Meatless Monday: Beans

Beans:

Just like eggs, we eat a LOT of beans. Full of protein, heart healthy, and inexpensive as well.

Black bean quesadillas:

This is the number one thing that we make with beans. We have these at least once a week.

What's nice is they are versatile as well. Throw in salsa, avacado, sour cream, veggies - whatever you got and whatever you want. I like mine with a little ranch, and lots of cheese and lettuce. Brigham dumps hot sauce all over his. So fast and easy!

Bean tacos:

Hamburger is so expensive and can be fatty as well. I've found if you cook a can of kidney or black beans in taco seasoning - just as you would meat - it tastes the exact same and we don't miss hamburger at all.

I'll cook up some kidney beans in taco seasoning and throw them in pretty much any Mexican cuisine to replace the meat.

• Hard-shell tacos
• Soft-shell tacos
• Tostados 
• Taco Salad

I'm not the biggest fan of enchilada's so I haven't tried any of the several recipes that I've pinned yet, but the theory is essentially the same, just replace the meat with beans. I eventually want to try this Black Bean Spinach Enchilada recipe. Sounds healthy and could be pretty tasty!

If you don't like beans IN your Mexican food, you can be like Brigham and just add some chili powder, hot sauce, and lime juice to some black beans and pair that with a cheese quesadilla, that way you still get your protein.

Black Bean and Corn Salsa:

I've made this salsa a billion times, partly because it's to easy, and partly because it is SO delicious. Even my kids love it. I found the recipe on the back of a Western Family can of Black Beans:

1 can (or 2 cups) of Black Beans Drained

1 bunch of green onions sliced

1 cup chopped tomatoes

1 can (or 2 cups) of whole kernel corn drained

1 tsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp chopped jalapeno peppers

salt and garlic powder to taste

Combine all ingredients in a bowl. EAT.

I let it sit for awhile to marry the flavors, and I like mine chilled. But then I eat it all. We will serve this for dinner with tortilla chips and some Mexican rice or cheese quesadillas. When tomatoes are in season we eat this a lot. It's full of veggies and has your protein with the beans, and it just tastes so fresh. You could also season it whatever way you like. Make it spicy, or add a garlic spin, or put in some cilantro or lime juice. Whatever you want! Ugh, now I'm craving this badly.

Baked Beans:

If you want to take a break from the Mexican bean meals, you can always make a good dish of baked beans. I have a slow cooker cookbook that has a billion baked bean recipies that I go through and combine a couple of them based on what I have around the house. Slow cooker baked beans are delicious.

Pair them with a baked potato and some corn on the cob. Or eat them with some steamed veggies. Basically, they'll take care of the protein if you're craving some bbq but don't have the meat.

Vegetarian Chili

My husband sure is a fan of chili. There are eighteen hundred different recipes for chili, including vegetarian chili recipes. On allrecipes.com I found a Unbelievably Easy and Delicious Vegetarian Chili Recipe. This might be helpful for you to use if you want to try it out.

Just like with the Baked beans, I usually combine a bunch of different vegetarian chili recipes based on what I actually have around my house. Some recipes you can throw in lots of veggies, some are more tomato-y, and some are more soupish. We prefer a more traditional chili recipe at our house and if I remember correctly, the one I linked above sticks closely to that. But you can just research the type you want to make and experiment with the different types of chili since there are SO many options.

Hummus:

I am not a fan of hummus; the texture really gets to me for some reason. Even if I enjoy the flavor, the texture of hummus throws me off and I really don't eat it. However, for the general population, hummus tends to be a favorite which is good because it's high in protein, since it's made out of garbanzo beans, and you can eat it on celery and other vegetables for a super healthy snack. There are tons of recipes for different variations of hummus, which I would recommend because garbanzo beans are so cheap and store-bought hummus can be expensive. 

There is one recipe that has been tempting me and that is Avocado Hummus.

This recipe has simple ingredients and, maybe because I love avocados so much, actually sounds good to me. I'd have to try it to find out, but I am veeerrry curious. For all you other hummus-lovers out there, with the avocado it has even MORE protein. So you've either got a protein-packed snack or lighter meal for lunch.

Roasted Chickpeas:

A great high-protein snack is roasted chickpeas, or garbanzo beans.

I've made these and they are pretty good. You can make them in many different flavors; this picture is a recipe for sweet and salty roasted chickpeas. I like them because they are crunchy and curb my craving for chips or popcorn.

Garbanzo beans are SO good for you. They have tons of protein and fiber, help prevent heart disease, lower cholesterol, prevent iron deficiency, and more. Studies have shown that people who have healthy diets already and eat these everyday have additional health benefits than those who don't.

