Hungry for Mex

Lately we've been hungry for Mexican food.

Burritos.
Vegan Enchiladas.
Spanish Rice.
Pinto Beans and Black Beans.
Chips and Salsa.

!!!




So, last week we had lots of it!







Amy's Kitchen Black Bean Vegetable Burrito and Pinto Bean and Rice Burrito - we are hoping to start up a tradition for burrito night with Amy's once a week! :) We like the black bean burrito better because there's a little bit more veggies and there's a creamy enchilada-style sauce. But the pinto one is good and creamy too. We love the wrap - wheaty and soft and huge; too bad Amy's doesn't just sell the wheat tortillas.

We tried Amy's Black Bean Enchiladas, but they weren't as good as the burritoes. Not as many goodies and needs more flavor, though it would be easy for a quick dinner to add some salsa or tomato-black bean-veggie side dish with it.


For a fun Labor Day outing, we stopped at Lifesource Natural Foods in Salem, OR - a great natural food grocery store and lunch stop! We enjoyed some Spanish rice, black beans, fajita veggies, and vegetable soup, with a delicious vegan creamy macaroni salad.


For snacks, we have had the munchies for chips. Have you ever tried Food Should Taste Good baked chips? Absolutely love! Not too salty and doesn't taste baked! So far we've tried the sweet potato version and the multigrain--we love the multigrain best, but the sweet potato is very good with a subtle sweetness.

We also recently tried the Lundberg Farms Rice Chips, with Sea salt, which are good, but not great. Some of their chips have milk in it, FYI. Good for those that want tortilla chips that are gluten-free.



At home, we cooked up some Awesome Homemade Veggie Bean Burgers! We also like trying new recipes, but once we found this, we have made it twice this month, and we are looking forward to making this again, with variations of course.

Awesome Homemade Veggie Bean Burgers
Makes 10-12 patties

1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp oregano
1/4 cup each cornmeal and wheat gluten
2 1/2 Tb nutritional yeast
2 Tb flaxseed meal
2 cups pinto beans
1 Tb canola oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1 Tb Braggs
1 Tb stone ground mustard
2 - 4 Tb diced bell pepper
2 Tb diced onion

1. In a small bowl, mix onion powder, cumin, cornmeal, wheat gluten, nutritional yeast, and flaxseed meal.
2. In a large bowl, mash pinto beans, then add remaining ingredients. Mix until just combined.
3. Add dry mixture from the small bowl to the bean mixture in the large bowl, and mix until well combined.
4. Form 10 - 12 patties. Place on a baking sheet that has parchment paper or has been sprayed with cooking spray.
5. Bake at 375 degrees for 15-25 minutes, or until golden on both sides.

Variations: Add 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes or cayenne
Add 1/4 - 1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce or Balsamic vinegar
Use black beans, white beans, black-eyed peas, or kidney beans
Add 2-3 Tb finely chopped veggies

For your information, we recently stumbled upon a great list-article, "57 Health Benefits of Going Vegan". Great reasons to be vegan, to encourage friends and family to be vegan or vegetarian, or even to just motivate others to be vegan once a week! And thanks mom, if your reading, for your new dedication to a vegetarian lifestyle!

BIG REMINDER: The Artisana nut butter sampler giveaway contest is going on NOW, and it ends in 10 days, Saturday Sept 19!
Keep on posting your ideas: We want creativity-- It's great for you to tell us what your favorite way to enjoy Artisana nut/seed butters is...Also tell us about a dish/meal/snack (with details) you've tried that was out-of-the-ordinary delicious! Thanks for those of you who have already commented and have suggested such inspiring delicious ways to use the nut butters! Some great ideas so far! Get in on the fun here!

Basil and Cilantro

Don't you do just love fresh herbs? Dinner tastes like it was made in the garden!


What are your favorite herbs to use in meals? When we think of herbs, we think of basil, cilantro, oregano, sage, thyme, parsley, and mint. But those are typical herbs - can you think of any other herb that's unique but really good to cook with?

