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Dead Simple Suppers: Indian Spiced Beans and Spinach

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I love the combination of beans and tomatoes. I especially love recipes like this one, where I can have all the ingredients I need just waiting in the cupboard (and freezer) for a day when I’ve forgotten to plan dinner. You can use this as the main dish by adding a bun or some rice to the side – it would also be nice on top of some pasta or couscous. Or you can make it a nutritious side dish instead and serve it with sausage or chicken.

Dead Simple Suppers: Indian Spiced Beans and Spinach

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Dead Simple Suppers: Indian Spiced Beans and Spinach
 
(adapted from Rachel Ray Magazine)
Ingredients
  • 1 Tbsp canola oil
  • 1 onion chopped
  • 1 large can of diced tomatoes (28 oz)
  • 3 tsp ground coriander
  • 1.5 tsp ground cumin
  • ¼ tsp garam masala
  • ¼ tsp tumeric
  • 1 can of beans rinsed and drained (the original recipe called for chickpeas, I used navy beans)
  • salt
  • 1 package of chopped frozen spinach
Instructions
  1. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium high heat.
  2. Add chopped onion and cook for a few until slightly browned on the edges.
  3. Add the spices, and tomatoes and frozen spinach. Cook until spinach is almost completely thawed. (If using chickpeas you can add them now too as they are more robust than navy beans).
  4. Add beans and cook until heated through.

Indian Spiced Beans and Spinach

(adapted from Rachel Ray Magazine)

Ingredients

  • 1 Tbsp canola oil
  • 1 onion chopped
  • 1 large can of diced tomatoes (28 oz)
  • 3 tsp ground coriander
  • 1.5 tsp ground cumin
  • 1/4 tsp garam masala
  • 1/4 tsp tumeric
  • 1 can of beans rinsed and drained (the original recipe called for chickpeas, I used navy beans)
  • salt
  • 1 package of chopped frozen spinach

Directions

  1. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium high heat.
  2. Add chopped onion and cook for a few until slightly browned on the edges.
  3. Add the spices, and tomatoes and frozen spinach. Cook until spinach is almost completely thawed. (If using chickpeas you can add them now too as they are more robust than navy beans).
  4. Add beans and cook until heated through.

Easy Roasted Beets

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I starting making these when we had a community garden plot. I had planted things like beets and turnips that I read grown well in Siberia. I figured it they grew well there, I  shouldn’t have a problem. And it totally worked, they were awesome. This year, I tried a square foot garden and had no luck whatsoever with my beets or turnips. I’m not entirely sure why, but if you had more luck than I did, this recipe is great.

Easy Roasted Beets

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Easy Roasted Beets
 
Ingredients
  • Beets trimmed and washed
  • Extra virgin olive oil
  • Balsamic vinegar
  • Freshly ground pepper
  • Aluminum foil
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 400F.
  2. Line a baking tray and wrap each beet with aluminum foil.
  3. Roast beets for approximately 40 minutes. Longer if you have big beets, less if you have small beets.
  4. When the beets are cooked through, take them out of the oven. I recommend covering your hands when you work with the beets, gloves are good, but I hate now they make my hands smell so I usually just use two sandwich sized ziplock bags.
  5. Peel the beets. If the beets have been cooked long enough, the skin should slide right off with your fingers.
  6. Cut each beet in half and then slice into half moons. It looks pretty to have full circles but the beets can be pretty slippery. Halving them first can really save your fingers.
  7. Put the beets into a bowl and toss with the olive oil, vinegar and pepper. If you think they need a bit more flavor, add more vinegar. You only need enough olive oil to coat and the pepper can get to be too much pretty quickly.

 

Note: Beets contain quite a lot of natural dye. When you eat them this goes through your body with predictable purple/red results. This is perfectly harmless but can look a little alarming if you are not prepared. 🙂

Cinnamon Raisin No-Knead Whole Wheat Bread

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Ever since I  first posted about No-Knead Bread I’ve been thinking about what kinds of variations I could try. Cinnamon raisin was first on my list. I love raisin bread, but I hate that you can just about never get it on whole wheat bread. So I gave it a go and it is awesome. Seriously I just want to eat this all day. Gordie loves all the bread I’ve made so more. He asks for Mommy’s bread all the time.

This recipe and directions are almost identical to my Whole Wheat No-Knead Bread Recipe. There is the obvious additions of raisins and cinnamon, a slight increase in the amount of yeast because cinnamon inhibits yeast production and a little extra water.

Note: you will need an oven proof dish with a heavy lid to make this –  Dutch ovens are perfect for this but other oven proof dishes like casserole dishes can work too.

