Hasta Luego, Keene!

Officially 1 day away from graduation day. Holy un-realness. Today starts the long avoided reality of leaving college life for good with the Honors Commencement ceremony. No Summa for me but Magna, which I am quite proud of in the field of Nutrition. Why do they have to make a major that is so much needed in this country so hard?! Either way I survived, and will be ever more grateful as I walk away from Keene State. So many mems, so little time.

Graduation also happens to fall on one of the "holidays" we "celebrate" a.k.a make an excuse to get excessively intoxicated. Ask anyone what the significance of St. Patrick's Day or Cinco de Mayo truly is, and I'm sure a majority of the answers would be the discovery of whiskey and tequila. Cinco de Mayo is a major holiday in the book of Emily, since not only will I be graduating college on this day, but it also marks the milestone of getting my driver's license those long 6 years ago. Exciting, I know! I'll have a non-tequila containing beverage in my honor.

With all the extra time on my hands, I have been productively enhancing my food knowledge by watching countless hours of Food Network shows. I can tell you they LOVE Cinco de Mayo! Guacomole, margaritas, tacos, margaritas, and of course margaritas! Catching the mexican food bug (no, not from drinking the water) I was inspired to make my own mexican dish. Voila! My mexican food baby was born, into an equally delicious counterpart to my Mexican Lasagna. Behold, Two Bean Enchiladas!

Two Bean Enchiladas
serves 4-5
Filling:
1 cup Fat-free Refried Beans
1 cup Canned Pinto Beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 cup Frozen corn, thawed
1/2 cup white onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 T lime juice
2 T Taco seasoning (low-sodium or salt-free)
2 tsp Hot sauce


Sauce:
1/2 T Canola Oil
1/2 T Flour
1 1/2 cup water
2 tsp Apple cider vinegar
1 T Taco seasoning


10 Whole Wheat Tortillas
1/2 cup Shredded cheddar cheese


Start by combining the ingredients for the filling in a medium-sized bowl. Taste and adjust seasonings to your liking. I tend to like things on the spicy side, so I add plenty of hot sauce. Set aside.

Once your filling is complete, preheat the oven to 350 degrees, and spray a 13x9 baking dish with cooking spray. Set aside.

Next, heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add your oil and flour, and whisk into a paste. Add the water, vinegar, and seasoning, and bring to a bowl. Continue to cook until the sauce thickens, whisking often. It should be the consistency of a tomato soup. Once thickened, remove from heat.

Ready for assembly! Be sure to have all the components close to one another, or else it could get messy. I had my baking dish in the middle of the filling and sauce which seemed to work rather nicely, Now regularly, you are supposed to dip each tortilla in the sauce, and then fill them, but I reduced my sauce too much so I wasn't going to have enough for each tortilla. Next time I make this, I will see if I have enough, but I thought the end product this time was rather delicious anyway. So my way, fill each tortilla was a little less than 1/4 cup of the filling, roll, and place in the baking dish seam side down. Repeat, for all tortillas, then cover with the sauce, making sure to give everyone a nice bath. Top with the shredded cheddar and cover the dish with aluminum foil. Bake for 20 minutes, remove foil, and bake another 5 minutes or until the cheesy is melted.

Ready for the Oven!

Serve alongside a nice green salad or other veggie and dinner is served! Sombrero optional.

This dish tends to be a bit high on sodium, so if that's a concern for you here are some tips:
-Look for low-sodium or salt free canned beans
-Use low-sodium taco seasoning or make your own, like me! Here a link to the recipe I used:
Salt-Free Taco Seasoning
-Make your own whole wheat tortillas like the one's here:
Whole Wheat Tortillas (new and improved recipe to follow!)
-Use frozen rather than canned corn

Two bean, or not to bean, that is the question. The answer is these deliciously, meat-free enchiladas. Enjoy!


Any plans for Cinco de Mayo?

Once de Abril!

Now you may have heard of "Taco Tuesday", otherwise known as my favorite day of the week, I changed it up with another "mexican" meal. Now I put that in quotes since tacos or this recipe in as authentic mexican as taco bell. Maybe I made taco tuesday up, but if you've heard of "meatless mondays", a slogan to try to decrease your intake of meat for at least one meal a week, it's the same deal. Except eating tacos. Which in my case are always meatless, but you get the point.

This is actually one of my favorite recipes to make and experiment with since it's easy to make and of course is delicious! It's called mexican lasagna, which I've adapted from one of my favorite food blogs again, Oh She Glows. You can use this for a meatless monday or taco tuesday recipe, or have it both nights!

Mexican Lasagna
serves 4
4 Whole Wheat Tortillas, cut in half
2 cups canned black beans, drained, rinsed and divided
1/2 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic
1/2 cup frozen corn, thawed
2 T lime juice
2 tsp taco seasoning
1.5 cups enchilada sauce ( or my version of tomato sauce w/ 2 tsp taco seasoning)
1 cup shredded cheese (I used reduced fat cheddar and mozzarella)

Start out by preheating your oven to 400 degrees. If you haven't already, cut your tortillas in half, and set aside. If you want to, you can even make your own homemade whole wheat tortillas with my recipe here

Next, add the garlic, to a food processor and pulse until minced. Next, add half the beans, 1 tsp taco seasoning, and 1 T lime juice. Process until slightly pureed.

Appetizing I know, but I swear it's delicious!

