Lentils and Brown Rice

This recipe is my boyfriend's FAVORITE! He asks me to make it all the time. Since it's just the two of us, the left overs last all week- it's an easy lunch! Even though it's July and making this  turned my apartment into a sauna, it was worth it. Here you go:

Shopping List

·         2 tbs of butter (or margarine)

·         2 tbs of olive oil
      1 tsp of sriracha 

·         2-3 stems of fresh rosemary

·         2-3 bay leaves

·         2 tbs of Maggi Seasoning (don't have this?? try balsamic vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, or red wine)

·         1 lemon

·         3-6 cloves of garlic

·         1 shallot

·         1 carrot

·         1 ear of corn

·         1 large tomato, two Roma tomatoes, or a handful of cherry tomatoes (I used one large tomato)

·         ½ cup of brown rice

·         ½ cup of lentils

·         2 sausages (your choice)

·         2 cups of water, you’ll be using it one cup at a time

·         3 cups of broth (your choice of chicken, beef, vegetable, bouillon cubes, soup base, etc.)

How to put it all together

·         Put butter and olive oil in the bottom of a big pot or Dutch oven over low/ low-medium heat

·         Add the ingredients to the pot in the following order; after you finish chopping each ingredient (minus rice and bay leaves), throw it in the pot and stir so everything is coated in olive oil and butter!

o   Garlic

o   Shallot

o   Rosemary

o   Bay leaves (don’t need chopping but add)

o   Carrot

o   Corn (cut kernels off the cob)

o   Brown rice

·         Sauté ingredients for 5 minutes 

·         Add 3 cups of broth, Maggi Seasoning, juice from whole lemon, and sriracha

 

·         Cover and bring to a medium boil

·         Wait 10 minutes, then add lentils and stir

·         Cover and cook for 45-50 minutes, keeping it at a boil; stir occasionally to check water levels; when liquid runs low, add water, one cup at a time. You will do this twice during the 45-50 minutes. You will know it’s done by testing the brown rice- it is ready when the rice is fully cooked.

·         While the veggies, rice, and broth are cooking, chop sausage and cook in a dry pan over medium high heat for about 3 minutes on each side, you want to char the sausages just a bit- a little bit of black adds a lot of flavor! Add the sausage and all the juice from the pan into the pot.

·         Dice and add tomato; simmer for an additional 5 minutes, covered (I normally like to pan or oven roast the tomatoes first because the flavor is amazing, but it’s July and I have no A/C so I skipped that step this time)

·         Wait 10-15 minutes or until cool enough to eat before serving

·         Eat it with crusty bread, in a bread bowl, or with crackers and a glass/ bottle of red wine. This makes GREAT leftovers. Happy eating!

Ideas brewing for next week....

Since I'm always thinking about food but don't have the fridge space (or money) to cook all day long, I'm redirecting my energy to the blog. I've recently mastered my Panko Herb Chicken and Split Pea Vegetable Soup so I am ready to write the recipes down and grub. That's a taste of next week's goodies- get excited 'cause I am!!!

Black Bean Avocado Hummus Enchiladas

Here is my last demo on how to use Black Bean Avocado Hummus (BBAH) we made this week. This recipe is more complicated than the nachos, however each step is quite worth it. These enchiladas include some veggies which subtly add their own flavors. The Black Bean Avocado Hummus makes the filling very creamy and moist without any cream or cheese inside (if you did not make the BBAH or you just ate it all with chips there is a variation option toward the bottom). Here's how you do it:

Make sauce first

Sauce Ingredients

-2 cans of diced tomatoes

-1 cup of salsa/ taco sauce

-seasoned salt, chili powder, paprika to taste

-OPTION: Buy your own favorite enchilada sauce; I made my own because I did not have any on hand and did not want to go to the store!

Sauce steps

-Place all ingredients in a small pot, heat to a simmer; let simmer for 10 minutes

-Turn off the stove, place lid on the pot and let it sit on stove for later

Next, make your filling

Filling Ingredients

-1/2 carrot- peel skin and dispose; use peeler on the rest of the carrot, chop the thin slices

-1 shallot, chopped

-Big handful of spinach, roughly chopped

-Small handful of cilantro, roughly chopped
**Don't have these veggies on hand? See variation ideas below**

-1 cup of black bean avocado hummus  
**Did you not make hummus this week? See variation idea below**

-1 large chicken breast- seasoned with jerk seasoning and lemon pepper, cook in olive oil (about 1 tsp) until done; slice, chop, or shred chicken into small bite sized pieces

-1/3 cup of sauce 

-Stir together ingredients so all veggies are evenly distributed and all are evenly coated with hummus/ sauce

 

Remaining ingredients:

-12-15 corn tortillas, or 8-10 flour tortillas

-ONLY IF YOU USE CORN TORTILLAS, lightly toast the tortillas in a lightly oiled pan; you want the tortillas to be crisp but still able to roll easily- you do not want the tortillas to crack when you roll your enchiladas, however you do not want them to turn to mush in the oven

Final Steps

-Pour a thin layer of sauce on bottom of a 10X10 pan, enough to just cover the bottom

-Fill and roll your tortillas (as many as you can fit in your pan)

-Line rolls in baking dish

-Cover evenly with remaining sauce

-Sprinkle with cheese (I used cheddar and Monterrey jack) 

-Bake at 350 for 10-15 minutes (or until hot all the way through and cheese is nice and melty)

-Let stand for 5 minutes before serving. 

