Comunidad Health Foods

I don't know about you, but vegetarian entrees fascinate me. You could put a plate of wildly exotic chicken in front of me and then a plate with a plain 'ole, homemade veggie burger in front of me, and I'm likely to choose the burger. And that's not because I'm a burger girl - I'm not. I just love the variation that comes with vegetarian meals. There's so much you can do just with beans alone, much less different vegetables and tofu (also sometimes known as unchartered territory for me, as of yet). I know in my brain that meat introduces more versatility to a diet (assuming you don't simultaneously rule out the good veggie options), but when push comes to shove, I am just always more excited by a dish like this one here, Chickpea & Roasted Pepper Bulgur Salad. A mouthful, but it sounds good, right?

Of course right.

This recipe for chickpeas and bulgurs and roasted peppers came from none other than the Smitten Kitchen, and it just may be the first non-dessert I've tried from her (I'm not going back into my 50+ entries to check this), and it was a big success. And by that I mean, I only made it for myself, so its recorded of pleasing its eaters is currently 1 for 1. Regardless, it's an extremely delicious option for a light dinner or lunch. I didn't switch much up, except the recipe calls for red peppers and yellow tomatoes, but yellow tomatoes hide from me at the supermarket, so I chose to do yellow peppers and red tomatoes. Then there was the dried parsley instead of fresh because, well, we've gone over that one before. I also may or may not have used a red onion - I tend to only buy white ones because I mostly cook my onions, and I never know how red ones are supposed to taste not mostly raw. I can't remember. This is why I now take notes on my meals - I do it for you guys. All for you, and only minimally to shield my pride from the embarrassment of never remembering anything about the food I eat by the time I get around to blogging about it. I really do need to catch up to speed here.

So anyway, I know that it's slightly past the season of lighter meals, and probably everyone on earth is posting about soups and stews and casseroles. But you can't eat heavy dishes all the time, right? And every so often you're still just in the mood for a smaller meal, right? So you see, I'm not being completely seasonally inappropriate. Except I'm sure tomatoes are out of season by now, so maybe I am. But regardless of season or appropriateness, this bulgur salad tastes good. It's a little citrusy and super light, yet you walk away satiated. There are varying textures going on, from slightly firm chickpeas to crunchy lettuce and soft bulgur and roasted peppers. Also, it looks pretty with all of the different colors playing off each other, and with crockpot season on our tails, it's not often these days we get to say that a meal both tastes and photographs well.

Bulgur Salad with Chickpeas and (Red) Peppers, courtesy of Smitten Kitchen
Yield: 4 as a main course (I cut it in half for 2 meals)
The Ingredients
1 1/2 C fine-grain bulgur
3 C boiling water
3 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice (I use the bottle, come on now)
1 tsp honey
1 tsp ground cumin
1/4 to 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
Salt (omitted)
1/4 C extra-virgin olive oil
1 can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
6 oz drained jarred roasted red peppers, diced, about 1 C (I roasted my own - wait until you hear that story!)
1/2 C quartered yellow cherry tomatoes
1 small red onion, finely chopped (to reduce its bite, you can soak it and then squeeze it out with the bulgur for some or all of the absorption time)
1/4 C minced fresh parsley leaves (or an indiscriminate amount of dried, about 2 Tbsp. should do the trick)
1 medium head Bibb lettuce, leaves separated (or any salad greens - I probably used a spring or romaine mix) 4 pita breads, warmed and cut into wedges

The Method
1. Prepare the bulgur by placing it in a large bowl and adding the boiling water to it. Set aside, stirring only occasionally, until the bulgur has softened (15-20 min). For some reason, I'm always nervous to prepare grains this way (okay, I know the reason - it's because the back of the package doesn't tell me that I can, not that that's stopped me haphazardly preparing any other food group), so I just cooked it based on the instructions on the package.
2. No matter how you manage to cook the bulgur, once you get there, drain it well and return it to the bowl.
3. While the bulgur cooks, whisk the lemon juice, honey, cumin, cayenne, and salt (if using) together in a small bowl. Continue whisking as you slowly add the oil until the dressing is smooth, or an otherwise desired consistency.
4. Add the chickpeas, roasted peppers, tomatoes, red onion, and parsley to the bowl of bulgur and mix it up to incorporate it. I also heated mine on the stove top (in the same pot used to prepare the bulgur) for a little bit, because I prefer these kinds of things to be warm. Drizzle the dressing over the salad and toss to combine.
5. Assemble plates by lining them with lettuce, top with bulgur, and arrange the pita around it.