Seven Layer Dip:

I love seven layer dip. It's easy to make, so so so so good, and a crowd pleaser. 

Although this might not be AS healthy as some of the other bean recipes because you are using refried beans, cheese, and adding sour cream, it still has the protein and you can pile it with salsa, tomatoes, avocado, onions, and whatever other vegetables you want on it.  It really can be a meal in and of itself with the protein, dairy, carbs, and vegetables.

For a casual Friday dinner, we've had huge helpings of seven layer dip and chips with corn on the side or rice. Just make sure that for every can of refried beans, you mix it with one tablespoon of taco seasoning. That's the secret to making it taste awesome. For years I was making seven layer dip without that key step. Finally, I complained to my mom that my dip never tasted as good as hers, and when I described how I made it she quickly pointed out my error. Don't skip that step. You'll regret it.

Those are my basic bean recipes folks. You can find way more if you try and you'd be surprised how much you can do with those things. As my dad would say:

Beans beans, good for the heart,

The more you eat them, the more you fart,

The more you fart, the better you feel,

So lets eat beans for every meal!

Protein Meals with No Meat

I've often been asked how we get protein in our kids and our diets when we rarely buy meat. In fact, we get plenty of protein and use meat only a few times each month. Although our kids are quite the vegetarians and despise most meat, Brigham and I love ourselves a good hunk of beef, chicken, fish, or pork. It's just too dang expensive for us to regularly buy, so we treat it like a treat instead. Eating semi-vegetarian can also be a healthier lifestyle since we are avoiding many of those fatty meats.

So what meals do we come up with that don't include meat? I mean what can you have for your main dish if you don't have meat? Well there are plenty of things. And often the meals don't include too much work to make since meat is usually what you have to spend so much time prepping and cooking.

I've broken down some of our go-to's based on the different kinds of proteins that we use. However, after compiling a list of our favorite dishes, I realized I had way too many for just one blog so I decided to do a new blog segment about mostly-vegetarian meals. Lets make it Meatless Meal Monday...well after today since it's clearly not Monday. This time we'll start with eggs. I hope you enjoy!

Eggs:

Eggs are a staple in our diet. They are cheap and delicious and we have them a few times a week. Here are some of our favorites.

Breakfast burritos:

These are a delicious, hot dinner that you can whip up quickly and make a variety of ways, depending on your mood. Scramble up some eggs, saute some onion and mushrooms, warm up some tortilla's, and toss it all together with some cheese. Sometimes we'll cook up some of the Banquet precooked turkey sausage, that you can buy frozen for a dollar, and throw that in there too, yum.

Or add some potatoes, or salsa, or ham, or whatever you like! Rummage around your fridge to see what you think would be good in your burrito.

I recently pinned this breakfast burrito idea, because I thought it would be awesome to make a bunch and freeze them. Then, when I'm too lazy to even whip up scrambled eggs and tortillas, I can just warm some frozen burritos up. I think next time we have breakfast burritos, I'll just whip up a few extra while I'm at it so we can freeze some for later. Genius.

Eggs and cheese will give you any protein you're looking for, especially if you add ham or sausage. Extra bonus if you use whole wheat tortillas since those are packed with protein as well.

Egg Salad Sandwiches:

Mmmm, we love egg salad sandwiches and you can eat these for lunch or dinner. What's nice is that you can make it ahead of time, when it's convenient for you, and then it tastes even better as all the dressings and eggs marinate together.

Breakfast for dinner:

From scrambled eggs, fried eggs, or omelettes that you can fill full of healthy veggies, we have a lot of dinner options when we make breakfast for dinner. We'll pair ours with toast, hash-browns, and fresh fruit. Omelettes are another great way to change up your eggs by adding whatever you want or have around the house. You can cheesy, veggie, or meaty.

Egg McSandwich:

One of my favorite breakfasts, lunches, or dinners is what I call an Egg McSandwich. Basically an egg McMuffin, but we rarely have English muffins, so I just use bread.


I fry up an egg, slather some mayo and mustard on toast, layer a piece of ham and cheese, then let the hot egg melt it all together. I seriously eat this every morning for breakfast when I'm pregnant. I find the protein keeps me full, which wards of sickness, and it's mellow enough that I don't immediately puke.

We often have these for dinner as well because they are so yummy. Sometimes I have them twice a day: once for breakfast and then again for dinner. They have some fat, however, so I probably should watch my Egg McSandwich intake. But they will provide that hearty protein meal you're looking for and are scrumptious.

