Blueberry Green Smoothie

Ingredients:

• About 14 oz of liquid---1/2 orange juice, 1/2 water
• 1 banana
• 5-6 frozen strawberries
• 1 c. frozen blueberries
• 1 1/2 handfuls of spinach
• 1/2 c. oatmeal

Directions:

Add liquid first, then all the other ingredients. Blend.

Black Bean and Sweet Potato Chili

This recipe comes from Good Life Eats. Very delicious and filling (my husband even said so himself).

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 onions, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 poblano pepper, diced (deseed if you like)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 1/4 teaspoons cumin
• 1 tablespoons chili powder
• 15 ounces crushed tomatoes
• 8 ounces vegetable broth
• 1 teaspoon Morton Season All Seasoned Salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 large carrot, peeled and diced
• 2/3 cup diced sweet potato
• 1 cup frozen corn
• 37.5 ounces canned black beans, drained but not rinsed
• 1/2 cup fire roasted salsa
• 2 bay leaves
• 14 ounce can petite diced tomatoes
• 1 1/4 teaspoon cornstarch
• toppings for serving: Monterrey jack cheese or feta and cilantro

Directions:

Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium high heat. Add the diced onion and saute for 5 minutes, until tender and golden. Add the garlic and poblano pepper and saute another minute, until fragrant. Add the cumin and chili powder and saute another 2 minutes.

Lower heat to medium-low and stir in the crushed tomatoes and broth (reserve 1/4 cup of broth), scraping to remove any browned bits in the pan. Add the remaining ingredients except the cornstarch and toppings.

In a small bowl whisk together the reserved 1/4 cup of broth and the cornstarch until smooth. Pour the cornstarch slurry into the chili pot. Stir until well mixed. Bring chili to a boil for 2 minutes and then lower heat to low. Simmer over low heat uncovered for one hour. Then, simmer covered with a lid for 30 minutes.

Serve topped with your choice of toppings.

Notes about this recipe:

1. I served it up with cornbread muffins (using 1/2 wheat and 1/2 white flour).
2. I didn't used crushed tomatoes, I used chili ready diced tomatoes.
3. I just used 1 whole sweet potato (which was a little more than 2/3 c.), and I only used about 28 oz of black beans (about 1 1/2 cups).
4. I cut the chili powder in half, and it was still a tad spicy so next time I might only use 1/2 of the poblano pepper or 1/2 the salsa (I had used a medium spice salsa).

Chimichurri

I found the recipe for this marinate/sauce at Our Best Bites.

They used it as a meat marinate, but I loved this as a dipping sauce for pizza (meat or veggie pizza) and it was yummy drizzled on my steamed asparagus. If you decide to make it, tell me what you liked eating it with.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 C chopped parsley
• 1 1/2 C chopped cilantro
• 1/2 C loosely packed oregano leaves*
• 2 T fresh lime juice
• 1 T red wine vinegar
• 3 T chopped garlic (6-7 cloves)
• 1 t kosher salt
• 1/4 t black pepper
• 1/4 t red pepper flakes
• 1/2 C extra virgin olive oil
  
  *Fresh is best, but if you don't have access to fresh oregano, you could use fresh cilantro and parsley and add in 1 Tbs plus 1 tea dried oregano leaves.

Directions:

Place parsley, cilantro, oregano, lime juice, vinegar, garlic, salt, and pepper in a food processor. Pulse several times until finely chopped. Remove mixture and place in a bowl. Add red pepper flakes and then stir in olive oil by hand.

Notes about this recipe:

1. I used water instead of red wine vinegar and it was still delish.

Cinnamon Fried Sweet Potatoes

Ingredients:

• 1 sweet potato, peeled and diced
• 1 1/2 to 2 Tb olive oil
• 3/4 tsp to 1 tsp cinnamon

Directions:

Heat oil and cinnamon in pan over medium heat. Add the sweet potatoes and stir until all potatoes have been coated with oil/cinnamon mixture. Cook until soft.

Pineapple Carrot Green Smoothie

Ingredients:

• About 12 oz of liquid--1/2 apple juice, 1/2 water
• 1 carrot, peeled and cut into 3 or 4 small chunks
• Leaves from 3 stalks of kale
• 1 handful of spinach
• 4 large spoonfuls of pineapple chunks (could use fresh pineapple as well)
• About 8 frozen strawberries
• 2-4 Tb milled flax seed

Directions:

Put liquid in first, then add other ingredients. Blend.

Tarka Dhal

This recipe is adapted from a cookbook called Best Ever Indian Cookbook. I actually took this picture the first time I made it, a few months ago. Tonight when I made it I changed some things but it still looked the same.

Ingredients:

1/2 c. red split lentils (also called masoor dhal)
1/4 c. yellow split lentils (also called mung dhal)
2 1/2 c. water
1/2 tsp ginger powder
1 tsp crushed garlic
1/4 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp canned green chilis
1 1/2 tsp salt

For the Tarka:
1-2 tbsp oil
1 onion, diced
1/4 tsp mustard seeds
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1 tomato, diced

Directions:

Bring the lentils, water, ginger, garlic, turmeric, and green chilies to a boil. Simmer, uncovered for 15-20 minutes until soft.

Mash the lentils with a fork (or you could use the end of a wooden rolling pin, or a glass jar; I actually just used the back side of my wooden mixing spoon) until it is a creamy constancy. Some of the lentils will still look whole. If the mixture seems too dry, then add water and mix.

For the tarka, heat the oil in a pan and fry the onion, mustard seeds, red pepper flakes, and tomato for 2-5 min. (until onion is translucent).

Pour the tarka over the lentils and garnish with cilantro.

I serve it up with brown rice, and some bread/veggie/fruit (any or all).

Notes about this recipe:

1. You could use all red or all yellow lentils.
2. You could use fresh green peppers (serrano) if you like.
3. You could add more crushed red pepper flakes if you want it to be hotter. I prefer mild, which is what the above recipe is.

Cilantro Lime Quinoa

I found this recipe at Whole Food Mommies.

Ingredients:

• 1 c. quinoa, cooked according to package
• 1/2 bunch cilantro, chopped finely
• 1 Tb. olive oil
• Juice of 1 lime
• Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Directions:

Place all ingredients in a medium bowl and toss to combine.

Notes about this recipe:

1. Be sure to get your cilantro leaves off the stem before chopping finely.
2. I cooked my quinoa in 1/2 vegetable broth and 1/2 water, to give it more flavor. You could completely replace the water with veggie broth if you wanted, or just stick to the water.
   
3. I used it as a taco filler, along with sauted veggies & black beans with fajita seasoning. (See picture below.)