Aside from all of the chopping and prep work that goes into this, it's a very feasible meal to do for a weeknight, or the night before to bring in for lunch the next day. It kept well overnight in the fridge, and I don't think I have any complaints.

Now as for those homemade roasted red peppers, that story deserves a whole post of its own...

I realized the other day that this blog can be / is about to become much more than a secretive way for me to share my experiences in the kitchen as I learn to cook and bake. Now that I have my own place with my own kitchen, even if I'm not moved out of my parent's house yet for good, I can use this to share with them all of the recipes I've been trying out. You know, keep them informed now that they have been relieved of their guinea pig duties. So, if I can be brave enough and practice this new, crazy idea of not getting embarrassed over things that I care about - no matter what other people think - this blog is about to step out of the shadows of strangers and anonymity. Okay, there will still be some anonymity because I don't trust the World Wide Web completely and, although I haven't gathered some alarming following, do not want random browsers to know all of my deep dark identity secrets. However, I will be most likely showing this to the people I care about, and crossing my fingers that I haven't in the past said anything foolish - either that, or they don't go back and read all of my archived entries. Just in case.

That being said, today I have a recipe to share with you for Black Bean Burgers that I could have sworn I already posted. I made it once before and everything went swimmingly - and then, apparently, I kept it all to myself. Can you find it in your hearts to forgive me? Particularly since this most recent time did not, shall we say, go so well.

First, there was my first escapade into the land of Dried Beans, which involved many stove-top overflows and toying with my gas stove which, though everyone swears by its superiority, is something I need to adjust to.

Then, there was the forgetting to remove the bread butts in time to dry out on my counter for bread crumbs, because I took one look at the sodium content of the pre-made bread crumbs and, surprise surprise, chose to make my own.

After that, we ran into a mixture that wouldn't stick, and rather than add a whole other egg as any intelligent cook might do, I decided to forge on and hope for the best.

This led to burgers that fell to pieces when flipped, but this happened only after I discovered that my only baking sheet is too wide to fit into my teensy tiny broiler, and I would have to bake the burgers for some undetermined amount of time.

What I wound up with were a few burgers that managed to hold their own, surrounded by heaps of cooked beans and veggies on my baking sheet. Of course, heaps of cooked beans and veggies tasted identical to patties of beans and veggies once on my pita, but aesthetically and practically it was not as smooth as the first attempt. The only difference was the use of canned versus dried beans, so maybe I over-cooked the beans this time around and they became a little more dried. It's nothing that the extra egg wouldn't have fixed.

So, without further ado, I give you the Black Bean Burger that was an all around success the first time, and a little bit of a mess the second. Both times, easy to make and very tasty, plus a very healthy alternative to a burger on those nights when you just want to eat with your hands.

Black Bean Burgers, or Spicy Bean Cakes, courtesy of $5 Dinners
Yield: 8-12 Burgers
The Ingredients
1/4 large red onion, finely chopped (I used 1 small white onion)
2 hot peppers, finely chopped (I used jalapenos, and de-seeded them, though I wasn't sure if I was supposed to)
3-4 cloves of garlic (I used roughly 1 scant Tbsp. pre-minced)
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 Tbsp. ground cumin
2 cans black beans (or the equivalent of cooked dried*)
1 large sweet potato
1 egg
1/2 C breadcrumbs (I used both bread butts of a loaf)

The Method
1. Place the first five ingredients (everything before the beans) to a skillet and saute for 2-3 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, drain and rinse the beans if using canned, and place in a large bowl. Mash them up with, ideally, a potato masher; since I don't have one of these, I mostly used one of those pie butter cutters (I should really know the name for that - pastry blenders?).
3. When the peppers and onions are finished sauteeing, add them to the bowl of mashed beans.
4. Grate the sweet potato into the bowl as well (I remove the skin first, mostly because the original recipe pictures don't seem to include it), and then add the egg and breadcrumbs.
5. Mix all of the ingredients together until they stick. Don't be stubborn like me: if the mixture seems dry, add another egg or some other cohesive ingredient. Make sure the mixture looks blended and sticky.
6. Divide into 8-12 balls (12 is recommended) and place onto a greased baking sheet.
7. Flatten into patties
8. Broil for 10 minutes, and then flip the burgers over and broil for another 3-4 minutes. Because my broiler was too narrow, I baked them on 350 for roughly the same ratio of time, though I really wasn't sure if that was appropriate.

