Spicy Garlic Sesame Broccoli with Red Beans and Quinoa

Work was less than ideal today so I had to let off some steam by taking a long walk with the dog. When I got home I wanted something relatively simple so I could eat and go straight to bed. I knew the fresh broccoli in my fridge would do the trick.

Ingredients
.5 cup quinoa
1TB sesame oil
Several medium heads of fresh broccoli cut into trees (I had maybe 6 cups?)
4 cloves of garlic (less if you aren't a garlic lover like me)
1 cup light red beans
Red pepper flakes to taste
Salt to taste

Cook quinoa (combine with 1 cup water, bring to the boil, simmer 15 minutes or until all water is absorbed). In a large pan (I wanted to use my wok, but it needs to be retired), heat oil on medium. Add broccoli and garlic. Toss to coat. Cook for 5-7 minutes until broccoli becomes bright green and is your desired level of crispness, stirring regularly. Add beans, salt, and red pepper flakes. Cook another minue. Remove from heat.

I ate the broccoli and quinoa side by side, but you could mix them all together or eat the broccoli atop the quinoa. It made 2 large servings (I used a LOT of broccoli). This was so easy and tasty. The sesame oil gave it a nice, unexpected flavor (since I rarely use it). It would have been even better with sesame seeds, but I've never bought them in my life. Maybe next time.

Easy Bean Dip and Mashed Basil Garlic Cauliflower

I got home late because I stupidly stopped by the gym after work. Why is that stupid? Because it was gorgeous outside. Back to dinner, I wanted something easy.

The bean dip is easily the best thing I've made in awhile and perfect for a party. I blended together:

• 1 cup dark red kidney beans (I'd cooked some dry beans weeks ago and had extra, so I threw them in the freezer and they came out ok but a little mushy- perfect for a dip)
• 1 TB Better Than Cream Cheese
• .5 tsp chipotle powder (maybe a little more)
• .5 tsp chili powder
• Lime juice
• Cilantro

I ate it with 3 pieces of toast and would have eaten it off my floor.

The cauliflower was easy. I steamed a medium head of cauliflower and realized when it was almost done that I meant to roast some garlic. So I threw 3 cloves into the steamer for a few minutes. Then I removed the cauliflower but kept the garlic in while I chopped up some basil. I added the basil and 1TB Earth Balance margarine and mashed, then chopped the garlic and mashed in as well. Delicious!

Split Peas and Barley with Spicy Kidney Bean Cream Sauce

Uninspired. That's how I felt on the Metro ride home from work as I desperately tried to come up with a dinner idea. And that's how I continued to feel as I stared at my bare cabinets in search of something that caught my eye. Nothing. The problem is that I got all my veggies in at lunch with my Spring Vegetable Salad and needed grain and protein for dinner, limiting my choices severely. I really wanted some veggies, but evidently I didn't do such a good job grocery shopping and will barely have enough to last me to this weekend. So I went for my go-to dinner and made split peas and barley. Except I got a sudden flash of inspiration as I was walking the dog.

Ingredients

• .5 cup yellow split peas
• .5 cup barley
• 1 large red onion
• 2 TB Better Than Cream Cheese
• .5 TB chipotle in adobo sauce
• .5 cup cooked dark red kidney beans
• Fresh cilantro to taste
• Salt and pepper to taste

Combine split peas, barley, and onion in a pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil and simmer for 20-30 minutes or until tender, checking to make sure there's enough water. Remove from heat and add cilantro, salt, and pepper. Meanwhile, blend together the cream cheese, beans, and chipotle until smooth. It makes 2 medium/small 375 calories servings.



Experiment successful. It wasn't overwhelmingly spicy, but it had great flavor and was easy to make.

Red Beans and Bulgur with a Side of Roasted Green Beans

Culinary mental block is no joking matter. Especially when you rely on yourself to prepare all of your meals.

I thought long and hard all day about what to make for dinner to no avail by the time I got home. A quick trip to the corner grocery netted peanut butter and oatmeal- no good for dinner. Somehow, luckily, while I was walking the dog in the bitter cold I thought of red beans and rice, probably because I associate chili with the cold weather. I have something against rice, even brown rice, though. So I went with bulgur, the grain love of my life (as are barley and quinoa).

It was pretty simple- I sauteed some red onion until translucent, added 3TB tomato paste, .5c bulgur, and 1 can dark red kidney beans. Seasoned with Tony Sacheries and voila, dinner.

I also made one of my favorite things of all time: roasted green beans. Really, you can pretty much roast any vegetable and it will be my favorite. I just rinsed from fresh green beans, snipped off the ends, and tossed lightly with some olive oil and salt. I roasted them on 400ish for 20ish minutes, stirring every so often. These barely made it to the table before I devoured them.

