Toasty Bean & Cheese Quesadillas

When my little brother was younger, he was the Quesadilla King. We went through 20 lb. packs of tortillas and a huge block of cheddar cheese from Costco that would kill someone if it fell on them. Every damn day, as soon he got home from school it was quesadilla time. He knew how to cook eggs and quesadillas and that was about it. I have no idea how this happened. Ease, perhaps? Eggs are easy and quick enough and the same is true with quesadillas. His quesadilla consisted of a comical amount of cheese sandwiched between two tortillas and microwaved into a gooey, oily limpness. He apparently didn't have a very sophisticated palate at the age of ten. We'll cut him some slack.

How my parents allowed him to make quesadillas everyday of his pre-teen life is beyond me. He still probably has that damn cheese all clogged up in his arteries. Okay anyways, that quesadilla is fine for a ten year old maybe, but not for a vegan foodie! For my quesadilla I wanted something basic but delicious. Crispy tortillas, layered with beany, cheesy goodness. Goodbye greasy, limp cheese quesadillas, it's the age of the Toasty Bean & Cheese Quesadillas! A classic comfort food and mostly healthy too. I'll have to introduce you to my little brother.

Toasty Bean & Cheese Quesadillas

Inspired by Sugar Coated Vegan

Makes 2 full quesadillas

• 1 tsp. olive oil
• 1 small yellow onion, chopped small
• 5 large garlic cloves, minced fine
• 2 15 oz. cans of black beans (or your bean of choice), drained and rinsed
• 1 cup of salsa, divided in half
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 2 Tbsp. cilantro, chopped
• 1 bag of Daiya cheddar cheese
• 4 medium flour tortillas
• 7 small sweet peppers, sliced thin

First, drain and rinse your beans. Then chop the onions and cilantro (set aside) and mince the garlic. In a medium pot heat the olive oil, then add the onion and garlic. Saute until the onions are soft.

Next, add the beans, 1/2 cup of salsa and the salt to the pot and combine with the onions and garlic. Make an effort to mash the beans up while stirring. Cook until the bean mixture is thoroughly heated. Add in the cilantro and stir to combine. Slice up the sweet little peppers and set aside. Aren't they just darling?

Heat a medium frying pan and spray with a nonstick cooking spray. Place one tortilla in the pan and add 1/2 of the cheese , scattering it over the tortilla. Over medium-low, allow the cheese to melt ensuring not to burn the bottom of the tortilla.

Once the cheese is mostly melted, add half of the bean mixture on top and half of the sliced peppers on top of that. Place a tortilla on top and gently flip. Cook until the new tortilla has browned and the cheese is fully melted.

Cut it up however you'd like and serve with your favorite salsa!

Toasty Bean & Cheese Quesadillas

Cuisine: Entree

Author: Katie - Produce On Parade

Serves: 2-4

Crispy tortillas, layered with beany, cheesy goodness. Goodbye greasy, limp cheese quesadillas, it's the age of the Toasty Bean & Cheese Quesadillas!

Ingredients

• 1 tsp. olive oil
• 1 small yellow onion, chopped small
• 5 large garlic cloves, minced fine
• 2 15 oz. cans of black beans (or your bean of choice), drained and rinsed
• 1 cup of salsa, divided in half
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 2 Tbsp. cilantro, chopped
• 1 bag of Daiya cheddar cheese
• 4 medium flour tortillas
• 7 small sweet peppers, sliced thin

Instructions

1. In a medium pot heat the olive oil, then add the onions and garlic.
2. Saute until soft and add beans, 1/2 cup of salsa and salt to the pot.
3. Mash the beans up while stirring cooking until thoroughly heated.
4. Add in the cilantro and stir to combine.
5. Heat a medium frying pan and spray with a nonstick cooking spray.
6. Place one tortilla in the pan and add 1/2 of the cheese.
7. Allow the cheese to mostly melt then add half the bean mixture on top and half of the sliced peppers on top of that. Place a tortilla on top and gently flip.
8. Cook until the new tortilla has browned and the cheese is fully melted.
9. Cut it up however you'd like and serve with your favorite salsa!

3.2.1249

Quick & Easy Pasta with "Meat" Sauce

Some days I just don't want to cook. Yesterday was one of those days. Does this happen to you, too? Don't be ashamed, next time that happens you'll have a tasty recipe to save you. Do you have a half empty jar of pasta sauce leftover in your fridge, just waiting to become a science project? Yes? Then this dish is for you.