*Note: You can find a very nice set of instructions for cooking dried beans at $5 Dinners, too.

I served this on a whole wheat pita with some mustard, lettuce and tomato. The taste was exactly how I had remembered it - tons of flavor from the beans and sweet potato, not too much spicy (probably because I removed the seeds), and a nice texture for a bean burger. When they don't fall apart as mine did this time, the consistency is spot-on.

I would absolutely recommend giving these a shot. Even if they fall apart, they'd be great on flatbreads or on a bun as a type of vegetarian sloppy joe, or stirred into rice for a different take on a stir-fry. I froze the extras for just those two purposes, and am hoping they turn out to be a recipe that reheats well. I'll keep you posted.

Last night, I cooked for the last night this week - after this, it's leftovers for me. I have to say, I'm looking forward to some faster meals, but I'm glad that I took the initiative to make extras for freezing. I'm also open to any suggestions for this - I'm new at the whole batch cooking. If you don't do it yet, try it out every once in a while. It sure beats reaching for a frozen Lean Cuisine in a crunch.

The combination of apples and honey takes me back to every year at Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year. It's this classic, traditional food pairing that's supposed to symbolize wishes for a sweet new year, and it's definitely a duo worth keeping. Because of that, I immediately think of honey any time I'm adding apples to a recipe and need a little extra something to get the dish to reach a new level.

I'm still playing catch up from all of the meals I made while on vacation all of those long weeks ago, and this recipe for an Apple and Honey Salad is next up on my checklist. I made this as an impromptu lunch on a steaming hot day, and was really pleased with the result. It really couldn't be much simpler; the most complicated part is slicing the apple, and god knows I don't have any artsy, skillful tips to make the slices come out as perfectly as those bagged, sliced & ready to eat apples from the grocery store. I took a butter knife (sadly, the sharpest utensil on hand in the borrowed vacation house) and hacked away as gracefully as one possibly can with a butter knife - that is to say, not very gracefully at all. I would not serve this at a five-course dinner party without honing my technique, but the slices made it into my mouth without difficulty, which is really all that matters when it comes to a spontaneous vacation lunch recipe.

Apples & Honey Salad
Serves: 1
The Ingredients
1 apple, on the small-to-medium side
1 - 1 1/2 C spinach
Honey, to taste

The Method
1. Wash and dry the spinach, placing onto a plate.
2. Slice the apple as best you can, keeping in mind that you're going to want to eat this without a knife (unless you are, in fact, less lazy than I), and fan over the spinach.
3. Drizzle with honey (really, a very little amount goes a long way; I used a very hefty drizzle and wound up regretting it, as it overpowered the other two ingredients)

You see, I told you this was easy, quick, and very refreshing for a hot day. The fiber in the apple keeps you full, the honey lends a light sweetness, and the spinach base gives all sorts of power nutrients without a ton of heavy calories. You've probably seen many nut-and-apple salads out there, so I'm sure that you could add many things to make this a little bit fancier - cranberries/craisins for an autumn salad, a little bit of a peanut butter dressing to add some saltiness and protein, who knows. However, I love how simple this three-ingredient salad is, without any changes. You really can't go wrong.

I warned you that I wouldn't have any enticing pictures of today's post, and it turns out that I wasn't lying. However, what I do have is a satisfyingly simple chicken . salad (as opposed to chickensalad, if you get my drift) that you don't have to feel guilty about eating. Yesterday, I told you about my Tzatziki/Yogurt Chicken Salad and hinted at my idea of a Thai-Inspired/Peanut Butter Chicken Salad, which I am here to tell you about tonight.

This chicken salad is much more savory than the yogurt one from yesterday, and although I used virtually the same base ingredients, simply changing the sauce made today's salad an entirely new meal. I think this one might be my favorite of the two. Also, even if you can't see it, believe me when I tell you that it's pretty darn attractive to boot - salad greens, orange carrots, red peppers, creamy tan peanut butter. The colors are perfect. It packs a double dose of protein - one a very lean source, and the other healthfully plant-based - some good, unsaturated fats, and lots of vegetables for all (okay, most) of your vitamin and mineral needs. The meal is low in saturated fat and sodium (depending on the peanut butter you use), as well as sugar. I can't swear on my life that this is an honest-to-goodness Thai flavor profile, but I'm going out on a limb here and saying that it should at least be loosely inspired by that cuisine. Whatever the cuisine, it's delicious, and way more exciting than any mayonnaise-based chicken salad you could ever dream up.

