black beans

Perfect No-Soak Instant Pot Black Beans

January 7, 2018

These Perfect No-Soak Instant Pot Black Beans are a must make because they are so easy and they come out so tender. You’ll love that you don’t have to soak them. Perfect for Taco Tuesday or Cinco de Mayo parties!

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These No-Soak Instant Pot Black Beans are made every week in my house. My whole family loves them because the beans are so incredibly tender. And, you’ll love that you don’t have to soak them over night. Just pour dried beans into the pot and in about an hour and a half, you’ll have the most incredible black beans.

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Black Bean Soup

July 26, 2016

I stayed up way too late watching the Democratic National Convention.

The same thing could be said every night last week when I watched the Republican National Convention.

I need to catch up on sleep soon.

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Gloria’s Black Beans

April 5, 2016

So, I’m alive.

I don’t think I’ve ever taken a week off from my blog before, aside from when I had Autumn, but this week got the best of me and I fell behind on the blog. And with just about everything else in life. Care to help fold a billion loads of laundry anyone?

That’s what happens when you work insane hours for several deadlines that hit in the same week. It’s been a long month filled with late night and long hours, but OT and the projects make it worth it.

But it meant I was not in the kitchen much. Or on the computer doing non-work things. So the blog has just been hanging out here waiting for me.

Here I am, back for a Taco Tuesday post with a great side dish that you will love to serve along side your tacos or in your burritos or next to some grilled chicken or mixed into some salad… BLACK BEANS!!!!

But they are not any ordinary beans. Oh no, they are “Teacher’s Beans!”

Autumn went to the most amazing home-daycare from 12 weeks until the time we moved to Florida. Gloria and Ivette ran the daycare with such love and kindness. We wish we could have brought “Teacher” and “Hermana” along with us! Autumn was Gloria’s buddy in the kitchen so I always heard about the food they had and how much she enjoyed it.

One such favorite was her black beans. So I requested the recipe so that Autumn could enjoy something that was familiar and comforting to her. We went to the store for the ingredients and she was so excited about having “Teacher’s Beans”.

We were all so happy with how they came out. Autumn ate a big serving while saying “Yay! Teacher Beans!” and “Yummy yummy in my tummy”. That’s true love right there.

These tender beans are a must make for your family dinners.

Gloria’s Black Beans

Makes 8-10 servings

Ingredients

1 pound dry black beans
6 cloves of garlic, minced
1 large green bell pepper, diced
1 large yellow onion, diced

Process

In a very large bowl, combine the dry beans with enough water to cover the beans by 2″. Let sit overnight for 8-12 hours.
Drain and rinse the beans.
In a very large pot, bring the beans, garlic, pepper, and onion with 6 Cups of water to a boil. Turn down the heat to simmer the beans, covered, for 1 hour. Stir every 15 minutes.

Nacho Cheeseburger- Burger Month

July 19, 2014

It’s the weekend!!!

It’s time to rock it. It’s time to get shhh done. It’s time to actually cook.

We’re going to be busy this weekend as we’re on vacation next weekend. So we really need to focus and try to tackle this weekend’s to do list, as well as much as possible of next weekend’s to do list. Here’s just a few things… laundry, mop the first floor, get the kitchen rug back down, clean Bunny’s cage, get to the post office, make SRC recipe, work on refinishing dinning chairs. Plus, I have a fun brunch to go to on Sunday while Price is visiting his sister and dad in NH. Oh yeah, and I have 4 hrs of work to do as well to make up time from always leaving early to get miss Autumn from daycare.

At least Price and I are ah-maze at tackling the to do list. I’m just hoping we ca pull it off this weekend. #Fingerscrossed.

While we’re talking to-do lists, I’m giving you this burger to add to your to-do list.

Yep, I give the marching orders here!

These Nacho Burgers are the perfect mash up of a great dinner and a great appetizer. But if we’re truthful here, I’ll just admit that we eat nachos for dinner a lot. Anyway, these are so great because of all the yummy toppings. AND the tortillas chips. The tortilla chips add the best crunch to the burgers. Don’t skimp on them.

You know how they say not to mess with things when grilling, well don’t mess with these burgers while you are grilling them. They are a little delicate since they are filled with a mixture of beef, beans, and cheese. So just put the burgers down and let them be until they are ready to be flipped once. Grab a beer and just relax.

I’ve made these burgers two times in like 9 days since I wanted to tweak things and since I enjoyed them so much I had to have them again ASAP. I first had taco seasoning in the burger mix. While it was good we were remarking that it was more like a ‘Taco Burger’ than a ‘Nacho Burger’. I guess they are similar so no foul there but I decided I wanted to mellow that flavor out so I took it out. Feel free to add it in if you would like. As well, one we ate these burgers with jarred salsa and another with pico de gallo. Both ways are really good and I’d say just go with your personal preference.

