Tag Archives: beans

Peeling back the Layers

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Sometimes you can’t ask for a more perfect weekend.

The sun is out. On a bike ride with your husband, you catch smiling happy people at the beach on a gorgeous day.

While riding and reflecting on good times with friends the night before, you watch your husband on his mountain bike pass a couple on their road bikes.

Say what? True story. I had to put my sneaker to the bike pedal to catch up, apologizing to the struggling couple along the way. Apparently, they downshifted twice (the wife announced to me). Whatever that means. Hey, everyone is out enjoying the weather. Life is good.

Finishing touches to an amazing day. Unwinding, while cooking a delicious dinner, with a little wine and then a movie.

Now, I have your attention.  Well, the alcohol is from Trader Joe’s thanks for asking. But, let me tell you about the dinner.

Layer 1: Carbs- Polenta cornmeal

Layer 2: Protein and Carb combo: Black Beans and Corn

Layer 3: Filling nutrients and fiber from mixed veggies

Layer 4: Antioxidants from salsa

Layer 5: Healthy Fats and protein from low fat cheese and olives

5 Layer Mexican Polenta

Ingredients

1 16 ounce tube of polenta cut into slices

30 ounces of of black beans (prewashed and cooked or canned)

10 ounces of whole kernel corn

1 onion chopped

2 peppers, chopped (your favorite- I used red and yellow)

8 ounces of sliced mushrooms

8 ounces of salsa (I used Trader Joe’s Pico de Gallo)

1/2 cup Shredded Cheese (I used Trader Joe’s lite Mexican Blend)

4 ounces black olives chopped

4 ounces chopped green chilies

2-4 garlic cloves minced (I of course used 4)

1 Lime squeezed

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 Tsp honey

1 Tsp Chili powder

1 Tsp Cumin

1/2 tsp Oregano

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Lightly oil, or spray 9 X 13 baking dish.

2. Heat olive oil in skillet over medium heat. Cook and stir onion, peppers, mushrooms and garlic until Onions are soft and translucent. Then stir in honey, chilies, and spices and turn heat off. Squeeze in lime juice.

3. Cover baking dish with sliced polenta (this is not perfect the whole circle in a square peg deal). Layer beans and corn evenly over polenta, then spread onion mixture over beans and corn.

4. Next layer, spread salsa over top. Then sprinkle shredded cheese mixture over top, and add olives evenly.

5. Bake until heated through, about 20 minutes.

Of course Sean found a way to make it Man Style by adding Tortilla chips and eating it as a dip…. I love when Cohabitation blends seamlessly…. makes up for those days when things just don’t go as planned…..

While cooking dinner we listened to TV on the Radio’s Critically acclaimed  Return to Cookie Mountain. So sad, the bassist passed at such a young age. It reminds you to appreciate life to the fullest….

And, the Berry Happy Bodies page on Facebook has finally made an appearance. You can Like ;) , or Follow at https://www.facebook.com/Berryhappybodies. Thanks!

This recipe is featured at Fitsugar.com!

Recipe linked up at This Chick Cooks.

 

Apple recipe-check

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Sometimes I have a task I want to complete. It seems simple enough, has a start and ending point. Like, for example post a few apple recipes. No problem, I have baked, cooked or chopped a few before so I can easily scout some down. Shouldn’t take long at all. Well, apparently I forget how easily distracted I am. I ended up getting stuck somewhere in the middle of finding a bunch of recipes and posting them. Note to self, Focus on one thing at a time. Ever happen to you?

Well, on a positive note I found a ton of recipes, and most looked pretty freakin good. Everything from crumbles, to pies, bars, salads.  It goes on and on……

The funny thing is,  in the end I ended up creating my own. I was looking for a healthy apple main dish with a good blend of carbs, protein, lil fat, with veggies and of course taste good.  I can do that, Right?

This recipe was inspired by a cold spinach apple salad I used to order at a local cafe many years ago. But, I wanted to add a little protein and healthy carbs, as well as warm it up since the nights are cooling down. Voila, end result is Warm Harvest Salad. Well, actually the title was originally 3 sentences long and my wise coworkers informed me that maybe I better tone it down…..

FYI-pictured here is a double batch. Husband gave it an 8.5 cause it was lacking meat. This was quickly repaired, and a turkey sausage was added to his bowl.

