Roasted Red Peppers and Quinoa

It's been super busy with midterms, preparing soil specimens, and answering undergrad questions about labs and graduate school applications. It's also the beginning of the Vegan Month of Food (Vegan MoFo).

Right now I hardly have time for the copious amounts of reading, so I'm relying on my Canadian Lover to provide me with sustenance.

Tonight I made his Roasted Red Pepper and Feta Quinoa Salad without the feta to make it vegan. It was delicious. I cut the recipe in half because there is no way I can eat 4 servings without craving something else to eat during the week. Even cutting the recipe in half, I got about three servings. We'll see if I'm hungry in about an hour!

Chipotle Black Bean Soup

 

I'm sick and it's not fun because I'm the biggest baby when I feel like crap. My ears are plugged. It's the strangest thing.

I made this soup last night. As I chopped the onion, I cried out of only one eye. I guess there is an advantage of being sick and cooking for yourself...

Chipotle Black Bean Soup
Serves 4
Adapted from Quick-Fix Vegetarian

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon of olive oil
• 2 carrots, peeled and diced
• 1 cup of onion, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, pressed
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 5 cups black beans (or 3 16-oz cans drained)
• 1 (15-oz ) can diced tomatoes
• 3 cups water
• 1-2 canned chipotle chilies in adobo sauce, minced
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Garnish: Avocado, cilantro, sour cream, salsa, and/or cilantro

Method:

1. Heat the olive oil in a large heavy bottomed pot then add carrots, onion, and garlic. Sweat the veggies for approximately 5 minutes.
2. Add cumin and toast for 30 seconds.
3. Add the black beans, tomatoes, water, chipotle. Allow the soup to simmer for 15 minutes for the flavors to develop.
4. Puree with a stick blender, food processor, or regular blender until you reach your favorite level of smoothness of soup.
5. Add salt and pepper to taste.
6. Garnish and enjoy! Your nose might run just like mine.

Herbed Zucchini Fritters

It's been quite warm the past few days. It reminds me of summer... until it starts to sprinkle. I'm excited for the fall. This recipe I created from some food blogs I read that were making zucchini fritters. I decided to use up the rest of my poor decrepit basil plant. The result was awesome!

Herbed Zucchini Fritters

Makes approximately 6 fritters
Adapted from Simply Recipes

Ingredients:

• 1 lb of zucchini (about 2 medium sized), coarsely grated
• Kosher salt
• Ground black pepper
• 1 large egg
• 2 scallions, finely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic
• 2 Tbsp fresh basil 
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour 
• 1/2 cup grape seed oil or olive oil 
• Sour cream or plain yogurt

  Method:

1. Salt the zucchini with about 1 teaspoon of salt and let drain in a colander for approximately 10 minutes.
2. Whisk egg in a large bowl then add the zucchini, flour, scallions, and pepper (~1/4 tsp). Mix to combine well.
3. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Cook fritters by dropping approximately 2 tablespoons of mixture into the skillet and pressing flat. Cook for 4-6 minutes on each side. You may have to work in batches (made two batches of three fritters). Transfer cooked fritters to a paper towel to drain the oil. 
4. Taste and salt if needed.
5. Serve with sour cream or plain yogurt.

Wow these photos are horrible. Believe me the fritters are better than the photos. Some day I'll get a hang of the photography!