Mexican Black Bean Rice Bowls

November 11, 2008 By Kate 10 Comments

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My original menu plan for this week called for black bean & rice stuffed wet burritos. But I just didn’t feel up to making tortillas today because I had so much after the weekend catch-up to tackle.

So I decided to improvise and turn the filling into rice bowls instead. It turned out deliciously!

I used my chicken & black bean taco filling as the basis for the recipe and made a few changes to make the filling a little more appropriate for this dinner. Basically, I needed the sauce to be saucier and I needed to bulk up the flavor a bit since I wasn’t using chicken. We were all really happy with how it turned out, including the kids. Two of them even literally licked their bowls clean.

Mexican Black Bean Rice Bowls

  • 2 T. extra virgin olive oil
  • 5 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1/2 green pepper, diced
  • 2 T. cumin
  • 2 t. salt
  • 1 t. coriander (optional)
  • 2 c. frozen corn
  • 3 c. fully cooked black beans (reserve 1/3 c. cooking liquid or liquid from the cans)
  • 1 jar salsa
  • 1 c. beef stock, vegetable stock, or water
  • 5 c. fully cooked brown or white rice
  • Optional garnishes: shredded cheese, sour cream, lettuce, taco shells, tortillas or tortilla chips, sliced green onions

1. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add garlic, green pepper, cumin, salt and optional coriander. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring often, until pepper starts to get tender. Stir in corn and cook 3-5 minutes longer.
2. Stir beans, salsa and stocks or water into skillet. Bring to a slow boil and cook for 10 – 15 minutes. At this point, you can turn the heat down to low, cover and simmer until dinner, or place in the refrigerator to reheat at dinnertime, or just serve as is.
3. Put rice in bowls, cover with bean mixture and add any optional garnishes. Enjoy!

Here’s our fully-garnished dinner. I only had cheese, sour cream and taco shells on hand. We used the taco shells to scoop up dinner, and then finished with a fork. Definitely yummy, frugal, and very stolen-moments friendly. It’s always fun to tackle a new dinner creation.

Find more Tempt My Tummy Tuesday here.

Find more Kitchen Tip Tuesday here.

Find more Tackle-It Tuesday here.

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Meatloaf Cup Recipe

November 8, 2008 By Kate 15 Comments

This is one of the biggest stand-by meals in my home. I usually have at least a dozen meatloaf cups in the freezer at any given time. The recipe is just a basic meatloaf recipe and I do make it in loaf pans a lot. But, doing it in cups makes them much more versatile, easier to freeze, and quicker to bake. Plus, if you’re like me and love the crispy end piece of a meatloaf, you will love making your meatloaf like this. Each individual cup is crispy like an end piece. (It doesn’t have to be though, if you don’t like it that way!)
Meatloaf Cups
*Pleas note, all of these measurements are my best guesstimates. I usually just dump things in a bowl until I’m happy with the consistency.

  • 1 1/2 lb. ground turkey + 1 lb. ground beef (or any combination thereof, totaling about 2 1/2 lbs.)
  • 1 1/4 – 1 1/2 c. quick-cooking oats
  • 1/2 c. ketchup
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/2 onion, grated or finely diced
  • 3 T. worchestshire sauce
  • 2 t. garlic powder
  • 2 t. cumin
  • 2 t. salt
  • 2 t. Italian seasoning
  • 1 t. black pepper
  • 1/2 t. red chili pepper flakes
  • 1/2 t. allspice

1. Put all of the ingredients in a bowl and combine. Using your hands is definitely the easiest way.
2. Pack muffin tins to the top with meatloaf mixture. (This recipe is enough to make at least 24 meatloaf cups, one traditional meatloaf and 12 meatloaf cups, or 12 meatloaf cups and about 30 meatballs.)
3. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes, until fully cooked.
*To freeze and reheat: Cool completely and place in a freezer bag. (Gallon sized bags easily hold a dozen meatloaf cups.) It is not necessary to thaw these before reheating. They can be reheated either in the microwave (about 10-15 minutes, check every 5 minutes) or in the oven at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes.

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BBQ Meatloaf & Carmelized Onion Pizza Dinner

November 8, 2008 By Kate Leave a Comment

The Game Plan

  • Breakfast – Breakfast cookies (preferably made the day before or from the freezer), bananas
  • Lunch – Sandwiches, yogurt, grapes
  • Dinner – BBQ Meatloaf & Carmelized Onion Pizza, carrots with dill butter
  • Snack – Cheese & crackers

The Plan In Action
*This plan takes advantage of some freezer cooking or earlier preparation. It’s perfect for a relaxing Sunday meal. However, it also requires some last minute prep work.

