Sometimes when you are a broke student, and find yourself constantly craving food from your favorite restaurant, but you have no money to spend, you figure out how to make yummy versions at home of your favorite meals. 

Which is what I did tonight. 

One of my favorite cuisines would have to be mexican. I love cooking it at home, and i love experiencing it at restaurants. I love that I have a friend from mexico who teaches me how to make the most delicious tacos you will ever meet in your life. 

Tonight was a simple dish, again inspired by my favorite brunch, though just the sides. This time I just went for the sides - beans, and roasted sweet potatoes.  

Pinto Beans:

olive oil

1 small can of pinto beans, drained, not rinsed.

1/2 white oniton

2 cloves of garlic

1/2 small can of green chili*

few tsp of  cumin

1/2 tsp paprika

salt and pepper

heat the olive oil (about 1 tbsp) in a medium pan. Dice the onions and cook over medium heat until they begin to soften. Add the spices (cumin, paprika) and coat the onions. "deglaze" the pan by adding a bit of water, 2-3 tbsp should work. Don't add too much though!

Add the diced garlic and saute until fragrant. About a min. Add the beans and chili's and simmer over medium - low heat about 10 mins. 

*this could be replaced with jalapeno or chipotle peppers. Maybe just change up the qauntity a bit. (ie, reduce it if you don't like super spicy.)

I ate the beans over roasted sweet potatoes with some italian seasoning (since it had rosemary in it and I have no straight up rosemary), topped with jalepeno cheese, some salsa based off The Pioneer Woman's and half an avocado for good measure. 

Had I not botched a batch of cornbread last night, that would've made an appearance on my plate as well. Ah well. It's destined for croutons now

Make things extra special by eating this on one of the last summer nights on your balcony, even though it's already almost too cold to be out there even with a hoodie and sweats on. 

Enchilada

I was so proud of my plating skils today!

Sometimes in the kitchen, you stumble upon magic.
Burritos are a favorite dish of mine to make, I'm surprised I haven't posted a recipe for them yet! They are easily vegetarian (or vegan!) and totally delicious. They also bode well for being a single girl because you can make a bunch and freeze them! (A deep freeze is a girls best friend! And so is a microwave, which I currently don't have....you've got to re-heat those things somehow....)
And so that's what I was doing last night. I whipped up a batch of burritos with a black bean, corn, celery, and bell pepper filling. I wraped them in a flour tortilla with some lettuce, cheese, and fresh salsa.

I got lucky with the camera today, I am so obsessed with this photo.

It was goooood. I wrapped up a few for later with just the filling, and stuck them in the fridge. Today when I got home I was going to eat the burrito like I did last night, but then a voice spoke in my head. Enchiladaaaaa. It said. And then I knew what I had to do. I had never made enchiladas before, but I had eaten them. I wasn't afraid.
I set to work by whipping out a burrito from last night and throwing it in a little loaf pan (which was the exact perfect size!). Step one, done. Then I had to figure out a sauce. I just got back from a study session at the library, so I was feeling hungry and lazy. I opted to just blend some salsa in my magic bullet and add a dash of cumin for the sauce. Once that was done I poured it over the burrito, threw on some cheese and after 10 mins in the oven, I had an amazing meal before me.

This is an easy peasy way to make enchiladas. I think I know what to do with all my left over burritos now...



Black Bean Enchiladas
makes 4

the filling:
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 onion, diced
1 garlic clove, diced
1/2 can of black beans, rinsed well
1/2 red pepper, diced
1/2 orange pepper, diced
1 celery stalk, diced
1/4 cup frozen corn
salt & pepper
1-2 tbsp salsa

Heat the olive oil in a pan and add the onion, celery, and garlic. Allow to just soften, then add the peppers with some salt and pepper. Cook a few mins until the peppers are almost soft. Add the beans, corn, and salsa. Simmer until corn is cooked.