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(Adapted from Calgarian Julie Van Rosendaal’s take on Jim Lahey’s no knead bread method on babble.com)

5.0 from 1 reviews
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Cinnamon Raisin No-Knead Whole Wheat Bread
 
Ingredients
  • 3 cups whole wheat flour
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 cup raisins
  • ½ tsp yeast
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 2½ cups water (this is more than the standard recipe because whole wheat flour is thirstier than refined flour and it’s even more than my regular whole wheat flour recipe because the raisins soak up some of the water)
  • wheat bran, cornmeal or additional flour for dusting (wheat bran worked really well)(I use Robin Hood – Best for Bread Flour which works well as it is high in protein as most Canadian flours are which is necessary for making good bread)
Instructions
  1. In a large mixing bowl stir the flour, yeast, salt and cinnamon together with your hands. Then add the raisins.
  2. Add 2 cups of the water. Mix the dough and water together with your hands until you can no longer see dry flour. You can run your hands under the tap to wet them if you are worried about the dough sticking to them, but it’s not really necessary.
  3. Check your dough, it should look wet but the flour shoimageuld absorb all the water. You couldn’t knead this dough if you wanted too. If your dough still looks dry add a little at a time and mix until it looks wet. I found 2½ cups of water to be perfect. Don’t stress out too much about it though, I’ve made it both too dry and too wet and the bread still turned out fine. It was just a little dense when it was too dry and it was harder to move when it was too wet.
  4. Cover the bowl with saran wrap and leave it on the counter for 12-24 hours. Whenever it is convenient for you. The dough should have risen noticeably and you’ll probably see some little bubbles at the top. image
  5. When you are ready sprinkle wheat bran, flour or corn meal on the top of the dough as well as on a large tea towel.
  6. Use a spatula to loosen the dough from the bowl and drop it onto one side of the tea towel. Fold the dough over on itself a few times and then sprinkle the flour (or whatever) on the top.
  7. Roll the dough onto the other side of the tea towel and coat the other side with flour (or whatever) again. Fold the tea towel over the top of the dough ball and leave it out for 1-2 hours. (Don’t leave it on the stove it will get all sticky and attach itself to the tea towel when you are preheating the stove – trust me).
  8. In the last half hour preheat the stove to 450F with your oven safe heavy lidded pot inside to make sure it’s nice and hot.
  9. Take the pot out of the oven and dust the inside with flour, this will help keep the raisins from sticking and burning to the bottom (or whatever). Roll the dough into the hot pot, place the lid on and stick it in the oven for 30 minutes. Then, take the lid off and bake for 15 more minutes.
  10. For best results, let the loaf cool before eating, but if you really want warm bread, you can cut it right away and it’s still really good.

imageI’m sure this would be lovely with some butter or cinnamon cream cheese,  but I eat it straight up.

Almond Zucchini Sauté–Tired Mom Side Dish

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I often seem to either make either a good side dish or a good meal but not both when I’m making supper. So I’m always on the lookout for quick, easy and healthy side dishes that I can manage to make in addition to whatever else I’m making for supper. When I saw this zucchini dish at Smitten Kitchen I knew I’d found a winner.

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Almond Zucchini Sauté–Tired Mom Side Dish
 
Ingredients
  • 1 TBSP olive oil
  • 1 small handful of sliced almonds
  • 1 normal sized zucchini (cut into sticks, you can cut them smaller than I’ve done above, I just don’t have the machinery or the patience)
  • optional: salt, pepper, parmesan cheese
Instructions
  1. Heat the oil over medium heat. Add the almonds and sauté for a couple minutes until they are browned.
  2. Add the zucchini and cook for about a minute just until the zucchini is heated.
  3. Add a little salt and pepper and parmesan if you want. It’s really good with them, but I often forget and it’s still good.

 

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No-Knead Whole Wheat Bread

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I’ve started baking my own bread. I made my first loaf on March 25. It’s now 11 days later and I have made 6 loaves of bread so far. I feel like some kind of supermom. But it’s so quick, easy and flexible that no superpowers are actually necessary. Seriously, I am at best an amateur cook, I rarely bake and never anything with dough – if I can make this, so can you. The only catch is you need a oven proof dish with a heavy lid. Dutch ovens are perfect for this. I managed to get one at Costco this fall for only $50 so that’s what I’ve been using but there are other things that can work like casserole dishes if you want to give it a try.

I’ve also made a number of mistakes that I’ve learned from that I’ll share as well. Amazingly despite the mistakes every loaf I’ve made has still turned out. This recipe is really resilient.

