Cooking for One: Double Duty Black Bean Chicken

Some of my fitness team do a lot of cooking for one person for various reasons. We were talking about how hard it is to find tasty, easy, inexpensive recipes that work for one person, and I told them I’d share some of mine!

The first one is a double-duty recipe, so you get two easy meals with little work. Bonus: it’s a slow cooker recipe! The base recipe is modified from my friend Bethany.

Double Duty Black Bean Chicken

Base Recipe Ingredients

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1 can black beans, rinsed

1 can whole kernel corn, drained -OR- 1 cup frozen corn

1 cup salsa (whatever heat preference you like

1.5 cup low-sodium chicken broth (tip: use a larger container, and reserve the rest for meal #2)

Directions: Spray slow cooker with non-stick spray. Add chicken then just dump everything else in on top. Cook on low for 8-12 hours (I do this overnight).  Notes: You can double this recipe easily, and it makes a great topping for nachos. Or, stir in sour cream and cheddar cheese to make a great dip for a party.

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MEAL 1: ENCHILADAS

Additional Ingredients

2 flour tortillas

Cheddar or mexican cheese blend, if desired. -OR- 1/2 avocado, sliced

1 can green enchilada sauce

Directions: Preheat oven to 375.  Spoon chicken mixture into flour tortillas (about a half cup per tortilla, depending on what size tortilla). Add cheese or avocado. Roll into burritos and place in baking dish, then cover with enchilada sauce. Bake 15-20 minutes until tops are a bit crispy.  Notes: This freezes beautifully, as well as holds in the refrigerator as a lunch.

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Meal 2: Tortilla Soup

Additional ingredients

2 cans chicken broth (low-sodium preferred), or remainder of broth from above

1 small can fire roasted green chilis

1/4 cup brown rice

sliced jalapenos (if desired)

1 bunch cilantro (if desired)

Directions: Combine remaining chicken mixture with all chicken broth, chilis, brown rice, and jalapenos (if using).  Allow to simmer until rice is cooked. Alternatively, you can just dump all this right into the crock pot with the remaining chicken mixture, set it on low, and let it cook for about 4 hours. Top with cilantro and serve.

Seva Inspired Burritos!

There’s this fantastic vegetarian restaurant in Ann Arbor, MI called Seva. When I was living in that area and was a vegetarian, I ate there as often as my pocketbook would let me. While I loved pretty much everything on their menu, mMy favorite dish was their black bean & yam burritos. When I moved away from my beloved Seva, I missed their food, even though I was no longer vegetarian. I especially missed those burritos, and so decided to experiment and see if I could create something like them.

I need to get pictures of these, but the camera never seems to be around when I’m whipping them up. Last week, I made them with the Buford Middle School cooking club kids, and they adored them (even those who gave me “yuck face” when they first heard what we were making). They ate them all–no leftovers!  These are hearty enough, and flavorful enough, to satisfy even died-in-the-wool meat eaters!

They’re also frugal (especially if you make your own beans from dried), and healthy.  This recipe serves roughly 4, depending on who’s eating. I usually double it when cooking for us, because the leftovers are just as tasty as the first serving.

With Fresh Salsa

SALSA

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cans canned tomatoes with juice
• Canned or fresh jalapeño peppers, chopped
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 lime, juice of
• 2 cloves garlic, peeled and diced
• Fresh herbs of your choice (cilantro, basil, oregano, etc.), cleaned and chopped fine
• 1 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper

Directions: Combine all ingredients in a blender of food processor, and blend to desired consistency.

Black Bean Filling:
Ingredients:

• 3 tbs. Olive Oil
• 1 medium-size red onion, chopped
• 2 tablespoons chili powder
• 1 15-ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1/2 cup frozen corn kernels, thawed
• 2 chilies in adobo sauce, diced.
• 1/2 cup water or broth
• Spices to taste: oregano, basil, pepper, cinnamon.

Directions: In large frying pan, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add onions, and cook until translucent, stirring occasionally. Lower heat to medium. Add remaining ingredients, and cook for 10 minutes, stirring frequently. Using a fork or potato masher, mash about half the beans.

Yam Filling:

Ingredients

• 2 medium yams, peeled and chopped
• spices to taste: chili powder, garlic, cumin

Directions: In large sauce pan, cover yams with cold water and bring to a boil over high heat. Lower heat to medium-high to prevent boil-over, and cook yams until tender. Drain, and mash well with potato masher. Add spices to taste.