We especially love that different ethnic cuisines use the same herbs but in different ways. Basil in Thai and Italian. Oregano in Italian and Greek. Cilantro in Mexican and Thai. YUM!

Basil grows so well in Texas, and we used to have a garden of herbs, but our favorite was the basil! Although it dies every winter, it thrives in the summer once it's replanted. We love basil in Italian food - on homemade pizza or with simple bow tie pasta and olive oil and tomatoes.

Basil is also great with Thai food - we love Thai Country Restaurant in McMinnville, especially how they add fresh basil to curry dishes, fresh spring rolls, soups, and stir fries. Here we brought home leftovers of Spicy Green Bean and Tofu, Pineapple Red Curry, with some fresh asparagus, quinoa, and sticky rice. Try some Thai Tofu Saute with sweet Thai basil!


Cilantro is so cheap, but often we don't know what to do with all of it before it wilts. We jazz up our Thai Red Curry Tofu Scramble, served with some quinoa, corn tortilla, and white radish. We didn't have enough quinoa, so we thought a corn tortilla might go well with dinner :)

For a Mexican meal, we used the cilantro in Harmony House Foods Black Bean Soup and in a fresh Mexican salad, with avocado, tomatoes, chives, and a local greens mix. Delicious on a summer day! Try some Tortilla soup too!

Please let us know your favorite dishes to use basil and cilantro, and your favorite herbs!

Have a great Friday!




(Photos of fresh herbs taken by ethangeorgi)

Tomato-ey Meals

Tomatoes are becoming less expensive and are so juicy ripe! A great reason to buy lots for tomato-ey meals.

We tried Veganomicon's Potato Kale Enchiladas, but instead of rolling up the tortillas to make enchiladas, we layered them to make a Mexican lasagna. Easier to make it layered! A healthy homemade enchilada pie.
We liked the textures and flavors - juicy tomatoes, creamy potatoes, and crunchy pumpkin seeds for textures, and tomatoes, potatoes, and jalapeno/Mexican spices for flavors. It was tasty, but needed something else, like a drizzle of olive oil or fresh oregano. Also, it took so long to make - and we even split the tasks, prepared the potatoes and sauce ahead, and the next day assembled everything.


When our Dad visited last week, we immediately thought of a tomato dish to make for him - everyone likes tomatoes right? Whenever we cook for him, we try to make healthy but flavorful meals that he will like, because usually he doesn't eat the healthiest and he doesn't get much homemade food either. So, we decided to try Fat Free Vegan Kitchen's Italian Layered Vegetable Casserole. Another layered tomato-ey dish, but Italian style! This was really really good. We prepared the eggplant, bean filling, and sauce ahead of time, and then the next day assembled everything. An easy homemade tomato sauce - though next time we will increase the amount, because the dish could have used more. An easy bean filling too. Had a dollop of olive oil. Next time we might use fresh basil for more intense flavor. Our Dad was very happy :)

We served this with olive oil and homemade Garlic Spelt Rolls, a recipe from a favorite cookbook, the Bread Machine Magic by Linda Rehberg and Lois Conway.


For an Easy 5 minute Tomato Soup, with a fresh tomato-ey flavor, try this easy recipe!

Easy 5 minute Tomato Soup

6 tomatoes, coarsely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 -2 Tbsp pesto (try Alive Organic Pistachio Pesto)
2 Tbsp olive oil
lots of dried basil (or fresh)

Combine all ingredients in a food processor or Vitamix, then blend to your liking (smooth or somewhat chunky). Eat or heat, then eat. So delicious, easy, and fresh! You can also blend in some avocado to make it creamier.

Another delicious tomato soup, but more preparation, is the Fresh Tomato Basil Soup with carrots, red bell pepper, and celery.

