Lentil Taco Filled Empanadas

May 29, 2015May 29, 2015 / ktbuchs87

These empanadas have been a labor of love. The first time that I made them I was basing them off another recipe and they turned out really well. I made them a few times to make sure they worked and was happy with the outcome. But I couldn’t just leave them alone.

The first version I made used eggs, which is fine because I love eggs and use them daily. I wanted to try and make a version that didn’t use eggs. That’s when the labor part of “labor of love” started. I won’t say I failed, I just found 452 ways to NOT make empanadas without eggs. Finally I had a breakthrough and came up with an eggless empanada. I might have done a little dance in my kitchen….

I included both versions of the empanada here so you can choose which version you want to make. The ingredients will be different but the process will be the same. I’m also including my recipe for taco lentils as a filling for the empanada, but you can use any filling you would like. Try shredded chicken or pork or ground turkey or beef. Whatever your little heart desires. Dream big my friends, dream big.

Empanada with Eggs- based on this recipe from Barefoot Provisions

1/2 cup brown rice flour
4 eggs
3/4 cup water
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp chili powder

Empanada without Eggs

1/2 cup chickpea flour
1/2 cup aquafaba
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp chili powder

1. Whatever version you make, combine all the dry ingredients and mix together. Then add in the wet and stir to combine. For the version with eggs the batter will seem very runny but that is fine. The eggless version should be a little thicker like pancake batter.

2. Preheat oven to 350 and line a large baking sheet with a Silpat or parchment paper.

3. Heat a little olive oil in a small skillet over medium high heat. Pour a little bit of the empanada batter into the skillet and cook for about 3 minutes. You want the bottom to be cooked but the top to still be a little doughy.

4. With a spatula transfer the empanada from the skillet over to the lined baking sheet. Spoon a little of your filling onto one side of the empanada. Fold over the opposite side pressing along the edges to seal. Repeat this process until you have used all the batter. I usually get about 5 empanadas out of this recipe.

5. Bake the empanadas for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool for 5 minutes. You can top with avocado cream, cashew sour cream, salsa, or hot sauce.

Lentil Taco Filling

1 cup cooked lentils
1/2 cup cooked black beans (canned or dry)
1/4 cup chopped onions
1 14 oz can fire roasted tomatoes
1/3 cup frozen corn kernels, thawed
3 cloves garlic, minced
2-3 tsp taco seasoning
3 tbsp fresh cilantro chopped
2 tsp tapioca starch or cornstarch mixed in 1/4 cup water

1. Mix the tapioca starch/cornstarch into the water and set aside.

2. Heat a little olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Saute the onions until soft and translucent, about 5-7 minutes. Add in garlic and saute for another minute. Add in everything else except for the seasoning, starch, and cilantro. Cook for about 10 minutes.

3. Sprinkle the seasoning over the lentil mix and then pour the starch mix over everything. Cook until the sauce begins to thicken. Turn off the heat and stir in cilantro.

It might seem like a lot but this meal actually comes together pretty easily. You can even make your filling ahead of time and then just pull it out when you’re making the empanadas. Whichever version you try I hope you enjoy these yummy empanadas!

Have a great weekend and enjoy the last few days of May!

What’s your favorite Mexican dish?

My Shopping Cart: Whole Foods Edition

May 13, 2015May 13, 2015 / ktbuchs87

This is the last part in my 3 part series of where and how I grocery shop. If you haven’t seen them yet, read the Jewel and the Aldi post. Today it’s all about Whole Foods which I am here to prove doesn’t have to be Whole Paycheck as long as you shop smart.

Full disclosure: I obviously do not do all of my grocery shopping at Whole Foods. That isn’t to say it isn’t possible to shop only at Whole Foods, I just find it works best for me and my budget to go to a few different places. You have to decide what is best for you, your budget, and your family.

I go to Whole Foods mostly for their bulk section. They have a huge bulk foods section and buying in bulk is a great way to save money on food that you eat and use often. It’s also great if you want to try something new but don’t want to buy a whole box or package. That way you can see if you like the ingredient and won’t waste money or food if you don’t.

Here is what I usually buy from the bulk section at Whole Foods:

whole wheat flour
almond flour
coconut flour
oatmeal (rolled oats, oat bran, steel cut)
buckwheat groats
cornmeal
brown rice
hazelnuts
almonds
cashews
pistachios
goji berries
prunes
chia seeds
hemp seeds
flax seeds
popcorn

Now, I don’t buy all of this every single time I go to the store, I just refill as needed. But you can see that I do purchase a lot of things in bulk. For me, buying these things in bulk is cheaper. Do your research though because sometimes (not often) it isn’t cheaper to buy things in bulk.

Whole Foods also has a bulk spice section that is awesome! I no longer have to buy a whole bottle of some spice that I am going to only use once and then forget I have. This saves so much money and your spices and herbs won’t go bad (yes spices can go bad) because you aren’t using them. I usually get:

basil
oregano
thyme
rosemary
turmeric
cumin

Because I’m obsessed with spices, I also get a lot of my spices and spice blends at The Spice House in Old Town. They have so many amazing blends and I have a hard time choosing! If you’re in the area you should check them out. Plus it’s Alton Brown recommended so you can’t go wrong!

