Fresh Pico de Gallo and Black Bean Salad

You know the other day, when I had to apologize for being absent? Well, my promise has come to fruition. Here are the recipes. I made a wonderful, healthy, fresh dinner that night that completely knocked my socks off. AND, the salad tasted better the next day. And it was full of protein and good for me brain food.

And, it was Mexican food...so...how could you top that?


Black Bean Salad

1 cup chopped tomato (seeded)
1 can drained and rinsed black beans
1/2 a medium red onion, chopped
1 cucumber, seeded, peeled, and chopped
2 ears of corn, cobs thrown away after removing the corn.
1 Tablespoon fresh, chopped, cilantro

Dressing:

3 cloves of garlic
juice of one lime
1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 Tablespoon honey
Smoked Chipotle Tabasco, to taste ( I liked 3 dashes).

Toss salad ingredients together.

To make dressing, pound garlic in a mortar and pestle, add salt and make into paste. Continue to pound in oil, lime, and honey until well incorporated. Add to salad and stir.

Season with Tabasco.

Fresh Pico de Gallo

1 cup finely diced tomato
1/4 cup sweet orange peppers, finely diced
2 scallions, thinly diced and separated out
2 cloves of garlic
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
Chipotle Tabasco, to taste (again, I liked a few dashes).

Add the vegetables

Smash the garlic and salt into a paste, add to Pico.

Season with Tabasco.

Serve with tortilla chips. Or, in absence of that - we ate it bruschetta style on bread.

The easiest party dish ever.

Now grab a tortilla chip and dig in. Yum.

I had to bring in a "covered dish" for a summer staff development. Because of my own dietary needs, it also had to be low fat, vegetarian, and hearty enough to hold me if everyone else brought a meat dish.

I immediately thought of the layered bean dip I adopted from my mother. Now, she got this from a friend in Hawaii, and you have to be aware that this is a dish you can make as fatty or as healthy as you want. In my opinion (and the discerning taste of my husband) - the lighter version is just as delicious. Considering that it was completely eaten up before I left - I'd say that my fellow teachers didn't mind it either.

Layered Bean Dip

1 can re fried beans or bean dip (I use Old El Paso Fat Free).
2-3 avocados smashed with lime juice
1 Package Taco Seasoning (make your own?)
1 16 oz-ish tub of sour cream (I use fat free - you can use Greek yogurt, but it's not as good)
Diced tomatoes
Shredded cheese (I use 2% Mexican generally, never go fat free - it's terrible)
1 small can of sliced olives
3 scallions, thinly sliced in rings
jalepeno if you like them.

(1) Mix the tub of sour cream and taco seasoning together. Let sit for a while. It's fine to whip it up the night before - the longer it sits the better. In fact, if you get going and realize that the tub is just "too much" for the plate that you are making - keep the rest and use it as a vegetable dip. It's wonderful!

(1) Grab a large plate. Any shape, varied sizes, you will make the dip to it! I get the smaller of the two pizza pans I have (maybe 20 inches in diameter?), put down some aluminum foil to cover the holes (and make for easy clean up), and use that. I always have a little rim of plate around. To make it pretty, you can push chips in the sides at serving time to give the dip a fun "border." Even prettier with colored chips.

(3) Spread the beans down first, then the avocado mixture, followed by the sour cream. I like to leave the avocados more chunky (I like big hunks of avocado on my chips), but this is to your taste. I suggest trying the three bottom layers to decide what flavor suits you, and decide on proportions for that. The sour cream mixture is salty, so I wouldn't make that layer TOO thick.

(4) Now comes the tomatoes. Again, to your taste. I love how the tomatoes balance the salty flavor of the sour cream, so I use a fair amount here.

(5) The cheese, more means more calories, so you adjust to what you need.

(6) The final ingredients on top, to taste. (7) Enjoy with a good corn chip. I love Kettle's or Garden of Eatin's

For us, this is a completely reasonable dinner - especially during football season!

Portland, Oregon: Authentic Mexican Food and Farmer's Markets.

One of the best parts of being out in the Northwest is the food. I had forgotten how lucious and fresh everything in the Willamette Valley is. Cherries right off the tree, berries being sold on one roadside stand after the next. The Portland area truly is a celebration of freshness and taste.

Since not everyone can successfully run a garden, farmer's markets are an excellent resource to get fresh fruits and veggies. I read somewhere that the Portland area bosts 31 different farmers markets that run from the spring through the fall. These markets don't just have the fruits and vegetables, but breads, jams, crafts, meats, goodies, and more! Really, go hungry, sample whatever is available, and grab some lunch from a vendor. I promise you, there will be something delectable to try.

