Salmon with Guava BBQ Sauce

Mmmm... guava BBQ sauce. So good.  Made with my guava jam and caramelized on top of a nice piece of salmon, quite tasty.

I used this recipe, although I added a liberal squirt of Sriracha for extra spice to balance the sweetness in the sauce.  I plopped the salmon atop this bell pepper free mango and cucumber salsa recipe from Simply Recipes, mixed with a can of black beans.  Good stuff.

Zucchini and Corn Fritters with Black Beans and Chipotle Cream

Zucchini and corn fritters: a good way to use up some summer veggies... fresh sweet corn cut off the cob and shredded zucchini. Topped off with a little bit of chipotle sour cream (or yogurt if you prefer)- chipotle in adobo sauce, green onion, lime- and some black beans.

Spicy, creamy, sweet, fresh. Mmmm.

Christy and Brendan made a similar recipe- rice and corn cakes - and said it was also delicious. I'll give it a try next time I have leftover rice!

Sweet Potato and Black Bean Chili

Snowpacolypse/Thundersnow/Traffic Nightmare of 2011 left us at 1346 relatively unscathed... while others in the DC area were sitting in their cars for 13 hours and having babies on the Beltway, I took advantage of OPM's early dismissal for the federal government, made it home pretty quickly on the bus, and made some sweet potato and black been chili and cast-iron skillet cornbread with corn. Chili and cornbread... ain't nothin' wrong with that!
Colleen came over for some intense crafting (the results of which will be posted soon), we chowed down on this warming meal, and we topped if off with some "special" hot chocolate. No better way to spend this year's Thundersnow/Snowpacolypse/Traffic Nightmare.

Stacked Veggie Quesadilla

I saw this stacked veggie quesadilla recipe, labeled as a "last minute Super Bowl supper," in the most recent issue of Bon Appetit magazine... we made it tonight while watching the AFC championship game. It's pretty good, but I don't think I'll be serving it at Super Bowl, mostly because it's really hard to eat!!
The flavors were good and it really wasn't very hard (especially since they advocate microwaving pre-cut butternut squash- I cut up my own from the CSA, but did do the microwave thing). However, the stack of tortillas with all of the fillings is super tall and difficult to maneuver. You can't exactly pick it up without it totally falling apart. Part of this difficulty may be due to the fact that we got a little bit overzealous when crisping up our tortillas at the beginning, but I'm not convinced that floppier tortillas would make it any easier to handle.

Just a warning... don't be scared, but definitely bring a fork and knife if you make this!

World's Easiest Turkey Chili

This chili recipe might just be added to my weeknight quick-and-easy dinner rotation... and maybe it should make its way into yours, too. No chopping for those knife-averse, cooks in 20 minutes for those short on time, uses exclusively pantry staple ingredients for those too lazy to hit up the grocery store, makes enough leftovers for those, like me, who have been dropping too much cash at crappy sandwich joints by the office, and, finally, it tastes pretty good!I made a couple small changes that worked pretty well: used 1 lb of ground turkey rather than chicken, black beans instead of pinto, and substituted a couple dashes of Worcestershire sauce where the recipe calls for soy sauce. Switch it up to your taste!

Served with some baked tortilla chips, cheddar, avocado, cilantro and sour cream.

Spicy Black Bean Balls

Spicy black bean balls... no relation to chocolate salty balls.

Based on this spicy black bean burger recipe from Real Men Eat Green (a cute website from an earnest Canadian trying to convince men that eating and living green is cool/good for you), I decided to make these into dippable balls (ha! I said 'dippable balls'!) rather than burgers since we didn't have any buns.

Served with a chipotle/lime/cilantro sour cream dipping sauce. Mmmm.

Zucchini and Toasted Corn Tacos with Fresh Tomatillo Salsa

Wow- I've made vegetarian tacos before, but these were by far the best. The toasted corn gave these a unique flavor- some awesome caramelization... mmmm.
Plus, topped with feta and freshly made salsa verde with CSA tomatillos: to die for.

Chicken, Black Bean and Spinach Enchiladas

After a long day catching some Rolling Thunder and doing a little shopping at Eastern Market, we were jonesin' for some Tex-Mex food (well, I was at least), so we whipped up these tasty chicken, black bean and spinach enchiladas with a sour-creamy sauce and a tomatillo salsa. Pretty good! We grilled the chicken after sprinkling it with chili powder and cumin, then shredded it. I think next time I would add some of the white sauce to the interior of the enchiladas to glue them together and moisten them a bit. Otherwise, quite tasty!

Black Bean and Sweet Potato Enchiladas

These tasty enchilada-esque things were a recipe-less creation from pantry items we had laying around. Laziness and unwillingness to go to the store are the mother of invention, I guess.

