Mexican Bean and Corn Casserole

I have been a vegetarian for 14 years. I have learned a lot about cooking over the years but the biggest challenge was once I had kids. I am raising both of my boys as veggies also. This recipe comes from one of my favorite family vegetarian cookbooks.

Feeding the Whole Family by Cynthia Lair. There are many many great recipes in this book. This is one of our favorites.

1 cup pinto beans (I use canned to make is easier)

1 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 onion chopped
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 red or green pepper, chopped
1 cup chopped zucchini
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon oregano
1/2 cup tomato sauce
1/4 cup water
3 cups water
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil or butter
1 cup polenta
1 tablespoon parmesan cheese

Heat oil in large skillet. Add onion, salt, and garlic; saute until soft.
Add pepper, zucchini, cumin and oregano; saute 5 more minutes.
Add cooked beans to the vegetables with tomato sauce and 1/4 cup water. Check taste and add salt if necessary.

In a separate pot, bring 3 cups water to boil. Add salt and oil. Slowly add polenta, stirring continuously with a whisk. Lower heat and continue stirring in a clockwise motion with a wooden spoon for 10-15 minutes until mixture can hold the spoon upright on its own. Preheat oven to 350 F. In a lightly oiled casserole dish, spread the bean and vegetable mixture across the bottom. Spread the polenta on top. Sprinkle top with parmesan cheese. Bake, covered, for 25 minutes at 350F; remove cover and bake 5 minutes more at 400F.

Preparation time: 40 minutes for casserole if using canned beans.

For Babies 6 months and older:
Reserve some of the zucchini; steam and puree.

Variation for Children:
Serve the bean - vegetable part of the casserole in a bowl and cut some strips of polenta to use as dippers.


**side note - I have altered this and used extra things I had in my fridge like summer squash, spinach, peppers and onions.

Ravioli with tomatoes, white beans and escarole

I am constantly looking for good vegetarian meals. No, we aren't vegetarian. I was in college, until I met AB. Now I admit, I love a good cut of meat. But I still maintain a goal to prove to AB that there are good non-meat dishes out there. This is one of them. I like this because it incorporates beans (which I love) and spinach (which I substitute for the escarole). Of course you can use whatever kind of ravioli you want - meat filled works just fine.

Source: Health Magazine, December 2004

Ravioli with tomatoes, white beans and escarole
Prep: 8 minutes, Cook: 12 mins

1 9oz pachage of fresh four cheese ravioli
1 15oz can of Great Northern or Navy beans, rinsed and drained
1 15oz can of diced tomatoes, undrained
1/2 t dried basil
1/2 t dried oregano
Crushed red pepper flakes to taste
6 cups chopped escarole or spinach
1/4 c water
1/4 c grated asiago cheese (or parmesan)

Cook pasta according to packate.

Combine the beans, tomatoes, basil, oregano and crushed red pepper in large saucepan. Bring to a boil and stir in the escarole (or spinach). Cover and reduve heat and simmer 3 minutes or until escarole is wilted. Stir in pasta and 1/4 c water. Cook until heated through. Sprinkle with cheese.

Serving Size: 1 cup

(329 calories, 7g fat, 19 g protein, 49 g carbs 11 g fiber)

Spring Rolls

Here is an all time favorite in our house. It is the meal that I believe won AB over years ago. I ate at my first Vietnamese restaurant in about 1991 with an ex-boyfriend. This was back in the time when Vietnamese = Thai = Chinese and there's a difference? Yeah, now I know. Anyways, I LOVED the spring rolls and the following weekend went on a search for rice papers to make them. Since this has become a staple in my house.

This is all prep time, busy time. No sitting around waiting for something to cook. We divide and conquer and between the two of us dinner is on the table in 30 minutes. Fair warning that in order to do this in 30 minutes or less you probably need some additional hands and some good planning.

All ingrediants are available online or in well stocked grocery stores.

Vietnamese Spring Rolls

1 package rice paper
1 package rice noodles or bean thread

Optional fillings (we do lettuce, bean sprouts and cilantro and satay chicken)
1 cucumber, julienned
Leaf lettuce, torn into individual leaves
Bean sprouts
Any other vegies you feel like
Cilantro
Mint leaves
Basil
Chicken
Shrimp
Pork

Sauces:
Peanut sauce (easy to make with recipe or buy purchased)
Vinegar sauce (2 parts vinegar, 2 parts sugar, 1 part water, bring to boil and sprinkle with cayenne pepper if desired)

Marinate the chicken anyway you choose - we do a satay marinade (yes I know it is Thai... 1/2 c coconut milk, 1T each of cumin, coriander and turmeric, 6 cloves minced garlic, 2 t white pepper, 2 T brown sugar, mix, marinate chicken for at least one hour and up to overnight.) Grill the chicken, shrimp, pork whatever if you want meat.