We attended two farmers markets while on our extended trip: Hillsboro and Forest Grove. I hear the Portland ones are fairly large, but these were close and easily accessible with two children. The Hillsboro market is in the morning - so we rousted the kids out of bed and took them into town. My main interest is in berries. I had forggotten how wonderful farm fresh berries truly are. Especially Marionberries, a hybrid local to the area. They're a wonderfully, sweet, juicy, large blackberry. Strawberries were on their way out, but I was able to find a pint of the last ones. We also found some raspberries, gooseberries, and currants.
Also notable at the Hillsboro market: the popcorn cart (wonderful, not too sweet, kettle corn), a local soap maker whose soaps looked so good that my daughter tried to take a bite, and a Mexican family whipping up breakfast burritos (more on that in a bit).

Later in the week, in the evening time, we headed over to the Forest Grove farmer's market. This market had a completely different vibe - celebratory and excited. More crafts, and more vegetables from "organic" vendors. There was not "certification" present, so the buyer beware, but in a small town like Forest Grove people would talk if you were spraying your "organic" garden.
Both markets were outstanding, and I am so glad we went. However, I think I liked the Forest Grove market better. Really, the Forest Grove market would have been perfect if that burrito making family had also been there. When we went to the Hillsboro market, there was a very long line in front of a food stand. If you are not local to an area, and want a good place to eat - watch the traffic around meal time. The sheer volume that this place was putting out really impressed my husband and I, and we just had to sample their menu. They made us the most wonderful egg, bean, and rice burrito. $4.00 for a meal that served both myself and my husband. The kids munched on popcorn and berries, while we all enjoyed a coffee treat. The kids had not-so-hot chocolate while I sipped on my latte.

I had forgotten what a significant part of the community is Mexican in descent. Immigration was sparked by local farms having work for interested families. Now, as those families are now in the second and third generations, they have become integrated into part of the Northwest culture. I never noticed it before, but Mexican food has become as "Oregon" as salmon and Tillamook ice cream.

After that burrito, the Mexican craving was still there. Nearing the end of our trip, we went to another local Mexican place and had lunch. This place wasn't nearly as good as the vendor stand - and MUCH more expensive (12 bucks for something 2/3 the size). It managed to fill our tummies, though. The guacamole was tangier than I am used to. They used a bit more lime juice than I would. It was tasty, but the lime totally overpowered the avocado.
This is a picture from the local restaurant, I didn't have my camera the day we went to the Hillsboro market.

Well, the tortillas didn't knock my socks off.

But the chips sure as heck did!

Take 3-4 tortillas. Using a pizza cutter, cut into wedges. Arrange on a cookie sheet, as best as you can, so they aren't overlapping (a little bit is okay).

Drizzle the tops with extra virgin olive oil.

Sprinkle seasonings. I used salt, garlic powder, cumin, and cayenne pepper. I can see using a LOT of different sorts of spices. Curry powder? Thyme and Sage? Or my next trick - cinnamon and sugar. It all depends on how much flavor you want. Adjust the spices to your desire. This is one instance that dried spices work best.

Bake at 450 for anywhere from 3 - 7 minutes. STAND WATCH! Else you will be calling your alarm company like I did, making sure they didn't send a fire truck out. Those spices will SMOKE...so really be careful.

This is how I know how good this is: When I fed it to my husband, he stopped, looked in the kitchen, and said "that's really good." He's a man of few words when it comes to food, so when his words are those - I know I hit the jackpot.

Yummy...homemade tortillas AND chips. Whee!

One tortilla, two tortilla, three tortilla...

At my son's last birthday, I realized that his cake was the last that I intended on buying. I could not believe that it cost me $26 for some flour and sugar - and I vowed to make my own from then on. I have a book that I plan on using for decorating help. I might also take a cake decorating class if the nearby Michaels offers them.

I felt similarly when I started making my own pancakes. I couldn't believe that I - and many others like me - had been suckered into buying mixes. It was so easy, and so much better, to make my own!

Well, I had heard the raves about homemade tortillas. Little Mexican Grandmas have been doing it for eons, so why couldn't I? Surely, women in Mexico in the early 1900's - without any of the conveniences of today - were able to make the tortilla work. With my fully stocked kitchen I shouldn't have a problem. My only concern was calories and fat, so I went ahead and looked up a recipe for those that are reduced fat.

What I discovered was that tortillas are absurdly simple. You have some sort of fat (in my case, light, organic, vegan margarine), flour, salt, and a leavening agent (in my case, baking powder - although some called for soda). Fat free tortillas actually call for fat free mayo instead of fat. You mix the dry, cut in the fat, and then stir in HOT water until a dough forms. Divide up the dough, let sit for 15 minutes, roll out, and cook. Simple.

Except not. Well, the mixing was simple, the cooking was not.

First, as I said, you toss in the dry and stir together.

