two 16-oz. cans black beans, drained
One 28-oz. can diced tomatoes
1 Tbs. chili powder (or more to taste)
1 Tbs. dried parsley (2 Tbs. fresh)
1 Tbs. dried oregano
2 tsp. ground cumin (or more to taste)
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1/2 tsp. salt

Combine quinoa and water in saucepan, cover and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Cook until liquid is absorbed, about 15 to 20 minutes. Remove from heat and let stand about 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat a large, non-stick pan; add onion, bell pepper, celery and sauté 7 minutes over medium heat. Stir in fresh tomatoes; sauté 3 to 4 minutes. Stir in beans, canned tomatoes, and seasonings; cook about 25 minutes over low heat, stirring occasionally. Stir in quinoa; cook 5 minutes more.

Makes 8 servings.

Are you up to the challenge? Join me, Morgan and many other bloggers in going vegan for a week! Check out Morgan’s post, join the Facebook page, and follow on twitter with #7dayvegan and #veganfeb.

Tags: quinoa, vegan, vegan challenge

Quinoa and edamame salad

October 2, 2010 in food, healthy, vegan, vegetarian by Jessica | No comments

I don’t have a good track record with making up my own recipes. Something always goes wrong and I end up throwing the whole thing out and ordering pizza. But …

I think I successfully recreated the quinoa and edamame salad from the Healthy Living Summit. I’ve been dreaming about this salad for the last week. I finally decided to try out a few ideas I had bouncing around in my head and, shockingly, it worked!

This is a pretty close replica, as far as I can remember. Bonus: It was actually really, really easy and quick.

Quinoa with edamame

1/2 cup quinoa
1 cup vegetable broth
1 cup cooked edamame
1 tsp. mirin
1 tsp. rice wine vinegar
1 tsp. sesame oil
1/4 tsp. ground ginger

Cook quinoa in vegetable broth. Once cooked, mix with the rest of ingredients.

If any other HLS bloggers try this out, let me know if you think it’s right!

Tags: easy, quinoa, salad

(Only sorta) spicy quinoa and black beans

January 26, 2010 in food, healthy, vegetarian by Jessica | No comments

I recently was sent some samples of spices from Spices Inc. and one was their Hill Country chili powder. Instead of making straight-up chili – which I had done not too long ago – I decided to find something else to try. That’s when I came across this recipe from Jenn at Jenn Cuisine. It was simple and delicious! (Hint: Look for a longer review & surprise – *ahem* giveaway *ahem* – about Spices Inc. coming Wednesday!)

I’m kinda a wuss when it comes to heat, so I left out the chilis and the cayenne, which made this much more like the original Jenn posted. I promise it’s delicious without them though. And don’t skip the avocado – it really made this dish for me.

The only problem I had was that the beans didn’t cook enough in the liquid, so precooking them would be a good idea, or use canned beans.

quinoa and black beans

Quinoa and black beans
from Jenn Cuisine

Ingredients:
1 cup dry black beans, soaked overnight, rinsed & precooked
1 tsp canola
1 onion, chopped
3-4 cloves garlic, crushed
3 dried red chiles
1 green bell peppers, diced
1 c quinoa, cooked
1/2 c veggie broth, plus a little extra
1 cup corn
1 28-oz can diced tomatoes
1 tsp ground cumin
1/8 tsp cayenne (optional)
3/4 tsp cumin
2 tbs. chili powder
salt & pepper
fresh cilantro
1 avocado, sliced
4 oz. fresh mozz., sliced – I used shredded mexican cheese, as that’s what I had on hand

Directions:
1. In 12″ cast iron skillet (it will just barely not fit in the 10″), heat up oil, and saute onion, garlic, chiles.
2. Once onions are soft, add in bell peppers, beans, and can of tomatoes (with the juice) along with the broth. Let simmer a little bit (med to med-low) to help soften the beans some (around 15 min).
3. Add in quinoa, corn, and seasonings, cook stirring so that nothing sticks/burns on the bottom.
4. Bake in oven at 350F for about half an hour (it will start to smell nice). Check it every 10-15 min or so, and give it a stir just to see how it is doing.
5. Serve, and immediately top with mozz. , cilantro and avocado. Since it’s hot, the mozz. should melt right away. Alternatively, you could bake the mozz right on top once the dish is almost done.