Warm Harvest Salad

Salad Ingredients

12 ounces baby spinach

1 apple chopped

1 1/4 cup Trader Joe’s Harvest Blend  (can use quoina, brown rice or couscous)

Veggie Broth for boiling Harvest Blend mix

5 stalks of green onions

1/2 red onion

3/4 cup each of chickpeas, kidney and pinto beans

1 Tbsp olive oil

1/4 cup veggie broth

Dressing Ingredients

1 Tsp honey

1 Tsp salt

1 Tbsp Whole Grain Dijon Mustard

¼ cup White Wine Vinegar

1 Tbsp Olive oil

1 Tbsp veggie broth

1 Tbsp minced chives

Pepper to taste

Directions

  1. Boil water and veggie broth for the Harvest grains and cook grains as directed on package. (I use half water, half veggie broth for a little added flavor). When grains are finished set aside.
  2. While water/veggie broth is boiling, in pot pour 1/4 cup veggie broth over high heat, until boiling. Turn down heat to low/med and add spinach and cover. Stir until spinach is wilted. Turn off heat, and pour spinach into a strainer. When cooled pat spinach dry and set aside.
  3.  In a separate large saucepan first heat up olive oil. Then saute the red onion in oil until soft 5-6 minutes over med/high heat. Add in chopped apple for 3-4 minutes. Place heat on low.
  4.  Add in green onions, beans, and wilted spinach to onions and apples. Stir over low/med heat for 4-5 minutes or until mixture is warm.
  5. While bean apple mixture is warming, in a separate bowl mix together ingredients for dressing.
  6. Place grains in large serving bowl, add half of dressing and stir until well mixed. Add in apple, bean, spinach mixture. Fold in remaining dressing.
  7. Serve warm to happy smiling faces.                                                                                                              PS we listened to Black Joe Lewis and the Honey Bears. An upbeat James Brown type. Soul rockin music kept me on my toes while making this one. Hopefully we will see them live in November. Review to follow…

No dessert Required

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I am one of those folks that require (notice I said required and not want ;) ) a piece of sweet something following a meal.  From what I’ve read in the literature and magazines there is controversy as to why this is.  After lunch at work I can solve this problem with frozen grapes (don’t mock it till you try it!!) or gum. Dinner is another story. Harder to satisfy the craving.  So when I saw the skeleton of this meal on allreciepes.com it got the gears going in my noggin. I used the grill instead of the suggested broiler, and added in few twists of my own.

I liked this meal for a variety of reasons. I wanted to grill, but didn’t feel like slicing and dicing the same ol zucchini, pepper, onion stand by. This meal solved both of those issues, and as a bonus no dessert was needed!!! Not to mention the healthy content of this meal, where to start…. Tons of clean burning carbs ( you know I love those) from the polenta, banana, beans and tofu. Protein from bean and polenta combo, and tofu. Antioxidants from pineapple and tomato in the salsa, just to touch on some of the nutrients.   Woo, plus my fiance master griller and non meat eater gave it a 9/10!

Allrighty, enough talk lets get to it:

 Grilled Vegan Polenta Arepas

Start with these ingredients  all from Trader Joes:  

1 block of tofu

1 tube of prepared polenta

Olive Oil for grilling

3 bananas

1 cup black beans undrained

2 avocados sliced (apparently they were hiding when I took the pic)

Pineapple or mango salsa prepared (I cheated) or you can make your own

1/2 Tbsp Cumin

2 garlic cloves

Directions

1. If you have a charcoal grill like us get that fire going. She said fire hehe hehe (sorry had Bevis and Butthead relapse).

2. Slice tofu into large rectangular blocks, and the polenta and banana into circles. Set aside. Do not worry about the round hole and square peg issue.

3.  Mince garlic. 

4. In mixing bowl combine beans, garlic and cumin. Mix with hand held mixer or food processor until smooth. Set aside with salsa.

4. Throw tofu, polenta and bananas on grill. grill until those black crispy marks appear.

5. Spread out on table like this:

6. Assemble to become dinner and dessert in one

enjoy!

Somehow avocado didn’t make

this one either ha! Finally done :) .

Music: We listened to Arctic Monkeys new cd Suck It and See, and their older one Humbug to compare how they have progressed. Both of us have been hooked on the old cd for a while, so the new one had a lot to live up to. And while the new one is good, it is slower and less complex. So we still enjoy the older cd a little bit more. But it was a good grilling mix!