Virtual Vegan Potluck: Summer Saute with Fresh Corn and Cremini Mushrooms

Welcome to the third Virtual Vegan Potluck! I’m so excited to participate again this time. When preparing ideas for a main dish, I went straight to the Post Punk Kitchen for ideas. Expert food blogger Isa Chandra Moskowitz prepared a fabulous seitan saute dish that is perfect for the start of summer. I knew I had to create this dish but with black beans instead of seitan. I can’t resist the combination of black beans and corn! And what is a Mexican-inspired dish without a little guacamole on the side? Serve with chips for a light lunch or rice on the side for dinner. Delish!

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
• 1 medium red onion, in thinly sliced half moons
• 1 jalapeno, thinly sliced (include seeds if you want it spicier)
• 1 can of black beans (15 oz), drained and rinsed
• 1 cup fresh corn kernels, from 2 ears of corn
• 8 oz cremini mushrooms, cut into smaller pieces
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• Fresh black pepper, to taste
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 tablespoons fresh lime juice

Directions:

1. Heat two teaspoons of olive in a large pan over medium-high heat. Add the onion and jalapeno and cook until translucent, 3-5 minutes.

2. Add the black beans and corn in to the pan with one additional tablespoon of oil. Cook for five more minutes.

3. Add the mushrooms, cilantro, salt and pepper. Cook for five minutes.

4. In a separate and smaller pan, saute the garlic in the remaining oil. Add the garlic to the pan and pour or squeeze the fresh lime juice over the mixture.

5. Garnish with fresh cilantro, if desired, and enjoy!

$2 Dinner

1 can of black beans + 1 avocado + a little corn and a little red onion + dash of S&P = lazy dinner for one. Healthy food is not ridiculously expensive. Bypass surgery, Lipitor, blood glucose monitors, gym memberships, Nutrisystem… those things are ridiculously expensive.

Roasted Corn and Tofu Wrap

I have two excuses to avoid running these days. 1. It’s officially really cold out and 2. it’s getting late much too early. It’s not that I don’t want to work out. I am dying to go for a run every day after work, which says something. However, I can’t get myself to run in the cold, dark night. Or on a treadmill. Therefore, I have to eat less. When salads get boring, I turn to wraps. I saw a tofu veggie wrap on the menu at a local deli in town and decided I had to make one at home. It turned out better than I could have imagined, primarily because of the fabulously sweet roasted corn. Yum!

Ingredients:

• 1 whole wheat wrap
• 2 Tbsp garlic hummus
• 1/2 cup lettuce
• 1/4 cup sprouts
• 1/2 avocado, sliced thin
• 1 Tbsp canola oil
• 1/4 cup diced red onion
• 1/3 block of extra firm tofu (4-5 oz) cut into small, bite-sized squares
• 1/4 cup frozen corn kernels
• 1 tsp seasoning mix
• 1/8 tsp salt

Directions:

1. Spread hummus on wrap. Add lettuce, sprouts, and avocado.

2. Heat oil over medium heat in skillet. Add red onion and frozen corn. Cook until onion is translucent (5-7 minutes) and corn has thawed.

3. Add tofu to skillet and stir often. Cook until tofu is golden brown. Sprinkle with seasoning and salt.

4. Add the tofu and corn mixture to the wrap. Wrap up tightly and enjoy immediately.

Kidney Bean and Couscous Burritos

My kitchen has become a burrito shop. Every weekend I put together a new batch of burritos and freeze them. I eat them throughout the week for those inevitable lunch and dinner meals when I’m too lazy to cook. This week, the burritos consist of everything I need to use up in my pantry…

Ingredients:

• 3 Tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 cup dry couscous
• 1/2 large white onion
• 1/2 large green pepper
• 1/3 cup frozen corn kernels
• 1 portobello mushroom cap, stalk removed and gills spooned off
• 1 zucchini
• 1 can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 1/2 tsp coriander
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 6 whole wheat flour tortillas

Directions:

1. Heat 1 Tbsp oil and 1/2 cup water in a small sauce pan until it boils. Add couscous, cover, and remove from heat. Allow to sit for 5 minutes then fluff with a fork.

2. Heat 2 Tbsp oil in a large skillet. Add chopped onion and chopped pepper. Cook until onion is translucent, 5-7 minutes.

3. Add the corn, mushroom, chopped zucchini and kidney beans to the skillet. Cook for roughly 10 minutes until heated through. Add in the cumin, black pepper, coriander, and salt towards the end. Remove the skillet from the heat and allow it to cool.

4. Add the couscous to the veggie mixture and mix all items together thoroughly.

5. Lay out each tortilla and place a large spoonful of the couscous/veggie mixture on to each one. Roll up each burrito and wrap tightly with foil. Place the burritos in the freezer flat to freeze if you are not eating them immediately. Once frozen, add them to a ziploc bag and seal tightly.

6. To reheat frozen burritos: remove the foil, wrap the burrito in a paper towel and place in the microwave for three minutes.

OAMC Vegan Style: Veggie Burritos

Heeey sexy lady. So anyone who has been on Pinterest in the last year (read: all women) knows about Once A Month Cooking. Cook once a month? I’m on board. However, most of the stuff I find about OAMC is very informative about freezing meats and meat marinades. And I’m like, “Marinades? You mean like for marinating tofu, right?” Alas, I had to come up with a few of my own tricks to veganize my OAMC experience. I’ll try to post a few more items but let’s start with the most important vegan food group: burritos.

