Veggie Casserole with Black Beans

I love Black Beans and they have become my favorite thing to add to multiple recipes. They are awesome on meatless tacos, in salads, in soups and even salads. So a few days ago my co-worker Maggy brough this amazing casserole with plantains and it was so good. I wanted to make a meatless dish that would help me clean my fridge as I'm in the middle of a move and didn't want the food to get rancid or throw it away so I decided to use in a dish which I am sharing below. Not only is Black Beans a good source of fiber and helps to lower cholesterol. Of course, when using it in a healthy way you must not over load it with a lot of fat.

This is an untested recipe and I will share the results after I cook it this afternoon. I will list the ingredients below.

Veggie Casserole with Black Beans

1 Can of Black beans

Velvetta Cheese Slices

Chopped Onions

1-2 Potatoes or Boxed Mashed Potatoes Mix

1 small box of chopped spinach

Squash (roasted) or pre-cut squash

Olive Oil or Fat Free Olive Oil Spray

1 tsp Garlic Powder

1 tsp Oregano Powder

1 tsp Cayenne Pepper

Preparation:

Pre-wash the can of black beans and set aside in bowl. Roast the squash in a casserole dish for 40-45 minutes. While Squash is roasting, prepare your mash potatoes in the oven or microwave as necessary. Saute Spinach in 1 tsp of Olive Oil or in fat free Pam spray. Mash black beans in the bowl, and layer on a small baking dish, add chopped onions, and seasonings, then add the roasted squash, mashed potatoes, and spinach. Add slices of velvetta cheese in between each layer if you would like. Use seasonings as necessary. Bake for 30-35 minutes and serve when done.

I will update this blog with a picture if I can after this dish is done.

If you make this dish, use your imagination and use what you have. There are many vegetables to use, make your palate happy by enjoying a variety of them.

Happy Healthy Day to you!

Pam

Crockpot Meal: Lentil Soup with Potato, Carrot and Tomatoes

Back in 2009, when I moved to New York City, I had roommates from different cultures and countries. One of my roommates was from India and he ate vegetarian fare. I quickly was encouraged by him to cook my food at home because we both agreed New York was expensive and eating out when you should be on a budget is something to consider. My first experience with lentils was just making soup which I'm back to because it's January and I'm trying to gear up for the Daniel Fast. One of the great things about using Lentils is that it is very good for your body and it stretches well. It is hearty and can be rolled over into many different dishes. I've seen everything from soups to veggie burgers to chili's for this adaptive morsel. Today I really didn't want to go spend money and although it's not cold enough in New York, I saw a recipe a few days ago for a chili version that looked pretty yummy.

I decided to take what I had in my possession to create a different type of lentil soup. This one has a few of my favorite things: carrots, tomatoes, potatoes, and lots of seasonings with fresh garlic and onions. All of the things I put in my soup are very cheap at the local Asian grocer. I got my bag of carrots for 99 cents, tomatoes for one buck, a bag of potatoes went for $2.50 but I'm out of potatoes so I'll have to go back and restock on that.

Not only are these vegetables good for your body, during winter there is something comforting about a bowl of soup on a winter night that over looks the average on the go meal: McDonald's, BK's or Popeye's might be good when you are too lazy to cook and yes, a crockpot meal takes a while but what I love about the crock pot is that it's a no brainer. You put your ingredients in it, and sit back and relax. While waiting for my meal to be completed, I ate a corn muffin I made the day before and snacked on green peppers and hummus.

Pam's Comfy Lentil Soup

1/4 cup of Eden Organic Green Lentils

2 bay leaves

1 carrot

1 medium potato

1 tsp cilantro

1 tsp onion powder

1 tsp oregano

1 plum tomato

2 cloves of fresh garlic or minced garlic

1 cup of water

1 tsp of black pepper

Sea Salt (optional)

Tomato Paste (optional)

Unsalted Chicken Broth (optional)

389 calories per serving

1 gram of fat

Place all vegetables, chopped and layered in your crockpot, add seasonings, and then the lentils and water. Cook on low for 4 hours. You can garnish with more cilantro or parsley when it is done.

Have a great week ahead and remember, it's okay to have a healthy appetite just have some balance with it all.

Pam

Green Smoothie

I know what you're thinking, "a green smoothie" how is that tasty. But stick with me for a while. Earlier today I wanted to eat a nice, juicy burger with fresh french fries but didn't want the calories. I also by passed Popeye's and Burger King to name a few fast food choices. The funny thing is I came home from my walk and decided to just grab some fruit and water. Over the weekend I bought a big bag of turnip greens which i had been craving for a while. A long time ago, a fellow Facebooker posted a healthy smoothie that had Kale in it but I was like 'nah" that's not gonna work. Anyway, flashforward to today.