(Adapted from Calgarian Julie Van Rosendaal’s take on Jim Lahey’s no knead bread method on babble.com)

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No-Knead Whole Wheat Bread
 
Ingredients
  • 3 cups whole wheat flour
  • ¼ tsp yeast
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 2¼ cups water (this is more than the standard recipe because whole wheat flour is thirstier than refined flour)
Instructions
  1. In a large mixing bowl stir the flour, yeast and salt together with your hands.
  2. Add 2 cups of the water. Mix the dough and water together with your hands until you can no longer see dry flour. You can run your hands under the tap to wet them if you are worried about the dough sticking to them, but it’s not really necessary.
  3. Check your dough, it should look wet but the flour should absorb all the water.You couldn’t knead this dough if you wanted too. If your dough still looks dry add a little at a time and mix until it looks wet. I found 2¼ cups of water to be perfect. Don’t stress out too much about it though, I’ve made it both too dry and too wet and the bread still turned out fine. It was just a little dense when it was too dry and it was harder to move when it was too wet.
  4. Cover the bowl with saran wrap and leave it on the counter for 12-24 hours. Whenever it is convenient for you. The dough should have risen noticeably and you’ll probably see some little bubbles at the top.
  5. When you are ready sprinkle wheat bran, flour or corn meal on the top of the dough as well as on a large tea towel.
  6. Use a spatula to loosen the dough from the bowl and drop it onto one side of the tea towel. Fold the dough over on itself a few times and then sprinkle the flour (or whatever) on the top.
  7. Roll the dough onto the other side of the tea towel and coat the other side with flour (or whatever) again. Fold the tea towel over the top of the dough ball and leave it out for 1-2 hours. (Don’t leave it on the stove it will get all sticky and attach itself to the tea towel when you are preheating the stove – trust me).
  8. In the last half hour preheat the stove to 450F with your oven safe pot inside to make sure it’s nice and hot.
  9. Take the pot out of the oven and dust the inside with flour (or whatever). Roll the dough into the hot pot, place the lid on and stick it in the oven for 30 minutes. Then, take the lid off and bake for 15 more minutes.
  10. For best results, let the loaf cool before eating, but if you really want warm bread, you can cut it right away and it’s still really good.

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This looks like a lot of steps but is really very little work and not very hard. Check out this youtube video where Jim Lahey demonstrates the process.

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Peanut Butter Hummus

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Peanut Butter Hummus
 
Ingredients
  • ¼ teaspoon Garlic powder
  • ¼ cup Lemon juice
  • ¼ cup Water (more if needed)
  • 1 can (16 oz) Chickpeas ; rinsed and drained
  • 4 Tbsp Peanut Butter (I just used a big spoon)
  • 1 teaspoon Sea salt
Instructions
  1. Drain and rinse the chickpeas.
  2. Add all the ingredients to the food processor (you can use a blender, but it’s not really  not as effective. I have tried and don’t recommend it. I ended up buying a food processor so I could make hummus).
  3. Run the food processor until the hummus starts to appear to bounce up and down (this won’t take a really long time) . Alternatively just check it every 10 seconds or so. You’ll want to scrape off the sides of the food processor because I find some chickpeas tend to stick to the sides and then give it another quick blend. If you are finding it’s not as well mixed or creamy as you would like just add another ¼ cup of water.

It’s funny how much how something is presented can change your attitude towards it. I’ve seen recipes for hummus that suggested you could substitute tahini with peanut butter on multiple occasions and I always thought that was kind of lame. Okay if you lived somewhere that you really couldn’t find any tahini, fine but otherwise?
Then one day my mom sent me a recipe for peanut butter hummus. Peanut butter hummus? Brilliant! Now I realize that this is actually the same thing that I previously thought was lame, but somehow now it sounds interesting and different instead of a cop out.
It’s pretty good too. The peanut butter taste isn’t overpowering but if your kid is a little adverse to hummus, this may be enough to win them over.
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Cooking with the Kids
The kids can:

  • Measure and pour the ingredients
  • Rinse the chickpeas and put them in the food processor
  • Run the food processor (with supervision)

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Per 1/8 of the hummus: Calories – 81, Carbs – 7g, Fat – 5g, Protein 4, Fibre – 2

Salt and Pepper Popcorn

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Air popped popcorn can be a great healthy snack, but a little… bland. I love salt and pepper potato chips so I decided to try to bring those flavors to the popcorn. It is super easy, delicious and really pretty healthy.

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Directions
1. Pop your popcorn using your favorite method.
2. Spray or drizzle with oil or butter and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

I really like using extra virgin olive oil in my misto sprayer and grinding pepper and sea salt over top. It’s best to spray and sprinkle, toss and then repeat a few times.