Tomatoes don't have to be in just Mexican or Italian meals. At our local Thai Restaurant, we had Thai Sweet and Sour Pineapple Tofu dish with tomatoes in it, and it was delicious! What meals do you like to have tomatoes in?

Fresh Meals for an Active Day

It's already May, and we love that it's warmer outside with beautiful colorful flowers. Spring and especially summer always makes us feel so refreshed and eager to be active outside and also to eat healthy. We love fresh light healthy meals on a warmer sunny day. Here's some recent nutritious fresh meals that we have enjoyed!

Super-powered berry breakfast:
Soaked barley flakes with soy milk, raw flaxmeal, and antioxidant-rich sundried white mullberries and freeze-dried pomegranates. And, a creamy berry smoothie with frozen blueberries, bananas, and more soy milk.

Tart, fruity, and nutritious to rejuvenate us for the day!
Mullberries are very nutritious, full of antioxidants, iron and vitamin C. They taste like flowery dates, with hints of coconut and raisins.

Pomegranates are also nature's superfood, with high levels of vitamin C, potassium, and antioxidants.

What unique berry have you tried, and how do you incorporate more antioxidant-rich fruit in your diet?

Salsa Tofu Scramble:
With black beans, onion, bell pepper, tomatoes, and spices. When served with tortilla chips, steamed broccoli, and fresh tomato wedges, and eaten on the patio in the warm Oregon spring weather, this meal makes for a nice fiesta dinner!

Tofu is a great meat-alternative, filled with healthy soy protein, isoflavones, calcium, and iron.

Broccoli is one of the most nutritious vegetables, high in vitamin C, vitamin K, vitamin A, fiber, folate, and other nutrients. Like other cruciferous vegetables, it is powerful in flavonoids, especially anti-cancer phytonutrient sulforaphane and phytonutrient lutein.

What's your favorite dish to eat broccoli and tofu? What's a unique recipe you use that has soy/tofu?


Whole Grain Millet Bowl:
This tasty and nutritious meal was easy to make - cooked millet mixed with olives, tomatoes, chives, and extra virgin olive oil.

As a gluten-free whole grain, millet has a great nutty, buttery flavor with a texture between rice and couscous. It is a great way to incorporate more fiber and heart-healthy whole grains in one's diet, and is a good source of magnesium, phosphorus, manganese, and other nutrients.

Olives (and olive oil) is a great way to consume more healthy mono-unsaturated fats and polyphenols.

Which gluten-free grains do you enjoy, and how do you prepare them? What's your favorite brand of olive oil with the best flavor? We love trying different extra virgin olive oils to detect the various aromatic flavors.


Yay for May flowers and fresh eats!
P.S. For delectable eats, Ricki Heller has written Sweet Freedom, a cookbook of delicious vegan desserts. Check out her giveaway post for more information - you can have a chance to win a free copy of her new cookbook!

Whirlwind of Seasonal Eats Part 1

Spring is finally here, with a hint of summer this week (high 70's and sunshine)!! But sadly, it is only temporary. In terms of meals from the end of March to the beginning of April, we have cooked meals that have wavered like the wind- from winter, spring, and summer meals.

To celebrate the sunshine, we enjoyed many meals outdoors and ate crisp, refreshing, summer/spring-type foods:

Raw Buckwheat Pepita Pate with carrots, cucumbers, and collard greens. Very palatable, much like fancy tuna/chicken/chickpea salads. Good with lots of celery seed.






Raw Creamy Tomato Soup, with fresh red bell pepper, onion, herbs, and garlic for enhanced flavor, and with avocado for richness.


Fresh corn on the cob. We're ready for more sweet corn to make some corn soup. But for now we enjoyed the corn with some buttery olive oil on it.

Tempeh BLT's (no bacon of course), based off of this recipe. Awesome. We just started experimenting with tempeh, and it is so versatile, nutritious, and tasty. We love hearty healthy sandwiches, and the marinated tempeh with avocado and red onion was delicious!