To make burritos you will need:

• Salsa
• Black bean filling
• Yam filling
• tortillas

Directions:In large frying pan, heat tortilla shells over medium heat for 1-3 minutes, until they are easy to roll without cracking. Lay flat, and add 2-3 tbs. each of salsa and fillings. Roll into a burrito, tucking ends in to prevent ingredients from spilling out. Serve immediately, or freeze for later use.

Thanksgiving Mini-Event, Post 2: The Up-Rising.

Hey, I have a lot of cooking to do, so no rude comments about my bad puns!

The cornbread is drying nicely. It’ll stay out the rest of the day and tomorrow to finish crisping up, then I’ll add moisture back in with local VA wine, butter, broth, and fruit.

The ciabatta rolls are progressing nicely, as well. The second rise and kneading:

And it’s ready for the final rise, after which it looks like this:

You can see the difference in the dough now. It’s smooth, not shiny or sticky, pliable, and nicely puffy. So, it’s time to make it into dinner rolls. First, the work surface is liberally dusted.

Thadd’s a very thorough kind of guy:

This is why we have to have someone come in to help us clean the house: neither of us are exactly neat cooks. So, once the surface is floured, the dough is cut into 2 oz. measures and formed into rolls.

And, they’re ready to be baked. They’ll wait here, rising a bit, until the oven is up to 500 degrees.

Next up, later today: finished rolls, Thadd’s Famous Cinnamon Rolls, bird brining and The Monster Turkey. Check back!

 

Thanksgiving Day Mini-Event, Post 1. Let the Fun Begin!

The cooking has officially begun.

Last night, I whipped up the cornbread and let it cool. This morning it was torn into pieces for drying in an oven warmed, then turned off.

The recipe I used:

• 3 1/2 cups stone ground cornmeal
• 1/2  cup organic whole wheat flour
• 6 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 cups fresh whole milk
• 3 tbs. fresh yogurt
• 4 large eggs
• 6 tablespoons fresh butter, melted and cooled

Heat oven to 425°.  Spray 9″x13″ pan with baking spray, or butter and flour. In a large mixing bowl, combine all dry ingredients, and whisk to mix. In separate bowl, whisk together remaining ingredients. Make a well in the flour mixture and pour wet mixture in. Stir just until all ingredients are moistened.  Pour into baking dish and allow to set for 5-10 minutes for a nice crown. Bake for  20 minutes, or until browned and firm to a light touch. Cool on rack, then dump into a bowl or large, deep pan and crumble for drying.

In the meantime, Thadd got working on the ciabatta dinner rolls, setting up the poolish last night, and starting the first rise this morning.

Then, the kneading before the second rise.

First, prep the table with sifted flour:

Then, flop the dough onto the table, and scrape the dough bits out of the bowl:

The first knead is more of a stretch-and-fold than a traditional kneading:

Once the dough is kneaded, it goes back in the bowl for it’s second rise:

And, that’s where we are currently. Late will be cinnamon rolls and brining the turkey!

Thanksgiving Feats Prep–A Mini Event!

Today, tomorrow, and Thursday I’ll be cooking both for our Thanksgiving and for some of my client’s holiday meals.  I’ll update here with picture, from fluffy potatoes to my apple-fig-chestnut cornbread stuffing, from the roasted orange cranberry stuffing the herb-and-wine brined, 100% pastured, local turkeys from Our Father’s Farm (including the 26 pounder–this bird is a monster!).

I’ve decided to make this a bit of an event, since so much is going into it. New posts will be put up as I do things, and will include photos, recipes, and cooking tips. So, check back often, comment and ask questions, let me know what your tips and trick are, and just have fun watching it come together!

Let’s get things started with what’s on the menu:

- 100% local, pastured, GMO & hormone free turkeys raised at Our Father’s Farm. The birds will be brined in vegetable stock, white wine, and herbs then roasted to perfection. One bird is 15 lbs, one is 26 lbs.

-Roasted cranberry & orange sauce. A twist on a traditional treat, this recipe is great either hot or cold.

-Tart apple, fig, and chestnut cornbread dressing. Locally-ground cornmeal, eggs, and milk make the cornbread, which is dried and mixed with local apples, chestnuts, and wine, as well as dried figs, cranberries, celery, pears, and more make this one of my all-time most requested recipes.

-Ciabatta rolls. Thadd’s whipping up his famous, and amazing, crusty ciabatta dinner rolls. Crispy on the outside, chewy and yummy on the inside.

