Vegetarian Enchiladas

I love beans, not the green variety (though I do like them too), but legumes. They are incredibly versatile, nutritious, satisfying and tasty.
I use beans in salads, Indian and Mexican cooking. In Mexican dishes I generally use beans instead of meat.
For this meal I soaked some dried beans over night (kidney beans and another variety which I've forgotten) then boiled and processed some, I left some whole for the texture. I was using an Old El Paso Enchilada meal kit so I mixed through some Mexican spices and half of the tomato based sauce. I filled the tortillas with the bean mix, rolled them, placed them in an oven tray and covered them with the remaining tomato sauce and some cheese, as per the instructions. As a side to the enchiladas I made some guacamole and a salad.
I really enjoyed this meal, however eating lots of beans can tend to have a bad side effect....

Rice Crusted Quiche

I wanted to try something a little new so I made a rice crusted quiche the other day. The crust was simply brown rice, an egg and a little cheese. I pressed this mixture into a round oven tray and browned it slightly in the oven.
To the egg mixture I added pumpkin, potato, capsicum and zucchini. Unfortunately I didn't add as much seasoning as I should have so the finished product was rather bland and unexciting. I will probably try this again sometime because it is an easy, budget meal for mid week, however next time I won't forget the salt!

Healthy Nachos

I have fond memories of eating nachos when I was younger but they are not something I would happily eat these days. Corn chips, piles of cheese and lashings of sour cream aren't exactly friendly to a girls hips. So I made it my mission to create a low fat version of nachos. I knew they wouldn't be as delicious, but nor would I feel so guilty when eating them.
I toasted pita bread instead using corn chips, had low fat sour cream, a sprinkling of cheese, guacamole, chunky salsa and chilli beans. I used a little Mexican seasoning and a jar of salsa, which I added to, but pretty much the rest was from scratch. I am rather happy with my effort.

And there was just enough left over for lunch. Perfect! Although they were low fat, I have to say I was totally impressed (and so was T).

Honey Soy Tofu Stir-fry

Tonight's dinner was quick and easy, tasty and healthy, cheap and satisfying. Awesome!
The honey soy tofu was pre marinated (it cost $4 for 200g) and I bought the fresh stir-fry vegies at a reduced price ($2.70 for 600g). I added a few extra splashes of soy sauce and a little extra honey. The tasty bits were served on top of some 2 Minute noodles.

Jacket Potatoes

Last night's dinner was a simple but satisfying meal of baked/jacket potatoes. The spuds were wrapped in foil and cooked in the oven until soft. I then topped them with what ever I could find in the fridge, that included:

• mozzarella cheese
• sour cream
• baked beans
• tomato
• onion
• red cabbage and green leaves
• spring onion
• salt and pepper

Falafels for Dinner

Yesterday I decided to try my hand at making falafels from scratch. It was a long but satisfying process.
I started the night before by placing 2 cups of dried chickpeas in a bowl of water and allowing them to soak overnight. I then simmered them yesterday afternoon until they were soft and edible.
I made a delicious batch of hommus with half of the chick peas. Some of this was served with the falafels and of course, there is still plenty left over to enjoy.
I spent quite some time searching for the perfect falafel recipe yesterday. Because I had not made them before, I didn't know which one would be best so combined the common element and created my own. Here is my recipe:

Falafels
Ingredients:
1 tsp coriander powder
2 tsp cumin seeds
1 small onion, chopped
3 tsp garlic (3 cloves)
1 cup peas
350g chick peas
1 cup parsley, chopped
1 tbs tahini
1 egg

Method:
Fry spices and allow them to cool.
Lightly fry the onion and garlic.
Combine ingredients and process until they form a chunky paste.
Roll into balls, place on oven tray and spray with oil.
Cook in 200°C oven until brown, turning every 10 minutes.

Once they were browned, it was time to 'plate up.' I'd prepared the rest of the meal while the falafels were cooking so everything was ready to go.
I made a salad inspired by tabouli, only it had no bulgur. It consisted of cucumber, tomato, spring onion, parsley, lemon juice, salt and pepper. I also made a simple garlic yoghurt by mixing those two ingredients together.
On T's plate he had garlic yoghurt, falafels, mixed lettuce leaves, hommus, tabouli minus the bulgur  and warm Afghani bread. He really enjoyed it and went back for seconds.

Rather than having mine as a platter with Afghani bread, I wrapped the same ingredients in half a pita bread.

Before wrapping the pita bread this is what it looked like.

It was an enjoyable, fresh and nutritious meal and well worth the effort.