  • 8:00am – Serve breakfast. While eating breakfast, cut up pre-made meatloaf or meatballs. I used some meatloaf cups (recipe to follow) that I had in the freezer. If you don’t have any extra or leftover meatloaf or meatballs on hand, brown 1 lb. of ground beef. Store in refrigerator.
  • 8:30am – Make barbecue sauce. Combine 1 c. ketchup (or, in a pinch like I was, 1 can tomato paste, 1 can water, 1 t. apple cider vinegar and 1/2 t. salt), 2 T. worchestschire sauce, 2 T. brown sugar, 1 t. each; garlic powder, chili powder, cumin, black pepper, and 1/2 t. crushed red pepper flakes. Stir until well blended, cover, and put in refrigerator.
  • 8:40am – Slice one large yellow onion and heat 2 T. butter in a skillet over medium heat. Add onion to skillet. Stir in 2 t. honey. Reduce heat to medium-low and let cook for 20 minutes, stirring often.
  • 8:50 – While onions cook, shred 2 c. cheddar cheese, or skip this step if using preshredded cheese.
  • 9:10am – Store onions and cheese in the refrigerator.
  • 12:30pm – Make & eat lunch
  • 3:30pm – Make pizza dough. Dissolve 2 t. yeast in 1 c. warm water for 5 minutes. Stir in 2 T. honey, 3 T. olive oil and 1/2 t. salt. Add about 3 1/2 c. flour, 1/2 c. at a time, until dough is no longer sticky. (This can be done in a stand mixer also.) Knead for about 5 minutes.
  • 3:45pm – Place dough in a greased bowl, cover and let rise for 30 minutes.
  • 4:15pm – Punch dough down. Knead back into a ball and return to bowl. Cover and let rise again for 1 hour 15 minutes.
  • 5:15pm – Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  • 5:30pm – Roll out dough into a circle and place on a pizza stone or tray, or press onto a cookie sheet sprinkled with cornmeal. Prebake crust at 350 degrees for 10 minutes.
  • 5:40pm – Cover crust with sauce, caramelized onions, meatloaf pieces and shredded cheese. Place back in oven for 15 – 20 minutes.
  • 5:45pm – Bring 2 cups of water and 1/2 lb. baby carrots or sliced carrots to a boil. Cover and remove from heat for 10 minutes.
  • 5:55pm – Check pizza and remove from oven if done. Drain carrots and return to pan. Stir in 2 T. butter and 1 T. dill weed. Stir until butter is melted.
  • 6:00pm – Slice pizza and serve with carrots.

BBQ Meatloaf & Caramelized Onion Pizza
For Pizza Dough

  • 1 c. warm water
  • 2 T. yeast
  • 2 T. honey
  • 3 T. olive oil
  • 1/2 t. salt
  • 3 1/2 c. flour

1. Dissolve yeast in warm water for 5 minutes. Stir in honey, olive oil and salt. Add the flour, 1/2 c. at a time, until dough is no longer sticky. (This can be done in a stand mixer also.) Knead for about 5 minutes.
2. Place dough in a greased bowl, cover and let rise for 30 minutes. Punch down dough, knead 1 minute, recover in greased bowl and let rise 1 – 1 1/2 hours.
3. Roll out pizza crust and place on a pizza stone, or press onto a cookie sheet sprinkled with corn meal. Prebake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Remove from oven, let cool and top with pizza toppings.

For Pizza Toppings -
–BBQ Sauce

  • 1 c. ketchup (or, in a pinch like I was, 1 can tomato paste, 1 can water, 1 t. apple cider vinegar and 1/2 t. salt)
  • 2 T. worchestschire sauce
  • 2 T. brown sugar
  • 1 t. each; garlic powder, chili powder, cumin, black pepper
  • 1/2 t. crushed red pepper flakes

1. Stir all ingredients together until combined.

–Caramelized Onions

  • 1 large yellow onion, sliced
  • 2 T. butter
  • 2 t. honey

1. Melt butter in a skillet. Add onions and honey. Cook over medium-low heat for about 20 minutes, until onions are tender and caramelized.

–6 meatloaf cups, leftover meatloaf or meatballs, cut into cubes

–2 c. shredded cheddar cheese

To put the pizza together:
1. Spread BBQ sauce over pizza crust. Top with caramelized onions.
2. Cover onions and sauce with chopped meatloaf.
3. Cover all with shredded cheese.
4. Bake for 15-20 minutes at 350 degrees, until crust is done and cheese is melted.

For just the pizza recipe, go here.

Check out lots more recipes over at Grocery Cart Challenge.

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