Cuban Black Beans with Kale

It's our last day in Florida and I'm in a mad rush to pack us all up and get out of the condo. But there's something I need to share with you. I wasn't kidding around when I said I was making recipes from Everyday Happy Herbivore on this vacation. These Cuban Black Beans with Kale came about as I made and adapted my fifth recipe from this new cookbook. It was outstanding. The rest of the family (those who came early enough to lunch to score some!) agreed.

This is a great recipe for so many reasons. First, it's delicious. Second, it's easy. And third, I hope that all of these ingredients are now staples in your Plant-strong kitchen, so it's a great weeknight meal. Plus, you can use whatever greens you have on hand, it doesn't have to be kale.

Adapted from the recipe "Skillet Frijoles Negros" from Lindsay S. Nixon's book, Everyday Happy Herbivore.

Cuban Black Beans with Kale

serves 4 as a main dish, 8 as a side dish

Printable Recipe

low sodium vegetable broth, a few Tbsp

1 large yellow onion, diced

4 garlic cloves, minced

1 Tbsp grated fresh ginger (using a microplaner if you have one)

2 tsp chili powder

1 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp paprika

1/2 tsp cinnamon

2 15 ounce cans black beans, undrained

4 cups finely chopped kale or other greens

2 Tbsp fresh lemon or lime juice (whatever you have on hand)

optional: hot sauce, to taste

Place a medium pot over medium-high heat and coat the bottom of the pot with low sodium vegetable broth. When broth is boiling add onion and stir. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring frequently.

Lower heat to medium. Add garlic and ginger. Cook until onions are translucent, stirring frequently and adding more broth if necessary to prevent burning.

Add chili powder, cumin, paprika and cinnamon. Stir.

Add undrained black beans and stir. Mash with the back of a fork or a potato masher, leaving some of the beans whole.

Add kale and stir. Lower heat to low and let simmer until mixture thickens. Stir in lime or lemon juice and hot sauce (optional) to taste. Cover until ready to serve.

Didn't win a copy of Everyday Happy Herbivore in the giveaway? That's okay, you can get it on Amazon for only $13.57! What a bargain!

If you own a  copy of EHH, what has your favorite recipe been?


A little housekeeping: The winner of the EHH giveaway, Quiltspinner, has not contacted me yet. Please e-mail me at healthygirlskitchen@gmail.com. Thank you!

FAST! Moroccan Kale with Mushrooms and Apricots and Gratitude

I didn't want to get out of bed this morning.

It's Monday. My bed is cozy and warm. It's dark outside. I just wanted to go back to sleep and avoid the world and my responsibilities. The lunches to pack (again), the kids to wrangle, the bills to pay.

I needed a boost. So I started to think about a technique I had heard of: upon waking up think of things that you are grateful for.

My kids are healthy. My cat got down from high up in a tree after being chased by a neighbor's dog that got loose.

Getting out of bed got a little easier today.

And now the food.

Don't let the poor quality of this photo fool you! I was home this weekend cooking and I had forgotten my good camera at work. But there was no way I wasn't sharing this recipe with you a.s.a.p. so I used my iphone to capture the moment.

This is great, healthy, FAST, food. So fast that I would even recommend it for a busy weeknight Nutritarian dinner. So delicious that I can recommend you serve it to the most discerning adult Plant-strong dinner guest. And maybe the not-so-plant-strong ones too.

Now that's a recipe to hold on to.

HGK's Moroccan Kale with Mushrooms and Apricots
serves 4 as a main course, 8 as a side dish

Printable Recipe

vegetable broth
1 large onion, diced small
4 small cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbsp cinnamon
1 Tbsp ground coriander
1 Tbsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes (1/2 or even 1 tsp if you like it it hotter)
12 ounces mushrooms, sliced
11 ounce box of prewashed baby kale (available at Whole Foods) or the equivalent of washed and cut greens of any variety (either pre-done or self-prepared)
1 can diced tomatoes, fire-roasted is optional
1/2 cup dried apricots, julienned

Heat a dutch oven or large soup pot over medium heat and coat the base of the pot with vegetable broth. When broth is boiling, add onions and stir. Saute onion for 12 minutes, stirring infrequently, adding more broth or adjusting heat to prevent burning.

Add garlic, stir and cook for 3 minutes. Add cinnamon, coriander, cumin and crushed red pepper and stir, scraping bottom of pan. Spices will be toasting as the pan is quite dry.

Lower heat a touch. Add mushrooms and stir well. Add 1/2 cup vegetable broth, stir and cover. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring once or twice during that time.

Add kale, tomatoes and apricots. Stir well and cover. Raise heat a bit. Let simmer for 5-10 minutes, depending on the type of greens that you used. Dish is ready when greens are wilted.

Serve with whole grain of your choice.

What are you grateful for?

Short on Time, High on Deliciousness: Jill's Smashing Black Beans

as a dip with crudites

Back in the day, I attempted a few of Rachel Ray's 30 Minute Meals. They never took only 30 minutes. I think my average was 60, and I'm no slow poke.

As much as I hate to admit it, eating healthy on a consistent basis takes effort and time, whether you are a no-added-oil Plant-strong Nutritarian or not. Very rarely do I come across a recipe that I would want to prepare regularly that would truly qualify as fast.

That's why I'm so excited about sharing this recipe with you. My friend Jill, of Roasted Chick Peas with Swiss Chard fame, has been talking it up for a while and I finally had an opportunity to taste some. It was love at first bite.

