Quinoa Veggie Burritos

I wish I could say my children devoured these...they don't. They are quite delicious, but far too complex in texture for the taste buds of my three silly eaters. I should probably just puree the filling and they would gobble them up. Brent and I love these. They are super healthy, and easily vegan if you choose to leave off the cheese. Delectable both ways. The way these are toasted, also adds an excellent texture twist to the common burrito wrap.

QUINOA VEGGIE BURRITOS
...recipe from Kitchen Kneads

1 (15 oz.) can black beans (or 2 cups cooked)
1 (15 oz.) can white hominy
1 (15 oz.) can black eyed peas (can substitute other bean of choice)
1 cup frozen (or freeze dried) corn
1 cup quinoa, cooked
1-2 Tbsp. diced green chiles
4 green onions
½ cup yellow onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 green pepper
2 tomatoes
¼ cup cilantro
1 (11.5 oz.) can V8 Juice
½ tsp. cumin (optional)
¼ tsp. oregano
1 small lime
1 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1 or 2 avocados
Raw cheese, grated (opt)
Whole Wheat Tortillas

Drain cans of black beans, white hominy, and black eyed peas into a colander. Add corn. Rinse well with cool water.

Dice or chop green chiles, green onions, yellow onion, green pepper, tomatoes, cilantro, and avocado. Reserve ½ of the second avocado for dip if desired. Mince the garlic.

In a large mixing bowl, combine quinoa, black beans, hominy, black eyed peas, and corn. Add above mixture. Stir together. Pour V8 juice over the top. Add oregano and juice from the lime (and optional cumin if desired.) Mix together. Gently fold in the chopped avocado.

Place 2/3 cup of burrito filling in the center of a whole wheat tortilla wrap. Fold burrito style securing with a toothpick if necessary. This recipe makes enough filling for 12 to 14 burritos. It huge. Plan to freeze or give some away.

Line a large cookie sheet with parchment paper. Place burritos about 1 inch apart from each other and lightly coat the burritos with olive oil.

Bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes, until the top of the burrito is toasted golden brown. Turn burritos over and coat again; then bake for 10 additional minutes until all the burrito is toasted and the filling inside is hot. Serve with avocado ranch dip and garnish with cilantro.

Wrap leftover burritos individually in aluminum foil. Reheat in oven set at 400 for 10 minutes.

Spicy Black Beans and Rice

This recipe is straight from the classic Better Homes and Gardens cook book. I love it. I can't say it is my children's favorite, but eventually they will come around. It is inexpensive and easy to cook a huge batch of black beans in the pressure cooker. I put the extras in ziplock freezer bags and store in the freezer. But don't be afraid to just pop open a couple cans of beans too in a pinch! I usually double this recipe because it is actually better the next day.

Spicy Black Beans and Rice

1/2 c chopped onion
4 cloves of garlic, minced
2 T olive oil
1 15 oz can of rinsed black beans (or 2 cups homecooked)
1 can stewed tomatoes
1/8-1/4 t cayenne pepper
Mexican seasonings to taste: I usually add 1 t chili powder, 1 t cumin, 1 t coriander
I you wanted you could also use the mexican styled stewed tomatoes.

Saute onion and garlic in oil until tender. Stir in remaining ingredients. Simmer uncovered for at least 15 minutes.

Serve over brown rice, quinoa or cornbread.

*In the photo I actually used black-eyed peas as well as black beans, and my home canned tomatoes.
The consistency was chunkier than normal but still delicious.

Buckwheat and Black Bean Chili

Growing up we had this great tradition of chili and cornbread on Christmas Eve. Here is a yummy recipe I derived for a church chili cookoff. Admittedly it didn't win anything, but those people who appreciate meatless, healthy meal met this recipe with rave reviews. I wish my family loved chili, because I do. They don't. So I make this and eat it for a week. I can't make it too often!.

P.S. Thanks so much to all of you who have shared your vegan recipes with me! I can't wait to try them. Merry Christmas to all!

Buckwheat and Black Bean Chili

from the kitchen of Rebecca

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 large yellow onion, chopped

1 large yellow bell pepper,chopped

1 large red bell pepper,chopped

5 cloves garlic, minced

3 teaspoons chili powder

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1/2 teaspoon real salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

4 cups black beans

2 cups steamed buckwheat (cook as you would white rice, available at health food stores)

2 14-ounce cans no-salt-added diced tomatoes, undrained

2 cups water or vegetable broth

2 teaspoons real maple syrup (or to taste)

2 teaspoons molasses (or to taste)

2 cups steamed Wheat Berries (cook as you would brown rice)

Garnish with...

