Black Bean Enchiladas

Looking for a quick semi homemade meal? Look no further! I was able to put this meal together in about 15 minutes and then leave it to cook later that day. Corn tortillas will break - but don't worry, you are covering them in sauce and cheese so any broken tortillas will blend in.

From the original recipe...what changes did I make?

• Reduce cheese from 24 ounces of cheese to 8 ounces of cheese because I'm a not a huge fan of cheese. You can easily add more if you prefer but I thought it was plenty cheesy.
• I used Wegmans organic black beans because they use less salt. 
• I couldn't find Wegmans enchilada sauce so I used a can of El Paso enchilada sauce.

According to reviewers if you don't have a Wegmans nearby you can use black bean soup and doctor it up with some Mexican inspired spices, onion, and peppers. 

I think adding chopped spinach to the black bean mix, topping with cilantro, or adding in shredded chicken would also make this quite tasty!

Black Bean Enchiladas

adapted from Wegmans
makes 12 enchiladas 

2 cans (15 oz each) Black Beans (I used organic to reduce the sodium)
16 oz container Wegmans Caribbean Black Bean Soup
2-3 cups of Shredded Mexican Cheese
10 oz can of Red Enchilada Sauce
1 bunch of green onions, thinly sliced

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 
• Add 1 can beans to large bowl; mash into paste. Add remaining beans, soup, and 1/2 cheese; stir to combine. Set aside.
• Heat tortillas in microwave for 30 seconds so they are soft and pliable. 
• Spread 1/4 cup sauce on bottom of a 9x13-inch casserole dish. 
• Spread 1/4 cup bean mixture in the center of each tortilla. Gently roll up; place seam-side down in casserole dish. Arrange in 2 rows of 6 in each casserole dish. 
• Pour remaining sauce over enchiladas and top with remaining shredded cheese.
• Bake, covered with foil, 25 min; remove foil. 
• Bake 5-10 min until sauce bubbles. 
• Remove from oven; let rest 5-10 min before serving. Garnish with green onions.

Hearty Slow Cooker Chili

I adapted this recipe from many different recipes available online and based off of the food in my kitchen. I really didn't want to have to go to the grocery store!

I used a combination of ground pork and ground turkey, roughly 2 -2.5 pounds and tomato sauce for tomato puree. I also added in some tomato sauce that was left over from dinner the other night. I actually keep a small container of the Chili Seasoning pre-mixed which is handy for assembling this meal!

I browned the meat and combined everything in the slow cooker the night before and stored it, covered, in the fridge. When I woke up I popped the insert into the cooker and set it on low. Volia! Dinner is served!

Serve with my Quick Rise Bread or with tortilla chips!

Hearty Slow Cooker Chili
serves 4-6

2 pounds ground beef (or pork or turkey or combination)
3/4 cup diced onion
3/4 cup diced celery
3/4 cup diced green bell pepper (optional)
2 teaspoons garlic powder
2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
2 (10.75 ounce) cans tomato puree (or sauce)
2 (15 ounce) can kidney beans, drained
1-2 tablespoons Chili Seasoning

1. Place the meat in a skillet over medium heat, and cook until evenly brown. Drain grease.
2. In the slow cooker combine the meat, onion, celery, green bell pepper, garlic, tomato puree, and kidney beans.
3. Add 1 tablespoon of chili seasoning, stir, cover and cook on low for 8 hours. 
4. After a while (when you get home from work?) taste it and see if you want it spicier, if so add more chili seasoning.

Spicy Chipotle Chicken Chili

I had some left over chicken and wanted to move some of the canned items I have in the pantry. I had a chicken breast in the freezer that I added to the left over rotisserie chicken. To give the chili a more uniform consistency I ground up the chicken in the food processor. A large dice would also work.

I have never used a can of the chipotle peppers before and there were big peppers in the can! So I blitzed them in the food processor and added them to the chili. Apparently, you should put them in whole and then take them out so you can monitor the spice levels. Or only use 1 until you know how spicy you want your chili.

Now, how does one get the chili to be less spicy??? I added an extra can of beans, you can add in a couple tbsp of dairy (yogurt, sour cream, cheese, milk), a few tbsp of cocoa powder, a couple cups of cooked rice, also works. Whatever you choose, add in a little at a time until you reach the desired spiciness.

The recipe below is for cooked chicken and the chicken is added at the end. If you have uncooked chicken, add the chicken in after the garlic and before the seasonings. Cook the chicken and once it is mostly cooked add in the rest of the ingredients.

Chipotle Chicken Chili
makes 6-8 servings

1 onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp each chili powder and ground cumin
1 can tomato sauce (15 oz)
2-3 cups of ground (or diced) chicken, cooked
1 can adobo chipotle peppers --> SPICY!
1 can each corn, kidney beans, chick peas, cannelini beans (it was what I had in the pantry, any mix of beans would be fine).
1 can chicken broth

Saute the onion and garlic, until onion is softened and turning translucent.
Add in the chili powder and cumin. Stir.
Add in tomato sauce, chicken, corn, beans, broth, and peppers. Stir. Let simmer 10-20 minutes.
Serve hot!