Tags: beans, corn, quinoa, vegetarian

Deconstructed stuffed peppers with quinoa

December 26, 2009 in food, healthy, vegetarian by Jessica | No comments

I apologize for not posting anything the last few weeks. Between work and my Institute of Integrative Nutrition schoolwork and a quick trip to my parents for an early Christmas, I haven’t had much time to be creative in the kitchen. A lot of my meals have been a mishmash of steamed veggies, Kashi pizza, chili I’d frozen and salads – SO not exciting. Though, after eating a whole head of cauliflower in two days, I should probably blog about the unexciting things too in order to keep myself accountable.

So, here’s finally something worth blogging about. I found a recipe in Vegan with a Vengence by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and adapted it a bit. Whenever my mom made stuffed peppers, it was always “deconstructed.” My sister and I didn’t really care for the cooked peppers, so she just cut up a few and tossed them in with the filling, making it easy for us to pick them out. I did the same thing with this recipe since I only had 2 peppers instead of 4.

deconstructed peppers with quinoa, black beans and mushrooms

I won’t lie, I was a little worried about the tomato sauce. I’m not usually a big fan of tomato sauce, but this was really tasty. The original recipe had the pepper stuffed, then cooked in the oven with the rest of the can of tomato sauce poured over it. I think that would have been too much for me. I really liked the flavors and that the peppers still had a crunch to them because I added them at the last minute. The original recipe also had the beans mixed with maple syrup before adding them – not sure how that would taste, but I certainly wasn’t missing it. I’ll definitely be making this again.

deconstructed peppers with quinoa, black beans and mushrooms

Deconstructed stuffed peppers with quinoa
adapted from Vegan with a Vengence

2 tbsp. olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
3 cloves glaric, chopped
2 cups chopped mushrooms
1 tbsp. chili powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup tomato sauce
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup quinoa
2 peppers, any color, chopped (I used one red, one green)
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
fresh cilantro for garnish

Saute onions in oil over medium heat for about 3 to 5 minutes, or until translucent. Add garlic and mushrooms and saute about 5 minutes, until mushrooms have released their moisture. Stir in chili powder and salt.

Add quinoa, tomato sauce and water. Lower heat, cover and simmer for about 20 minutes, stirring once.

I added a bit more water after 20 minutes and then cooked for about 5-8 more minutes – just until the quinoa began to uncurl and be tender.

Add chopped peppers and black beans. (I add the peppers last so they stay a bit crunchy.)

Top with cilantro and serve warm.

Makes about 8 servings with each serving being only 175 calories with 7 g of fiber and 8 g of protein; 73% of your daily Vitamin C and 21% of your daily Vitamin A.

Tags: black beans, quinoa, vegan, vegetarian

Mark Bittman's roasted quinoa with potatoes

December 10, 2009 in CSA cooking, food, healthy, nutrition, vegetarian by Jessica | No comments

This is from Mark Bittman’s book, How to Cook Everything Vegetarian, and I flagged it as soon as I saw it. I’m in love with quinoa and always looking for a new recipe to try. This was a very different one. The quinoa isn’t cooked completely, so it gives this dish some crunch. Though now I’m looking at the recipe again and maybe I should have cooked the quinoa first? Oh well – either way, it was pretty tasty. I used cilantro instead of parsley because I like it’s flavor. I also used the last of our purple potatoes from our CSA.

If you like Mark Bittman, check out his blog, Bitten. (I didn’t know about it until just now – I’ll surely be spending some time on it now!)