Juice of 1 lime

1 avocado, diced

1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Saute the first five ingredients over medium heat. I put black beans, wheat and buckwheat in my pressure cooker and cook together for about 25 minutes. Or you make cook them separately on the stove top or in a rice cooker. Combine all ingredients in a crock pot and cook on high for 5 hours. Reduce to low and continue to simmer until ready to serve.

Kamut and Black Bean Tacos

My mom recently got a little cookbook for me from a class she attended on cooking with whole grains. It is a collection of recipes, basically using wheat berries (steamed wheat). I've tried several of the recipes and they are quite good. The author's name is Cary Ruggles. I like to substitute either my standard whole grain mix of wheat:kamut:spelt for the added health benefits. This particular time I used kamut (kah-moot) only. I like the large hardy size of the grains.

I used my pressure cooker for this recipe. First I rinsed 3 cups of whole grains and 2 cups of dried black beans. Popped them in my pressure cooker for 30 minutes, added water and coconut oil and wah-lah! Tender beans and plump whole grain berries. This made enough I froze several quart bags to have on hand at a later time.

If you don't have a pressure cooker you can cook your wheat over night in your crock pot and used canned beans.

However you get there...the results are worth it.

Kamut and Black Bean Tacos

1 T olive oil
1/2 c onion, diced
3/4 c water
3 T taco seasoning
3 c kamut, or any combo of whole grains, berries
1 1/2 c black beans (1 can)
1 c canned or frozen corn
1/2 c black olives, sliced
1 c grape tomatoes sliced, or 1 can diced tomatoes

Saute onion in olive oil until lightly browned. Add all the remaining ingredients (except for tomatoes) and heat mixture evenly.
Mix in tomatoes and serve in freshly, fried taco shells
Top with cilantro, cheese, sour cream, salsa, lettuce....go crazy!

Let's all take a moment and feel so sad for my sweet husband Brent. While he thinks the majority of my recipes are delicious, he has trouble keeping his weight up (why don't I have that problem). All these vegetarian recipes aren't as hardy as a giant steak, although he has never
been a huge eater. Poor guy. I find myself trying to think of ways to add fat and calories to the meals. I know, odd. Good thing I make him so many yummy cookies and treats too!

BTW...I went to another pressure cooker class tonight. I am very grateful for my electric pressure cooker. It is a piece of cake to use! I love it and use it at least 2x a week.

Bean Flour in Cookies and other Experiments

Yesterday Ellery was begging for pumpkin cookies. They are by far her favorite. We had a few minutes so we decided to whip them up. In my freezer I only had about 2 1/2 cups of flour left over. I didn't have time to grind any so improvisation took over. To replace 1 1/2 cups of whole grain flour I pulled out some wheat germ, oat bran, and white bean flour.

Wheat germ is really high in Vitamin E and oat bran adds lots of fiber. The white bean flour I made by grinding white beans in my nutrimill. I make a big batch and then freeze it. I pull it out and add in small quantities whenever I remember. Adding a bean flour completes the wheat protein. Now we could successfully live off of pumpkin cookies. Perfect.

I won't go back to 4 cups of my regular flour blend. I will update the recipe on the blog. The results were amazing! Delicious cookies with even more healthy benefits. I also used 1 1/2 cups barley malt syrup and 1/2 c honey. I love pumpkin...it is so forgiving and so healthy. I don't feel bad for a second when my kids go crazy over these!

On Sunday night I made my whole grain bread and decided to grind 3 cups of amaranth and 1 cup quinoa with my other grains to add. The results...

Brent: This bread tastes like weeds.

That was being nice. It is so gross I am trying to decide what to do with it. I don't think any of us can stomach it. Even Emmett throws it as far as he can across the kitchen. But it is so hard to throw away 4 loaves of bread and 20 cinnamon rolls... Anybody like the taste of weeds? I've got just the thing for you in my freezer!
It was the amaranth that was the killer. I have added this whole and popped and it is great. Grinding it into a flour was far to over powering, even when combined with 12 cups of other grain flours. Oh well. Now I know!

BTW...Notice all of Bessie in there? (Bessie is what I named my parents cow they slaughtered and we later purchased 1/3 of...my mom thinks I am sick and twisted to name the cow, hey I'm not eating it!) She is packed in my inside freezer too. What am I ever going to do with all that beef? Especially since we only do meat 1x a week now. That means beef about once every 3 weeks or so. Food Storage I guess.