Cheezy Quesadillas with pinto beans, based off of this recipe. This was almost too rich, slightly sweet. We love the idea though and feel this is a great idea to branch from. We are making cheezy hummus quesadillas when our parents come up to visit this weekend.

and Tofu Scramble Fiesta Wraps, with potatoes, black beans, salsa, avocado, onion, bell pepper, and jalapeno.

For breakfast, we made a refreshing Raw Buckwheat Porridge with fresh blueberries and sliced oranges on the side. Zesty, fresh, and flavorful! For a nice snack, we chomped on Kettle's Baked Potato Chips (the best potato chips, and baked, too). And, we savored some Homemade Root Beer Banana Ice Cream.


Stay in tune for Part 2 of "Whirlwind of seasonal eats" post - about the winter eats. :)
-LK

Spicy Start to the New Year!

A Spicy Start to the New Year!

To start 2009 off, we couldn't have forgotten our "lucky" black-eyed peas. And since we thought of home, i.e. Texas, we made some spicy black-eyed pea casserole with spanish rice:

Spicy Black-eyed Pea Casserole

15 oz can black eyed peas, drained
1 4 oz can green chiles
15 oz can diced tomatoes, canned, unsalted
1 1/4- 1 1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/4-1/2 tsp Mexican seasoning
1/2 tsp cumin
1 med. garlic, minced
1/2 cup onion, diced
2/3 cup green bell pepper, diced
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup canned corn
1/4 tsp jalapeno powder
cooked spanish rice
olive oil

Chop vegetables (garlic through bell pepper) and saute on stove slightly. While sauteing, combine spices. Once veggies cooked, add rest of ingredients except rice and oil, and heat through. Serve over spanish rice, drizzled with olive oil. Sprinkle more spices to taste.


How about more spicy authentic Spanish food - Tortilla Soup!
This is the best tortilla soup! Spicy, flavorful, healthy, and authentic!

Spicy Tortilla Soup

1/2 cup chopped onion
1 -2 cloves minced garlic
1 Tbsp Bragg's
2 cups water
1/2 cup fresh salsa
1 can no-salt added diced tomatoes (~1 3/4 cup), with juice
1/8 tsp salt (omit if have salted tomatoes)
3/4 - 1 cup black beans (from a can, rinsed)
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 fresh chopped cilantro (we like lots, and used about 1/4 cup?)
1/2 Tbsp lime juice
optional: cooked corn, green chilies
When serving: avocado slices and tortilla chips, optional nutritional yeast

We actually had this soup with Just Tomatoes' "Just Veggies (freeze-dried peas, corn, bell peppers...), which was good, but we would like to try corn in the summer and green chiles. Even sundried tomatoes would be a different but good addition.

To cook, we just prepped everything to have the soup later in the week, but you can cook this soup in a slow cooker (add all ingredients except avocado and tortilla chips) or just heat soup over the stove in a big pot, making sure to saute onion and garlic slightly first.

Top your soup with avocado, tortilla chips, and nutritional yeast!

Hope you get enough spice this new year to kick off a new you (hey, maybe that spice will motivate you in keeping your resolutions!). - LK

Eyes, Bugs, Tornadoes!

Happy November! Since Halloween was yesterday, we wanted to get creative in the kitchen and have a "themed" meal. Easy but delicious...

... Black Eye Soup, slimy cucumber salad with bugs, and tornado and moon crescent rolls.



The Black Eye Soup was a variation of our Black Bean Soup, but we added a can of black eyed peas to have "eyes" in our soup. Pureed the black beans but not the black eyed peas.

For the cucumber salad, we just shredded a cucumber and added onion, currants, black pepper and some vinegar. It would be good with some other seasonings, but it was still refreshing and we enjoyed eating our slimy salad with black bugs!

Our Tornado and Moon Crescent Rolls were made with Bob's 10 Grain flour and carrot puree. We were hoping the carrots would make the rolls orange, but it just made it a darker golden brown. The carrot flavor though definetely stood out and made the crescents subtly carroty sweet. Yum!