2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3 cups unbleached flour

Next, you must "cut in" the fat. Enter, pastry cutter. 4 Tblsp margarine or butterYou're basically looking to press the butter into the flour, over and over, turning the bowl, in order to make the dry ingredients look sort of crumbly. The "official" baking term is course cornmeal.

Next, add in the water until the dough is together and sticky.

1 1/4 cups water. Plop the dough onto a WELL FLOURED surface and knead for just a couple of minutes, until it's velvety and soft. Then the instructions say to "tear" the dough into 12 pieces. Yeah, right. I'd end up with 13 tortillas of all different shapes and sizes. I made a mound and got a knife. I cut in half, and shaped each half into a mound. Then I cut each mound in half again (now I have four halves). I then cut each half into thirds. That makes my yield of 12.

How's THAT for a math lesson.

Roll each piece into little balls and sprinkle with flour.

I just think this little dough ball picture is cool. Now comes the part that is going to take practice. You need to let the dough "rest" for 10-15 minutes. This is something consistent across all recipes. Just like you have to let bread rise, you must let the dough rest.

Then, one by one, you need to roll it out. Now, the outside of the tortilla gets sort of crispy/crusty. So, you don't want to roll it so thick that it won't "roll." You also don't want to make it so thin that it gets crunchy (think tortilla chips) too quickly. You want to find Baby Bear's bed - just right.

You also want the temperature pretty high - between 375 and 400. I had mine too low, which dried out the tortillas before I got the pretty golden spots I was going for. I cooked mine on a griddle, I am thinking a pan would have worked better. They have these fancy tortilla cookers, but we just don't eat them enough for me to invest in such a thing. You cook them just like you would a pancake

I got a "thought it was pretty good, it's a tortilla, I don't know what you expect," from the husband. So, passable to say the least. I know the dough is fine, so getting the cooking down will take me a few tries. This is true for many of these kinds of things - pizza took me a few tries too.

The beautiful thing about tortillas is you don't have to fill them with Mexican food. I filled the husband's tortilla with chickpeas and couscous (leftover) seasoned with curry powder. Again, passable. I love the idea that if the mood for wraps, or fajitas, or burritos hits - I don't have to give up just because I don't have tortillas. I almost always have the ingredients around, so it's just a matter of making them.

As an aside, I made my French bread recipe into a loaf bread. It worked pretty well, and made the best PBJs. In my original recipe, I divided the dough in half to get two loaves. In the bread pan, the whole thing went into one (I've got jumbo sized pans for sandwiches). Nice big pieces, with spongy crevices where the peanut butter and honey soaked into. The slices were too thick for the kids - I need a better bread knife. Also, I think I need to half again the recipe and put half of THAT batch in each loaf pan (so, we're looking at 2/3 and 2/3 in each of the pans). I will try that after my knew bread knife shows up. And post with a simple conversion if that works out better. I have a couple of other bread recipes to try too.

Happy tortilla making!

Homemade nachos

One of my most favorite things to make with leftover black beans are homemade nachos. It's such a simple dinner, and one that always tastes so good. Now, if you're like me, I like my nachos FULLY dressed: guacamole, sour cream, fresh tomatoes, red onions, olives, black beans, and cheese. LOTS of cheese.

Tonight, I had to pass by the nachos, but I went ahead and served them to the husband and children.

To prepare:

Preheat an oven to 350, and cover a pizza pan with aluminum foil. Then go ahead and collect the ingredients. This is what I had on hand.

Next, layer. I warm up the beans separately, and put them immediately on top of the chips. Then I toss on the cheese. You can add red onions and olives top the top too, but I would hold off on adding the guacamole, sour cream, and salsa until the very end.

Bake for around 10 minutes or so. You want the cheese to be nice and melty.

Dallop on your favorite toppings and serve! This is SO simple, but wonderful and light yet satisfying all at the same time.

Other ideas for toppings: green onions, refried beans, marinated chicken or steak, hamburger, vegetarian meat crumbles, fresh tomatoes, cilantro.

I had way more pictures to add, but blogger is being stupid. Sorry! You will have to make your own to see all the melted gooey goodness.

Redecorating with Maracas

Now that I've been blogging for several months, I thought I should create a layout more reflective of the blog's personality. The primary purpose of this blog is to discuss what I do in my kitchen (hence the name), with a serious flair of green living and motherhood. The above banner is what a friend came up with for me. Isn't it FABULOUS? She's quite talented, a budding photographer, and never gives herself enough credit. Moreover the name of her blog references Dave Matthews, and what tree hugger doesn't love him? Certainly all the ones that I went to school with do.

I will give you a "quickie" today - a picture from breakfast.

On sale this week were avocados and tomatoes. I told the husband that it was a Mexican week, but after last week's Black Eyed Peas, he asked for a reprieve from "beans and rice, rice and beans." I obliged, and got more creative in my Mexican-ness. Behold, Huevos Rancheros. This is WAY easy.