Wrap the filling in a tortilla. To make an enchilada, place in a pan then cover with sauce. (For one enchilada, I used 1/3 cup of salsa, blended.) Cover with cheese, and cook at 350 for 10 mins until the cheese is melted and just starting to brown on the sides.

Vegan Brunch

This brunch was inspired by one of my favorite places to eat, Bandidas Taqueria. Every time I hit it up for brunch I get a vegan benny, which is made with tofu and butternut squash. Like a scramble. It seemed a weird combination to me at first, and wasn't sure how i'd like it, but it's been love since I first tried it almost a year ago.


I've been meaning to try my hand at the combination myself for some time, and since I had tofu and butternut squash, today seemed like the right day to go for it. I served it over home fries and steamed kale and the result was a delicious brunch.
Next time I plan on making some cornbread and making sure I have some good fresh salsa to make it even more like a delicious Bandidas' benny.
As I didn't have any salsa, I threw some diced tomato on top. My kitchen is kind of sad right now.





Tofu "benny" scramble
Serves one as a big brunch.

1/2 baby butternut squash, or 1/4 cup cubed squash
1/4 brick of tofu (I had extra firm. Firm or medium firm would also work.)
1/2 small white onion
1 tbsp olive oil
splash of soy sauce (1 tbsp?)
splash of rice vinegar (1 tbsp?)
1/4 cup vegetable stock
2-3 tsp mrs.dash
dash of seasoning salt
generous grinding of black pepper
1 tsp itlalian seasoning
1-2 tsp cayenne pepper


In a small pot, add the squash and add water until it's just covering the squash. Boil on medium heat until squash is fork tender, about 5-10 mins. Set aside.


Chop the onion, and simmer in a pan with olive oil. Add tofu until most of the water has cooked out. Add the soy sauce and vinegar. Stir until liquid has dissolved. Add the vegetable stock and stir until almost completely absorbed. Add the spices and stir until liquid is gone. Add the butternut squash and incorporate.


Serve over home fries, cornbread, english muffins, or fly it solo in all it's own glory.

Tacos!

I could go on about how I really suck at this blogging thing because I can't stick with anything, and make excuses about being too busy and moving twice and living in a dungeon with no light,  but why bother? I doubt anyone actually reads this except for me. So I will post this for me so I don't forget how make these tacos, because they are delicious.



This vegetarian taco recipe was taught to me by a friend of mine from mexico, who is not vegetarian but would eat these growing up.
Though i've never really been compelled to eat meat, after eating these tacos I don't see why anyone else would be!

Carrot Tacos
(Thanks Karina!)

You will need: (for the tacos)
corn toritllas
3-4 carrots, shredded
1/2 onion, chopped
1/4 cup of cheese, shredded
lots of butter
salt



Heat some butter in a pot and soften the onion until translucent. In the meantime, grate the carrots. When the onions are translucent, add the carrots and some more butter, and salt. Saute until soft, around 5 mins or so. Next add the cheese and let melt. Heat the tortillas in the microwave until soft and pliable. (30 secs-1 min)
Get a medium saucepan and heat a few tbsp of oil over medium high heat. Take the carrot mixture, and put about 2 tbsp inside a corn tortilla. Roll tightly and repeat.
You can cook about 5 tacos at a time with a medium/large pan. Get a pair of tongs and flip them over while cooking to evenly brown the tacos.

For the spicy guacamole:

4 small avocados, pitted and halved

4 tomatillos

1 jalapeno pepper

1 garlic clove

3-4 tbsp cilantro

salt to taste

lemon juice

Peel and rinse the tomatillos. Put them in a pot with the jalapeno pepper and just cover with water. Boil until the tomatillos are slightly brown on the bottom, about 5-10 mins or so.

Throw rest of the ingredients together and blend in a blender or with an imersion blender. (That's what I used.) Add salt and lemon juice to taste.

Top the tacos with shredded lettuce, cheese, sour cream, and spicy guacamole. It makes for easier eating if you open up the tacos a bit to let the toppings fall in. Make sure you have lots of napkins.