Vegan Nacho Salad

This is an oldie, but I thought I would share a photo of this nacho salad. I used vegan refried black beans, black olives, romaine lettuce, tomatoes, avocado, and onion with a few corn chips on the bottom.

Cheezy-Green Beans

Ever since I made Emily’s Nutritional Yeast Cheese sauce, I have been wanting to try nutritional yeast in a variety of dishes. I have used it over pasta so far, but this time, I thought I would use it to make a Green Bean Casserole. I really like the result.

The Players

2 pounds fresh green beans

1 small onion, diced

2-3 cloves garlic

1 “batch” of Emily’s Nutritional Yeast “Cheese” Sauce

1/4 cup bread crumbs (optional)

The Fun

1. Trim the ends of the beans and cut in to bite sized pieces while heating oven to 350 degrees.

2. Steam beans but don’t cook all the way through. They should still be fairly crisp. While beans are steaming, saute the onion and garlic.

3. Remove beans and place in an oven safe dish. Add in the onions and garlic and top with Nutritional Yeast “Cheese” sauce.  Stir together.

4. Top with bread crumbs. Place in oven and bake for approximately 25 minutes.

White Chicken Chili

Another favorite soup recipe that my sister-in-law Krista shared with me is White Chicken Chili. She got this recipe from her college roommate and it is simple and easy. This is a meal with dairy that we enjoy every few months as a treat, but I am sure you could find some dairy-free substitutes if you wanted.

Ingredients:
1 lb. chicken, cut into half inch pieces
1/2 medium onion, chopped
1.5 t. garlic powder
1 40 oz (2 lb 8 oz) can great white northern beans, drained and rinsed
2.5 c. chicken broth
1 can chopped green chilies
1 t. salt
1 t. cumin
1 t. oregano
1 t. pepper
1/4 t. cayenne pepper
1 c. fat free sour cream
1/2 c. heavy whipping cream (or half and half or light cream)

Directions:
1. Sauté chicken, onion and garlic powder in oil until chicken is no longer pink.
2. Add beans, broth, chilies and seasoning.
3. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 30 minutes.
4. Remove from heat. Stir in sour cream and whipping cream.
5. Top with cheese.

Enjoy,

Nacho Salad

I am beginning to think I should have a “Fast Friday” feature or something for the quick and easy things I make. Here is one that works with so many ingredients that it’s hard to write a recipe for it, so I’ll give you some ideas.

The Basics

Tortilla chips

lettuce

tomato

avacado

More Players

black olives

sour cream

beans (refried, black, or any type you like)

taco meat (chicken, pork, beef)

cheese

salsa

The Fun

Mash up the tortilla chips in the bottom of a bowl.

Add your favorite toppings.

Eat!

Southwest Soup plus Quinoa

A lady I worked with in Tulsa made this great southwest style soup for a work function, and I fell in love. I have been able to modify it in every country we have lived in, which is to say the recipe is quite flexible. Usually I would serve it with cornbread, but we did not have any in the house, nor the ingredients to make some, so I thought quinoa would add some nice heft to the recipe. You could also serve it over corn chips or something similar by draining more of the juices off of the ingredients or not adding tomato juice.

The Players

1 cup rinsed quinoa

1 1/2 cup water

1 cup black beans

1 cup ranch style beans

1 cup corn

2 cans Rotel

1 quart tomato juice

1 package taco seasoning

1 package powdered ranch dressing mix

The Fun

1. Boil water. Add quinoa. Cover and reduce heat to simmer for 15 minutes. Once done, remove from heat and allow to sit for 5 minutes before fluffing with a fork.

2. While the quinoa is cooking, dump the rest of the ingredients in to a large sauce pan and cover. Allow to heat on medium, stirring occasionally. I try not to bring it to a boil, as I am impatient in waiting for it to cool.

3. Spoon some quinoa in to a bowl and then ladle the soup over the top.

I tend to mix mine up, while others in the family prefer to scoop to the bottom to get the quinoa. You can top with cheese, sour cream, avacado, etc, but we were low on groceries, so we ate it plain this last time.