-Green bean casserole. This isn’t your mom’s green bean casserole! Fresh bacon, mushrooms, green beans, whole local milk, cheese, homemade aioli, and topped with herbed Parmesan panko crumbs.

-Black truffle redskin potatoes. Fluffy potatoes with the rich flavors of rosemary, garlic, and black truffles.

-Roasted broccoli. Fresh broccoli, tossed with olive oil and kosher salt, then roasted to nutty perfection.

-Apple pie. Made from local Pippins from Vintage Virginia, with amazing, flaky crust, courtesy of Thadd.

 

Warm The Cockles of My Heart

Or, more accurately, my stomach.

There’s little I love more in winter than a hearty soup that warms you from your toes to your nose. In this case, it’s navy bean and ham. Except it’s not ham, per se. It’s salted local pork that is just yummy when crock potted for something like 10 hours with lots of beans, bay leaves, chicken broth, nutmeg, cinnamon, pepper, oregano, and probably some other things I’m forgetting right now. We’re making an extra soup a week right now, so we have something to munch on during the week for lunches, or put into the freezer for later.

Pull out your slow cooker and give it a try. Soups are a great, frugal, and usually healthy way to stave off those cold winter winds!

Tuesday Sick Blog & On The Menu

I am sick. Thadd is making dinner, because I have no interest in standing, let alone cooking. So, he’s making a Pumpkin Bisque Soup using a recipe from L’etoile’s Chef Mark. (I’ve had this recipe, and it’s pretty darn spectacular. I highly recommend you try it.) Thadd’s got a thing for soups. It’s something he does well. I want to post a picture of him in his red mohawk, standing in domesticated bliss over the stove stirring a pot of hot soup, but I am too sick and tired to get up and take a photo.

He’s making it with a local wine, Cardinal Point’s Quattro,  which is a bit sweeter than is likely ideal; but, the wine’s got good flavor and body fora white, so it should work nicely anyway. It’s helping my sore throat, at any rate (what, we were going to let the bottle go bad?).  We’re also adding chicken sausage made by a guy we found in PA while visiting some friends. He hand-makes this wonderful, yummy chicken sausage, and Thadd needs protein. I’ll have to pick around it, because honestly I’ll be lucky if I can swallow the soup with my sore throat. Which sucks, because I love this sausage. And, as a final touch, I did get off my but and make whole wheat maple cornbread (which I also can’t eat) to go with it.

It should be an awesome meal. Now, if only I could eat most of it. I hate being sick.

At least I should be well enough to eat the crockpot haggis we’re making on Thursday. Right? Please tell me I’m right?

And, speaking of haggis, I haven’t put up an “On the Menu” in forever. Since I am sick and can’t talk without wanting to stick a fork in my eye, I figured I have the time.

Dinners:

Monday: Chickpea wet curry. I have no idea why I don’t make this more, because it’s spectacular. It’s a riot of Indian spices in your mouth. I recently got a spice mix from Penzy’s balled “balti” that I tossed in, and it worked beautifully. It’s also really frugal, and makes enough to feed an army.

Tuesday. Pumpkin Bisque. You read about this above. We love pumpkin soup.

Wednesday: Barbeque pulled chicken over rice. I work late, and this just gets tossed in the crockpot. All I have to do when I get home is throw on some rice and voila! Dinner. I put some veggies on the side, and the brown rice gives a lot of fiber.

Thursday: Haggis with parsnips and potatoes. Okay, it’s not real haggis. It’s the best we can do here in our quaint little part of the Southern US. Again, it’s a crockpot meal, because we’re both silly busy (and, have I mentioned that this woman is my hero, who has saved my not-eating-out life more times than I can count?). We are siding it with the traditional parsnips and potatoes, though. The lamb gets cut out because I am allergic, and replaced with that fabulous chicken sausage I raved about above.

Friday: Chicken Cacciatore. Yes, this is another slow cooker meal. I realize it looks like I never actually do any stove cooking, but I sweat I do. Just not this week. We’re trying to get some more leftovers into the freezer, so these large crockpot meals are perfect.

Saturday: Leftovers. We’ll clean out the refrigerator. Since we’re attending a local apple festival, we didn’t want to have to be home in time to cook. The preceding days should leave us with plenty.

Sunday: Goulash like Grandma Makes. This is not my healthiest meal. It’s made with white flour elbow noodles!! Why? One, because finding whole-wheat elbows around me is almost impossible, but mostly because this is one dish where the difference is actually huge and not necessarily leaning in favor of the whole-wheat. But, there’s lots of yummy grass-fed beef, and lycopene in the tomatoes.