Mark Bittman's roasted quinoa with potatoes and cheese

Roasted quinoa with potatoes and cheese
(serves 4-6)
From Mark Bittman’s book, How to Cook Everything Vegetarian

Ingredients:

1/4 cup olive oil
1 lb small waxy potatoes, like fingerling, new red, or Peruvian purple (preferred, for aesthetics), peeled if you like, and cute lengthwise into wedges
3-4 cloves of garlic, peeled
salt
3/4 cup of quinoa
freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup scallion, sliced
1 medium red bell pepper, cored, seeded, and chopped
1-2 tbsp minced fresh chile (like jalapeno or Thai) or add hot red pepper flakes or cayenne to taste
6 oz cheese, preferably smoked like gouda, cheddar, or mozzarella, grated (about 1 1/2 cups)
1/4 cup minced parsley for garnish

1. Preheat the oven to 400. Grease an 8 x 10 inch roasting pan with a tbsp or so of the olive oil.

2. Put the potato wedges and garlic into a large pot with water to cover, salt it, and turn the heat to high. When the water begins to boil, stir in the quinoa. Adjust the heat so that the water boils assertively and cook, stirring once or twice, for about 5 minutes.

3. Drain the quinoa, garlic, and potatoes in a strainer, but leave them fairly wet. Spread them into the prepared pan, sprinkle with salt and pepper, drizzle with the remaining olive oil, and gently toss with a spatula. Spread them out again. Roast, undisturbed, for 15 minutes. Gently toss again, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan, and return the pan to the oven for another 10 minutes or so, until the potatoes are tender on the inside and golden on the outside.

4. Add the scallion, bell pepper, and chile and toss everything one last time. Taste and adjust the seasoning, keeping in mind that the cheese will add some saltiness. Spread the cheese over all and return to the oven for another 5-8 minutes, until the cheese is melted and bubbling. Sprinkle with parsley and serve.

Tags: healthy, potatoes, quinoa, vegetarian, whole grains

Quinoa salad with black beans and corn

March 29, 2009 in food by Jessica | 3 comments

Oh. My. God. How have I lived 28 years without trying this awesome grain? I am in love. I’ll even go as far as to say that this could replace white rice in our house! (And if you know me, you know I eat rice with almost everything.)

If you haven’t heard about quinoa – allow me to introduce you to this little, amazing, ancient grain.

uncooked quinoa

Quinoa is widely believed to be the most ancient of “grains” – Technically it’s a seed and is related to leafy green vegetables like spinach and Swiss chard. The best part about this little grain is its health benefits – it is a complete protein. I’m not good at nutrition stuff, so I’ll refer you to World’s Healthiest Foods for more info. I will share this tidbit of info that’s an added bonus for me – quinoa is high in manganese, which is said to be good for migraine sufferers.

cooked quinoa

On to the recipe, which, I swear, I could eat every day. This recipe reminds me of spanish or Mexican rice. I can’t say enough good things about it. Please try it. Especially if you’ve never tried quinoa before … it’s a great introduction.

Quinoa salad with black beans and corn
From Answerfitness.com (Makes 8 – 2 cup servings)

quinoa salad with black beans and corn and flank steak

Ingredients:

1 1/2 dry quinoa
1/3 cup finely diced red onion
1 can low-sodium black beans, drained and rinsed
1 cup fresh or frozen sweet corn kernels, thawed
1 cup grape tomatoes sliced in half
2 oz low-fat feta cheese, crumbled (optional)
Optional Protein Booster: 2 cups diced or shredded cooked chicken breast

Viniagrette:

2 TBS olive, walnut or avocado oil
3 TBS lime juice (the juice of about two limes) or 3 packets True Lime crystallized lime (reconstituted in 3 TBS water)
2 TBS water
1 fresh garlic clove, minced or 1 tsp jarred minced garlic
1 TBS cumin
1 tsp dried Mexican or Greek oregano
1 tsp chili powder, Ancho Chili Powder or Chipotle Powder
1 tsp sea salt
Fresh ground pepper to taste

Directions:

Place quinoa and 3 cups water in 1 1/2 quart saucepan and bring to boil. Reduce to simmer, cover and cook until all water is absorbed (about 15 minute.) Remove from heat, let cool and fluff with a a fork.

While quinoa is cooking, prepare the vinaigrette by combining the vinaigrette ingredients in a small bowl and whisking until well combined.

In a very large bowl, combine the cooled quinoa grain with the remaining ingredients (red onion, black beans, corn, tomatoes and chicken breast and feta cheese, if using).

Pour vinaigrette over the salad, and mix until well combined.

Serve as an entree or as a side salad with a main course.

Chill leftovers for quick lunches and dinners later in the week.