My Favorite Basic Hummus Recipe

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I’m going to try out a few different hummus variations in the next couple of weeks, so I thought I’d first share my go-to hummus recipe. There’s about a million different hummus recipes out there but I do really love this one. I prefer the powdered garlic to fresh garlic as it gives it a more mellow flavor. I also strongly recommend making it a day ahead. The flavors have a chance to mix and the bitterness of the tahini (which I am a little sensitive to) is gone after a night in the fridge.

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My Favorite Basic Hummus Recipe
Recipe type: Dip
 
Ingredients
  • ¼ teaspoon Garlic powder
  • ¼ cup Lemon juice
  • ¼ cup Water (more if needed)
  • 1 can (16 oz) Chickpeas ; rinsed and drained
  • ½ cup Tahini
  • 1 teaspoon Sea salt
Instructions
  1. Drain and rinse the chickpeas.
  2. Add all the ingredients to the food processor (you can use a blender, but it’s not really not as effective. I have tried and don’t recommend it. I ended up buying a food processor so I could make hummus).
  3. Run the food processor until the hummus starts to appear to bounce up and down (this won’t take a really long time) . Alternatively just check it every 10 seconds or so. You’ll want to scrape off the sides of the food processor because I find some chickpeas tend to stick to the sides and then give it another quick blend. If you are finding it’s not as well mixed or creamy as you would like just add another ¼ cup of water.

My favorite basic hummus recipe

I find this makes quite a lot of hummus so I usually freeze half. It freezes really well.

 

Avocado, Grapefruit and Spinach Salad

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I threw this salad together from things I happened to have in the fridge. It turned out so well and looks so pretty I now pull it out when I want an impressive looking salad that’s quick to put together when I’m entertaining. Although most of the time I make it just for myself.

Avocado, Grapefruit and Spinach Salad

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Avocado, Grapefruit and Spinach Salad
Recipe type: Salad
 
Ingredients
  • 1 bag of baby spinach leaves
  • 1 grapefruit segmented (or a grapefruit fruit cup which are awesome)
  • 1 avocado
  • almonds (sliced for sprinkling)
  • ⅛ cup grapefruit juice
  • 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
  • salt and pepper (freshly ground is nice)
Instructions
  1. Whisk together the dressing ingredients: grapefruit juice, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper.
  2. Cube the avocado (and slice the grapefruit if necessary).
  3. Put the spinach in a large salad bowl and toss with the dressing. You will probably have made more than you need so go easy.
  4. Top with the avocado, grapefruit and almonds and serve.

Avocado, Grapefruit and Spinach Salad Recipe

Whole Grain: Farro & Balsamic Farro Salad Recipe

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I’m a sucker for trying different kinds of whole grains. So when I saw a bag of Farro when I was at Costco the other day even though I had never heard of it before I didn’t hesitate to pick it up. It turns out that Farro is an ancient type of wheat that is now regaining popularity in Italy and with health conscious cooks. It’s great in soups and salads and can be used in place of barley or rice. Balsamic Farro Salad Recipe This was my first attempt at cooking Farro. I found that there was still quite a bit of water left in the pot when I cooked it according to the package directions (3 cups water to 1 cup Farro for 15 minutes), so I cooked it a little longer and ultimately drained it. After some internet research, I found out this is actually normal. Unlike rice all the water is not supposed to be absorbed when it’s finished cooking. It’s chewier than rice but it did soften a bit after the salad had sat in the fridge overnight. Trying a grain all by itself is kind of boring so I put together this salad which I think is pretty good. Balsamic Farro Salad Recipe

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Whole Grain: Farro & Balsamic Farro Salad Recipe
Recipe type: Salad
 
Ingredients
  • Dressing
  • 2 Tbsp olive oil
  • ¼ cup balsamic vinegar
  • 1 tsp. dried thyme
  • pinch salt
  • freshly ground black pepper
  • Salad
  • ½ cup mild onion diced (red onions, shallots, chives, green onions)
  • 1 yellow or orange pepper chopped finely
  • 2 medium tomatoes chopped and seeded
  • 1 diced avocado (coat in lemon or lime juice if you’re not using the salad all right away)
  • 1 cups farro (Cooked barley or brown rice can also be substituted.)
Instructions
  1. Cook Farro according to package directions (they should be al dente when done)
  2. Chop onion, tomatoes and peppers.
  3. Add all salad ingredients in a large bowl.
  4. In a small bowl mix dressing ingredients.
  5. Add dressing ingredients to the salad ingredients and mix well.

Balsamic Farro Salad