Lunches:

Leftovers, for the most part.

Breakfasts:

Fermented oats, farm eggs, homemade bread, 9-grain fermented cereal, steel cut crockpotted oats.

What are you eating?

 

Monday Healthy Eating, Oct. 25, 2010

Today’s healthy eating tip:  Make convenience foods yourself ahead of time, so there’s no excuses!

Right now, I have apple-pomegranate-nut granola bars whipping themselves up in my dehydrator.  They took me a grand total of about 2 minutes to mix up, another 30 seconds to spread on the dehydrator sheet, and now I do nothing with them for the next 4 or so hours when I turn them off to cool down.  They’ve got very little sugar, tons of fiber, protein, and omega fatty acids, and no additional fat or preservatives. And they cost pennies each. Which makes them pretty much the antithesis of store-bought granola bars, which are loaded with empty calories from sugar, unhealthy fats, and things you can’t pronounce.

What’s this got to do with anything? Well, we’re all busy. Most people these days work at least one job (those lucky enough to have jobs in this economy), usually all adults in the house need to work, kids have school and a bazillion activities, and things sometimes get out of hand. This is when you’re likely to stop by McDonalds to get the kids (or yourself) a quick snack, or grab some mac-and-cheese out of a box. If that’s rare treat, then that’s totally okay. If it happens a few times a week, it’s a problem. So, this has to do with avoiding that problem.

One way I stay on track is to take a few minutes to set up conveniences foods when I have the time. The granola bars happened today both because I need them for my clients and because I had 5 minutes to spare. I keep a list of recipes on-hand, and some basic ingredients, and whip up some easy, healthy food for the pantry of freezer whenever I can squeeze it in, and it means I don’t have to resort to fast or processed foods.

You do have the time. Watching TV for an hour tonight? Take 5 minutes before your show or on a commercial to pop up some stove-top popcorn (don’t use microwave–it’s expensive, and it’s awful for you, even the “low-fat” stuff), toss it with some spritzed olive oil and your choice of spices (favorite combo of our are garlic, salt, and smoked paprika) and let it cook while you watch your show (eat some if you like, of course). Toss it into individual serving bags, and you’ve got a crunchy, low-cal, high-fiber snack for the week.  Sitting at the computer playing on Facebook? While you’re waiting for your updates, mix up a healthy meatloaf (black beans, lean ground beef, oats, an egg, spices, red & green pepper, onion, and whatever chopped veggies you want to toss in) and toss it in the oven. If you want, you can divide it up into individual serving sizes in small pyrex dishes to make lunches easier. Some of my favorite conveniences foods to whip up in a jiffy:

-Mini meatloafs

-Mini healthy muffins (there are even some decent mixes out there, and I add fruit and nuts if I use them)

-Mini frittatas

-Seasoned popcorn, pumpkin seeds, or nuts in individual packages

-Boiled eggs

-Dehydrator granola bars

-Cheese cubes (way cheaper to make these yourself than buy the pre-cuts)

-Homemade hot pockets (I use leftovers for filling), with a fat-free, whole wheat dough. You can even buy fairly healthy whole wheat pizza dough at some stores, and use that.

-Soup in the crockpot. There’s nothing faster: just throw in some beans, some broth, and a some veggies. If you want fancy soup, throw in some spices and canned tomatoes. Let it cook for a few hours, and you’ve got something easy for the week, or to throw in individual portions in the freezer for those lunches or dinners you just don’t have time to cook.

There’s more, I’m sure, but these are what I can think of off the top of my head. None of them takes more than a few minutes, and those few minutes save me hundreds of calories (and preservatives) every day.

To get started, just get a piece of paper and write down out what you tend to need convenience foods for: breakfasts, snacks, lunches, etc., and what kinds of things you’d like to have on-hand. Make a list and stick it up somewhere you can see it, and next time you have a couple of minutes, use those to help you make good food choices when it would otherwise be inconvenient.  There are tons of recipes on the internet for fast convenience foods, including some great whole-grain cookies (these are my current obsession)!

Planning is everything in making healthful choices, but you have to start in small steps. You’ve already started meal planning (right?), and this is just an extension of that, really. We’re all busy, and we all want those few extra minutes to do something else; but, it’s about priorities. “Convenience foods,” many of which aren’t food at all, are one of the biggest culprits behind obesity in this country, especially childhood obesity. You’ll feel better eating better food, and it only take a few times making healthy items for later before you have a nice little stash to choose from. Once that happens, you have to take those few minutes less often to replenish it.