Thai-Inspired Chicken Salad
Yield: 1 Serving
The Ingredients
1/2 C (approx.) cubed, grilled chicken
1/8 C (or roughly 1 segment of a medium-large) red bell pepper, chopped
1-2 Tbsp. zucchini, coarsely chopped
1/2 carrot, washed, peeled, sliced thinly & then halved
1 C (approx.) salad greens (I used a combination of a packaged romaine mix and spinach)
Salt & pepper, to taste
2 Tbsp. all natural peanut butter (beware of hydrogenated oils in the ingredient list)
Hot sauce (a few healthy splashes)
Cinnamon & Red Pepper Flakes, a pinch each
Cumin, a dash
Olive oil, to create a more liquidy consistency


The Method
1. Combine the first four ingredients in a small or medium bowl.
2. Combine the last five ingredients in a separate, small bowl. Adjust flavorings for taste.
3. Add the sauce to the meat and veggie mixture, and stir up to fully incorporate.
4. Serve over the salad greens, sprinkle with a little salt and pepper if necessary, and enjoy!

Feel free to add actual peanuts or your own mix of spices and/or veggies, or using homemade peanut butter (which I am impatiently waiting for a good time to try)! I've made pita sandwiches with this general "theme" before, with excellent results. So really, the possibilities are endless, you just have to use your imagination a little bit. I could imagine a Curry Chicken Salad, a Tropical Chicken Salad, and - a combination that disgusts my family but intrigues me - a savory chocolate chicken salad. Maybe. That last one could wind up being a total flop.

Or it could wind up being the most spectacular combination of flavors and tastes ever.


You never know if you don't give it a shot.

I was never a fan of those mayonnaise-based salads: chicken, potato, macaroni, you name it. I feel like it's this calorie-laden, not very interesting mess of ingredients parading as light and healthy. However, that does not mean that I dislike chicken salads. Au contraire! Here, I present to you one of two salads I made tonight using grilled chicken that the head of the household had grilled early on in the day.

This chicken salad is yogurt-based, adding those super probiotics, vitamins, and minerals without the fat (unless you like whole fat yogurt, that is). It tastes light, which is perfect for days as hot and muggy as it was today, yet it is one of the furthest things from bland I have ever tasted. The sauce actually reminds me a lot of the tzatziki I made a little while back, and as I suspected back then, it does pair excellently with chicken.

I think I've mentioned before how much I enjoy non-dinner meals, because I feel so free to experiment. It doesn't matter if I botch something, because it's just for me. I don't have to worry about feeding anyone else (usually, until L coerces me into making something for with him). This is proof of that, and you could easily do something similar. All I did was take chicken, some vegetables I had on hand, and a sauce full of flavors that sound like they would work together. For the sauces, all you need to do is add ingredients little by little, building on the flavors until you reach the taste you're going for. Trust me, I'm no Top Chef, so anyone can do this - especially with practice.

What's more, aside from cooking the chicken, this recipe goes from zero to in your belly in seconds (okay, minutes) flat, and would take little extra time to double or quadruple to suit your needs. I highly recommend trying it out, or at the very least using it as inspiration for an unconventional, healthier chicken salad of your own.

Tzatziki Chicken Salad
Yield: 1 serving
The Ingredients
1/2 C (approx.) cubed, grilled chicken
1/8 C red bell pepper, chopped
1-2 Tbsp. zucchini, coarsely chopped
1 C (approx.) salad greens (I used a combination of a packaged romaine mix and spinach)
2-3 Tbsp. plain or vanilla fat free yogurt*
1/2 - 1 tsp. lemon juice
1/2 tsp. dried dill
The Method
1. Combine the first three ingredients in a small or medium bowl.
2. Combine the last three ingredients in a separate, small bowl. Adjust flavorings for taste.
3. Add the sauce to the meat and veggie mixture, and stir up to fully incorporate.
4. Serve over the salad greens, and enjoy!

