Mexican-style Black Bean and Rice Skillet

You know what I'm a fan of? Quick, simple, relatively inexpensive dishes that turn out to be healthy, nutritious, and down right tasty. Now when it comes to desserts, I'm often all about time-consuming and detail-oriented goodies. But this Black Beans and Rice Skillet just happens to be one of those easy and delicious dinners that you can whip out in no time, and have plenty of leftovers for lunches or dinners to come. This dish also just happens to fall perfectly in sync with Cinco de Mayo, which is just around the corner! Fancy that! And nope, I did not plan this at all!

I'm really impressed with how this dish has held up to reheating, and I know for a fact that it will now be in my regular dinner rotations. If you're looking for something to make- especially you Mommys out there with little time and kids hanging off of you... you gotta try this out.

Ingredients:
1/2 green pepper, diced
1/2 red pepper, diced
1 small-medium zucchini, diced
1 tablespoon canola or vegetable oil
1 can diced garlic & herbs tomatoes
1 can black beans, rinsed thoroughly
1/2 can sweet corn (or about 1/2 cup frozen corn)
1 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
salt to taste
3/4 cup white or brown rice, cooked as per directions on package (about 2 1/4 cups cooked rice)
1 cup grated cheddar cheese

Directions:
Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. When pan is hot, add zucchini and bell peppers; cook for 5 minutes. Add in cumin and chili pepper, stirring until mixture becomes fragrant; about 1 minute. Add can of tomatoes (including liquid) and rinsed beans. Increase heat to high and bring mixture to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook for about 10 minutes, or until peppers and zucchini has softened (most of liquid should be absorbed/evaporated at this point). Add in corn and season with desired amount of salt.

Add in cooked rice and stir well. Add in additional seasoning if required. Cook for an additional minute, then remove from heat. Sprinkle with cheese and stir through.


Source: adapted from Ready Set Eat Pin It

Double Chocolate Zucchini Bread

This is the story behind the zucchini loaf: A couple days ago, I was lying around watching 'Bake with Anna Olsen' and she was doing an episode on 'vegetables', which included a zucchini loaf. Anna Olsen often inspires me to try and make something, and as I was watching this episode I realized that I had some leftover zucchini from earlier in the week (I made Angel Hair Pasta with Bread Crumbs and Zucchini and a Tortilla Soup).

Anna Olsen's zucchini loaf wasn't chocolate, so I set out in search of a double chocolate zucchini loaf that would be moist, not too rich, and not sugary enough that you couldn't eat it for breakfast. I found this recipe; however, there turned out to be a kink in my plans. When I went to start making the loaf, I realized that I did not, in fact, have lots of leftover zucchini. I only had half a small one. My plans were foiled! Luckily, we were going grocery shopping later that day and I decided that leftover zucchini or not, I would be making the loaf!

Quick breads are really quite simple, and they're given that name for a reason. No need for a stand or hand-mixer, and everything can be put together and in the oven in a matter of minutes. And while I absolutely adore our stand-mixer, I relish in the times that I don't have to lug the heavy beast out.

Ingredients:
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 cup canola or vegetable oil
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup sour cream
1 1/2 cup grated zucchini, packed
1/3 cup chocolate chips

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour an 8" pan.

Whisk together flour, cinnamon, baking soda, salt and cocoa powder in a medium sized bowl. Add the zucchini in and toss to coat. *Apparently coating the zucchini in the flour mixture helps to keep the moisture in the zucchini.* Set aside.

Combine the oil, white sugar, brown sugar and eggs in a small bowl. Whisk together quickly for 2 minutes, until the mixture is slightly fluffy (work those muscles!). Add vanilla and sour cream and whisk until combined.

Combine the liquid mixture with the flour mixture and slowly stir until just combined. Fold in the chocolate chips until distributed evenly.

Pour into the greased loaf pan and bake for 45-55 minutes, or until when a cake tester pick is inserted it comes out clean. Let the loaf rest in the pan for 5 minutes, and then remove and have the loaf sit on a cooling rack until completely cool.

*To help keep quick bread loaves fresh, first wrap in a layer of waxed paper, and then in aluminum foil.

Source: slightly adapted from Our Best Bites

Pin It

Angel Hair Pasta with Bread Crumbs and Zucchini

Lately, I've been a little uninspired in my cooking. I'll blame it on the heat: it makes me lazy and not want to put effort into something that will most likely require me to work in my kitchen, which is one thousand times hotter than my living room, where I like to lounge 2 feet away from the fan. As it was that time again to create a grocery list, I pulled out my cookbooks to find something to make for the week. This dish didn't grab me from the get-go. The ingredients were too simple and I imagined it to be flavourless. And bread crumbs on pasta?? Who does that? Add carbs to more carbs with no sauce? It made no sense to me.

However, it stated that this made for a nice and light summery dish that is easily paired with a salad. I chose to make a Beet, Bean and Feta cheese salad to accompany it (not seen here). I wouldn't have to buy many ingredients for it, and I do like zucchini quite a bit. So I gave it a shot! And was pleasantly surprised! Simple and light, just as the cookbook suggested, it is a satisfying dish for a hot summer evening. I made a couple adjustments to add some more flavour, and if you are more health conscious than me, you can sub in whole wheat noodles... although I'm not sure they have whole wheat angels hair. I couldn't even find angels hair and settled for spaghettini noodles.

Yield: 4-6 servings
Ingredients:
2 slices whole wheat bread
10 to 12 ounces angel hair pasta
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for serving
4 garlic cloves, crushed
4 small green and/or yellow zucchini, sliced in 2-inch lengths
1/4 cup dry white wine, vegetable stock, or water
salt and pepper to taste
freshly grated Parmesan cheese
lemon wedges, for serving

Directions:
Pulse the bread in a mini food processor until they become fine crumbs. In the meantime, start a large pot of water boiling for the pasta.

Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a wide pan, and add the bread crumbs. Cook over medium-high heat until they turn toasty brown and are crisp. Set aside. At this time, add the pasta to the boiling water and leave in until cooked to al dente.

Heat the remaining oil over low heat in the same pan used for the bread crumbs. Crush the garlic with the back of a wide knife, and add to the hot pan. Saute the garlic for a couple minutes, until golden brown. Stir in the zucchini and wine/stock and season with salt and pepper (you will need a fair amount of salt, as zucchini and pasta are bland on their own). Raise the heat to medium and cook until the zucchini is tender crisp, about 4-5 minutes. When done, remove the garlic cloves.

Combine the pasta and zucchini in a large bowl. Top with bread crumbs and Parmesan cheese, and drizzle with olive oil and lemon juice. Serve while hot.

Source: slightly adapted from The Vegetarian Family Cookbook

Pin It