Corn & Black Bean Salsa

Ok, so this is one of my absolute favorite things to make! I made it for the first time two years ago and it was actually one of the first recipes I developed and continued to make. This dish is perfect to take to family gatherings, cookouts, parties, or any group setting. It's always a hit! Last summer I made two huge batches for my step-sister's wedding and I had so many guests coming up to me asking for the recipe. It's also great to make in the summer time because red bell peppers are a lot cheaper this time of year.


Corn & Black Bean Salsa

Ingredients:
1 can black beans
1 can corn
1 red bell pepper
cilantro
diced jalapeno peppers
2-4 garlic cloves
2 Tbsp olive oil
3 Tbsp lime juice


Directions:

Start chopping!

Dice the red bell pepper into pieces the size of the corn and black beans.

I used about half a bunch of cilantro. Maybe more, maybe less.

I use a ton of garlic. I love it! Haha and I have a handy dandy garlic press from Pampered Chef that saves me some time. It's wonderful, really.

Throw all of your chopped goodness into a large bowl. Here we have the red pepper, cilantro, garlic, and diced jalapeno. You can use fresh or jarred jalapeno. I used the jarred stuff, obvi. Plus I found a jar of diced jalapenos so that saved chop time too. Woo! Oh, and I never measure the jalapenos, but I used at least 5 to 6tablespoons, maybe more? You be the judge.

Next, open the corn and black bean cans, drain and rinse them.

Throw the drained and rinsed corn and beans into the bowl with the chopped stuff and stir together.

Add the oil and lime juice and continue mixing. You want everything to be evenly distributed. At this point you can taste it and see if you want to add more jalapeno or lime juice or something.

Once you've achieved your desired taste, it's ready to chow down with some tortilla chips. Maybe even some guacamole if you have some. Yum, guacamole. I gotta make some of that soon.

This stuff is so good!! Pretty healthy too. I hope you try it and LOVE it!

Long time, no post...

Well helloooo out there blog world. It's been a while. And lots of things have changed! Sorry I haven't been posting more fun recipes to share.

So me and the bf moved to Chattanooga, TN! We've been here almost a month and it's so awesome. Chattanooga is such a fun outdoorsy city with tons to do! Mountains, rivers, and creeks, oh my! We live right outside the downtown area on top of this giant hill (super fun to ride bikes up... not). And we've sorta been in vegan fat kid heaven. There are two vegan restaurants in town and tons more veg options at other restaurants than I'm used to. And did I mention AWESOME grocery stores?! We've got Greenlife and Earth Fare, plus convenient produce stands around town. They make me oh so happy.

So lately I've been eating a lot of kale, in case you were wondering. I recently bought a different type of kale called lacinato kale (aka dino kale) from Greenlife that came from a local farm (sweet!). I love finding new vegetables I enjoy. Also, stir fries have been some of my top go-to dishes for dinner. They're just so easy, plus the leftovers make great quesadillas. I'm getting hungry just thinking about it.

Soon I'll be back to posting delicious recipes and such. Gotta get ideas!! If you have anything you'd like to see, I'd love to hear suggestions!

riding bikes, being cute, you know

this is on Signal Mountain, beautiful right?

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?!

The Veggie Queen

Hey guys, I just started writing guest blogs for Jill Nussinow who is a Registered Dietitian, culinary educator, pressure cooker expert, and author of the cookbook The Veggie Queen: Vegetables Get the Royal Treatment. I already wrote my first post and have started working on the next ones. So check out my blog on her website http://www.theveggiequeen.com/.

Here's a link to my blog post about why I decided to go vegan.
http://www.theveggiequeen.com/articles/vegan-guest-post-maggie-sloan

Why did I start following a vegan diet?

I'm from Alabama and it's absolutely unheard of for anyone to be vegan in this state. Occasionally you'll find some vegetarians, but rarely any vegans. Alabama is known for it's large obese population with very high rates of health-related problems. Along with that, we also have limited access to fresh foods and health stores. But here's my story about why I decided to go vegan. 

Back in 2008, I read the book Skinny Bitch and I decided to become vegetarian. It's something I had thought about doing since I was in high school. I told myself I would do it for at least one year. And I loved seafood so much, that I made exceptions when my family went on summer vacation to the beach. But at the time, I didn't really know how to be healthy about being vegetarian and I thought I wasn't getting enough protein in my diet. After that year, I slowly started eating meat again.

One of my roommates in college was the first vegan I had ever met. I just thought, "How do you do it??" But I continued eating meat, not too much–the thought of cooking meat just grossed me out.

Back in the summer of last year, I started dating my long distance boyfriend, Scott, who has been vegan for about 6 years. Whenever I was with him, I ate vegan too (or mostly) and I enjoyed it. 
It wasn't until January 2011 when I stumbled upon the website Eat Right America. I filled out a food survey and got a free diet analysis, which was really a wake up call to how unhealthy I had been eating. (I should have known this, right? I have a degree in nutrition!! Haha) This plan encouraged a plant-based diet and gave me several recipes.

That's the point where I really started eating right. I started cooking a lot more and ate way more vegetables than before (yeah nutrients!). I began searching the internet to find vegan recipes and fell in love with several vegan blogs. Finding those vegan blogs has been a great help to me starting out vegan. It's almost like a support system, especially since I don't know any vegans near me.  

I love being vegan and I think it's fun. It makes me feel healthier, plus I'm learning a lot! I feel like I have so much more control over my health and I'm doing a great thing for my body. Eat more fruits and vegetables and feel better, easy as that. Of course, I'm not perfect. I'll still eat junk food every now and then if I want. I'm learning to "veganize" so many different foods and the options are endless!