Here's what Jill has to say about her creation. "It�s simple. It goes with anything. Dress it up. Dress it down. Just like a little black dress!

Serve it with hot cooked brown rice, and it is a hearty main course. Use the beans as filling in a whole grain wrap or burrito. Build a black bean tostada. Slice carrots, red peppers and pita and eat it as a dip.

It�s smashing!"

I agree. And best of all, it's f a s t!

Make a double batch and use it for a few different easy dinners. How nice is that?

over brown rice

Smashing Black Beans (AKA, The Little Black Dress)

Printable Recipe

2 cans black beans, drained and rinsed

1 medium onion chopped

1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and finely chopped

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 tsp cumin powder

1 cup vegetable stock, plus more for saut�ing onion

1 lime

Chopped fresh cilantro

 Saut� onion in a little vegetable broth on medium-high heat for a few minutes until soft.  Add jalapeno pepper and saut� another minute and a half. Add garlic and saut� another 30 seconds. Add cumin and mix well.  

Add black beans and vegetable stock. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Coarsely smash the beans with a potato masher or with the back of a spoon.  Keep boiling on medium-low, stirring often for 10 more minutes until the bean mixture is thick. Season with a little lime juice. Garnish with cilantro.

Doubles easily.

so good you'll wanna eat it for breakfast

toast up a tortilla and build a tostada

What has your experience been with time and plant-strong food prep? How does it compare with your previous eating style?

Do you have a fast and easy go-to dinner?

If you don't see the comments section below, click on the title of this post. Still not there? Hit your refresh button. Sorry for the inconvenience. I'm experiencing some technical difficulties with my new comments platform.

Tex Mex Quinoa with Cilantro, Lime and Apricots

Thanks to everyone who entered the giveaway yesterday with your most pressing plant-based nutrition question.

If you have not yet entered, please do! The contest closes on Thursday at midnight and Julieanna Hever has graciously offered to answer our 3 most popular plant-based nutrition questions in a guest post right here on HGK.

It's very interesting to read through everyone's responses. What I am struck by is the variety of questions. No single questions are being asked repeatedly by any volume of respondants . . . yet!

On to other big news, I made this quinoa salad as part of a taco bar (more on that in a later post) party that we hosted this past weekend. It was a big hit with the guests and I couldn't wait to share it with all of you.

HGK's Tex Mex Quinoa Salad with Cilantro, Lime and Apricots

Printable Recipe

1 cup quinoa
1 � cups water
1 cup packed cilantro
� cup raw pepitas
Zest of one lime
3 Tbsp fresh lime juice
2 Tbsp frozen orange juice concentrate
1 tsp ground cumin
dash or two of Cayenne pepper (depending on your heat preference)
� tsp salt (or not)
1 15 ounce can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 roma tomato, diced small
2 scallions, sliced thinly
1/3 cup dried apricots, chopped
1 avocado, � inch dice
Place quinoa and water into a rice cooker and cook, or prepare as follows: In a medium saucepan, bring water to a boil. Add quinoa and return to a boil. Reduce heat to lowest setting and cover. Simmer for 15 minutes. Water should be absorbed. Fluff with a fork and let stand, covered, for 5 minutes. Transfer quinoa to a large bowl.

In the bowl of a food processor, add cilantro, pepitas, lime zest, lime juice, orange juice concentrate, cumin, cayenne pepper and salt (optional). Process, scraping down sides, into a paste. Transfer to bowl with quinoa.

To cooked quinoa and cilantro paste, add black beans, tomato, scallions, apricots and avocado. Fold well to combine. Taste and add more Cayenne if necessary.

OPR: White Bean and Mango Burritos

What is "OPR" you wonder? Well, it stands for "other people's recipes." I'm not much of a chef, if you haven't noticed, but what I am a master at is scouring the world for Plant Strong, Nutritarian recipes and then making and eating them. After I take some photographs that is!

Here's a new favorite that I discovered: White Bean and Mango Burritos from The Real Meal Today blog. They could not have been any easier or any more delicious! If you are craving Mexican food, give these a try. Go here to check out the original recipe, which would have been so spicy I'm not sure that I could have eaten them. I made a few modifications to the heat, to the proportions and also by adding lettuce. Spinach or any other green would work well too!

Here's my version:

White Bean and Mango Burritos

serves 4

2 15 ounce cans cannellini beans, rinsed and drained 

1 large ripe mango, peeled and diced (about 1 1/2 cups of diced mango)
1cup chopped cilantro
1/4 tsp Cayenne powder (less or more to personal preference!)
1 1/2 Tbsp nutritional yeast
1 1/2 Tbsp cumin
1 1/2 tsp garlic powder
6 medium whole wheat tortillas( as healthy as you can get them)
2 cups chopped lettuce

Combine all ingredients except the tortillas in a large bowl, mix by hand until incorporated. Using a handheld immersion blender, puree about 1/4 of the mixture right in the bowl with all of the ingredients. Remix everything. This will give the mixture a more solid feel and pieces of beans will not be falling out when you bite or cut it.

Soften the tortillas by putting over an open flame on you're stove, over a grill or in the microwave for a few seconds. This will make them easier to roll and move without cracking. Place 1/2 cup chopped lettuce and 1/2 cup of the bean mixture at the bottom of the tortilla, roll over forward 1 turn, fold sides in and then continue to roll to the end.

Optional: place on sheet tray and bake for 10-15 min at 325 degrees.

How do you get your Mexican Food fix?