Chef Salad:

And finally (I told you we eat a lot of eggs), we really enjoy chef salad. Cut up some hard boiled eggs, avocado, carrots, cucumbers, ham, croutons, green onions, broccoli, or whatever you want, and throw it on some lettuce and spinach, and you've got a super healthy dinner. I let my kids eat some extra eggs or garlic toast on the side as a reward for eating their lettuce well.


And for those puking right now from pregnancy (ahem, Caitlin), as I very well know, lettuce is the devil to barf up - number one worst thing, in fact. So just have all the chef salad toppings without the lettuce. You'll be surprised at how delicious a bunch of hard boiled eggs, avocado, carrots, celery, broccoli, cucumbers, croutons, all mixed together and covered in dressing is. I actually eat it for lunch all the time and call it my peanut salad since I add peanuts (more protein!). It is SO good. With the eggs it because high protein and low carb. Perfect.

Hard boiled Eggs:

Hard boiled eggs make for a delicious, fast, high protein snack. You can cook a bunch up one day and then have them ready to grab and go. I love them. In fact, we fight over them at our house and complain at whoever ate the last one.

So there are our main egg recipes. Simple, easy, delicious, and full of protein. Next up: beans.

Blackberry Custard Pie Experiment

It's been a long times since I did a cooking post so I thought I would delve into my latest dish. This past Thanksgiving I had three different dinners to attend and therefore could not escape pie assignments. Usually, I'll do anything to get out of making a pie because I'm terribly intimidated by pie-making. You can go oh so wrong with pies. And with my track record with desserts, I avoid pies like the plague. However, since it was unavoidable this year, I was researching different pies to make with the frozen fruit I have in my freezer and I came upon this recipe: Blackberry Custard Pie.

I was frightened and yet intrigued. I love custard - my grandma has made it for us for years and so it brings fond memories of home and growing up - and yet custard, with blackberries, and pie? Well, I decided I'd probably screw it up anyways so I might as well try something new. And it would use up some blackberries that are taking up lots of room in my freezer. And it looked super easy to make.

You know what it was!

Although I didn't start until way to late at night so I was irrationally freaking out about it being done enough, and about frozen blackberries messing up the cooking time, and about cooling time, and how one side of my crust fell in a little bit, etc, etc etc, I was pleasantly surprised with my results.

I think because my blackberries were frozen it dyed the custard purple when they thawed out while cooking, but I kind of like it that way better. Anyways, I was so happy with how it turned out I took pictures of my first successful pie. And even though the crust got a little well-done (yes it was a store-bought crust) I was still impressed that my crust-braiding turned out. So much so, that I took a close-up shot.

Then I moped myself to bed saying, "I just took twelve pictures of a pie," while Brigham laughed at me. However, the next day when it was cut into it wasn't runny and I received lots of compliments on the pie. I personally thought it was delicious. It was nice to have something lighter and different and the custard made the berries sweet and tasty. I did hear one relative say, "It's different." And then as an afterthought, "But good."

So if you ever need an easy pie and you've got blackberries, this is your go-to recipe. Believe me, if I can do it so can you. I'll probably be making this one for years to come now.

Carrot Mac & Cheese

Recently I bought ten pounds of carrots. This is actually common around here. We like carrots. A lot. And not only are they cheaper when you buy them fresh and peel and cut them yourself, but they taste better and I prefer them that way. Brigham, however, was complaining that he was getting a little carrot-ed out. So to give him a break, I decided to try out a new recipe to include our carrots, but without the typical carrot crunch or flavor. Thank you Pinterest for the discovery of carrot macaroni and cheese.

I was extremely interested to try out this recipe and compare it with the butternut squash mac & cheese recipe I previously made and loved. Unfortunately, things were doomed from the start.

I was doubling the recipe and needed to peel and cut up about one and a half pounds of carrots. So I just guessed about how much that was.

Then I needed to steam them with some water, salt, and the zest and juice of one orange.

I didn't have an orange.

Instead I steamed the carrots with some orange peel zest I had as a spice and estimated about how much lemon juice would equal the juicing of an orange - a couple hefty dashes.

While the carrots were steaming (they smelled really good), I cooked up my pasta.

Only, I was dumb and forgot to save some of the water the pasta was cooked in before I drained it all down the sink. And I needed two cups! So I tried to recreate the starchy water by letting some of the pasta sit in water while the carrots finished cooking. I don't think it worked very well.

I was supposed to have the carrots cook about a half hour and then puree them. However, they probably should have cooked longer because I doubled the amount, and they weren't as soft as they were supposed to be after a half hour. But I pureed them anyways because I'm impatient like that and figured my food-processor would take care of everything for me.