You can’t go wrong here. I swear since I picked these black olives off of mine the moment I was done taking pictures (we just aren’t friends) and still enjoyed it so just do what you want, just make sure you have a lot of tortilla chips on there. You need that crunch!!!!!!

Nacho Cheeseburger

Makes 4 burgers

Ingredients

24 ounces of ground beef (80/20)
10 oz of canned blacked beans
12 oz of shredded cheddar cheese, divided
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
4 burger buns (I suggest Kaiser rolls)
salsa, such as pico de gallo
tortilla chips
1 avocado, pit removed, thinly sliced/guacamole
aproximately 1/2 cup of sour cream
sliced black olives
pickled jalapenos slices

Process

Combine the ground beef, black beans, 1/2 of the cheese, and salt and pepper. Form 4 equally sized patties as round as your buns.
Prepare the grill by cleaning the grill grates and preheating to ‘medium’ heat. Just prior to putting the burgers on the grill, spray the grates with non-stick cooking spray.
Grill the burgers over medium heat until they are half way done prior to flipping. Once you flip them put the remaining shredded cheese on the burgers and put a lid on the grill.
While the burgers are cooking, grill the buns as well to toast them.
When the burgers are cooked through and the cheese has melted, remove from grill and place on the toasted buns.
Top the burgers with the salsa, tortilla chips, avocado, sour cream, olives, and jalapeno slices.

Be sure to enter the giveaway!!!

A huge thanks to all of the fun bloggers who were just as inspired by a month of burgers as I was and the awesome companies that have donated prizes to #burgermonth , El Diablo Hot & Spicy Mustard, FireWire Grilling Skewers, Hamilton Beach, KitchenIQ, The Spice House, and Wisconsin Cheese

Fiesta Pasta Salad

June 26, 2014

Fiesta Pasta Salad

Olé, Olé, Olé, Olé
Olé, Olé, Olé, Olé

FIESTA!

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Spiced Black Bean, Grilled Avocado, and Goat Cheese Tacos- SRC

September 24, 2012

For my Secret Recipe Club post this month I had Melissa’s blog. She shares great sounding and looking recipes on her blog called Fried Ice and Donut Holes. While her blog is not a vegetarian blog she does have a great number of veggie friendly posts that look mouth watering. I have several recipes bookmarked for some healthy comfort food eating this fall and winter.

When it came time to pick a make a recipe I had a very hard time because I had a whole list of great things like, Barbecue Chicken Pizza, Baked Pumpkin Donuts, and Creamy Chicken and Mushroom Pot Pie. In the end I picked the Spiced Black Bean, Grilled Avocado, and Goat Cheese Tacos. I simply picked these tacos to make because I was having a crappy, super busy week. I had these bookmarked since I loved how they could be a great recipe to use when I didn’t feel like cooking. Well, that is exactly what happened. I had just about everything at home so I just ran out for an avocado and some wine (since I really needed that as well) and was quickly on my way to dinner once I got back home.

I made a few changes to the original recipe but I think you have to do what works best for you and you taste preferences/ingredients on hand/sanity. For example, I could not find coriander seeds at our grocery store so omitted them and decided to amp up the other flavors I did have. I switche using olive oil out for corn oil as corn has a more subtle flavor as a higher smoking point, which I figured would be best for the grilled avocados. I added some cilantro since I love it and always have it around (for us and the rabbits). I mashed my black beans as I like that texture and I figured that it would more easily stay in the taco to eat (while balancing a glass of wine on my lap and watching Parenthood). I really enjoyed these and since I typically have the ingredients around on hand I know I can always have a great dinner at the ready with some easy adaption.

Spiced Black Bean, Grilled Avocado, and Goat Cheese Tacos

makes 4 tacos

Ingredients

1 (15 oz) can of black beans, preferably low sodium
1 tablespoon corn oil
1 tablespoon ground cumin
generous pinch of red pepper flakes
1 avocado
1 teaspoon corn oil
juice and zest from 1 lime
2 teaspoons honey
salt and pepper
2 oz from a goat cheese log
fresh cilantro
4 Flour Tortillas or 8 Corn Tortillas

Process

Rinse the black beans, reserve 1/2 cup of the liquids.
In a small skillet, warm the corn oil over medium heat. Add the cumin and pepper flakes. Once the spices have ‘toasted’ and are fragrant, add the black beans and liquids. Cook for 5-10 minutes on medium-low heat to reduce the liquids. Prior to preparing the tacos, mash up the black beans with a potato masher.
Cut the avocado in half, gently score to create slices, and brush with some oil. Put on a grill or grill pan on high heat just to char the outside of the avocado.
In a small bowl, combine the juice and zest of 1 lime, the honey, and salt and pepper.
To assemble the tacos, place 1/4 each of the beans, avocado, and goat cheese into 1 flour tortilla or 2 layered corn tortillas. To finish add fresh chopped cilantro and a drizzle the lime-honey mixture over the filling and serve

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