If you are opting to make your own enchilada sauce, heat the sauce in a small saucepan over low heat, and add the seasoning.

In a medium bowl, combine the rest of the beans, chopped onion, corn, 1 T lime juice, and 1 tsp taco seasoning. Instead of corn, I have also used salsa which is delicious as well, but higher in sodium. If you are watching your sodium intake, the corn would be a lower-sodium option.

Now begins lasagna production! Start by pouring about a third of the sauce to a square baking dish. Top with a layer of tortillas. I tore some of the tortillas to fit the pan.

Now top with half of the pureed bean mix, and half of the bean and corn mixture, and top with about a third of the cheese.

Repeat the process by adding another third of the sauce, tortillas, the rest of both bean mixtures, and another third of the cheese.

For the last layer, add the tortillas first, then top with the rest of the sauce and cheese. Bake uncovered for 25-30 minutes or until cheese is fully melted to gooey perfection. I opted for a cup of cheese to reduce the amount of fat in this dish, which happens to equal out to the 1/4 cup serving for each! I also am not a big melted cheese fan, but if you can add about another 1/2 cup to the recipe, but don't go overboard!

Layered up and ready for baking!

Break out the sombreros and mariachi band!...and a side salad for some extra veg!

What's your favorite mexican dish?

March Madness.

Ahhh. The first day of March. A sign of Spring to come! Oh wait, I forgot. I live in New England, sooo I woke up to this

The good news is no school or work, so plenty o' time for blogging! Aside from making lunch and today's blog posts, I have actively sat on my ass thus far. A Jillian Michaels dvd sesh is anticipated later on today, so I don't feel too bad.

I am constantly trying to make my own bread, with results far from satisfactory. I am making improvements, but my earlier attempts resembled doorstops and french toast sticks. Haha my bread did not rise above 2 inches, so the slices were more "stick" like. My last attempt was much better, but still not as risen as I anticipated. My next attempt will include the use of whey, which is the liquid part you see in yogurt before you mix it in. I heard that helps with bread baking, and if it comes out well you will hear it! One recipe that has proven to be successful and painfully easy is for whole wheat tortillas. I used to omit the oil, but found that the oil makes the tortillas much more flexible and chewier, as compared to stiff and leathery. Apart from being entirely whole wheat, these contain no trans fat, and only 67 calories each! A lot of commercial tortillas contain lard, or partially hydrogenated fats both which are not healthy choices. This recipe is a lot easier if you have a food processor and a rolling pin, but can be made without.

Whole Wheat Tortillas
Makes about 16
2 cups Whole Wheat flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 - 3/4 cup warm water
*Gallon size ziploc needed as well




Start by adding the flour, salt, and baking powder to your food processor and give it a few pulses to mix it all together. You can do this with a bowl and a whisk if you don't have a food processor, but much easier and less messy with the FP.

While the machine is running, stream in the warm water until it starts to form a dough. You may have to use a bit more or less water depending on how dry your flour is. I used a bit more than half a cup this time. You want it to be moist but not sticky. Trial and error is the best measurement I can give you.

Now turn out to a lightly floured surface, and knead in a ball about 15 times. I used a large cutting board since it is easier to clean up than a messy countertop. Learned from experience. After kneading, cut the dough into 16 pieces. The easiest way I found to do that is to first cut the dough in half. Next, cut each half in half. Then cut each of those halves in half. It sounds a lot more complicated than it is, but overall, cut the dough in half, and cut each half in to 8 equal pieces.(* I recently got a kitchen scale and weighed each ball to about an 1 oz. each. If you have a scale, weigh the dough ball, then divide the total ounces by 16 to get how much each should weigh). Roll the pieces into a ball, and place on a plate or bowl and cover with a damp towel. Let them take a cat nap for about 15 minutes. While I was waiting I made homemade ketchup! The recipe will soon follow.

Now comes the work. Start by heating a skillet over medium heat. Cut the sides of your ziploc bag so that you can unfold the bag entirely. Lightly spray each side with cooking spray, lay one ball on one side, cover with the other side of the bag, and roll out with rolling pin. This is such a better process than the orginal! No mess, softer tortillas (since less flour is used) and they come right off the bag! Just remember to spray after each tortilla! Sorry I don't have any updated photos, but here is the process I used, which is the same I do for corn tortillas

Now add one to the heated skillet. Don't worry! No oil is needed in the pan. This would result in soggy or burnt tortillas. No good! An important note is that once it's in the pan, it's hard to maneuver it at all, so try your hardest to lay it as flat as possible. Cook it on the first side for about a 30 seconds, or until it starts to brown lightly. Flip, and cook for an additional 30 seconds. Transfer to a plate until cool. While one's in the pan, roll out another one so it's ready to go. Once you get in the rhythm of it, it gets pretty easy.

Sorry for the lack of quality pictures, but my camera was in one of it's moods again. Once all your tortillas are cooked up, I cool them on a plate and store them in the freezer. 20 seconds in the microwave and they are good as fresh! These are perfect for tacos, wrap sandwiches, or mexican lasagna! I'll have to post that recipe as well. So good! I've also heard of putting seasoning in such as garlic powder, cayenne pepper, or chili powder, but prefer to keep them plain so they can be used for any recipe.

As always enjoy, and let me know what creative ideas you have!

What's your favorite thing to do on a snow day?