Of course, though I doubled the carrots, I forgot to double the water the carrots were cooked in and were supposed to be pureed with. So it ended up being a big long hassle with me adding lots of extra water to the carrots that did not want to puree. Remember to keep your calculations correct when cooking - not only is that how you're supposed to cook, but it also makes everything easier and taste much better. Sometimes I forget this concept.

So fast forward a half hour and I was returning the pasta back to the pot with the not-so-starchy water and pureed carrots. I was to stir everything up and cook it for about five minutes until the sauce is thick and creamy.

I quickly discovered that my sauce was TOO thick because, apparently, I had way overestimated how many carrots one and a half pounds is. I ended up having to sit there and scoop out spoonful after spoonful of carrot puree from the noodles. It wasn't until I had scooped out over a cup of carrot puree, that I felt the sauce was more normal looking.

Then I added the cheese, and continued stirring.

Next came the seasonings. The recipe calls for fresh tarragon. I didn't have any tarragon. So I went online and read which herbs would be the best replacement and ended up making a mixture of basil, rosemary, and thyme.

I stirred in the seasonings, dumped it all into a baking dish, and added the remaining cheese.

Only problem, I didn't have all the remaining cheese. I ran out and my other cheese was too frozen to use. I was about a cup short. Don't I sound so prepared not having half the ingredients and running out of CHEESE for mac & CHEESE?

Like I said, it was doomed from the start.

Anyways, after baking in the oven for a bit it came out looking like this:

Not too bad.

And this is what it looked like plated up:

We always like our mac and cheese with peas :)

Honestly, it wasn't too bad. The spices were a little strong - I probably overdid my estimation of them - and I could definitely tell it needed more cheese. Besides those two things, it was pretty good. It didn't taste like carrots and it was creamy. When I asked Brigham if he liked this mac and cheese better than the butternut squash mac & cheese, he said he liked the carrot one better. I was surprised since he was so tired of carrots. I much prefer the butternut squash one.

I would be willing to try this recipe again to see what it's like if I actually cook it right. It has definite potential and I like how healthy it is for a comfort food. However, it will be awhile before I attempt it again because it was such a pain this time - even though everything that was hard was my own fault. So if you have extra carrots lying around, try it out!

Pork Ragu

I've always wanted to make a ragu sauce before. I also had a weird cut of pork roast I thought would be perfect to use in a ragu recipe that called for a pork roast. The recipe looked like your classic, easy crock pot recipe where you layer your veggies, seasonings, and meat and cook all day. Simple. Who cares if the recipe wanted a shoulder roast and I had a "family picnic" pork roast. Pork is pork - I would be fine right?

Well. Let's just get through the recipe.

First you were to dump some whole canned tomatoes in the crock pot.

I actually used stewed tomatoes...and then I chopped them up into small pieces. I just don't like big tomato chunks. I was also supposed to drain the tomatoes, but didn't - we tend to like more saucy dishes around these parts.

Next add four cloves of finely chopped garlic. Normally, I just use some of garlic from my giant jar of minced garlic in the fridge when a recipe calls for fresh garlic, but I decided I'd better follow the recipe somewhat and use actual cloves.

So I broke open the garlic and peeled the cloves. Thanks to my dedication to Rachel Ray I knew to grate the garlic rather than spend all day chopping it fine...and lost a few layers of my skin into the crock pot as well. After that process was over, I remembered why I usually just spoon a bunch of minced garlic, especially when left with garlicky hands for the rest of the day. I thought maybe if I used fresh garlic, I would be able to taste a difference - nah, not enough to go to all the extra work again.

Next the recipe called for two medium carrots, cut up.

As you can see I did quite a few more than two - we really like cooked carrots around these parts.

Following the carrots, a large onion chopped up.

Thanks to our handy-dandy chopper, the chopping goes by real fast. But not fast enough that my eyes weren't on fire.

Once all the veggies were layered in the crock pot, the recipe calls for some dry white wine. Unfortunately, I drank all the wine the night before so I had to use chicken stock instead. Luckily I had the right amount left-over and frozen from a previous dish.

So I dumped it right on top of the veggies, still frozen and everything.

Next comes the seasonings.

Oregano, salt and pepper.

And then the meat. Oh the meat. Here is my roast:

Because I can be really dense, I failed to realize that what appears to be a top layer of fat, was actually skin. And it had a big giant bone in the middle of it. Quite unfortunate because I was supposed to quarter the roast and plop it in. Imagine my surprise when I try to quarter the meat and my knife WOULD NOT go through. And do you know how much work it is to rip skin off meat? It does not come of easy, I'll tell you. It's a long, dirty, cold, wet, gross, ripping and cutting process.