I roasted some cubed sweet potatoes in olive oil, sprinkled with some chili powder and cumin (and salt and pepper, of course). The black beans were heated with some minced garlic and onion that I briefly sauteed. Threw it together, topped it with some grated cheddar, wrapped it in a tortilla and put it in a baking dish that I had coated with some salsa verde. Topped the whole thing with some more salsa verde and cheese. Baked at 350 for about 10-15 minutes.

Chuck made some homemade guacamole - mashed an avocado with some grated onion and garlic, minced tomato, lime juice, hot sauce, and cilantro.

Pretty great for a made-up meal!

Pineapple, Cilantro, Lime Rice with Black Beans

We made some jerk-esque chicken drumsticks and needed an easy side dish we could make from stuff we had in the fridge, freezer, and pantry... this pineapple rice dish fit the bill! I know it's not authentic Jamaican, but neither was the chicken. Plus, who's keeping track?
I tricked the recipe out a little bit: cooked the rice with chicken broth instead of water, and heated up a mix of about 1-1.5 cups of minced frozen pineapple and a can of rinsed black beans. Threw it all together at the last minute with lime juice, some lime zest and a bunch of chopped cilantro. Sweet, salty, tangy and a perfect side for the spicy chicken.

Black Bean, Sweet Potato, Zucchini Salad with Garlic Lime Dressing

Hey y'all... remember when I made Mark Bittman's sweet potato and black bean salad with a spicy garlicky lime dressing?

Remember how it was awesome?

Well, for those bell pepper haters in the group, leave them out. The recipe is awesome with zucchini, too. Throw some chopped zucchini into the oven with the sweet potato after it's been roasting for a while... then throw the whole mess on top of some lettuce.

As Tyler Florence has been known to say: boom.

Sweet Potato and Black Bean Soup

This soup is very loosely based on this recipe that I saw on foodgawker.com. Although not that pretty looking, it was really hearty, perfect for a rainy Saturday!

Here's what I did:

• Rather than use squash, since we've had it a couple times this week already, I used some sweet potatoes I had lying around.
• Peeled 'em, chopped 'em up, roasted them at 400 for about 25 minutes- until they were soft.
• Mixed them with one can of drained diced tomatoes and one can of rinsed black beans.
• Mashed it all together with a potato masher.
• In the meantime, I sauteed a chopped onion, a chopped shallot, a couple cloves of garlic, a tablespoon of cumin and some salt and pepper.
• Once that was soft, I added the potato/bean/tomato mixture in, along with about 2 cups of beef broth.
• Let it simmer for approximately 25 minutes.
• Pureed it with my immersion blender.
• Served it with a ton of lime juice, some greek yogurt (out of sour cream) and cilantro.

Roasted Sweet Potato Salad with Black Beans and Lime-Chile Dressing

This great salad, from The Minimalist, Mark Bittman, is basically a fall version of this corn and black bean salad I made all summer. I'd definitely recommend this salad- the flavors are awesome together, it's got a ton of color, it's super easy. The only change I made was to ease up a little on the olive oil, and add a little bit of cumin.

Butternut Squash and Greens Chili

This is a useful chili recipe to have in your arsenal. Healthy, tasty, easy (except cutting up the butternut squash = PITA!).

Changes I make to sass up the recipe a bit:

• substitute one can of chickpeas for one of the cans of black beans
• use whatever leafy greens you have on hand: kale, swiss chard, collard greens, spinach (this time we ended up using a bag of random mixed greens Chuckie bought by accident when I requested mixed baby greens.)
• add some cayenne (1/2 tsp) and cinnamon (a couple shakes) when you add the other spices

Enjoy!

The Unwrappable Burrito

Starring, in order of appearance:

Zucchini, black beans and corn taco filling (which I pumped up with a little adobo sauce)

Chipotle-esque cilantro lime rice (which is basically rice with a lime/cilantro/garlic pesto stirred in)

Homemade green tomatillo salsa/sauce

Awesome.

Bring this salad to your next potluck BBQ!!

This salad is ridiculously easy, infinitely interchangeable as far as ingredients, and totally tasty.

The original recipe, a Rachael Ray creation, has black beans, corn, red pepper, and red onion as the base. I've made this countless different ways: subbing scallions for the red onion, yellow peppers for the red peppers, using frozen corn instead of fresh (and vice versa). I am always sure to add some chopped cilantro- it makes a big difference in taste. The other ingredients in the dressing, the lime, cumin, S&P, and the hot sauce, should all be added to your taste.

Today's iteration included (in addition to the black beans) corn sliced off the cob, lightly blanched green beans instead of pepper, halved cherry tomatoes, and scallions (all from the CSA).

Try it... everybody seems to like it.