I freeze a few of these veggie-packed burritos up and then reheat them during my lunch break at work. Perfect little meal and so easy to reheat and serve. This is good practice for anyone new to OAMC like myself. The burritos are nutritious, freezer-friendly, and hard to mess up. And did I mention the taste? Delish.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 white onion, chopped
• 3-4 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1/2 medium-sized green pepper, chopped
• 10 baby carrots, chopped
• 1/4 cup corn
• 1 medium-sized yellow squash, chopped
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1/4 cup brown rice, uncooked
• 6-8 tortilla wraps

Directions:

1. Heat up oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add onion, garlic, and pepper. Cook 5-7 minutes until translucent. Add carrots, corn and zucchini. Add cumin, pepper, salt, and black beans. Cook for an additional 5 minutes and remove from heat.

2. Meanwhile, cook brown rice over stove according to package directions.

3. Heat a large skillet on the stove. Add each tortilla wrap one at a time to the skillet to heat it through. This will help keep the burrito from falling apart.

4. Scoop rice on to your warm tortilla. Add a large portion of the black bean mixture to the center of the tortilla on top of the rice. Avoid putting too much into the tortilla since you still need to roll up the burrito properly. It’s better to have a little leftover food than 6 burritos that are falling apart.

5. Watch this video about wrapping burritos. You need to essentially fold in both sides then roll starting at the side closest to you. I always find myself needing to watch the video again even though it really shouldn’t be that hard.

6. Wrap up each burrito tightly in foil and place them flat in the freezer. Once all burritos have frozen through, place them together in a ziploc bag and secure tightly. Don’t forget to label the bag with the item and the date!

7. To enjoy, unwrap the foil from the frozen burrito. Wrap it up loosely in a paper towel and heat it in the microwave for 3 minutes. Turn the burrito over halfway through the cooking time.

Black Bean Tortillas

I started my new job today. I am still with the same company but in a new position. I used to drive 20 minutes everyday to work. Now I just take the elevator down. At lunch, I take the elevator back up. It is a vast improvement. Thanks to daylight savings and the short commute home, I was even able to squeeze in a 7 mile run this evening. Tomorrow I plan on walking to the grocery store and making something fun with the food I buy. Basically I am saving gas money and saving time and I can’t complain.

I made these tortillas for the bf on Sunday night and he loved them. The fact that I threw an entire serrano pepper in the mix definitely helped (he loves spicy food – and so do I!). If you hate spicy food, definitely leave the serrano out. I love serrano pepper because it adds a ton of spice and costs practically nothing. They are so little and light that they barely weigh anything on the produce scale.

This recipe is very loosely based on the recipe from Vegetarian Times’ cookbook Everything Vegan. They refer to these as Oaxacan Clayudas, which is probably the coolest name ever. The clayudas are like pizza but I’ve turned them into a quesadilla-type meal because who doesn’t love quesadillas?

Ingredients for black bean filling:

• 1 Tbsp vegetable oil
• 1/2 red onion, diced
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/2  serrano pepper
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1/2 tsp brown sugar
• 1 can black beans
• 3 whole wheat tortillas

Ingredients for cilantro-salsa topping:

• 6 cherry tomatoes
• 1/4 cup cilantro
• 1/4 cup corn kernals cooked
• 1/4 cup onion, diced
• 1 lime, juiced
• 1 avocado, cut into bite-size pieces
• 1/2 serrano pepper, diced
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Heat oil in saucepan over medium-heat. Add onion and cook for 5 minutes. Add garlic, serrano pepper and cumin and cook for 1 more minute. Remove mixture from stove and add it to a blender. Add black beans, brown sugar and 3 Tbs water. Blend until smooth.

2. Spread mixture onto one side of each tortilla. Fold the tortillas in half and place them on a baking sheet. Cook in the oven for 10 minutes.

3. Combine ingredients for the cilantro salsa.

4. Cut the tortillas into triangles. Top each triangle with the salsa. Serve immediately.

Adapted from: Vegetarian Times’ cookbook, Everything Vegan

Vegetarian Times Everything Vegan

Black Bean & Guacamole Tacos

Great February day in Indy today. The weather was chilly but sunny so it was a perfect day to wander the city. I jogged to Marsh and picked up some goodies for a delicious late afternoon meal. Tacos! I based these off of Chipotle’s tacos because that restaurant can do no wrong in my book.

Yields 6 tacos

Ingredients:

For cooked veggies:

• 2 Tbsp vegetable oil
• 1/2 onion chopped
• 1/2 green pepper chopped
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1 can black bean, drained and rinsed
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1/4 cup corn

For rice:

• 1 tsp lime juice
• 1 cup rice cooked
• 1/4 cup cilantro
• 1/8 tsp salt

For guacamole:

• 1 avocado, mashed
• 6 cherry tomatoes, chopped
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1/8 cup onion
• 1 tsp lime juice

And, of course:

• 6 hard taco shells

Directions:

Combine vegetable oil, green pepper and onion in a skillet over medium heat. Saute until onion is translucent – roughly five minutes. Sprinkle with dried oregano.

Rinse the black beans and combine them in the skillet with the onion and garlic mixutre. Add cumin.

Add the frozen corn and cook until it has thawed.

Cook the rice separately and add salt, lime and cilantro. Add the rice to the bean mixture.

I like to keep cilantro in a glass of water in case it gets thirsty. Or something.

Cut your avocado in half for the guacamole. I like to consider myself an expert at picking out avocados. This one was perfect on the inside.

Skin the avocaodo and cut it into small squares. Mash the avocaodo and add it to the chopped tomato. Add onion, lime and salt.

Toast the tacos in a toaster or an oven on low heat for 5 minutes. Fill the tacos with your bean and rice mixture and top with guacamole.