Cajun Black Beans & Sweet Potatoes

I found this one night when I was needing ideas for what to do with black beans. I had soaked half a pound of beans, so I knew I had to find delicious ways to eat 'em. I found this one on vegweb.com, which is a great website for recipe ideas.

This tasty dish is super easy, healthy, and cheap!

Cajun Black Beans & Sweet Potatoes

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon oil (or water)
• 1/4 onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 large sweet potato, chopped into bite sized pieces, peel if desired
• 1/2 to 2 tablespoons Cajun seasoning (or make your own mix. Ex: cumin, red pepper, chili powder, santa fe seasoning)
• 1 (28 ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 lime

Directions:

1. Heat a saute pan over medium heat with oil or water. Saute onions and garlic for 2 minutes. Add sweet potatoes. Season this mix liberally with the Cajun seasoning or other seasonings.

2. Let this mix cook for 15 minutes or so until the potatoes are soft. You may want to add a 1/3-1/2 cup water and cover pan to speed this process along.

3. When potatoes are soft, add the black beans and the zest of 1 lime (optional). You may also want to add more Cajun seasoning to help further flavor the beans. Cook until the beans are heated through and you think the flavors have melded. Right before serving, squeeze some lime juice over the dish.

This is great over a bed of brown rice or even by itself. The next day I put some the leftovers into a quesedilla with Daiya pepperjack cheese. So delish! This dish is so simple and easy to change up. Add peppers and tomatoes and eat it like a fajita with some cilantro and avocado. Use different beans, different veggies, different seasonings. It can be anything!

Brownie in a Mug

Ok, so you really want dessert. Something chocolatey. Something good. But you don't want to spend a lot of time and you don't want something huge. I have the perfect solution for you! Brownie in a mug!! So quick and delicious and will definitely satisfy that craving. Just mix ingredients in a mug and microwave for one minute.

Brownie in a Mug

Ingredients:

4 Tbsp flour

4 Tbsp sugar

2 Tbsp cocoa powder

dash of salt

2 Tbsp vegetable oil

2 Tbsp water

1/3 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

Add the dry ingredients to a mug.

Then add the oil, water, and vanilla and mix thoroughly.

Microwave for about 1 minute.

The brownie will be hot and gooey. Perfect right?! You gotta try this!!

The Veggie Queen's Hummus

My second guest blog for The Veggie Queen website.

Here's a link to my post:
http://www.theveggiequeen.com/articles/maggie-veggie-queen-hummus

Enjoy!

Maggie Makes The Veggie Queen’s Hummus

Hummus is one of my all-time favorite foods! When I saw this recipe for hummus in The Veggie Queen cookbook, I had to make it. Hummus is also simple to make. All you have to do is throw everything into a food processor or blender and it’s done. This recipe is fantastic! I have never seen a hummus recipe that uses Bragg liquid aminos. I think it really adds a lot of flavor. This hummus doesn’t have any added oils like most store bought hummus. Talk about saving calories!

Hummus

Ingredients:
2 cloves garlic
1 1/2 to  2 cups garbanzo beans
2 tablespoons sesame tahini
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1 dash of cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon reduced sodium tamari or Bragg liquid amino acids
2 to 4 tablespoons water


Directions:
Put garlic in food processor to be sure that it gets well chopped.



Whir for about 15 seconds.



Add the remaining ingredients, blending until it’s the desired consistency.



If it seems too thick, add more water or lemon juice.






You can enjoy this simple dish as a dip for fresh veggies or pita bread, or add it to a sandwich. Either way, you’ll love it. If not, well, you might just be crazy!

Kale Chips (two ways!)

Kale

This beautiful cruciferous vegetable has sooo many health benefits!

• Very low calorie, only 36 calories and 20% of your daily fiber for 1 cup!
• Full of antioxidants and phytochemicals that can protect against cancer.
• Extremely high in vitamin K, vitamin A, and vitamin C!
• Includes other minerals including calcium.

Kale is one of the healthiest foods you can eat!

One great way to eat kale is by making chips out of them! They turn out like a super-thin potato chip. Except way better for you! And, like most everything on my blog, they're so easy to make.


Kale Chips

Ingredients:

3 stalks of kale (enough to fill up the baking sheet)
cooking spray (or 1 Tbsp olive oil)
garlic salt or seasoning of choice
sesame seeds


Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Cover a baking sheet with aluminum foil (easy clean up!).
Remove the stems from the kale and tear into bite size pieces and place evenly on the baking sheet.

Spray lightly with cooking spray.
Sprinkle your seasoning of choice.
Top with sesame seeds.

Once oven is preheated, cook for about 10 min. You may need to check the time because you don't want to burn them!

They turn out something like this. Nice and crispy.

After I ate these, I wanted more so I made another batch of kale chips with nutritional yeast instead of garlic salt. This gave the chips a cheesy-like taste. Both batches were delicous! Such a perfect healthy snack.

I have this problem where I can't control myself once something is ready to eat... That's why lots of the kale is gone in this picture. Whoops.

Why not try making these next time you want some chips?!