 Quick & Easy Pasta with "Meat" Sauce. No, it isn't the epitome of healthy, whole food...though it does have kale! I was at Costco the other day and I came across this Gardein Meatless Ground and I was quick to snatch it up! I've never had it before! I'm very into trying new foods...or foodish foods.

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I was so excited to tell Todd that we were having pasta with a "meat" sauce. He was obviously very excited about this as well. However, halfway through making it, he sauntered through the kitchen, stopping over my shoulder and and exclaimed, "Oh no! Kale made it in there!?" Heh heh. He can't escape my sneaky healthiness, no dish is safe from the kale! Even desserts. Anyways, this is a lazy man's recipe for sure but with a healthy little kick. Super quick, super easy, and super delicious. I assume this is what Hamburger Helper would be like, if I had ever had it. I know it's not going to win any "Most Creative Recipe" awards but hey, I would have never known about nutritional yeast with toast unless a friend hadn't mentioned it! So, here you go.

Quick & Easy Pasta With "Meat" Sauce

Inspired by my own lazy bones Serves 4

• 1 18 oz. package of pasta (any type will do)
• generous sprinkle of salt
• half a 24 oz. jar of your favorite pasta sauce (12 oz. total), or make your own but that would really defeat the purpose of this recipe)
• 1 13 oz.package of Gardein Meatless Ground
• 2 large handfuls of baby kale, spinach, or green of choice

So, in case you live under a rock (or had a very nurturing mother) and don't know how to make pasta....boil enough water for all your pasta, seasoning it with a generous sprinkle of salt. When the water reaches a boil, add the pasta and cook according to the package. Whew! After the pasta is added to the boiling water, heat a large frying pan and spray it with a nonstick cooking spray. Add the pasta sauce and the meatless ground (I'm still weirded out saying "meatless ground") , breaking it apart as it cooks over medium heat. Cook for a couple of minutes, then add the kale. Cook over medium-low until the kale is wilted, about the time it takes the pasta to cook. Once the pasta is finished cooking, drain it and return it to it's pot. Add in the meat and kale mixture to the pasta and stir to combine. Serve it up hot! I sprinkled mine with nutritional yeast, obvs. Is this homemade, vegan Hamburger Helper? I'll never know...but it sure was delicious. Todd loved it, even with the dreaded kale. It's a work in progress.

Quick & Easy Pasta with "Meat" Sauce

Recipe Type: Entree

Author: Katie - Produce On Parade

Serves: 4

Have a half empty jar of pasta sauce leftover in your fridge, just waiting to become a science project? Yes? Then this pasta with "meat" sauce is for you.

Ingredients

• 1 18 oz. package of pasta (any type will do)
• generous sprinkle of salt
• nonstick cooking spray
• half a 24 oz. jar of your favorite pasta sauce (12 oz. total)
• 1 13 oz.package of Gardein Meatless Ground
• 2 large handfuls of baby kale, spinach, or green of choice

Instructions

1. Cook pasta in salted water according to package.
2. Spray a large frying pan with nonstick cooking spray.
3. Add meatless ground and pasta sauce and breaking apart the ground while cooking. After a couple minutes add the kale.
4. Continue to cook over medium-low until the kale is wilted.
5. Drain the pasta and return it to it's pot.
6. Add in the meat and kale mixture and stir to combine.

3.2.1249

Easy Vegetable & Seitan Curry

Last week, my little brother house sat for us while we were away in Ohio. Upon my return to our sad and empty fridge I found a rather large purple jar of Indian curry paste. I thought, "Great! Dinner's decided. Curry it is!" But then I began to ponder. "What is this peculiar curry? Why is the jar so damn large? Why does my miniscule jar of curry paste cost me $6? What is the meaning of life?" Etc. etc. you get the point. Anyway, I stuck my little pinky in the large curry paste jar and tasted it. Bleck! Confused, I opened my teeny baby jar of curry paste and tasted it. Yum! That's the curry I know and love.

Well, it had never occurred to me that there was a difference between Thai curry and Indian curry. A nonsensical oversight, I know. I'm just not very well versed in Indian food. I don't eat it...like ever. Not by choice really so much as just by sheer...accessibility. I think there is one, maybe two Indian restaurants within 60 miles of me and I've never been to either of them. Sorry, Anchorage Indian restaurants.

