Mexican Shepherd’s Pie & TV Talk

July 10, 2015July 10, 2015 / ktbuchs87

Friday’s have always been for recipes. I like coming up with new and creative ways to make food not only healthy but tasty too. Healthy food doesn’t have to be boring and I have a whole page of recipes to prove it. Friday’s are still going to be for recipes, but they are also going to be for something else.

TV and movies.

Yeah, that one probably came out of the blue. Why would a health blog talk about TV or movies? Because I love them and want to talk about them just like everyone else. Plus it’s something fun to add in with a yummy recipe. Even better. Go make my food and then come back and talk about TV while you’re eating it! Best of both worlds!

I work from home and usually have a show on in the background to pretend like I’m not alone with my cats for the majority of the day. Don’t worry it isn’t as sad as it sounds. I tend to be a solitary person and my cats are awesome. Netflix is amazing because I’ve been able to watch shows that I’ve always wanted to watch but never had the time. And no commercials. It’s a dream.

I’ve just started Orange Is The New Black. I know I’m behind but I had other important things to watch, like every single episode of Doctor Who. Twice. Don’t as questions. I don’t know how I feel about the show yet. I know everyone is crazy about it and I’m only 4 episodes in so I don’t have a strong opinion yet. I always give a show a whole season to find their groove before I pass my judgment. Even though I don’t have an opinion yet, I can already tell I’m gonna like Sophia. Girl is fierce. And Dayonara Diaz. Something about her I like.

Have you watched OITNB yet? Do you have other show recommendations for me? Are you only here for the food?

This meal is another one of my Sunday throw all the leftovers in a dish and hope something good comes out at the end dinners. If you have leftover taco fixin’s then you are all set to make this Mexican Shepherd’s Pie. If not you can still easily throw this together and have dinner on the table fast.

Mexican Shepherd’s Pie

2 cups cooked black beans, about 1 can’s worth
1 cup cooked brown rice
3 corn tortillas, torn into bite-size pieces
1 red pepper, sliced
1 onion, chopped
1 cup mashed potatoes (you can also use pumpkin or butternut squash puree)
2 tbsp tomato paste
3 tbsp cilantro, chopped
2 tsp taco seasoning
2 tsp chili powder
salt and pepper, to taste

Preheat the oven to 425. In a skillet, saute the sliced peppers and onions over medium-high heat until they are slightly softened. About 7 minutes.
While the onions and peppers are cooking, mix the beans, rice, tortillas, and 2 tablespoons of cilantro in a medium bowl. Add the taco seasoning and salt and pepper and stir to combine. Add the peppers and onions and stir.
In a separate bowl, mix the mashed potatoes, tomato paste, the rest of cilantro, and chili powder together. Taste and add salt as needed.
Pour the bean and vegetable mix into a deep pie dish or casserole dish. Spread out evenly. Spread the mashed potato mix on top and make sure all the bean mix is covered.
Cook in the oven for 25 to 30 minutes, until the edges are just starting to brown. Remove from the oven and let cool for 5 minutes before serving.

Like I said, if you have taco fixings you can just use those and add whatever else you would like. Use ground beef or turkey, shredded pork or chicken, or add shredded cheese if you want. This can be totally customized to your tastes.

Have a happy Friday and an awesome weekend!!

Recipe Re-Do: Even Better BBQ Sauce

July 3, 2015July 3, 2015 / ktbuchs87

I was trying to come up with a good 4th of July recipe to give you guys today. I had some really awesome ideas, but they all involved a grill. Sadly, I don’t own a grill and didn’t have access to one in time to make any of my awesome ideas. That’s ok though, I’ll have some great grilled recipes for you later this summer.

In lieu of a grilled recipe, I thought that I would go back and re-visit some of my other BBQ-worthy recipes. I decided that my Quick BBQ Sauce could use a little make over. And what could be more important to a BBQ than the BBQ sauce? Beer, but that is beside the point.