Avocado, Tomato, & Bean Salsa

Refreshing summer snack? Looking for  a light side dish? Inspired from Wegman's recipes, this is a quick appetizer to toss together.

The recipe calls for grilled corn, but I don't have a grill and I didn't have any corn...but I did have a can of beans in the closet!

I also don't like tomatoes a lot so I only used a handful of cherry tomatoes. 

This may have taken about 10 minutes to chop and assemble. It also can be mostly be made ahead of time - minus the avocado.

Served it on some blue corn chips!

Enjoy!

Avocado, Tomato, & Bean Salsa


1 can of chick peas / cannellini beans or corn
2  green onions, sliced
1 Tbsp  Wegmans Basting Oil
1/4 cup red onion, diced 
1  ripe avocado, peeled, pitted, diced
a couple handfuls of cherry tomatoes, quartered

Juice (and zest, optional) of 1 fresh lime
1/4 cup Wegmans Extra-Virgin Olive Oil
1/4 cup fresh chopped cilantro
Salt and pepper to taste

Combine all the ingredients!

Optional, let it chill for 30 minutes prior to eating.

Turkey Chili

Nate and I love chili. Here is another easy chili recipe for you!

This one is a chunky meaty chili made from ground turkey or ground chicken, I go with whichever is on sale. Please note that this is a very spicy recipe!! What I have listed below has quite a kick and the original recipe calls for more spice that that!

Onions, Peppers, and Garlic

Add meat

Once meat is done, add spices and other things

Add sauce, tomatoes, beans, and corn

Serve with chips!

When you cook ground turkey it tends to clump instead of crumble like ground beef so when you put the meat in, stir it constantly and keep breaking it up with the back of your spoon.

If it is too spicy, add in a little at a time, some cocoa powder, cheese, sour cream, plain yogurt, etc.

Even though the recipe says to let it simmer for 50 minutes, I let it simmer for longer or until I'm ready to eat it. Just make sure you stir it otherwise the bottom might scorch.

This recipe freezes well.

Turkey Chili
makes approx 5 big servings

2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, diced
5 cloves of garlic, minced
1 med green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
2 lbs of ground turkey/chicken
1 heaping tsp of chili powder, red pepper flakes, paprika, cumin
2 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp black pepper
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes
1/2 - 3/4 of a 16 oz jar of Salsa
8 oz can of tomato sauce
1 can of kidney beans
1 can of corn

Heat olive oil in a large pot over med heat. Add onion, garlic, green peppers and stir until onion is starting to look clear.

Add the meat, stir and break up the meat until it is no longer pink.

Add spices, Worcestershire sauce, tomatoes, tomato sauce, kidney beans, and corn. If you are hesitant, add in half of the spice and add more as it cooks down and you test it.

Let it simmer for about 50 minutes and stir occasionally.

Top with cheese and serve with chips!

Dad's Pulled Pork

My dad makes a great slow cooker pulled pork so I decided to give it a shot! This is a spicy and sweet BBQ sauce pulled pork.

I did a half batch, 2.5 lbs of boneless roast pork. You can use pork shoulder too.

Combine everything into the crock pot. 8-9 hours on low, 4-5 hours on high. I did about 6-7 hours of some variation of low and high.

Spices

Cover the pork with the soupy mixture

Pork is tender and starting to break apart when you jab it with a fork

Take it out and use forks to pull it apart/shred it

Put it back into the broth

Garlic butter grilled Kaiser rolls!

I melted a pat of butter with a little less than a 1/4 tsp of garlic powder in a frying pan. Raise the heat to about 7 and then put the buns in the pan for about 3-4 minutes, until they are golden and crunchy.

Look at that!!!

Normally we serve it burrito style on a tortilla with white rice and Mexican style shredded cheese and then grilled. And this is wonderful. However, when N. and I went to lunch at Woodstock Inn in Woodstock NH, we had pulled pork served on garlic butter grilled rolls.

So, for burritos I would keep the beans and corn. If I want to serve it on rolls, I would omit the beans and corn.

UPDATE 3/9/13: Used boneless pork loin pieces, very tender.

Dad's Pulled Pork

makes enough for 8-10 sandwiches

½ cup brown sugar

2 tbsp Red pepper flakes

1 tbsp Cayenne

1 tbsp Black pepper

12 oz Coke
1 cup BBQ sauce

1 cup ketchup

4 ½ lbs roast pork, pork shoulder...
28 oz of black beans (drained)
1 can corn (drained)

Combine all ingredients and marinate overnight in the fridge.

10 h on low

Pull it apart

Put it back in and make make sandwiches or burritos!