So, apparently there is a difference. Google told me. I learned that it has to do with the different spices involved. Thai implements things like cilantro and lemongrass while Indian uses cinnamon and cumin. There are other differing ingredients too, like the use of coconut milk and fish sauce. Most importantly though, I learned that Indian curry paste from a jar isn't really my bag. I much prefer the Thai version of curry. Well, I decided I could still make curry, I just wasn't going near that awful purple jar.

This basic curry features a Thai curry paste as well as curry powder and is full of vegetables and seitan. Seitan is something Todd and I had never had before! I mean, we are vegan right? Needless to say, it was an exciting night. I don't use a lot of strictly "vegan-catering" products, with the enormous exception of all things Daiya. Todd has to have his "cheese". I spend a small fortune on it every month. Anyway, we liked the seitan enough and I can definitely see it making it's way into more of our dishes.

Easy Vegetable & Seitan Curry

Inspired by Live From La Quinta

Serves 4-6

• 1 cup dry Basmati rice (or rice of choice)
• 1 Tbsp. coconut oil (or oil of choice)
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1 large garlic clove, minced fine
• 1 medium sweet potato, chopped
• 1 package of seitan, 8 oz. cubed
• 1/2 Tbsp. curry paste
• 1/2 Tbsp. curry powder
• 1 medium carrot, chopped
• 1/3 cup sweetened soy or almond milk (or plain and 1/2 Tbsp. sugar)
• 1 cup vegetable broth
• 1/2 Tbsp. corn starch
• 3-5 large kale leaves, trimmed and torn or chopped
• 1/4-1/2 tsp. salt
• dash of red pepper flakes (to taste)

Start by cooking up the rice. I used Jasmine, but Basmati or any other rice would work well too. Cook according to package, or if you're like me...pour the rice into your rice cooker and shake it so it's even in the pot. Place your pointer finger pointing down and so just the tip of your finger is touching the very top of the rice.

While not moving your finger, fill the pot with water until the water reaches your first knuckle (or if you're in the medical profession like me, the 2nd distal inter-phalangeal joint). Cook until you sense that it's ready. This method is very scientific and has never let me down. Okay, so only that last part is true.

Heat the coconut oil in a large frying pan. Add the chopped onion and stir for about 5 minutes or until the onion begins to soften, then add the minced garlic. Stir for another 3 minutes.

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Add the chopped sweet potato, seitan, curry paste and curry powder. Combine and cook for about 5 minutes until browned, then add the carrots. Combine the cornstarch and the non-dairy milk in a small bowl and whisk well, then add to the pan along with the vegetable broth. Combine well. Let the curry simmer for another 5 minutes or so, stirring occasionally. Add the torn kale leaves, salt and red pepper flakes and simmer until kale leaves are wilted.

Serve over that scientific rice.

Easy Vegetable & Seitan Curry

Recipe Type: Entree

Author: Katie - Produce On Parade

This basic curry features a Thai curry paste as well as curry powder and is full of vegetables and seitan. Easy and quick enough for a rushed weeknight!

Ingredients

• 1 cup dry Basmati rice (or rice of choice)
• 1 Tbsp. coconut oil (or oil of choice)
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1 large garlic clove, minced fine
• 1 medium sweet potato, chopped
• 1 package of seitan, 8 oz. cubed
• 1/2 Tbsp. curry paste
• 1/2 Tbsp. curry powder
• 1 medium carrot, chopped
• 1/3 cup sweetened soy or almond milk (or plain and 1/2 Tbsp. sugar)
• 1 cup vegetable broth
• 1/2 Tbsp. corn starch
• 3-5 large kale leaves, trimmed and torn or chopped
• 1/4-1/2 tsp. salt
• dash of red pepper flakes (to taste)

Instructions

1. Cooking rice according to package.
2. Heat coconut oil in large frying pan.
3. Add onion and stir for 5 minutes or until onion begins to soften.
4. Add garlic. Stir for 3 minutes.
5. Add the sweet potato, seitan, curry paste and powder. Cook for about 5 minutes until browned. Add carrots.
6. Combine cornstarch and milk and whisk well. Add to the pan along with the vegetable broth. Stir.
7. Let simmer for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add kale, salt and red pepper flakes. Simmer until kale is wilted.
8. Serve over rice.

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