Black Beans and Rice

My ongoing challenge to eat less meat and more lean protein continues.  I made baked creamy chicken taquitos for my family and as a side dish, I served black beans and rice.  (Check out that recipe on yesterday's blog.  It was a good one.)  While my family feasted on chicken taquitos, I enjoyed a delicious black bean and rice burrito.  (Side dish made into main dish = happy cook.)  

I had never made black beans and rice before but I ordered it at a restaurant and it was pretty tasty.  I wasn't looking to replicate the restaurant recipe - I was aiming for a healthier and even tastier version.  I turned to the internet for some black beans and rice inspiration.  I didn't find exactly what I was looking for so I came up with my own recipe.

Black Beans and Rice
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
3/4 cup rice (white or brown)
1/2 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 teaspoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

 Drain and rinse beans.

Cook rice according to directions.












 
 Chop onion















Mince garlic.



















Heat oil in skillet.  Add onions and garlic and saute until tender.






Stir in rice and seasonings.

Stir in beans and warm through.

You could definitely spice this up even more by adding some cayenne.  I wanted to keep mine kid friendly so I left out the cayenne completely.  I rolled some of this yummy mixture up in a flour tortilla and ate it as a burrito.  (YUMMY!)  Everyone else ate it as a side dish.  Either way - super Yum!

Ciao!

Baked Creamy Chicken Taquitos

It used to be that when I roasted a whole chicken, we would eat it for dinner and then finish up the leftovers for lunch.  Lately though it seems like we have leftover chicken for DAYS when I cook a chicken.  Not sure of the exact reason for our reduced chicken consumption but it's brought me to relatively unfamiliar territory - how to use up leftover chicken.

I ran across this recipe from the-girl-who-ate-everything.com and it looked like a great way to disguise my leftovers into something new and delicious. 

Baked Creamy Chicken Taquitos

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup (3 oz) cream cheese
• 1/4 cup green salsa
• 1 Tablespoon fresh lime juice
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 3 Tablespoons chopped cilantro
• 2 Tablespoons sliced green onions
• 2 cups shredded cooked chicken
• 1 cup grated pepperjack cheese
• about 12 small corn or flour tortillas (we liked flour better)
• kosher salt
• cooking spray

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Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Line a baking sheet with foil and lightly coat with cooking spray.
2. Heat cream cheese in the microwave for about 20-30 seconds so it's soft and easy to stir. Add green salsa, lime juice, cumin, chili powder, onion powder and garlic powder and mix well. Add cilantro, green onions, chicken and pepperjack cheese and combine well.
3. You can prepare up to this step ahead of time. Just keep the mixture in the fridge.
4. The corn tortillas are harder to roll without cracking. For the corn tortillas: work with a few tortillas at a time and heat in the microwave until they are soft enough to roll without cracking. It helps to place them between damp paper towels. Usually 20-30 seconds will do it. If you find yours are cracking when you roll them or come unrolled right away, just try heating them longer and try the paper towel thing.
5. Place 3 Tablespoons of chicken mixture on the lower third of a tortilla, keeping it about 1/2 inch from the edges.
6. Then roll it up as tight as you can.
7. Place seam side down on the baking sheet. Lay all of the taquitos on the baking sheet and make sure they are not touching each other. Spray the tops lightly with cooking spray or an oil mister and sprinkle some kosher salt on top.
8. Place pan in oven and bake for 15-20 minutes or until crisp and the ends start to get golden brown. Makes around 12 taquitos.
9. Dip in salsa, sour cream, guacamole, or Tomatillo Dressing . They would be great with black beans and this Cilantro Lime Rice.

Read more at http://www.the-girl-who-ate-everything.com/2010/04/baked-creamy-chicken-taquitos.html#SeOqkYHkBJX816zK.99

Baked Creamy Chicken Taquitos

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup (3 oz) cream cheese
• 1/4 cup green salsa (I used green enchilada sauce instead.)
• 1 Tablespoon fresh lime juice
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 3 Tablespoons chopped cilantro
• 2 Tablespoons sliced green onions
• 2 cups shredded cooked chicken
• 1 cup grated colby jack cheese
• about 12 small corn or flour tortillas (we liked flour better)
• kosher salt

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Line a baking sheet with foil and lightly coat with cooking spray.







