Since I've been on a huge vegetable kick lately, some might think I've tried the vegetarian angle again, I'm going to post the first ever food/recipe section on this here blog.
The pills I've been taking for my eye make me SUPER hungry, as in I imagine my hunger is exactly how a preggo woman feels just before meal time. In the hopes of not becoming a cow with these meds, I've been trying to eat extremely healthy the past few weeks. This entails cooking up a ton of veggies at the beginning of each week and using them for lunch/dinner throughout the rest of the week. This typically involves roasting some of my fav veggies in the oven, after tossing them with olive oil and select seasoning. I then eat them over steamed brown rice and sometimes add a dash of Salt Lick BBQ Sauce (if you haven't tried SL BBQ, you are most definitely missing out!).
Last night I had a hankering to try something different, here's what I did:
I took a good amount of broccoli, carrots, asparagus, and onion and cut it all into bite size (about 1" pieces) and placed them in a large mixing bowl. Then, take a bottle of olive oil (evoo, whichever) and do a couple of passes over the veggies, and then add your seasoning - I used only cracked pepper last night. Lay the veggies out on a jelly roll pan that's been sprayed with cooking spray and back at 425* for about 25 minutes, stirring them halfway through.
Next, I decided on a whim to make homemade salsa for a topping. After rummaging through the cabinets I decided there were some ingredients that could possibly make an OK salsa. I used a can of tomatoes that had green chilis in it, along with a can of Rotel. (Pour all juice from cans!) I added a small handfull of chopped onion, about a tablespoon of cilantro, and 3 garlic cloves. All this went into my trusty mini-prep mixer and was all blended together. I then added a little lime zest and lime juice and did a quick spin of the mixer again. I was pleansantly surprised that my little "made-up" salsa actually had some spice and was pretty darn tasty! Some of you know, I'm definitely not a chunky salsa kind of girl so if you are, this version is not for you.
The third and basically final step in the process was the black beans. Over the last few weeks I've been on a huge edimame kick, but wanted to try black beans this week - hence the salsa idea. I've never made black beans before and my favorite ones to eat are from Chipotle so I decided to go with a cilantro/lime black bean mix. I just used a can of black beans (I hear cooking the real thing takes forever). In order to add my extra flavor to the canned beans, I sauteed half a large onion in some EVOO with a little cracked pepper and then added the beans, 1 cup of cilantro, zest and juice from 1 lime. I brought the mixture to a good simmer and then turned the fire off and let it sit while the veggies finished roasting.
I use frozen brown rice that comes in microwavable bags, that way I can heat it up easily and then divide the leftovers into single serving containers for future use. Once everything is ready, just scoop the rice onto a plate, top with veggies, and then cover with salsa.
I know what you're thinking.
Salsa on broccoli, carrots, and asparagus?!
Trust me though, it's really good!
I have one picture, next time I'll try to take pics throughout the process, but it's not a super nice picture. In fact, it's rather bad and doesn't really do the meal any justice. Also, please excuse the paper plate and platsic fork - I was tired from working out and ready to eat my food so I just grabbed the first thing available ;)
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