After I got off all the skin that completely surrounded my roast, I cut it into pieces as best I could and then chucked the whole thing, bone and all, into the crock pot.

Put a lid on, and cooked it all on low for about six hours.

After six hours, pull out your pork and shred it.

I already hate shredding meat, but thanks to my wonderful cut of meat, it took SO long because I had to shred out all of the yucky fat you can see was still left on the meat, and tear it off the bone. My hands hurt and I was so sick of pork, but I finished.

And then mixed the meat back in the sauce.

And put some noodles on to boil.

The recipe called for "pappardelle or other wide noodles", and despite looking at several stores, fettuccine was the widest noodle I could find.

While the noodles cooked, I chopped up some fresh parsley

and folded it into my ragu.

Once the noodles were done, I was ready to plate up!

Adding some Parmesan cheese on top, we served with some garlic toast to soak up the extra sauce.

I was definitely disappointed with the flavor. It was a really meaty flavor when I expected more of a vegetable/tomato sauce type of flavor. I do have to say that after handling the meat so much, I felt nauseous the rest of the day. Raw meat really gets to me. I might have been a bit scarred from my earlier meat trauma and couldn't stomach the actual dish. Maybe you shouldn't rely on my judgement.

Brigham LOVED it. I made an entire crock pot and expected to freeze half of the amount it made, but by time Brigham finished eating there was not enough left to freeze. And that's with me not eating very much at all. He got what little was left over for lunch the next day and raved again when he got home.

So it's your call. I don't think I'll make this again for a very long time. When I do, I'll be sure to use a shoulder roast as the recipe calls for. It would make everything one hundred percent easier and I would probably be able to actually eat. You could probably make this with other types of roast, like beef, as well. You could probably even use chicken breasts and shred them. Just please, make sure whatever you use has no skin or bone involved.

As for the actual recipe I got from my Woman's Day magazine:

1 28oz can whole tomatoes, drained
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 medium carrots, cut into 1/4 inch pieces
1 large onion, chopped
1/2 cup dry white wine
2 tsp dried oregano
Kosher salt and pepper
2 1/2lb pork shoulder, trimmed and quartered
12 oz pappardelle or other wide noodle
1/2 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley
1/4 cup grated Parmesan (1 oz)

1. In a 5- to 6-qt slow cooker, combine the tomatoes, garlic, carrots, onion, wine, oregano, and 1/2 tsp each salt and pepper.
2. Add the pork to the slow cooker and cook, covered, until the pork is cooked through and easily pulls apart, 6 to 8 hours on low or 4 to 5 hours on high.
3. Twenty minutes before serving, cook the pasta according to package directions. Using a fork, break the meat into smaller pieces, then stir it into its cooking liquid; fold in the parsley. Serve the pork over the pasta and sprinkle with the Parmesan

Cauliflower Mini Pizzas

Lately I've been trying to incorporate cauliflower into different dishes. I've made mashed cauliflower, cauliflower pizza, and this time I wanted to try out a recipe I found for mini cauliflower pizza bites on one of my new favorite sites, Dashing Dish. I was hoping the mini bites wouldn't be soggy like my other cauliflower pizza crust experiment.

To make the mini pizza bites, you cut up about a half a head of cauliflower,

And then pulse it to a rice-like consistency.

Dump it into a bowl to microwave uncovered for eight minutes. After it's done in the microwave, start adding stuff to make it delicious:

Stir it all up and microwave it for two more minutes.

While it was being zapped, I got the liners ready in the muffin tin and sprayed liberally with cooking spray.

Then I added the mixture and really packed it into each of the liners.

Top with a bit more turkey pepperoni

And bake!

They come out looking like this:

I served them with a fancy apple-toasted walnut-cranberry salad (which was AMAZING) and some homemade pizza sauce to dip them in.

I was pleased with the results. The mini bites weren't soggy and tasted good, especially dipped in the pizza sauce. I will say, don't use paper liners because no matter how much I greased, the mini bites stuck to the liner and had to be scraped out with a fork. Luckily, half my liners were some metallic type of material that worked much better.

Also, the mini-bites are definitely small and this recipe doesn't really make more than twelve. It's definitely more of an appetizer rather than part of a meal. Fortunately, I made tons of the salad, otherwise we all would have been left hungry.

All said and done, we liked the flavor of the pizza bites and it was easy enough to make that I probably would make these again as a side dish or appetizer. This recipe is definitely my favorite cauliflower experiment so far.