Another Meal Worth Sharing: Black Bean Salad and Spinach Turkey Burgers

One of my favorite things about changing the way we eat is all the new recipes! After a while, it seems like we get stuck in a food rut. Same meals over and over. And of course it's usually the simple ones like chili, spaghetti, tacos, etc. While those are all good, we get tired of them. Lately, thanks to Pinterest, I've been trying to throw in a new meal each week. So far, I've hit a homerun each time! Last night was no exception. I have seen several versions of this Black Bean Salad but didn't have all the ingredients or some of the things in the original recipe wouldn't sound good. So, here is my version:

1 can Black Beans (rinsed)

1 avocado

1 1/2 cups frozen corn (I'm guessing that's how much I used)

1 large tomato

1 tsp olive oil

2-3 tbsp lime juice

2-3 garlic cloves, finely minced

salt to taste

pepper to taste

Cook corn as directed. Once done, rinse in cold water or place in refrigerator until ready to use. Cut up the avocado and tomato into bite size pieces. Mix beans, avocado, corn, and tomato together. In a small bowl, combine the olive oil, lime juice, garlic, salt, and pepper. Pour over the bean mix and blend well. 

This recipe can be modified in so many ways too. Bell peppers and onions would be delicious additions! I can't wait until this summer when the corn, tomatoes, and garlic are all fresh from our garden! 

We had Spinach Turkey Burgers also which are always a hit, even for my 7 year old, until he noticed the green in them. These are super simple. Mix 1 pound of lean ground turkey with 1 package of thawed frozen chopped spinach, 1 egg, and 1 packet of taco seasoning. Throw them on the grill and you are in for a treat!

Hope you now have a few new ideas to get you and your family out of the dinner rut!

Supper Idea: Chipotle Pork Salads

I had to share this recipe. It's spicy, filling, and has a little bit of everything! I'll call it Chipotle Pork Salads. The meat is prepared in the crockpot which is a huge added bonus for our family.

Chipotle Pork Salads

Boston butt pork roast

Can of chipotle chilies in adobo sauce, chopped

6-7 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

1/2 of a fresh lime, juice only

About 1 cup of beef broth

Trim and cut pork into 1-2 inch pieces. Combine everything in the crockpot and cook on High for 5-6 hours or on Low 8-10 hours. 

For the rest of the salad:

Lettuce

Tomato

Refried Beans (fat-free with a little lime and Mexican cheese on top)

Corn

Salsa

Mix the salad fixin's together and top with a few pieces of pork. Spicy and delicious!!

Cooking Venison for the First Time

Recently, we acquired some venison (deer meat) and I had to share this recipe. It was the best stew I've ever had. Here is the original recipe from the "I'm Hooked, I'm Game" cookbook:

Hunter's Venison Stew

2 lbs. cubed venison

2 Tbsp. butter or margarine

Salt and Pepper

********

6 carrots

2 large potatoes

3 medium onions

3 stalks celery

1 (28 oz) can crushed tomatoes

In a large deep saucepan over medium-high heat, brown the venison in butter. Season the venison with salt and pepper to taste. Add 2 cups of water and continue to heat until the venison is tender, about 20-30 minutes. 

Meanwhile, peel the carrots and potatoes. Cut the carrots, potatoes, onions and celery into small chunks. Add the vegetables and crushed tomatoes with juice to the venison in the saucepan. Continue to simmer until the potatoes are tender, about 15 minutes. 

The way I actually fixed it was a little different. I browned the venison as instructed then placed it in the crockpot with the water, 3 carrots, 5-6 potatoes (my men are meat and potato guys!), 1 large onion, 1-2 stalks of celery, and 2 cans of diced tomatoes. It still turned out GREAT! I cooked it on low for about 8 hours until everything was tender.

Feel free to post your favorite venison recipes in the comments! I'd love to know how other folks enjoy their game!

Investing in All Kennebec's Next Year!

I was absolutely amazed when I dug of some of our Kennebec potatoes today! We're not quite ready to plow them all up but I walk through every few days as some of them over grow their space in the ground, some the rain washes the dirt off, and our chickens have dug around and revealed a few. Recently, we've been digging up the Yukon Gold's since the plants died off well over a month ago, thanks in part to those nasty Colorado Potato Bugs (see a previous post about those little night mares). The Yukon Gold's died out a good 3 weeks before the Kennebec's even showed signs of distress. Being our first year of gardening, I started digging a few of the Yukon Gold's up every few days not knowing how long they could be left after the plant died. Most of them have been smaller than a child's fist. Even now, when I dig some up, they haven't grown anymore. Well, not those Kennebec's. Let me show you what I dug up today!

Left: Yukon Gold     Right: Kennebecs!

Those were all dug up today. That Tweetsie card is the same size as a credit card! I was so impressed! That's bigger than most baking potatoes you buy at the store...which are probably sprayed with who knows what! Am I impressed with the way our garden's have turned out? Absolutely!

Cooking: Whole-wheat Pancakes: And They Liked Them!

Every mom tries to find wholesome foods that their kids like. It can be a struggle. My mom used to serve us orange mashed potatoes, us kid's not knowing that they were orange from carrots! We just thought they were fun!

My youngest boy loves pancakes. I think he could eat them for every meal. However, a traditional pancake recipe just doesn't stack up to what I think he should be having for breakfast. So, I used trusty Allrecipes.com and found a wonderful whole-wheat pancake recipe! It is still a pancake that they cover in syrup and it has quite a bit of butter, so it's not winning any nutrition awards but it does replace most of the white flour with whole-wheat flour and it adds in some wheat germ.

Ingredients:

1 cup whole wheat flour 

2/3 cup all-purpose flour

1/3 cup wheat germ

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1 teaspoon salt

5 1/3 tablespoons unsalted butter

2 1/2 cups buttermilk

2 eggs, beaten

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

Directions

1. In a food processor or in a large bowl, combine the whole wheat flour, white flour, wheat germ or oats, baking powder, baking soda, brown sugar, and salt.
2. Cut the butter into small pieces with a knife, and add the butter to the flour-mixture. Mix until the mixture has a sand-like consistency. (I used a pastry cutter for this step)               
3. Make a well in the center of the flour-butter mixture, and add the buttermilk and eggs. Stir until the liquids are fully incorporated.
4. Heat a frying pan over medium heat and grease the surface with 1 tablespoon of butter or oil. Ladle the batter onto the surface to form 4 inch pancakes. Once bubbles form on the top of the pancakes, flip them over, and cook them on the other side for about 2 minutes.               

Cooking spray is a good option instead of butter to grease your pan. Obviously, butter tastes better.

The batter will be fairly lumpy but don't over mix, you won't like the results! Unless you like rubber pancakes.

Golden! And yes, that is butter in the pan.

You can find this recipe at: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/whole-wheat-pancakes/detail.aspx

Cooking: Pumpkin Granola Bars

I love homemade granola bars! They're cheaper than store bought ones plus you can control what you put in them. This morning, I took elements of my favorite granola bar recipes and mixed them together. Viola...pumpking granola bars! The ingredient list is fairly long (usually scares me away from making stuff when it has tons of ingredients) but they're well worth the time!

Ingredients:
1-15 ounce can pumpkin 
2 eggs
4 Tbsp butter, melted (I used Smart Balance 50/50 Butter Blend)
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup molasses (pop it in the microwave for a few seconds to make it pourable if you need to)
1 tsp vanilla