Other than bulk food, I also get a few other things:

organic sweet potatoes (my one organic splurge because to me they taste much better than conventional)
365 brand peanut butter (the 2 lb jar is only $5.99)
grind your own almond butter
specialty ingredients like coconut cream, Asian/Indian food section things, tahini
bulk coffee (I also sometimes get coffee from Trader Joes)

Again, I don’t get these things every single trip just when I need them.

It is totally possible to shop at Whole Foods and not spend a small fortune. If you do your homework, you can grocery shop here on a budget. If you look for coupons, buy things that are on sale, shop the bulk food section, and purchase the 365 brand products you can save a lot of money. And soon you might be able to shop at a less expensive version of Whole Foods.

This is the last post in this series and I hope it helped show you how to grocery shop as well as how it’s easy to eat healthy on a budget and at a variety of different stores. I would love to write more posts about what I do to stay healthy, so let me know what other roadblocks you face when trying to eat better. What other things would other glimpses into my life would you like to see? Let me know in the comment section!

Soft Taco Shells and Aquafaba

May 8, 2015May 8, 2015 / ktbuchs87

I will get to the Aquafaba in just a second, but let’s talk about these taco shells.

I have always liked tacos but ever since going gluten-free a few years ago I have missed the texture and fold-ability (totally a real word, trust me) of regular flour tacos. I usually use corn tortillas, which are good but they just aren’t the same as flour tortillas.

There are plenty of recipes out there for Paleo versions of taco shells and I have tried a few of them and they are really good. Pretty much all of them though use eggs and while that’s not a bad thing if you eat eggs, it poses a problem if you don’t. Sure, it is really easy to find egg free taco shells at the store or online, but they more often than not have some weird ingredients that I would rather not consume.

Then I read about aquafaba.

Yes that’s a real word and it isn’t as exotic or strange as it sounds. Technically it’s just the liquid that beans are cooked in. So bean juice to be precise. Bean juice apparently doesn’t sound appealing so people have started calling it aquafaba. Whatever floats their boat. The important thing to me is that aquafaba acts like eggs in most recipes, plus it’s fairly easy and cheap to get. You can either buy canned chickpeas and reserve the liquid they are sitting in or cook your own chickpeas and save that liquid.

Armed with this new “fancy” ingredient, I decided to take a stab at making egg free, gluten free, soft taco shells. Luckily I struck success with my first batch and now I have a simple go-to soft taco shell! Now just a few quick notes:

These don’t have the same taste as regular flour shells, but that isn’t a huge problem for me. I actually really like the taste
You can use canned chickpea liquid if you don’t want to cook your own beans and save that liquid like I did.
You want your plantains to be slightly yellow. Not super green and not brown. The really green ones won’t blend as well and the brown ones will give you a sweet taco shell and that might not be what you’re looking for.

Ok enough talking about bean juice, let’s make some tacos!

Soft Shell Tacos

1 large plantain, slightly yellow (you can also get a few small plantains, you want about a pound once it’s peeled)
6 tbsp aquafaba (either from a can of chickpeas, or cook your own beans and reserve the liquid)
3 tbsp melted coconut oil
juice of one lime
a pinch or two of salt (based on your salt preference)

Preheat oven to 350. Peel and cut your plantain into bite size chunks. Add everything into your blender or food processor and blend until everything is smooth. You want it to look sort of like pancake batter.
Line a large baking sheet with a Silpat or parchment paper. Scoop about 1 tbsp of batter out onto the baking sheet. With the back of a spoon, spread out the batter into a fairly thin circle. Don’t leave it too thick or it won’t cook through and don’t spread it too thin because it will just burn. You have to be like Goldilocks and get it jusssttttt right 🙂
Do this a few more times, you will have to work in batches because you will only be able to fit 4 to 5 shells on the pan at once. Bake for 8 minutes.
Remove from oven and let them cool for at least five minutes. Now this is the slightly tricky part, but just have patience at it will all be just fine. Slowly peel the shells off the baking sheet and move to a wire rack to cool. If you notice the shell starting to stick just use a spatula to help loosen it from the pan. As long as you let the shells cool a bit before you lift them up you shouldn’t have too much of a problem.
Repeat until you have used all the batter.

I used two baking sheets when I made these so I could make more at once, but you can work in batches too. Once the shells are totally cool fill them with your favorite taco filling and enjoy!

Have a great Friday and an awesome weekend! Don’t forget to wish your mom a Happy Mothers Day on Sunday!

My Shopping Cart: Aldi and Wal-mart Edition

May 6, 2015May 6, 2015 / ktbuchs87 / 1 Comment

Today is part two in my grocery shopping series. Last week I shared with you what I get when I shop at Jewel and today I’m highlighting what I get when I go to Aldi and Wal-mart.