*Note: I used regular 'ole Dannon vanilla low fat yogurt, but this produced a pretty thin, sweet sauce. Next time, I will definitely try either a vanilla or even plain greek yogurt (fat free) to change the consistency.

After this, I put together a Thai-inspired (in my brain, anyway) peanut chicken salad to bring with me to work tomorrow. I will absolutely post the "recipe" for that, as well, but I didn't take a picture before packaging it up, so I won't make any promises on the beautiful imagery front. In the meantime, give this a shot! Pull out some fridge or pantry items, and see where they take you. The absolute worst that can happen is that you botch a recipe, and know how to change it for the better next time around.

I promised all of you a prompt post about those delicious roasted tomatoes that I paired with my Spicy Hake from a few nights ago. But I'm not here with no pesky roasted tomato recipe; no, I'm here with something much, much better. Apparently, my brain has adopted a new habit of inventing recipes while I am otherwise trying to fall asleep, and I can't say that I am much complaining. This time, I was drifting off when, all of a sudden!, I thought of a bunch of rapidly ripening bananas on my counter along with the plump-and-surprisingly-not-moldy raspberries in my fridge. Then, I got to thinking about breakfast for the next morning, and before I knew it my brain was adding ingredients like nutella and bread, and as a result I can present to you one of the most satisfying breakfast/lunch/light dinner/dessert recipes I have ever tried.

Banana, Raspberry & Nutella Anytime Sandwich
Serves: I'm still working on this one; currently, 1, but I'm really thinking that halving it would be better. But really, who wants an extra half a banana lying around? Exactly.
The Ingredients
1 banana, preferably close to baking-softness for prime mashing ability
1/4 C (ish - I wound up using about 8) raspberries, washed and patted dry
2 slices (whole wheat) bread
1 Tbsp. nutella, divided

The Method
1. Toast the bread (I like mine lightly done, but feel free to make it as dark or as light as you like)
2. While the bread is working in the toaster, coarsely mash the banana just to break it up. Add the raspberries, flattening them with the back of a fork and then mixing them up with the banana. Try to get the two fruits evenly incorporated, but really, don't fret about the exact ratio.
3. When the toast is done, spread about 1/2 Tbsp. nutella on each slice, and then spoon the fruit mixture onto one slice.
4. Top with the other piece of toast, slice (or not), and enjoy!

I say that this might be better off with half as much filling because, well, pureed fruit is gooey and gloppy and tends to escape the confines of the bread before it can fully make it to your (re: my) mouth. So, if you're making more than one sandwich I'd suggest using 1 banana for every 2 sandwiches. Otherwise, unless you know of a good use for half a banana, make the full filling and be sure to eat over a plate or napkin. Scooping up some unruly banana-raspberry puree with your finger at the end is never a bad thing.

This sandwich is quick, easy, and - in the grand scheme of things - pretty good for you, too. You get 1 1/2 servings of fruit plus the benefits of whole grain if you choose to use that type of bread. The only thing I have to warn you about is sodium levels - bread loves to sneak unnecessary sodium into its crevices. Each slice of the bread I had (much to my dismay upon reading the label after buying it) contained 200mg sodium, which makes my whole sandwich a whopping 550mg sodium bomb. Considering how I try to keep my entire day below 1500, that's pretty significant.

Still, that has not stopped me from having this sandwich two mornings in a row (what? The first time was a test run and the second was absolutely imperative to be able to give all of you proper measurements!), and I don't regret it one bit. Letting the bananas get soft releases all of that sugary goodness, while the raspberries offer a bold tartness that's very recognizable even with only 1/4 C of them. The nutella is just strong enough to blend into the other flavors, complementing them with a slight nuttiness and chocolaty burst that any morning could benefit from. Toasting the bread gives the sandwich a crunch, so that you're not biting into total mush, and allows the nutella to melt just slightly by the time you get it to your mouth.

Do you understand now why I had to interrupt my recipe line up for this? Do you forgive me? If you don't know, go and try this sandwich, and then I think you'll understand completely. It's worth it.

Oh, and while you're busy forgiving me for delaying the roasted tomato post, you'll have to also forgive me for that picture up there. It was 6:30 in the morning, I was hardly awake, the sun was hardly awake, and I'm amazed I didn't wind up with blurred, flash-on, terribly-angled pictures as is. The truth is that this sandwich is colorful and only minimally mushy-looking, as one might expect.