We had so much fun carving a pumpkin (quite large one too!). The best part - roasting pumpkin seeds! We loved this garlicy cayenne addicting snack.


We are in the mood for comforting Autumn foods, so this morning we baked gingerbread raisin cookies. The recipe is from David's Pure Vegetarian Kitchen Cookbook that we checked out from the library. It is a great book so far with easy but tasty recipes that are quick to make and don't require much ingredients.

Another holiday treat we made last night was homemade "egg nog". In the Vitamix, we blended So Delicious Vanilla coconut milk yogurt, hemp milk, frozen bananas, nutmeg, and a dash of allspice. Turned out excellent!

Hope your November is off to a great start!

Today's All Saints Day, so here is a Bible verse in recognition of Saint Martha, the patron saint of servants and cooks.

“Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness…” (Matthew 5:6a)

We should prepare our meals with love and be thankful for the food we have. We should serve others and ultimately seek nourishment from God.

- LK Sisters

Cooking Minimally

Lot's of good finds at the Farmer's Market and the local natural food store, but a challenge to cook this past week. Why? Because the darn movers haven't shown up yet - and all of our kitchen appliances and utensils are packed away. We do have a minimal amount of cooking essentials, which include one large skillet, one cutting board, cookie sheet, some knives, two wooden spoons, and small plastic plates and spoons. We are cooking only on the stove or in the oven (that includes reheating), and we do dishes constantly at every meal.

Hungry for oatmeal but without a pot or a microwave? It IS possible with a shallow skillet pan! Want Italian but have no pasta pot or strainer? Again, the shallow skillet pan works! We've discovered that the skillet pan is very multipurpose and handy!


Grains and Nuts Bob's Red Mill Hot Cereal - with bananas, dried cranberries, flaxmeal, cinnamon, agave, and a dash of almond milk. Ate breakfast this morning outside in the crisp air on our porch!






















Organic Tomato & Grilled Zucchini Spaghetti Sauce - with sauteed onions, garlic, yellow crookneck squash, drizzled with olive oil, and sprinkled with basil and oregano. Pasta shells were excellent (Delallo Organic Whole Wheat Shells) despite the minimal cooking technique in a skillet!

We were anticipating a tasty "fajita" meal with Tofurkey's Spicy Veggie tempeh that we bought at Whole Foods. Sauteed onions and purple bell pepper, avocado, and spicy Muir Glen Garlic Cilantro salsa tasted good; too bad we DISLIKED the tempeh! It tasted like bad cheese, and we never were cheese fans in the first place. We ended up only having a veggie fajita on these whole wheat flatbreads. We also had Jalapeno Hummus Tortilla Chips, made with stone ground corn.





At the local food store this week, we bought:


Vegetas' Jalapeno Hummus Tortilla chips (great crunch and whole grain nutty flavor, just not spicy or baked)
Lakewood Pure Mango Juice (our favorite brand of juices - fresh pressed instead of from concentrate)
Drew's Sesame Orange Dressing
Real Foods Multigrain Corn Thins (a thin rice cake with popcorn)
Bob's Red Mill Millet Grits
Bob's Red Mill Grains and Nuts
Santa Cruz Organic Apple Cherry Sauce
Artisana Raw Pecan Butter (which we absolutely love! Great with rice cakes, banana, in desserts, in smoothies, in cookies.)
purple cauliflower!


With our local "Canadian Harmony" variety of juicy peaches, we made a simple quick-n-easy Peach Crisp:
No-Fuss Peach Crisp
Homemade Granola
1 cup oats
~ 4 Tb agave, enough to coat all the oats
a pinch of sea salt
lots of cinnamon
sunflower seeds

Lay out oats on a cookie sheet, then add agave and mix thoroughly to coat. Mix in a little salt and lots of cinnamon. Spread out evenly over the sheet, then sprinkle sunflower seeds to your liking. Bake at 325F, checking/stirring frequently, until aromatic and lightly browned. Let cool to harden.