Still Around...Barely

I haven't posted in 3 weeks because I've either been too busy training to cook anything creative or out of town. As a result, I've now gotten sick. So today I decided to make soup- and lots of it. My freezer is now full for those long days when training takes up too much time...*Sigh*

I sauteed 2 medium onions and 4 cloves of garlic until transparent. I diced some tomatoes and threw them in the pot along with some water. I let them boil for 15 minutes or so and added 4 cups of yellow squash, one giant can of kidney beans (it held 9 servings), and an entire package of organic wheat spaghetti. I was feeling uncreative because my brain was shut off so I only seasoned it with salt and pepper, but in the end it was a good decision. It cooked until everything was done, and then I scooped it into 8 containers (about 375 calories a piece).

It hit the spot and was just what the doctor ordered. I'm glad I made heaps and heaps of it because it's something I won't mind eating over and over again. Good job, self. Maybe next time I'll use a nice veggie broth for more flavor.

(It is soupier than the picture leads you to believe.)

Memorial Day Dilemma

I was invited to a Memorial Day potlock with 4 hours notice. Normally that would be plenty of time to go to the grocery store (which was on my list of things to do anyway) and come up with something yummy to make. However, I opted instead to go on a bike ride.



So before I took my bike out, I was waiting for my mom to call me and thought I'd see if I could get started on something (plan B was to buy something, gasp!). I went to vegweb, my favorite for recipes, and checked out the potlucks and picnics category. I stumbled up the recipe for Three Bean Pasta Salad and did a quick inventory of food in my apartment. I thought I could pull something together.



I immediately cut up 4 cloves of garlic and smashed them into a paste, adding a little salt and olive oil to assist. I then let it marinate together in the fridge while I drained and washed a can each of black, garbanzo, and dark red kidney beans. I then decided to use up my baby carrots and carefully cut them up into thin strips. Very time consuming. I also defrosted some frozen cut zucchini that I randomly got the other day (I didn't know they made frozen zucchini). But it seemed seasonal.



I threw in the beans, zucchini, and carrots, then I added the olive oil/garlic mixture I'd made, carefuly not to add a lot of the garlic since I was pretty sure it would be garlicky. I also thought some dill would make a nice addition so I threw some dried dill in as well. I mixed, set in the fridge, added more olive oil and dill to the olive oil/garlic mixture, and went off on my bike ride.



When I came back, I cooked 1 cup of barley and steamed 12 stalks of asparagus. With the asparagus I decided to be fancy- I steamed them for just a couple of minutes and tossed them in an ice water bath. I see it all the time on TV and I'm really sure what it does, but it seemed apporpriate. And it cooked it down so I could add it to the dish. When the barley was done, I put it on a plate and stuck it in the freezer for 10 minutes or so to cool it down. I then added the barley and asparagus to the salad along with the olive oil/garlic/dill mixture and some salt. I'm so scared of over salting so I tried to minimalize the amount I added. It also had a strong garlicky taste, which is fine by me. Then I put it in the freezer just to make sure it's all cold enough.

It was pretty tasty and it lasted forever, which was great during my first week of tri training!

Bean Pile

I used to make something similar to this dish fairly often a few years ago. I rediscovered it tonight and am glad I did. A coworker named the dish way back then.

I got .75c whole wheat spiral pasta going in one pot and heated up 1TB sesame oil in my frying pan. I sauteed a medium onion in the oil and added some green beans (4cups?) when the onions were transparent. I seasoned with some sea salt and red pepper flakes.

I eat green beans every week and it seems like they are the same every single time. So the sesame oil was a nice departure from the norm. Overall, the only thing I'd do differently is cut the green beans into smaller pieces so I can shove them in my mouth faster.

Wannabe Pizza

I wanted to make another amazing pizza, but I didn't want all the calories. So I improvised. I made some polenta, let it congeal, then cut it into 9 squares. Baked on 400 for 30-40 minutes until brown. Meanwhile, in the blender I added 1 cup dark red kidney beans, lots of Italian spices, a touch of water, a TB or so of tomato paste, and blended until smooth. I added 1/3 large onion I'd just sauteed at the end.

Once the polenta squares were done, I smothered on my bean sauce and topped each pizza with a pepperoni. Not as good as the real pizza, but a nice little meal. Might be a good appetizer dish. A little Better Than Cream Cheese might have been nice, as well as some red pepper flakes. But I ran out of the former and just totally forgot the latter. *Sigh*