I didn’t change too much to the ingredient list, but I did change the way you make the sauce. It does take a little longer, but it makes the flavor even better. And because it’s easy to double or triple you can whip up a big batch of this sauce for your 4th of July party and put it on everything. Maybe not the beer…

Even Better BBQ Sauce- adapted from my Quick and Delicious BBQ Sauce Recipe

1 (8 oz) can tomato sauce, no salt added
1 tbsp maple syrup or honey
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp liquid aminos or tamari sauce
1 1/2 tsp grainy mustard
2 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp oregano

Add all ingredients to a small saucepan. Mix well
Bring the sauce to a boil, then lower to a simmer. Simmer uncovered for 15 to 20 minutes until it has thickened.
Remove the pan from heat and let it cool completely before moving to a jar or squeeze bottle. Keep the sauce in the fridge until you’re ready to use it.

DIY Wednesday: Pickles

July 1, 2015July 1, 2015 / ktbuchs87

Let’s talk about pickles for a second. Is there anything more satisfying than the briny crunch of a good dill pickle? Put a pickle on anything and it’s instantly elevated. Sandwiches are good but add a pickle and they become phenomenal. Need a little zip on your burger? Slap on a pickle. You can even make soup out of pickles. It’s better than you would think, trust me. Pickles also come in so many different types. Spicy, sweet, dill, bread and butter, gherkins, kosher…. The list is endless.

I’m sure you know that you can make your own pickles. It’s not that difficult of a process, but for some reason pickling anything causes some people to back away slowly. It seems like a complicated process that can be messed up very easily. It isn’t, but I get it. For the longest time, I shied away from making my own pickles and just bought mine at the store. Unfortunately when I started to read labels, I had the hardest time finding any that didn’t have added sugar, preservatives, or weird ingredients. There were a few out there, but they were few and far between.

So I decided to try and make my own. I looked at a few recipes and came up with my own brine and got to pickling. It was really easy and I was left with some tasty pickles. I’ll share how I made my own brine, but I’m also going to share a little secret. You don’t have to make your own brine to make homemade pickles, you can use a little shortcut. If you have a brand of pickles you usually buy and the ingredients are good, you can just re-use that for your own pickles. All you have to do is cut up your cucumber and add it to the jar. Voila! You have pickles. Easy-peasy!

DIY Pickles

1-2 cucumbers, sliced into spears
3-4 cloves garlic
1 cup vinegar
2 tsp salt
2 tsp mustard seeds
2 tsp dried dill or small bunch of fresh dill
1 tsp coriander seeds
1/2 tsp turmeric

Find a large jar that has a tight seal. Place the cucumber spears and cloves of garlic into the jar and pour in the vinegar.
Add in all the seasonings. Close the jar and then shake to disperse the seasonings throughout. Place the jar into the fridge for about a week to fully pickle the cucumbers.

Isn’t that simple? And it’s even easier if you’re just reusing a store bought jar. You can play with the seasonings and adjust them to your taste. If you want to have a spicy pickle try adding in cayenne pepper or red pepper flakes. If you want to try something a little sweeter add in a little honey, maple syrup, or coconut sugar. You can also change up which vegetables you use. Try carrots, beets, cauliflower, parsnips, or zucchini. This is a great way to preserve the vegetables you get at the market and it makes for a quick healthy snack.

Have you ever tried making your own pickles?

What’s Fun and What’s Not Fun

June 15, 2015June 15, 2015 / ktbuchs87

This weekend can pretty much be broken down into what was fun and what was not fun. Luckily the fun stuff outweighed the not fun stuff and I enjoyed one of my very few free weekends this summer.

What was not fun:

Taking two cats on a 30-minute bus ride to the vet. It was time for Olaf to get his one-year wellness check-up and update his vaccinations and since Dot hadn’t been to the vet since before we moved to Chicago we decided to take her too. Bad choices all around. Since we don’t have our car we had to ride the bus to the vet. Neither cat was pleased with the loud bus and Olaf yowled as loud as possible for the first 15 or so minutes. Cue me freaking out that we’re bothering all the passengers and would get thrown off the bus. When we finally did get to the vet it was time for Dot to freak out. She would not sit on the table, would NOT let the vet tech take her temperature, hid under the chair in the room, and growled/hissed/scratched at everyone that came near her. The vet did manage to give her the vaccinations and Adam has a nice big scratch to prove show for it. Olaf was just fine and barely even noticed that he was getting an exam. As an extra special bonus, the bus ride back home was packed to the brim with Cubs fans because of course we chose a game day to go to the vet. One bright spot of this whole ordeal was that the bus driver on the way back was super nice to us and made sure that our cats were comfortable and safe. Overall, I never want to do that again and I’m pretty sure Dot is still angry at us for subjecting her to all of that.

