Lightening up for summer

It is finally warming up around here and I am finally not craving comfort foods. Bread, melted cheese, bread, cream, melted cheese. Yea, you get the point. It amazes me each and every year how much the weather influences my cravings and food choices. 

I made these the other night and it felt like the perfect transition into summer. I'll call them summer BLT's.

Summer BLT's

Filling
pack of bacon
can of diced tomatoes
cup of quinoa 
can of black beans
cup of frozen corn
Sauce
2 tablespoons mayo
few squeezes of lemon
dash of tumeric 
Holder
lettuce (small romaine works great)
 Method
cook bacon in oven at 425 until crisp
cook quinoa in tomatoes for 5 minutes, add corn and beans and cook until quinoa is tender
mix sauce together and add to quinoa
add crumbled bacon and mix
scoop into lettuce
serve with hot sauce if desired. 

Chili with Beans and Ground Meat

Chili is a winter time household favorite that can be reheated easily. Every time I make this it turns out a little different as:

• I like to mix up bean varieties - someone I know has a real problem with kidney beans because they are KIDNEY beans! I will not mention names to protect the innocent (or just flat out strange!)
• I may not always have peppers on hand and just leave them out!
• I like to mix up chili spices by substituting Chipotle or Ancho. 

Chili with Beans and Ground Meat Recipe:

2 tablespoon olive oil or grapeseed oil

4 garlic cloves

2 large sweet onions (or regular if you can’t find sweet onions, but really try harder next time!!)

2 pound turkey or lean ground beef

1 tablespoon cumin

2 tablespoons chili powder

2 ¼ cups cooked chili or black or kidney beans (15 oz can, organic is better! Read the label on the other stuff, yuck!)

2 ¼ cups cooked white beans

4 ½ cups diced tomatoes (28 oz can)

1 tablespoon balsamic Vinegar

2 tablespoon black strap molasses

½ cup frozen finely chopped spinach

Heat oil in a large pot (5-6 quarts) and sauté onions and minced garlic for about 10 minutes over medium heat. Add ground meat and cook for another 5 minutes. Toss in the cumin and chili powder, stir well and cook for another 5 minutes.  Add beans, tomatoes, balsamic vinegar and molasses. Cook, covered for 15 minutes. 

Add chopped spinach, stir and it’s ready to serve! 

Embellish with cheese, sour cream, yogurt, scallions or a little cayenne to spice up your pallet!!

Warm Chili Wishes, 

Bretta =))