Tag: vegetarian

Healthy Spicy Chicken Chili

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Ingredients

  • 1 lb gound Chicken
  • 1/2 onion chopped finely (chop a little more for topping if desired)
  • 1 ripe tomato chopped finely
  • 1/2 cup of cooked black beans
  • 1/2 cup cooked kidney beans
  • 3 tablespoons of chili powder
  • 1 tablespoon of cumin powder
  • 3 large galic cloves chopped finely
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 tsp dried oregano
  • 2 tablespoons of hot roasted hatch chilis
  • 1 8 oz can of tomato sauce
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • Shredded Cheese, and chopped cilantro for topping if desired.

Directions

Add olive oil to pan along with garlic and onions and lightly fry for about 5 minutes, don’t brown. Add in ground chicken and chili powder and cook and crumble with a spoon.  Add in rest of ingredients and cook for about 45 minutes till flavors blend. Top with cheese, onion, and cilantro.

For Vegetarian or vegan, use meat substitute and leave cheese out.

Italian Dressing Mix

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I wanted to make some fresh Italian Dressing, but don’t like that the Good Seasonings mix packets cost around $1 – $1.50 per packet so I decided to make my own. It came out great, and tastes almost exactly like the packet. It takes spices that you most likely already have setting around and takes less than 5 minutes to make. Here is the recipe for the mix and for the dressing if you want to make it right away.

Ingredients for Mix

  • 1 tsp of granulated garlic (garlic powder)
  • 1/2 tsp onion powder
  • 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
  • 3/4 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp parsley flakes (crushed)
  • 1/8 tsp sugar

Ingredients to make Dressing

  • 1/4 cup white vinegar
  • 1/8 cup water
  • 1/2 cup of canola oil

Directions

Mix all the ingredients for the Mix together and store till ready to use. When ready, add the mix into a bottle with a lid along with all the ingredients for the Dressing and shake well.

Tunaless Tuna Salad Recipe Where You Don’t Miss the Tuna.

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This is a simple recipe that is as easy to make as tuna salad and it tastes very similar and is just as filling.

Ingredients

  • 1/2 can of garbanzo beans drained and rised.
  • 3 tablespoons of mayonnaise of Vegan mayonnaise.
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons Dijon or regular mustard.
  • 1/2 teaspoon granulated garlic.
  • 1 stalk of finely chopped celery (optional).
  • 1/2 small onion finely copped (optional).
  • 1 heaping tablespoon of finely chopped pick (sweet or dill) (0ptional).
  • Salt to taste

Directions

Put garbanzo beans into a food processor and pulse several times till chopped finely but you don’t want to have a paste that way you still have a little bite to the garbanzos. Mix all other ingredients in and stir till combined.  You can either eat on top of lettuce or put in a sandwich with lettuce and tomato, or however you would use tuna.

Spicy Garlic Green Beans

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Spicy Garlic Green beans
Spicy Garlic Green beans

When we go to the local Vietnamese Pho restaurant we always order the Spicy Garlic Green Beans ( Đậu Xanh Xào Tỏi ) as an appetizer. They taste great but cost about $5 and we always want more. I decided to see what I can make them at home and have come up with my own recipe that tastes remarkably similar.

Ingredients

  • 1-1.5 pounds of green beans
  • 3 tablespoons of soy sauce
  • 2 tablespoons of crisp chili oil
  • 1 teaspoon sugar
  • 1 teaspoon fish sauce (For Vegan/Vegetarian use  either Vegan Fish sauce or about 1/4 teaspoon salt)
  • 1 large clove of garlic minced very finely
  • 1/2 teaspoon Chinese black vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon finely minced cilantro (Optional)
  • 1 tablespoon finely sliced green onion (Optional)

Directions

Mix all the ingredients but the green beans in a bowl and adjust with additional sugrar if needed. Cook the green beans by putting about 1/2 inch of water in the bottom of a sauce pan and bringing to a boil. Add the green beans and cover and let steam for about 10-15 minutes till tender. Pour the water off now add the sauce into the pan and mix the green beans in the sauce. Pour onto a plate and serve.