Olaf has forgiven all and wants to be held. Now

Poor girl is pooped from her trauma

Trying to get good food pictures with minimal space and light. We have two windows in our apartment and because of the way our apartment is situated, we get very little natural light. This makes taking pictures for my blog slightly difficult. At first I thought it was impossible but I’ve gotten creative and learned how to make what I do have work for me. It does lead to some interesting positions though. Good thing I do yoga!

What was fun:

Going to the farmers market. We finally got to go to our favorite farmers market. Because we have been busy pretty much every weekend since the Green City Market opened up, we haven’t gotten a chance to go. This weekend though we finally made it and it was of course awesome. All the fresh fruit and vegetables make me happy and I could wander around the market all morning if I could. Adam was happy to get his first Donut Vault donut of the season and even more excited that they had his favorite, lemon poppyseed. It’s the only way I can get him to come with me!

He’s trying not to stuff the whole thing in his mouth

Purple asparagus. I’ve seen green asparagus and I’ve seen white asparagus, but I had never seen purple asparagus. While we were at the market we saw these and of course I had to get them because they were purple. Best. Decision. Ever. They were so delicious and simple to prepare. All I did was drizzle them with a little olive oil, sprinkle them with salt, pepper, and garlic powder, squeeze a little lemon juice over it all and roast at 400 for 15 minutes. They were a little sweeter than green asparagus and I could have eaten like 5 more bunches. Too bad I discovered them at the end of asapargus season.

I’ll try any purple fruit/vegetable

Fruit crisp. The farmers market pretty much just led to all sorts of good things this weekend. This fruit crisp is proof that you should go to the market more often! I made Adam a strawberry rhubarb crisp with fruit we got from the market. He deemed it delicious and probably would have eaten the whole thing in one sitting. Which is quite the compliment.

Overall, it was a great weekend and I really loved having the free time to do some fun things and spend time with Adam. Here’s to another great week!

What did you do this weekend?

Cilantro-Garlic Pasta with Egg Sauce

June 12, 2015June 12, 2015 / ktbuchs87

Sometimes when I am coming up with recipes I let things get a little out of hand. I blame The Flavor Bible and The Vegetarian Flavor Bible. These are my go-to cookbooks when I am creating recipes and they are awesome. You look up whatever ingredient you have and find flavors and other ingredients that go well with them. I get a little ingredient happy as I’m looking through the lists and soon I end up with a recipe that has 500 ingredients, not all of which are easy to find.

I have to remind myself to keep it simple. We often think simple recipes that have fewer ingredients can’t be as good as the fancy elaborate recipes. Fancy recipes have their place, but it’s the simple recipes that are the backbone of the food world.

I took it simple with this pasta dish. I was looking for a meal that was light and refreshing but also felt like comfort food. I also didn’t have much food on hand so I had to work with what I had. I remembered seeing a recipe for spaghetti carbonara and wanted to try and make a pasta using the same kind of a sauce. This in no way is spaghetti carbonara, but the egg sauce is made in the same way. With only four ingredients and less than 20 minutes to put together, this makes for a really easy weeknight meal that everyone will love.

Cilantro-Garlic Pasta with Egg Sauce

1 package of pasta like penne or rotini (I used Trader Joes brown rice pasta)
4 large cloves garlic, minced
1/3 cup cilantro, chopped
4 large eggs
salt and pepper to taste

Cook pasta according to package drain and set aside. While pasta is cooking, mince the garlic and chop the cilantro and whisk the eggs.
Once the pasta is cooked and drained, in a medium saucepan, heat a little olive oil over medium high heat. Add the minced garlic and saute for 1 minute. Add the pasta into the pan and mix to coat with olive oil and garlic.
Remove the pan from the heat. Pour in the eggs while constantly stirring the pasta. Make sure you keep stirring the pasta or else you will end up with scrambled eggs over pasta instead of a creamy sauce.
Once all the eggs have been whisked in, stir in chopped cilantro and season with salt and pepper.

That’s it! The egg sauce makes this dish feel super comforting and indulgent, but the cilantro helps brighten it up and make it not feel too heavy of a meal. This is also great poor college student food because there are no specialty ingredients and each serving is less than $3.00.