 

Related Articles

• Make healthy lunches kids will want to eat (canada.com)
• Healthy back to school snacking (thismamacooks.com)
• The Minimalist: Granola Bars, Unwrapped (nytimes.com)
• Quick Healthy Meals for Busy Families (webmd.com)
• How Food Affects Your Brain 10 Facts We Now Know (losethattyre.co.uk)

Monday Healthy Eating

Plan your lunches.

Step away from the deli, get out of the drive-thru line, and put down that processed frozen lunch entree. Lunches are incredibly easy meals to plan, and doing so will save you calories and money while gaining nutrition and flavor.

Your lunch options will depend on your lunch facilities, so take a minute to think about it: do you have  access to a refrigerator? A microwave? Toaster oven?  Can you use a cooler if no refrigerator is available, or store a hot-bag or thermos? Once you’ve got that figured out, the rest is pretty easy.

Make a list of foods you like that fit those needs. Obviously, if you are completely without the ability to keep items cold at all (and aren’t allowed a cooler), your options are the most limited; but, their are still options. Nut butters sandwiches or wraps, fruit, nuts, baked goods,  and many more foods keep just fine for several hours without refrigeration. If you can’t heat things up and can’t carry a thermos or warm bag, you can still take many things that are great cold.

Some of my favorite lunches, not including leftovers:

• Black bean burger wraps (pictured). I make up bean patties and toss them in the freezer, so I can just pull one out and crumble it into a wrap with whatever toppings I feel like!
• Home made hot pockets, stuffed with everything from fresh fruit to turkey and swiss with fig jam, from meatloaf to mac and cheese! The crust recipe I use is below, adapted from this recipe in Vegetarian Magazine.
• Miso chicken & shitake soup.
• Boiled egg, sliced with heirloom tomatoes.
• Pineapple tuna salad on baby spinach.
• Miso noodles, with shredded chicken (canned works fine) and some veggies.

There are all kinds of things you can use to fill out your lunch, too. Roasted almonds (which release leptin,  the “full” hormone) sliced fruit, a side salad, homemade granola and yogurt…you get the idea. The list is endless, you just need to add a bit of creativity.

Planning your lunches for the week will help keep you on the healthy-eating track, and it’ll make you the envy of the office!

Hot Pocket Crust Recipe

• 1 1/2 cups whole-wheat flour
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 tsp. salt
• 4 Tbs. cold butter or trans-fat free margarine (or soy margarine)
• 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1 Tbs. apple cider or white wine vinegar

Get the mixing directions here, and while you’re at it, you should really try the empanadas. They’re amazing.

Macaroni & Cheese..with Wine?

Absolutely. I was shocked, too, but when some friends and I hit Hickory Hill winery on a recent wine tour that is exactly what their Country Red screamed out: “Drink me with some really good mac & cheese!” So, we bought a bottle, and at the very first ripe opportunity I busted out a mac & cheese recipe recommended by both the owner of the winery and the friends who’d accompanied us on the tour.

It all starts out simple enough, with some cheese and noodles.

It ends up all goey and yummy like this:

I had to make some changes from Jaime Olliver’s recipe. I couldn’t find any decent fontina, let alone marscapone, and I needed to add some protein to it for The Boys.

• 1lb 2oz good-quality macaroni
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• a knob of butter
• a small bunch of fresh marjoram or oregano, leaves picked (I used dried oregano, because I had it on hand)

• 3½oz Parmesan cheese, freshly grated, plus extra for grating
• 3½oz grated sharp cheddar

• 3½oz Muenster
• 3½oz cream cheese
• ¼ of a nutmeg

• 1/2 lb. smoked sausage, diced small

•  1/2 med. red pepper, small
An additional bit grated cheddar (or fresh mozzarella) and Parmesan cheeses reserved.

Heat oven to 400 degrees. On stove top, cook the macaroni, and drain, reserving 1/2 c. of cooking water. In pan, heat butter and herbs until herbs are crispy. Add macaroni and all cheeses except the reserved grated cheddar, and several tablespoons of the starch water. Stir until creamy. Stir in sausage and pepper. Pour macaroni into a lightly greased casserole, and sprinkle grated cheddar over top, then Parmesan. Put in oven, uncovered, for 10 minutes until cheese on top is bubbly. Serve warm, with a red wine, and enjoy!

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