Scramble the appropriate number of eggs. Make sure to chop up some green onions and add them, some salt, and a dash of cumin. A little garlic wouldn't hurt either, but make sure to dice it up REALLY fine (mash it with your knife, even), and start it first with a little oil BEFORE adding the eggs. If you don't have green onions, you can use white, but start it first with the garlic.

When cooked, plate, and top with diced tomatoes, avocados, and a tiny bit more green onion. Add salsa and sour cream if the aforementioned isn't enough. Beans would be good too.

Would be excellent with some bakery-style bread toasted with a dash of butter.

Now off to make Mexican-style salad!

My kids are afraid of it.

Guacamole, that is.

I think it's the green color.

Whatever, I LOVE the stuff. Seriously, I could eat it with a spoon. Pardon my Forest Gump reference, but -

There's taco salad with guac, enchiladas with guac, tacos with guac, chips with guac, burritos with guac, guac dip....

Do I need to go on?

I love to make mine homemade. Fresh from heaven, as far as I am concerned.

Guacamole:
2-3 avocados
1/4 red onion, super finely chopped (food processed is even pretty good)
1 seeded, small diced, tomato
1 clove garlic (optional/reducible)
juice of 1 lime
salt/pepper to taste

Mash avocados together in a bowl.

Add tomatoes, onions, garlic, and lime juice. Stir.

Adjust salt and pepper to taste.

EAT!!!

Avocado trick: Have trouble spooning it out? This is what I do:

Cut the avocado in half, starting at the top down the more narrow part, swooping around the bulbous part when your knife hits the seed. You should have two halves, one with the seed, one without.

With a sharp knife, quickly "karate chop" the seed with your knife and turn gently. The seed should be stuck on the knife and come out easily (works better with a butcher-style knife).

With a smaller knife, cut the avocado half into squares by running the knife only as deep as the flesh (try not to cut the skin). I usually cut around 5 long, and 6 or 7 wide.

Take a large metal spoon, and scoop out the avocado as close to the skin as possible. It should come out nicely, and in tiny little cubes.

Works for quick mashing and eating in a salad or the like.

Beans, beans...the glorious food...

The more you eat...

Those of you who have young children (or remember your own childhood), will know the rest of this diddy.

This morning I was listening to Bob and Sheri, and they were asking listeners to call in with what they plan on doing with their IRS "economic stimulus check." One guy called in and claimed that after 6 years - he and his wife were completely debt free and buying their new home on cash. Bob and Sheri seemed interested, until he mentioned the name Dave Ramsey.

The ball and chain is a huge fan of this guy. He read the book shortly before Christmas (joy and rapture), and we have been in total money makeover land since the year started. We have made some headway on bills, and the headway does seem to make the ball and chain happier. Still, he's pretty much the turd in the proverbial punch bowl when you want to do something FUN with your money. He's also a supreme traditionalist. I don't mind this so much, as I am a pretty traditional gal. However, I can see why this may turn some off. Regardless, while radical and seemingly unreachable, his money beliefs make sense. My sister declared herself debt free (except for her home) - and they couldn't be happier about this.

The reason this comes up, is that one thing he tells people to do (to cut back on food costs) is eat rice and beans, beans and rice. Perish the thought. Beans are so BORING, right?

Au contraire.

Beans are a wonderful, cheap, easy, and satisfying meal. Did I say cheap? I meant to say cheap.

They've also been a staple in the diet that has completely changed my husband's health.

Tonight, since we are nearing the end of our Easter leftovers, I plan on making up some chickpeas to eat on for the rest of the week. However, since I promised this ages ago, I thought I would share my fantastic Black Beans. These were made up through trial and error over time in my own kitchen. Feel free to adjust to your tastes.

Stewed Seasoned Black Beans.

One medium onion
One green pepper
2 t. Cumin
1 t -2 T. Cayenne Pepper
Salt to taste
2 T. cilantro
1 lb back beans
2 T olive oil
2 cloves chopped garlic

Soak beans all night or all day, or follow quick soak method on package.

When done soaking, drain and sort out ickies.

Heat olive oil in pot, and add chopped onion, green pepper, and garlic. Cook until onions begins to get translucent.

When done, add the rest of the spices. Cook for thirty seconds.

Add beans, cook for 30 seconds.

Add enough water to cover the beans with 2-3 inches of space to the top.

Cook for 1.5-2.5 hours, adding water when needed (uncovered). As the beans get close, taste to adjust seasoning.

You know the beans are done when there is a very thick/starchy broth that would be good with rice, along with the beans being cooked just to the point of breaking easily. You want a broth just a bit more runny than gravy. With the water, you are basically looking to cook the beans and boil the water off.

Mt favorite way to serve is over Cilantro Lime Rice, topped with chopped avocado, tomatoes, red onions, and a dollop of sour cream.