Tag: cilantro

Deconstructed lentil burrito bowl (vegan)

Recipes, Vegan Recipes

Snagged this great recipe for Mexican Style Beluga Lentils from The Witchy Kitchen (great recipes on this blog by the way). The only change I made was that I added double the paprika because it was the last bit in the little can so I just dumped out the whole thing. Oh yeah, and I didn’t add onion powder because I didn’t have any. I used Tapatio for the hot sauce.

1 Cup Beluga Lentils (Rinsed)img_0002
3 3/4-4 Cups Water
1 Tsp. Red Wine Vinegar
1 Vegetable Bouillon
1 Bay Leaf
1 Tsp. Cumin
3/4 Tsp. Paprika
1/8 Tsp. Onion Powder
1/8 Tsp. Garlic Powder
Black Pepper and Hot Sauce to taste*
Place water, lentils, bay leaf, and bouillon in a sauté pan and bring to a boil. Stir. Allow to boil hard for about 45 seconds to a minute. Turn the heat down to where it will keep the lentils at a low simmer and place a lid on the pan at an angle, so that steam can escape. Allow to simmer on low heat, stirring intermittently, for about 20-25 minutes.* Once the lentils start to look plump and done, add the vinegar, dry spices, pepper, and hot sauce. Mix and remove from the heat.
* I couldn’t get this part right so there ended up being a lot of liquid left once the lentils were cooked. What I did to fix this was drain the lentils into a bowl to collect the cooking liquid. I added a little bit of the liquid at the end to loosen everything up and to make sure the spices were mixed in well.
The corn salsa is my “recipe.” It has no heat because I didn’t have any peppers to add but it became friends with the lentils straight away and they’ve been inseparable ever since. It was an un-recipe really because I was cleaning out the fridge and was using up stuff I had in the freezer and what not. So here it is:
1 bag of frozen corn
1 small onion (or half a large one) chopped to the same size as the corn
I huge handful of cilantro* chopped
1 tsp cumin
The juice of one lime (or 2 key limes)
Salt & Pepper to taste
*I usually take the stems of the cilantro leaves and then chop it until I have about a handful of just the chopped leaves. Sure it’s more work but who wants to eat stems?
**If the pepper fairy were to visit me and I had peppers to add, I would chop and add a poblano pepper
Add all the ingredients, stir until well mixed, taste it and see what else you want to add. Maybe more cilantro? Maybe more salt? You decide. Keep tasting and don’t worry I won’t tell anyone you used the same spoon over and over.
Overall thoughts: I really liked the lentil recipe and mos def am making them again. Have to admit I was pretty impressed with my corn un-recipe, too. Deconstructed looks prettier but I ended up mixing everything up in the end anyway.
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Manny’s hash browns

Adventures, Favorites, Recipes

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Like mother like son. My son, Manny, loves to cook. Today he made his famous hash browns for an afternoon snack. He used three large russet potatoes, bell peppers, hatch chile, garlic, green onions,white onions and cilantro. We cooked them first with the top on the skillet and then the last few minutes with the top off to let them crisp up. I enjoyed mine with a Blue Moon and it was awesome.

Sweet Potato Lentil Stew

Everything else

Sweet Potato Lentil Stew

I absolutely love Alicia Silverstone’s book, The Kind Diet, where I found this fantastic recipe. Here is the final product of the recipe and trust me, it tastes even better than it looks. The recipe made a pretty large batch so I took my leftovers (this stew gets even better the next day) to our office potluck. It was a hit! Everyone was asking me for the recipe. I put it over cooked Arborio rice and topped it with fresh chopped cilantro. Even my carnivore boyfriend liked it and got full with one bowl.

Clean-out-the-fridge Scrambled Eggs

Everything else

Clean-out-the-fridge Scrambled Eggs

This was our delicious Sunday morning breakfast last Sunday. I cleaned out the fridge and chopped up all my leftover veggies – spinach, mushrooms, onions, hatch chilis, green onions, and cilantro. On the side are delicious flour tortillas from a Tucson tortilleria (tortilla store), Estrella bakery. This meal easily held us over to dinner and curbed my impulse to buy everything at the grocery store.

Quick Tuesday night dinner

Everything else

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Last night I was especially tired. I had gone on a long run yesterday morning and a ended up staying late at work. By the time I got home, I was hungry and wanted something quick to eat. Good thing that while I was out in the field for my job, I went passed one of the best Mexican bakeries in Tucson, Estrella bakery. This place has the best tortillas! They are so authentic and delicious. If you are ever in Tucson, you must go to this little, humble bakery. 

Armed with delicious tortillas and a can of vegetarian refried beans in the pantry, all I needed to make was some delicious rice for an amazing bean burrito. I am kind of on a saffron kick right now, so I decided to make yellow rice. I used Arborio rice because the brown rice I had in my pantry was just not going to work for this. Arborio rice is usually for risotto but cook it like regular rice and it is still has a nice tender texture without the creaminess.

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I started out with some oil in my pan and sauteed garlic, white onion and the rice until the rice was slightly toasted. Meanwhile, I steeped some saffron threads in salted water. Once the rice was toasty, I poured in the saffron water, brought it all to a boil, then covered the pan, and cooked like regular white rice. Yum! It came out sooooo good and it only took about 15 minutes.

I cut a tortilla in half then spread the refried beans, put on the rice, added some chopped cilantro, green onions, and fresh tomato – done! Delicious weeknight dinner perfect for taking in front of the TV to eat while I watch New Girl. 

I went ahead and made a burrito on a full tortilla with the same ingredients so I can have it ready for my lunch today. I am going to take some salsa in an empty baby food jar and I’m sure I’ll be the envy of the office. I skipped my morning run today for an extra half hour of sleep but will show my body some love later with an hour of yoga. Happy Wednesday!