Chipotle Black Beans With Mexican Millet, Veggie Reubens and More

I've taken a few days off from the world of Blogger. With the weather getting really nice, I find my evenings being consumed with other activities. We've had a 10-day run on nice weather, it seems. We're trying to get outside as much as possible. Oh, and Sleek started a new blog called Picture West Virginia. It's really cool, so I'll be participating there for sure. If you're a West Virginian, or are just interested about what life is like in the Mountain State, come on over.

Okay, cooking...Tuesday evening, I decided to make use of some of the black beans I have in the freezer. I noticed a really interesting-looking recipe in V-con for chipotle black-beans. It was really easy with just a few ingredients, so I was game. The recipe intro mentioned that the Mexican millet (also from V-con, obviously) would accompany the beans nicely. The millet also was very easy with few ingredients. I'd never had millet before, so I decided to give it a try. Well, let me just say (and Sleek agrees), that the beans and millet completely blow my regular black beans and Mexican rice out of the water. Wow. This is the way it's going to be from now on. The millet is very interesting. Soft, but crunchy. A nice change from the usual rice. And the chipotle sauce for the beans. Yaaaaa-hoooo! Look out! That is some spicy stuff. So freaking good. This meal would be absolutely perfect with some cornbread.

Wednesday evening I made one of our favorite sandwiches, veggie reubens. These are just killer. Even just the veggie filling with some of the dressing drizzled over is good. You don't even need the bread and cheese! (I ate them as leftovers that way.) Last night, Sleek requested the tried and true chickpea gravy from WaVV. It's always awesome. This time I served it over some whole-wheat egg noodles for a change. Definitely comfort food.


I've made muffins a couple times this month. After the first batch, Annelies asked me to make her some blueberry muffins. (They're the only kind she likes.) Last week when I had over-ripe bananas and had to make muffins, she was crestfallen when she asked what kind they were. The poor kid just wants some blueberry muffins. So, I decided that I would make her some today. I scoured the internet for the perfect recipe. I had to find something that would be suitable for her. (Read: not uber-healthy.) I finally found a recipe from Ina Garten. It's loaded with butter, sugar and eggs. I knew I couldn't go wrong with these. I did use dried blueberries instead of fresh. I poured some hot water over them so they would plump up a bit. I followed the rest of directions perfectly. (Including a stick and a half of butter!) The recipe made 16 good-sized muffins. Let me just go ahead and say it: They are the perfect muffin. The best blueberry muffin I've ever had in my whole entire life. Incredible! Sleek is out of town for the weekend, so I made sure to put several in the freezer just so he'll get to try them. I have a feeling these will go fast!

Sunday Brunch and Cafe of India

Sunday, Sleek and I invited some friends (crusselldrums and family) over for brunch. I always enjoy getting together with friends over a great meal. Brunches often work better than dinners for us because by evening, the kids are starting to get tired and grumpy. (At least during the school-year when they get up early. In the summer, they can go all night!) At brunch time, they're well-rested and can actually hang out for several hours without completely melting down. Much more enjoyable.

Anyway, I made a broccoli cheddar quiche using my typical pie-crust recipe (4 cups flour and 1 tsp. salt with 1 3/4 cups trans-fat-free shortening cut in. Add in 1/2 cup water, an egg and 1 TBS vinegar) along with my usual quiche-filling recipe. The milk-egg ratio always stays the same, but I like to experiment with the veggies/cheese that I use. It turned out very good, I think. Sleek thought it was the best quiche ever. Every time I make a quiche he says that! To go along with it, I made some oven-roasted potatoes. I diced the potatoes (russets), and spread them onto a baking sheet coated with canola oil cooking spray. Then I gave them another spray of the oil, sprinkled with salt and garlic powder, and roasted at 450 degrees for about 30 minutes. I stirred them about every 10 minutes. They were really good, and much healthier than pan-frying.

I also made a strawberry spinach salad, which Becky had posted on her blog last month. I thought about that salad for a month before I could get strawberries worthy of it. Like Becky, I also reduced the amount of olive oil called for. I probably used 1/3 cup. It was so good! I have lots of the dressing left over, so I can't wait to buy more spinach tomorrow and finish it off. I made some tropical muffins from the current issue of Cooking Light as well. Honestly, they were some of the best muffins ever. How could they not be? They're packed with pineapple, banana, coconut and macadamia nuts! I'll be making them again for sure. Probably sooner rather than later.



Saturday evening, Sleek and I decided to try our luck with Cafe of India once again. This time we opted for take-out. I had some vegetable pakoras, garlic naan, Shahi paneer masala, rice, and kheer for dessert. It was so good that I ate until I felt miserable. We're already talking about eating there again this coming weekend. We just can't help ourselves.



I'm still digging the new Joseph Arthur EP, Could We Survive. He's released a second one, which I'm putting on my iPod tonight. I can't wait to check it out. Y'all should check him out. I'll predict that anyone reading this would love him! Check out this video of Joseph discussing his new art gallery in Brooklyn. Very cool.

Holy Mother of Muffins!

Good morning! I woke up at about 7:30 this morning. (Well, I should say I was awakened by two small bodies cuddling up to me in bed. They were chanting, "Mama moo-moo, Mama moo-moo!") That's not horrible. So, I decided to haul myself out of bed and head downstairs and make some muffins. I had all the ingredients needed to make Apple Pie Crumb-Cake muffins from one of my favorite cookbooks, "Vegan With a Vengeance." (I'm not vegan, but I enjoy really enjoy vegan cooking. I'll discuss factory-farming some other time.) I'm not going to post recipes here that are copyrighted, but if anyone wants the recipe, contact me and I'll get it to you.

I made my way into the kitchen at 8 a.m. Just in time to listen to "Weekend Edition" on NPR! www.wvpubcast.org has just recently started streaming live on the internet. That is very good news for me since our only radio in the house is a crappy little clock-radio that doesn't pick up NPR. (It works absolutely fine to wake us up and listen to the WVU football and basketball games that aren't televised.) I know I could listen to many other NPR stations that have offered live streaming for years. It just isn't the same as WV public radio. It just wouldn't be the same if I didn't hear Frank Stowers go through all the stations and call-letters in that unique and interesting voice of his. (Sleek tries to do an impersonation, but it always ends up sounding more like Huckleberry Hound than Mr. Stowers.)

So, by the time I pulled the muffins from the oven and gave them some time to cool, "Wait, Wait...Don't Tell Me!" was streaming. What a great show that is! So, here I sit listening to "Wait, Wait...Don't Tell Me!" while eating a muffin and having a great cup of coffee. All of that while blogging too! Really, does it get any better than that?

By the way, the muffins are ridiculously good!