Heat cream cheese in the microwave for about 20-30 seconds so it's soft and easy to stir.






 
Add green salsa, lime juice, cumin, chili powder, onion powder and garlic powder and mix well.

Add cilantro, green onions, chicken and cheese and combine well. You can prepare up to this step ahead of time. Just keep the mixture in the fridge.

Place 3 Tablespoons of chicken mixture on the lower third of a tortilla, keeping it about 1/2 inch from the edges.
















Then roll it up as tight as you can.  Place seam side down on the baking sheet. Lay all of the taquitos on the baking sheet and make sure they are not touching each other.

Place pan in oven and bake for 15-20 minutes or until crisp and the ends start to get golden brown.

Makes around 18 taquitos.

My family absolutely loved these!  I was super surprised but they ate every single one!!

Confession time - I didn't actually try one but if you take into account the empty plate that was left on the table - I'd say they were a hit.

I wasn't sure what to make with these taquitos so I threw together some black beans and rice.  It was super yummy and that recipe will be on the blog tomorrow - you don't want to miss it.

Ciao!

Chocolate Angel Food Cupcakes

Statistics show that women say a lot more words than their male counterparts every single day.  (I suspect that the statistic is true most days in this house.)  However, there are a FEW things that I have NEVER said.

1.  I wish I was just a little bit shorter.
2.  I love the sounds that you make when you eat popcorn.
3.  Can you add some more capers to that?
4.  Clutter makes our house feel homey. 
5.  There are too many vegetables on my pizza.
6.  It's perfectly acceptable to use poor grammar on facebook.
7.  This (insert anything) is too chocolatey.
8.  I don't have anything to be grateful for. 
9.  I'm not worried about anything.
10.  No thank you.  I don't like chocolate and strawberries. 

It was harder than I thought it would be to generate a list of sentences that I have never uttered.  (I guess I really do say a lot of words every day.)  I found it really interesting how much my list of "never spoken words" reveled about myself and my personality. 

One thing I know for sure though, I don't very often turn away chocolate OR strawberries.  I love them both and when they are combined - it's irresistible.  While I was making a batch of angel food cupcakes a couple of weeks ago, the idea for chocolate angel food cupcakes hit me like a lightening rod.  I'm sure that I'm not the first person to think of this idea but I'm still claiming it as a original idea.

This first time I create a new recipe is always a learning experience.  (It actually looks a whole lot more like a science experiment that a cooking lesson.)

I started by making a second batch of angel food cupcake batter and eliminating the lemon juice and zest and replacing it with a quarter cup of cocoa powder.  The result was a slightly dense - but delicious - chocolate angel food cupcake.  I modified the recipe and reduced the amount of flour to compensate for the addition of the dry cocoa powder and I got much better results. 

 

Chocolate Angel Food Cupcakes
3/4 cup cake flour                               1 1/2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1/4 cup cocoa                                      1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/4 cups sugar                                  11/4 cups egg whites (about 8)
1/4 teaspoon salt                          
       
Combine flour, 1 c. sugar, cocoa and salt.

 
Beat egg whites on medium until foamy.

Add cream of tartar. Increase speed to high and beat until soft peaks.  Beat in 1/4 c. sugar and beat until stiff peaks.
 

Sift in 1/4 of flour and fold in.  Repeat 3 more times.

Scoop into greased muffin tins.

Bake cakes for 18 minutes.

Use a knife to separate cake from pan and put inside a cupcake liner.

Frost with whipped cream and garnish with a fresh strawberry.

 Enjoy.

Chocolate angel food cupcakes, fluffy whipped cream and fresh strawberries - YES, PLEASE!  I will eat one of these every single time that I make them.  Now that is something that I can be sure of. 

Ciao!