Mexican Chicken Rice bowls

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Mexican Grilled Burrito Bowl
Mexican Grilled Burrito Bowl

This is my own version of a Chipotle burrito bowl. You can make this vegetarian by leaving out the Chicken or vegan by leaving out the cheese also. One meat substitute that I have not tried is to marinate tofu and grill it instead of chicken, which might turn out to be good also, if you try it you can leave a comment on how it comes out. Also if you leave out the meat you will probably want to add in guacamole.

Ingredients

  • 3 boneless skinless chicken breasts Sliced thin (I slice each to make 3 filets)
  • 1 tsp cumin
  • 1/2 tsp ground coriander
  • 1 tsp salt for marinade + 1/2 tsp for black beans.
  • 1 tsp red pepper flakes
  • 1/4 cup lime juice
  • 4 cloves of garlic minced
  • 1/3 cup of canola oil
  • 1 bunch of green onions sliced finely
  • 2 cups of black beans (1 can rinsed or two cups of cooked black beans)
  • 1 chipotle pepper (canned in adobo sauce) minced along with 1 – 2 tbsp of the adobo sauce
  • Sour cream
  • Shredded Cheddar Cheese
  • 6 -8 cups of cooked rice

Directions

Mix the first 9 ingredients in a bowl and let the chicken marinate for 1 – 4 hours. While marinating chicken mix the chipolte pepper and adobo sauce and 1/2 tsp of salt with the black beans. Remove chicken from marinade and grill on a very hot grill so it is slightly charred on the outside and done through. Dice chicken into pieces. Now put 1 cup of cooked rice in a bowl, add cooked diced chicken, a scoop of the black bean mixture, a spoonfull of sour cream and sprinkle cheese on top. You can also add your favorite hot sauce on top also. Enjoy.

6 Minute Steel Cut Oats (Cinnamon Roll Flavor)

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Delicious Cinnamon Roll Oats
Delicious Cinnamon Roll Oats

This is a great quick and inexpensive meal to make in the morning when getting ready for work and is very healthy. You get the health benefits of the oats and the cinnamon. If you use maple syrup, it is a little less refined than sugar also. You need to use the Coach Steel Cut Oats and not regular steel cut oats since they are cut differently and cook quickly.

Ingredients

  • 1/3 cup of Coach Steel Cut Oats (I have found these at Costco also)
  • 1 cup of water
  • 1-2 tsp of maple syrup (Can use sugar instead)
  • 1/2 tsp of ground cinnamon

Directions add all ingredients to a bowl with about 1″ of space from the fill level to the lip of the bowl. Microwave for 6 minutes at 40% power (On a 1000 watt microwave). Any higher setting and it might boil over.

Smokey Spicy Refried Black Beans

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Smokey Black Refried Beans
Smokey Black Refried Beans

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cups of dried back beans (or 1 can of black beans)
  • 4 cloves of garlic finely diced
  • 1 jalapeno pepper finely diced
  • 2 tablespoons of olive oil
  • 1 teaspoon of ground cumin
  • 1 chipolte pepper finely diced
  • 1 cup of vegetable or chicken broth
  • 1/2 teaspoon of salt (less if canned beans used)

Directions

If using a can of black beans skip ahead to frying the garlic and peppers, otherwise soak beans overnight then drain and put into a pan and cover with 1 inch of water and simmer covered for about 1-2 hour till tender. Now drain and pour into a bowl and put aside. Now rinse pan and add the olive oil on medium high heat and add in garlic and jalapeno and fry for about 3 minutes till tender. Add in cumin and chipolte and fry for another 30 seconds, then add in beans and chicken broth. Cook for 30 minutes to 1 hour till beans are falling apart. Now add in salt (you can add additional salt to  taste). With a stick blender, blend till it becomes a paste, but not all the beans need to be completely. If you don’t have a stick blender, put about 1/2 or all of the beans in a food processor and process, then add back into rest of beans and stir. Serve with rice and tacos, or scoop some into a flour tortilla add cheese roll up and you have a bean burrito.