Warmed Peaches
4 large juicy ripe peaches, chopped

Put in a skillet and cook at med-heat until warmed and syrupy. Then serve with granola on top for a simple and healthy treat. Could also serve it with yogurt for a parfait.


Sometimes the simplest things are life's sweet pleasures. Kudos to the skillet and those green Preserve plastic plates!

RAWesome Foods

We've been attempting to eat more wholesome raw foods in our diet each week. Last week we had raw cashew mango cookies, and the week before we tried raw spinach zucchini lasagna. Well, we've had more RAWesome foods :)

For the fourth of July, we made Taco Lettuce Wraps. Most of it was raw, except the homemade bluecorn tortillas that we served with it. Our feast included...
... taco "meat", diced tomatoes, raw corn kernels, sliced avocado, cabbage leaves, and the tortillas (although for leftovers we had a truly raw meal with just the cabbage as our wrap). We got the taco "meat" recipe from a free magazine from the natural food store. Here's the recipe and our comments:

Taco Lettuce Wraps

2 cups walnuts, soaked (~ 1 1/2 hours)
2 Tbsp Braggs
2 Tbsp water
1 Tbsp cumin
1/2 Tbsp coriander
1 bunch cilantro (we didn't have any)

fresh corn kernals from 1-2 heads of corn
fresh tomatoes, diced
sliced avocado
cabbage heads

Process taco "meat" in a food processor until mixture resembles ground taco meat. Serve with remaining fresh veggies. Serves 8.

It was very tasty, healthy, and filling! We want to definitely have this again, but we brainstormed some other ideas - mix walnut meat with 1/2 quinoa for a lighter "meat"; make an Italian flare with herbs and balsamic; add a creamy dressing such as guacomole or agave mustard dressing; have it in a pita, or serve with other veggies such as cucumber, sprouts, salsa, shredded carrots, etc...



We also made Fresh Avocado and Cucumber Soup (also found this in a magazine).

Fresh Avocado and Cucumber Soup

1 cup soy or hemp milk
4 green onions, chopped
2 large avocados, cut into chunks
juice of 1/2 lime
1/4 tsp salt
1 and 1/2 large cucumbers, peeled and chopped
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro (we didn't have any)
black pepper
lots of cayenne

Puree all ingredients in a food processor and puree until well blended with a smooth consistency. Add pepper and adjust seasonings. Chill before serving.

It was fresh, cooling, easy, and healthy! We added ~ 2 Tbsp bell pepper, and we garnished with corn kernels and chives. It would be good with spinach or pureed cauliflower, or with tomatoes and Italian spices like basil.



With our fresh figs, we enjoyed Fresh Raw Fig Spread. Instead of heating the mixture, which is usually the technique when making jam, we just processed the figs to a thick paste with no cooking required.

Fresh Raw Fig Spread

~ 20 fresh figs (~ 1 lb)
1/8 cup water
1 lemon, juiced, optional
1/4-1/2 tsp brown sugar

Process in food processor until thick puree. Makes ~ 1 1/2 cups! So easy!

We used this on toast, for nut butter banana jam sandwiches, and in our oatmeal.

Lastly, we shopped at rawguru.com, and bought some great new "raw" finds! We've only tried the Mexican Flax Chips, which has a unique crunch (very good!) and a great tomato-Mexican flavor! We'll let you know how the other raw goodies turned out!


The goodies include: Lydia's Organics Apple Ginger Bar, Raspberry Bar, Tropical Mango Bar, Carob Hazelnut Bar, and Apple Fig Bar; Organic Golden Flaxseed Crackers, Mexican Harvest; Goldenberry Brazil Nut Cookie; Nature's Gift Raw Organic Pineapple Flax Cookie; Adam and Eve Dangerous Date Bar; and Gopal's Mexican Power Wrap.

Hope your summer is full of sunshine and good food! LK