Chop Mexican Salad with Cilantro Lime Dressing

I've been a bad blogger. I apologize. Here is me trying to get back on the horse. So recently I subscribed to Vegetarian Times magazine. Great mag with lots of healthy, quick meals. For those of you that got the July/August magazine you might remember this recipe. I changed aspects of it to suit my taste, but the credit certainly goes to VT on this meal.

I've been trying to eat more veggies lately. I came to the sad discovery that multivitamins aren't inherently vegetarian. I don't know why I thought they would be, but then I was in the Common Market looking at vitamins and noticed they had a bunch marked vegetarian and vegan. Huh....so I did some research. No more Centrum for me. And hey, here is an idea...why not get my vitamins and minerals from a good diet. Yes!



Mexican Chopped Salad

Salad:
1 small head of romaine, sliced
1/2 bunch spinach, stems removed, chopped
2 medium tomatoes, chopped
2 avocados, diced
1/2 cucumber, halved lengthwise and then sliced
the corn cut from one fresh cob, raw
1 can black beans
several large pieces of roasted red pepper, sliced
1/4 red onion, minced
1/2 cup broccoli or alfalfa sprouts

Dressing:
1/2 cup olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
juice from one lemon and one lime
1/4 cup chopped green onion
1/4 cup cilantro leaves
pinch cayenne pepper


1. Heat the oil, garlic, cumin, coriander, sugar and salt in a saucepan for until the garlic begins to sizzle.
2. Blend the remaining dressing ingredients with the garlic oil. Blend in a blender if you want it to be smooth (I left it chunky)
3. Toss over the chopped salad




I gave this salad to a few friends without the dressing a few days later and the veggies had marinated to the point where they even liked it with no dressing at all. If you want the salad to last a few days keep the avocado on the side and just top each bowl with it rather than putting it in the whole mixture.

White Bean and Tomato Gratin

Item # 2 in my "eating down the pantry" project. Dried White Beans. Did I already rant on here about how scarce the black bean supply is here in France? I believe I did. They just don't use them. No black bean burgers - no black bean quesadillas. Just not done. Tant Pis - I've got tons of white beans. Too much in fact.

So I set about eating them this week. Fun fact about white beans (more often referred to as cannellini beans at home) is that one serving of these magical little fruits has twice as much iron in it than a serving of beef. Eat that moo cow. Or rather...eat beans instead of moo cows!

White Bean Tomato Gratin
3/4 cup dried white beans
1/2 cup veggie stock
1 small yellow pepper, chopped
2 tomatoes, chopped
1 yellow onion, chopped
1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
1/2 cup shredded gruyere
1 to 2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp chili powder (or I bet this would be excellent with several liberal squirts of Shriracha instead of chili powder!)
1 tbsp fresh chopped oregano or dried.
black pepper

1. Soak the white beans overnight (12ish hours). Normally I skip the soaking step for bean dishes - mostly because I puree a lot of stuff so it doesn't matter - but this time it does matter unfortch. They are the star of the show.
2. In a large saucepan, in new cold water, bring the soaked beans to a boil. Boil for 10 minutes then reduce the heat and let them simmer for up to an hour or until they are tender.
3. Preheat the oven to 350 (150-170 C)
4. Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan. Add the pepper and onion. Cook 4 to 5 minutes or until they soften and start to turn a nice golden color. Add the tomatoes, veggie stock, oregano and the chili powder or sauce. Bring the whole mixture to a boil, then reduce the heat and let it simmer, moving it around so nothing gets overly browned, for the next 10 to 15 minutes or until the sauce thickens. Add the beans, gruyere and black pepper to taste.
5. Put the whole mixture into a glass casserole or loaf dish. Top with the 1/4 cup of parmesan.
6. Let the gratin cook until the sauce is bubbling and the cheese is melty. Enjoy.



The next day when you have extra, spread a corn or wheat tortilla with a liberal amount of salsa, then several spoonfuls of leftover gratin, fold the tortilla in half and cook it 2-3 minutes on each side in a frying pan with a bit of pre-heated olive oil. Perfect quesadilla filling.

Mashed White Bean Sammy and Bulgar Mixed Veg Salad-Vegan

Sounds like a lot of healthy stuff right? Yeah it is, but trust me it's so good!

White beans seem to find there way onto my plate more frequently here than at home so I decided to just embrace it. This method of mashing the white beans creates a hummus-like but slightly bumpier kind of spread that frankly I now prefer to hummus.



Mashed White Bean Sammy (for 2)

1 can white beans (drained and rinsed)
1 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper
1 avocado
handful of spiniach
handful of sprouts (can't find them here but that's how I wanted to eat it)
4 slices of your favorite bread

1. Put your white beans in a bowl and add the olive oil and salt and pepper to taste. Using a fork mash the beans against the side of the bowl until you have a lumpy spread.
2. Spread onto your bread, top with avocado, spinach, and sprouts.
3. Eat!

Also it would be good with cucumber, roasted red pepper, or shriratcha!



The Bulgar Salad is a bit more complicated but it keeps well. I made it yesterday and I made enough to eat cold for the rest of the week as a side.

Bulgar Mixed Veg Salad

1 cup bulgur wheat
1 eggplant, thinly sliced then sliced into 4ths
1 pound mushrooms, sliced in half
5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 pound cherry tomatoes, cut in half
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
salt and pepper
1 cup basil leaves, torn

1. Cook the bulgar according to the package (usually 2 cups cold water and 1 cup bulgar, bring the boil, cover and simmer for 12-15 min)
2. Sautee the mushrooms and eggplant in 3 tbsp oil until tender (5 min)
3. Put your bulgar in a large bowl and fluff with a fork. Add remaining oil, red wine vinegar, salt and pepper and mix well.
4. Add your eggplant and mushrooms and mix well. Gently fold in the tomatoes and basil.

This will make enough for 4-6 people or it will last one to two people several days. Serve warm or cold.

Tomato Basil Mozzerella Bruschetta

It's beautiful out today. Took a nice leisurely ride on Trike to the grocery store and bought all kinds of fresh produce and baking supplies. Got a little hungry so I made this real quick. One of my favorites.





Tomato Basil Mozzarella Bruschetta for one

handful baby tomatoes
handful fresh basil
1/3 of a fresh mozzarella round
pinch of salt
healthy drizzle of EV olive oil
crusty bread

1. Cute up the tomatoes and throw them in a little bowl. Stack your basil leaves together, roll it up and slice them thin. Add to tomatoes. Slice thin the mozzarella and add to the tomatoes too. Throw in your pinch of salt and drizzle of olive oil and stir it up.

2. Cut your bread so there is plenty of room for the tomatoes on top. Drizzle with more olive oil and either stick them in the oven or if you have a little horizontal toaster like I do, then use that.

3. Assemble and eat.