Sweet Potato Black Bean Burritos

I'm not trying to steal Shannon's thunder here - really I'm not. But she made these for me just after I had my baby and I LOVED them. Now I make them quite frequently. They freeze really well and heat up easily for a low-effort dinner. The filling is not exactly a cinch to make, but this recipe makes a ton, and its nice to have all those extras to freeze for later. They are from the Moosewood Restaurant Low-Fat Favorites Cookbook.

Try them here.

Plaintain Wraps with Black Bean Spread

We really liked this recipe. It reminds me of all the time we spent in the Caribbean. Plantains (Plan-Tains) are a member of the banana family. They are a starchy, low sugar variety that is cooked before serving as it is unsuitable raw. It is used somewhat like a potato would be used. Unripe plantains are green, just like unripe bananas, but unlike a banana they are at the peak of ripeness when they ripen thy turn black.

This recipe was super easy to put together. Any leftover the Bean Spread can be used as dip for chips. For myself, I would leave out the cumin in the bean spread next time and perhaps amp up the cayenne a tad. I'm not a lover of too much cumin. I think the smokiness of it is distracting. I did not feel it was necessary to add salsa or guacamole to the wraps, the plaintains turns sweet and crispy when fried and putting salsa on the wrap added too many competing flavors that took the spotlight away from the star of the show. Easy to make, easy cleanup and easy to prep in advance. I wish I could say they keep well as leftovers, but we ate them all! Will be making this again.

The recipe is from Jennifer McCann, author of Vegan Lunchbox Around the World.
Here is the link

Jane's Vegetarian Chili

This is a great chili, I made it for the Superbowl this year. Even though the title says its vegetarian, its acutally vegan. It has great chili flavor and is very easy to put together. It keeps very well.

Jane's Vegetarian Chili

1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cups chopped onion
3 garlic cloves, minced
4 cups water, divided
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons chili powder
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
2 (14.5-ounce) cans diced tomatoes, undrained
1 (15 1/2-ounce) can chickpeas (garbanzo beans), rinsed and drained
1 (15-ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 (15-ounce) can kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1 (16-ounce) can cannellini beans or other white beans, rinsed and drained
1 (6-ounce) can tomato paste

Heat oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add onion and garlic; sauté 3 minutes or until tender. Add 3 cups water and next 8 ingredients (through cannellini beans), stirring to combine.

Combine remaining cup of water and tomato paste in a bowl, stirring with a whisk until blended. Stir tomato paste mixture into bean mixture. Bring to a boil; reduce heat, and simmer 5 minutes or until thoroughly heated. Ladle soup into bowls.

Burrito/Taco filling

Sorry I don't have a picture. I'll try to remember to put one on the next time I make this. This is the basic recipe I use to make my burrito filling at home. Its based off of another recipe I found online. I adapted it a bit, because I didn't really care for the original, but I like the concept of the vegan bean taco filling.

Unfortunately when I adapted this recipe, I didn't write down the measurements. And each time I make it and fail to measure what I put in. It does manage to come out pretty good each time though. The measurements listed below are just a guess, so please adjust seasonings to your tastes. This filling should be thick, but spreadable. You don't want it to leak out of the burrito shell or squirt out the back side when you bite into it.

I'm not very good at making up recipes, so go easy on me with your comments if you don't like it or have suggestions.

Black Bean Taco Filling

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, pressed
1 bell pepper, diced
2 (14.5 ounce) cans black beans, rinsed, drained, and mashed
1-2 teaspoon salt
1-2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon chili powder
1/2-1 C salsa or water (optional)

Heat olive oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Stir in onion and pepper; cook until tender. Add garlic and cook another 30 seconds. Stir in mashed beans, spices and salsa or water. Mixture should have a thick, spreadable consistency without being too gloppy. Cover, and cook until heated through.

To serve, spread on a tortilla and top with favorite toppings.

Black Bean Burgers

I haven't tried these on the grill yet, but will soon. We thougt these were great - much better than the frozen ones. I only made half of the recipe, and it still made 4 burgers. We topped them with home made corn salsa. They went together quickly. Could be an easy weeknight meal. My only thought was that they could be a little dry. Maybe next time I will reduce the corn muffin mix a little.

Tip: Cut off the top rim of a 32 oz yogurt container (Zoiks! Do we vegans have yogurt in our homes anymore?) and use that as a form for make your patties. This way, they come out to be the perfect size to fit on a bun.

Black Bean Burgers

1/2 C salsa
1 jalepeno
2 15 oz cans of black beans, rinsed and drained
1 8.5 oz pkg of corn muffin mix
2 1/2 t chili powder
2 T olive oil

Mash the beans in a large bowl with a potato masher or fork. Drain the salsa. Chop half of the jalepeno finely, and slice the other half thinly (this will be a garnish). Add the chopped jalepeno, drained salsa, muffin mix and chili powder.

Heat the olive oil in a 12-inch skillet over medium heat. Form you patties and cook about 3 minutes on each side, until well browned. Add more olive oil as needed.

Top with salsa, guacamole, vegan sour cream and garnish with jalepeno slices.