-Optional: top with avocado slices, sour cream, and a pinch of chopped cilantro before serving

-Variations:
--if you didn't make the Black Bean Avocado Hummus but still like the look of these enchiladas, replace the 1 cup of hummus with 1 cup of seasoned ricotta cheese (use the paprika, cumin, chili powder and lime juice to season the ricotta- or whatever sounds tasty for you!)
--if you don't like the veggies we chose, switch them for whatever you have in the fridge: peel down squash or zucchini instead of carrots; chop up white, brown, yellow, purple, or green onion instead of shallot; use arugula instead of spinach; add cherry tomatoes to the mix... Get creative and use what you have in the fridge!

Serve with your favorite rice and beans, a favorite side, or eat them alone! Do you have extra filling? Eat it as leftovers plain, with rice, or in a tortilla rolled up the next day. ENJOY!!!

SIMPLE Black Bean Avocado Hummus Nachos

Ingredients:

-Black Bean Avocado Hummus

-Shredded cheese

-Pico de gallo (one tomato- cut into large dice, juice of 1/2 lime, 1/2 tsp of olive oil, dash garlic salt, chopped cilantro to taste)

-Tortilla chips (I like Tostidos Scoops; no tortilla chips on hand? use pita chips, crackers, whatever you have that won't compete with the flavors)

Steps:

-Spread black bean avocado hummus on each chip

-Sprinkle chips with cheese

-Microwave for 1 minute (or until cheese is melted and hummus is hot)

-Top each chip with pico de gallo

-EAT!

Black Bean Avocado Hummus

Everyone loves hummus! It's great with chips, veggies, on sandwiches, spread on chicken, with a spoon.... you get the idea. While I was musing over hummus yesterday, I realized it's really just beans, spices, and oil. Doesn't every country use some sort of bean in their cuisine? And with that question came a glorious answer: International Hummus! Today is the first installment of my International Hummus series- Mexican hummus. I love black beans and I adore avocados, the main ingredients in this Black Bean Avocado Hummus. Here's what's in it:

Ingredients:
-One 15 oz. can of black beans (drain most of the liquid)
-3-6 cloves of garlic (to taste- how much do you like garlic?)
-1/2 an avocado or one small avocado
-small handful of cilantro (or to taste)
-lime juice (1/2 lime)
-1 tsp of each of the following: cumin, paprika, seasoned salt
-1/2 tsp chili powder
-1/4 cup of olive oil

Steps:
-Throw all of your ingredients (minus the oil) into the food processor
-Begin blending the ingredients; while blending, slowly add your olive oil to the mix
-While you are blending your ingredients, stop and take a taste: is it smooth enough? spiced enough? If it's too thick and not creamy enough, add small amounts of olive oil while you blend until it is the right texture (more lime juice can help thin it out too)

Variation tips:
-Add salsa
-Try more avocado (may need less olive oil since avocados are an oily veggie)
-Don't like raw garlic? Simmer your garlic cloves in the black bean juice to soften the cloves and remove some of the strong flavor of raw garlic.


Suggestions for use:
-Serve with chips and veggies
-Spice up your quesadilla: spread some on the tortilla before you sprinkle your cheese
-Ditch the mayo and mustard, spread this on your sandwich instead
-Spread on top of chicken breasts (like frosting) sprinkle with cheese, and bake (I haven't tried this variation, so I am unsure how the hummus will do in the oven, but it sounds like it would be delicious!)

Enjoy!!! Stay tuned: I will add updates this week on how I used my hummus.

Pilot Post

Hello everyone, or more accurately, no one!

My name is Jamie Mae... and I'm obsessed with cooking (and eating). Cooking is my favorite hobby which keeps me sane and centered. I make nearly all of my own meals and eating out has become a special treat. I sometimes reference a recipe, but rarely follow recipes for my meals. I write down ingredients, but this is my first attempt at writing recipes. I want to be able to cook the same meals twice, which is difficult with intuitive cooking. The way I cook, I don't use measuring cups or spoons; I taste test and instinctively add ingredients as I go.

I am a self-taught home cook. After I left the college dorms, I realized I could no longer afford to eat out for most of my meals and began cooking my own food. I was always cooking for one, which drove me to ditch recipes as they are always designed for multiple eaters. The more I experimented, the more I moved away from pre-made convenience foods. Why buy pasta sauce in a jar when I can make a much better version at home? Six years, hours of Food Network, and hundreds of delicious meals later, I've developed an intuitive and tasty cooking style.

I do not know how to describe my cooking, for I am inspired by many countries. Mostly, I tend to cook Italian, Asian, Mexican, and American inspired fusion-meals. I often find myself day dreaming about food and and what will be my next meal; often, inspirations strike me and I just hope I have a pen around. Today's vision: Black Bean Hummus. We'll see how it turns out this week! It's always a surprise when it's intuitive cooking :) Keep checking back for new meals, pictures, snacks, and more!

*Jamie Mae*