These two stores get looked down on a lot. They are associated with cheap/unhealthy food, lower class, and just an overall unpleasant experience. When I first started grocery shopping on my own I did most of it at Wal-mart because it was cheap and near campus. There was an Aldi in town, but I avoided it because I had the same misconceptions most people do about it. I remember shopping there as a kid with my mom. You had to pay for grocery carts, they didn’t have shopping bags, there were weird tubes of meat and it was kind of dirty. As an adult I kind of turned my nose up at Aldi and thought I was better than that.

Then I realized how much money one could spend on groceries and I knew I needed to find a way to eat healthy food but on a fairly tight budget. I swallowed my weird sense of “food pride” and went to Aldi. I was pleasantly surprised. You still have to pay for a grocery cart (you get the quarter back once you return the cart) and there aren’t any shopping bags (if you’re like me and have 5 million reusable bags this isn’t too much of a hassle) but the food selection had definitely changed for the better.

Aldi has been shedding their old brand and showing they are just as good as other grocery stores. They offer a gluten-free line, an organic line, fresh seasonal produce, and a really great frozen foods section. It is entirely possible to eat healthy nutritious food and shop at Aldi. Plus you will save money because their prices tend to be lower than their competitors.

My Aldi shopping list varies depending on what I need that week. What I normally get there each week are:

organic honey
canned pumpkin (during the fall)
10 lb bag of russet potatoes
avocados
frozen mixed vegetables
big bags of frozen tilapia/swai (for Adam)
corn tortillas
2 lb bag of beans (pinto, black, northern)
brown rice spaghetti

I buy these things at Aldi because they are much less expensive than if I were to get them at Jewel or even Wal-mart. I also go to Aldi when I am recipe testing because I can get more ingredients for my money and test more recipes this way. Aldi does a pretty good job of offering fresh and seasonal produce for a really good price. I recently got asparagus there for less than $2 a lb and an 8 oz of mushrooms for $1.49.

I also pick up a few things at Wal-mart each week because the price there is better. I usually get:

half gallon of Silk Unsweetened Almond milk
Thai kitchen canned coconut milk
frozen vegetables
quart sized boxes of shelf stable almond milk and coconut milk (for baking)
big jug of extra virgin olive oil

The Wal-mart in my neighborhood does a pretty good job on their produce, but it’s a little bit smaller of a selection. I can find what I need for a good price at the other stores I frequent.

The most important thing I want you to take away from this post is that you can shop at stores like Aldi and Wal-mart and still have a healthy diet. You might have to search a little bit through the aisles to find the good stuff, but it’s there. Eating healthy isn’t about shopping at the high end grocery stores and buying the most expensive food there. If you are able to do that and that works for you, then great! But for the majority of us it is more feasible to shop at places like Aldi. Look for seasonal produce, read labels, and keep an open mind when you’re shopping at these stores. You’ll end up with delicious and nutritious meals and a few more dollars in your wallet! That’s a win-win in my book!

What are your misconceptions about stores like Aldi or Wal-mart?

Lemon Pistachio Cookies

May 1, 2015May 1, 2015 / ktbuchs87 / 2 Comments

A few weeks ago I found pistachios on sale and on a whim bought about a pound. I wanted to do something with them other than just shove them all into my mouth, which was my first instinct. Since I had access to a Vitamix at the time I of course turned those pistachios into pistachio butter. I had never had pistachio butter before and it was delicious. It had a nice light flavor to it and I thought it would be good in some baked goods.

There are a ton of recipes out there for peanut butter cookies and almond butter cookies, but not that many using pistachio butter. I decided to remedy that and made these lemon pistachio cookies. Not to toot my own horn, but I think I knocked it out of the park on these ones. They are the perfect cookie for springtime. The are light and the hit of lemon adds a nice freshness to them. I added in a little bit of coconut for some texture but it doesn’t overwhelm the cookie with a coconut flavor.

If you don’t have pistachio butter on hand, you can make these with almond butter or cashew butter. I wouldn’t use peanut butter though because I think it would overwhelm the lemon flavor. Ok enough talk more cookie.

Lemon Pistachio Cookie- Makes 12-15 cookies

1/2 cup pistachio butter (almond butter or cashew butter would also work)
3 tbsp maple syrup (if you like a sweeter cookie add in another tbsp)
1 1/2 tbsp coconut oil
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp cardamom
1/4 tsp salt
1-2 tsp lemon zest

Preheat oven to 350.
In a small bowl mix together all the wet ingredients. Add in the shredded coconut, cinnamon, cardamom, salt, and lemon zest. Combine everything. It will seem really wet and like it won’t stick together but don’t worry that is fine.
On a large baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a Silpat, scoop out about a tbsp of the dough. Spread it out a little with the back of a spoon as these cookies won’t rise.
Bake for 10 to 12 minutes. The cookies are done when the edges just start to turn golden brown. Remove from oven and let cool on the cookie sheet for a few minutes before moving to a wire rack to cool completely.

One word of caution, these cookies can go from being perfect to burnt really quick if you don’t watch them. I would suggest checking at the 10 minute mark especially if your oven runs hot. Nothing is worse than a burnt batch of cookies. Not that that stops me from eating them….