Roasted Jalapeno Hot Sauce

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Jalapeno Hot Sauce
Jalapeno Hot Sauce

This is a spicy jalapeno hot sauce, but not nearly as hot as a habanero sauce. You can kick up the spiciness by using serrano peppers instead of jalapenos. You can also make it less hot by removing the seeds and pith from the inside of the peppers. Goes great on mexican food, eggs, or whatever else you want to kick up a bit.

Ingredients

  • 6 jalapeños med to large Stems cut off
  • 3 Seranno  peppers stems cut off
  • 1/2 onion sliced
  • 6 cloves of garlic minced
  • 5 sprigs of cilantro
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp cornstarch
  • 1/8 cup of white vinegar
  • 1/4 cup of water
  • 1 tsp cumin
  • 1 tsp canola

Directions

Take the jalapenos and blacken the skins. You can do this by holding them over a gas burner with a pair of tongs, use a culinary torch, or put then under an oven broiler.

Roasted Jalapeno
Roasted Jalapeno

The torch is the easiest. Now slice them and add them to a frying pan with the oil, the onion, and the garlic. Fry them on high heat till there is some brown color on the onion, but do not burn the garlic. Add the fried mixture to a food processor along with cilantro, vinegar, water and salt and grind to a paste. Pour the paste into a strainer over a bowl and press out all the liquid from the paste into the bowl.  Pour this back into the frying pan and add 1/4 teaspoon of cornstarch mixed with 1 teaspoon of water, stir,  and bring to a boil. Boil for about 2-3 mins and let cool. Pour the sauce into a jar and your hot sauce is ready. It will be hottest the first day but will mellow in the fridge. It will keep in the fridge for at least a month or two. (Makes 4 – 6 oz).

Spicy Charro Beans

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Spicy Charro Beans
Spicy Charro Beans

This has an excellent spicy flavor and is a great filling meal. If goes great with cornbread (see my cornbread recipe). For a more healthy version you can use turkey bacon or cook the vegetarian/vegan version.

Ingredients

  • 1 1/4 cup of dried pinto beans
  • 1 large jalapeno pepper, diced
  • 4 pieces of cooked bacon, diced. (veg/vegan: Instead add 1 tsp smoked paprika instead of regular paprika)
  • 1/2 pound lean hamburger (veg/vegan: Leave out, or use veggie crumbles)
  • 1/2 of a large onion diced.
  • 1 teaspoon of paprika
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • ~1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper

Directions

Soak beans overnight. Cook and dice bacon and then brown the hamburger add in onion an jalapeno and fry with the hamburger for about 3-4 minutes. Add beans into pot with hamburger and cover with 1/2 inch of water cook for about 2 hours. Now add in the bacon, salt, pepper, and paprika and cook for another hour till beans are starting to split.

 

Healthy Berry Fruit Smoothie

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Healthy Berry Smoothie
Healthy Berry Smoothie

Wow, this tastes great. It is nice to have a cold or frozen one on a hot summer day and is great for getting an extra kick of energy. Using the frozen fruit makes it into a frozen smoothie. If you will be hooked on it. It is much lower in calories than a milkshake and I think it tastes as good.

Ingredients

  • 1/4 cup of blueberries
  • 1/4 cup of raspberries
  • 1/4 cup of strawberries
  • 1/2 cup of packed fresh spinach
  • 1 tablespoons honey (optional, depends if you like it slightly sweet or sweet)
  • 1/2 to 1 whole banana (optional)
  • 1/3 cup of water
  • 1/4 cup of ice (crushed)

Add all ingredients to a blender and blend till smooth. You will not even taste the spinach, but it adds a great health benefit. You can use frozen berries if they are out of season. The banana will make it a little more creamy.