Prep your vegies and boil your noodles. Rinse noodles in cold water.

Boil water for the rice papers. We serve everything together so that each person can make their own rolls. Put a big pot of water in the middle of the table for softening rice papers and let each person fill with their choice of ingrediants.

Roll like a burrito and enjoy!

Tonight's quick dinner was Albertson's chicken fajita mix from their butcher case. Here's a review: it wasn't worth the time saved. I should have done anything else (chicken nuggets and rice pilaf from a box?). It was rubbery (over marinated), too artificial-smoky tasting, and lacked a certain "zing" that we like (lime, chili, something). We added some "Florida Seasoning" from Penzey's spices (orange-citrus pepper blend) which helped, but I still couldn't finish. Incidentally, our daughter ("C") ate more of the meat than I did. My husband ("K") didn't like it, but he ate it ;-).

We're improving the meal by chilling a bottle of Avery Lanes Riesling for dessert after C goes to bed. I was blown away by the 2005 version of this wine at a new release judging a few weeks ago. This is the 2004. If it is similar to the 2005, the sweetness would have been a nice foil for what we hoped would be a spicy dinner. For $7.99, I'll let you know what I think later!

I'll post a real recipe or two every so often.

Pan seared halibut with wasabi yogurt sauce and chili garlic vinaigrette

This is a recipe that you can really dress up and serve for guests or just for yourself. It is a blend of a couple recipes from years ago that I have melded into one recipe and I cook routinely for my husband and I. We love halibut, which is a dense white fish. I buy a large chunk at Costco every month or so and freeze cut into smaller portions. It thaws easy in a baggy under running water.

Things you need for the fish:
2 halibut filets
Canola oil
Salt and Pepper
Grill pan or skillet

Things you need for the wasabi yogurt sauce:
Plain yogurt (fat free, lowfat, original style, your choice)
Prepared wasabi (if powdered, prepare according to directions with water)
1-2 T milk
Salt

Things you need for the chili garlic vinaigrette:
1-2 T Chili garlic sauce (from the Oriental aisle in the grocery store)
2 T Rice wine vinegar (also from the Oriental aisle)
6 T (1/4 c + 2 T) Olive oil
2 t Mustard (Dijon or yellow)
Salt and Pepper

1. Sear the halibut on a hot, lightly oiled grill pan or skillet. About 2.5 minutes per side or until cooked to your preference.

2. Prepare the sauces. Mix the wasabi sauce (by taste) in about 1/2 c yogurt (for two people). Add a little milk to thin the sauce down. Salt to taste. Mix the 1-2 T chili garlic sauce (to taste) in 2T rice wine vinegar. Add the olive oil in and mix. Add the mustard, salt and pepper and mix well.

To serve:
I like to serve the halibut over greens (buy the bag of prewashed assorted baby greens for ease) and drizzle both sauces over the top.

Prep and cook time: under 30 minutes total
Difficulty: Easy to medium (searing fish without over or undercooking it can be challenging).
Toddler Friendly: Feed the kid mac and cheese.

The Goal

My goal with creating this blog is to create a compendium of quick dinners. My husband and I both work full time and before having our son, when time was no issue, we loved to cook. We still love to cook, but the ability to spend 2 hours in the kitchen after work or an entire day cooking one meal on the weekend just isn't feasible anymore.

Over the last year and a half I have started gathering recipes, techniques and modifying existing recipes in an effort to provide good tasting yet quick dinners for my family. These come in all forms, truly quick - under 30 minutes start to finish dinners, slow cooker recipes, meals that may take longer to cook, but generate many meals later, etc. A recipe that is toddler friendly is a particular bonus. I am not going to put limitations on the recipes and techniques other than "it worked for us".

I have taken the recipes from many sources and where applicable will provide references and links. My hope is that others will find this valuable and will also consider contributing their own recipes and techniques.

I find it important to have a well stocked freezer and pantry for most of these recipes. We buy meat, fish and poultry in bulk and freeze. I have no qualms about using some prepackaged foods, but I really do try to limit it or seek other options. But in some cases, say canned beans, the other option of preparing dried beans, just isn't always feasible. And as many with toddlers will tell you, when only chicken nuggets and rice pilaf from a box are acceptable, you will do it. For us, this frees up a night where I can quickly sear a tuna filet, slice it up on salad and make a wasabi dressing to go over the top. Something that not only would my toddler not touch with a 10 foot pole, but something I wouldn't necessarily want him to eat either due to the mercury issues. I avoid trans fatty acids, foods high in sodium, and prefer fresh whenever possible. Many meals will reflect this... others... well they just work. No apologies.

I hope you will comment and if possible contribute. Because my repertoire is limited, I will probably seek co-authors both for more selection and because you will get bored of just me... fast. Oh and I hope to find a better name soon!

Thanks for reading!