I saw that I still had a lot of greens left and wondered what would I do with it. I knew I could make another bath of turnip greens or I could put it with some beans or in a veggie soup. I was curious about how it would taste in a smoothie. So I took a few ingredients which I whipped up in mere seconds with my blender. Mind you my blender is not an over priced one, it is one I got on sale at Kmart a few months ago.

Pam's Green Smoothie:

1 cup of turnip greens

1/2 banana

1 tablespoon of blue berry flaxseeds

1 tablespoon of plain non fat greek yogurt

Water

1 teaspoon of raw honey

1 small apple

Instructions:

Wash all ingredients, then cut the apple and place in the blender, add the greek yogurt, blue berry flaxseeds, water, banana, raw honey with the turnip greens on the top. Blend on high for 5 minutes. When finished serve in your favorite container.

Calories: 267

Fat Grams: 3 grams of fat

Happy eating! I will put this one in my rotation for the new year. It was delightfully nice. No bitterness. I think the apple and banana balances out the bitterness of the greens.

Pam

Tofu w/Spinach Fettucine

I created this lil dish last week. It was pretty easy and fulfilling. The inspiration was my fridge and cupboard. I realized I had some tofu that I needed to cook and needed some protein since I'm no longer eating a lot of red meat these days. I had a box of spinach fettucine but you could use other pasta I am sure. I had a lot of vegetables in my fridge but wanted more of an Asian feel to the dish so I used some asian ingredients. Hope you enjoy.

Ingredients:

1/5 of Firm Tofu

1 onion

1 or 2 garlic cloves

1 tsp of dried cilantro

1 tsp of garlic powder

1 tsp of low sodium soy sauce

1 tbls of rice wine vinegar

1 tsp of curry powder

1 tsp of sesame seeds

a handfull of spinach fettucine or other pasta

1 plum tomato

1-2 carrots

1 dash of crushed red pepper

other vegetables (optional)

Method:

Saute cloves, garlic, and vegetables in pan with one tbl of olive oil under all of them carmalize. Add tofu and cook til tender. Add seasonings (garlic, dried cilantro, curry) and rice vinegar, low sodium soy sauce. Cook the pasta til you recieve desired consistency. Add fettucine/pasta to pan and arrange sesame seeds over the entire mixture.

Serves 1-3 depending on how much pasta/tofu you use.

Enjoy!

Mocha Sistah

Tomato and Cheese Veggie Wrap & Broccoli Salad

Hi guys,

Just wanted to drop in a quick lunch idea which I actually made today because I work in a very expensive area of Manhattan and I didn't want to spend money! So the following idea is very doable and you can adapt it.

Tomato and Cheese Veggie Wrap

Ingredients:

Shredded Mozzarella Cheese

One tomato

1 tsp finely chopped sweet onion

Dried Cilantro

Whole Wheat Wrap

Inside of the whole wheat wrap, put chopped tomato, shredded cheese and chopped sweet onions, sprinkle dried cilantro and close the wrap. When you get to work microwave one minute and lunch is served.

Broccoli Slaw Salad

Ingredients:

1/3 bag of broccoli slaw

1 to 2 tbls of orange flavored cranberries

1 tbls of miracle whip

Mix broccoli slaw, cranberries and miracle whip. Place in container and let cool. Eat with the veggie wrap above. Lunch is now served.

Bon appetite!

Til next time, keep it healthy!

Vegetable Pizza w/Ricotta Cheese

If you are stretched for time, this pizza is one of the best and easiest is to make. So don't even worry about the time, it will go by fast and eating something without the traditional red sauce will make your taste buds sing!

Ingredients:

Can of Pillsbury Pizza Dough

Onions

Cilantro

Part Skim Ricotta Cheese

Zucchini

Garlic

Veggie Provolone Cheese

Method:

Line a pan with the pizza dough, making sure to spray pam olive oil on the sides. Sautee onions, cilantro, garlic, zucchini. When ingredients are done, spread ricotta cheese on the pizza dough (on the base of the pizza) and arrange the ingredients on the pizza, layering the veggie cheese on top and bake at 450 degrees for 20-30 minutes. Then you have a nice veggie pizza.

Mocha

Pad Thai (Rice Noodle Recipe)

I was very inspired by my colleague Irene eating some Pad Thai that I wanted to fix my own version of Pad Thai.

Ingredients:

Red Wine Vinegar
Rice Noodles
Low Sodium Soy Sauce
Peanut Oil
Spicy Peanuts
Shrimp
Green Scallions
Garlic (1 clove)
Onions

Method:

Sautee onions, garlic, red wine vinegar, green scallions and regular onions, in a pan with the peanut oil. Boil rice noodle until they are modestly ready. Transfer boiled rice noodle to bowl. Add fresh shrimp to the pan and cook with other ingredients. When ingredients are finished, add the ingredients to rice noodles with peanuts and toss a light amount of soy sauce.

Next time I may add fresh ginger to the recipe to enhance flavor.

Enjoy.

Mocha