Cuban Black Beans and Rice

I tried this for the first time on Wednesday. I've been trying to get us back into the habit of having a vegetarian meal at least once a week, if not twice. I used to try to have at least one veg. meal, one with fish, and one with meat (I know that's only 3 meals, but we would have leftovers from at least one meal). This week, we had one of my favorites, Chicken and Couscous Salad, which we ate on Monday and Tuesday. I love the texture of that salad, and adding some feta makes it extra-delicious! That salad calls for radishes, and I always end up with extra radishes when I make it. I found this recipe for Cuban Black Beans and Rice, which is vegetarian AND calls for radishes! It's a win-win.

I really enjoyed it. I followed the recipe almost exactly, but I did add some Penzey's Adobo Seasoning and 1/4-1/2 tsp. of cayenne pepper. I also added an extra dash of vinegar at the end. For the rice, I used a brown jasmine, which I thought went really well with it. It made it take much longer (brown jasmine takes 50 minutes), but I think it tasted better and was probably a little healthier, too. I also used italian parsley inseat of cilantro, since that's what we had leftover from the Couscous salad. We added hot sauce, and I thought it was delicious! M. thought the addition of the rashishes was strange the first time, but he may have come around on the second day. I'll definitely make it again!

Turkey Burgers and Weird Tortellini Salad

We need quick dinners this week, so last night we had turkey burgers (pre-made, but cooked on the grill with some cajun seasoning) and Tortellini Pepperoncini Salad. The salad takes a while, but makes quite a few servings, so it's good for leftovers. It reminds me of an 'everything but the kitchen sink' kind of a recipe, but it's somehow still tasty. It's not my favorite, but it's a nice change.

On Sunday night, we had Ina Garten's Roasted Red Pepper and Goat Cheese Sandwiches. These are SO good. I planned to make a pasta salad to go along with it, but since we weren't that hungry, we had the sandwiches on their own. They're really filling, too.

Couscous!

Last night, we needed a quick meal, so I bought black bean burgers. I have two recipes for making them myself, but when we are in a hurry, the frozen ones are good. We've bought both morningstar and the gardenburger brand, and they are both tasty! We grilled the ones we had last night, since it was so hot in the kitchen. We always eat the pre-made black bean burgers on a whole wheat bun with a little bit of mayo and some salsa. It's good, healthy, and quick!

As a side, I made a couscous salad with corn and red pepper from epicurious. It was really good! There were times I questioned whether or not the salsa and black bean burger went well with the red wine vinegar in the couscous, but it was a really delicious and easy salad to make. I used frozen corn, but I would use fresh if it were in season. I am tempted to try another vinegar, in case we have it with black bean burgers again, but I'm torn. Either way, I'll definitely make it again.

2010!

I have no idea how it got to be 2010, or April of 2010, for that matter. I'm going to try to start posting recipes again, and I'm starting off with a new look. Recipes to come!