Vegetarian Mexican Salad

This is me trying something new in the hopes of posting more often.

When I cook something unfortunate or something that didnt work for me Im going to post it and link to the recipe in case you want to give it a try and in the hopes youll have better luck cooking it than I did.  Maybe you will cook it and love it then tell me where I went wrong.  I make plenty of mistakes I just dont usually take the time to post about them unless they are particularly epic.

And when I make something fabulous that was amazing but the recipe was perfect Ill just do an easy cheater post and point you in the direction of the talented blogger that created it.  This Mexican salad which is a knock off of a dish at Chipotle restaurant is a perfect example.  It comes from the Healthy Irishmen Blog  where chef Gavan Murphy, and sometimes his wife, post fabulous healthy recipes using fresh organic produce.  They  have some great recipes to browse through and aside from the potato and bread dishes most of his recipes are French diet friendly.

The recipe for Vegetarian Mexican Salad is especially worth checking out.  This is the kind of salad that always looks appealing at restaurants but I never think to try to make at home where I can control the fat and salt content.  Now that I know how I will be making this beauty all summer.  The super spicy and tangy dressing is my favorite part but if you arent into breathing fire youll want to take the amount of peppers down a notch.  I also cheated to make this salad even easier by buying some jarred salsa (because the fella wont eat raw tomatoes and I was lazy), mashing an avocado on my lettuce rather than making guacamole, and then sprinkling organic canned corn and some cilantro on the salad rather than making the corn salsa. And if youre on the weight loss phase youll want to skip the corn all together since it has a high GI but there are so many other tasty things on this salad you wont be missing anything.

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Vegetarian Crockpot Chili

Its been a busy week so there has been a lot of crockpot action going on in my kitchen.  Yesterday the fella threw this chili together for about the millionth time and I couldnt believe I hadnt written about it yet.  Its tasty and a great low fat/high protein meal. 

Aside from the basic seasoning and the inclusion of beans you could add whatever you have in the kitchen to this recipe to create whatever chili youre in the mood for that particular day.  Its a very forgiving recipe and beans hold up great in the crockpot so you really cant go wrong.  If you dont like spice you could skip the chipotles or go for a milder jalapeno.  Feel free to use whatever combination of beans you have around.  We used kidney and cannellini beans since we had a bunch left over from the pottage earlier in the week (Im terrible at estimating how many dry beans to cook in order to get the amount of beans I need for a recipe.)   But were also fond of a combination of black beans and chickpeas.

I like to top this with a little sour cream or yogurt and cilantro to add a little something extra to it while still sticking to the vaguely southwestern theme.  But if you wanted to be naughty some melted cheddar cheese on top would be amazing.  So go crazy and treat yourself to a meal  that cooks while youre at work.

Vegetarian Crockpot Chili

2 tablespoons oil

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 onion, chopped

1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

1 teaspoon cumin 

2 tablespoon chili powder 

2 teaspoons oregano

2 tablespoons soy sauce 

1 28-ounce can tomatoes (or about 1 pound fresh tomatoes chopped) 

2 cups vegetable broth

1 6-ounce can tomato paste 

2 chipotles with some of their sauce, chopped

2 14-ounce cans black beans, drained

2 14-ounce cans red kidney beans, drained

salt and  pepper, to taste 

sour cream or yogurt, as topping

cilantro, as topping

Sautee the onion, garlic and red pepper flakes until the onion is soft, about 3 to 5 minutes. Add the chili powder and cumin and cook for two more minutes. 

Place the onions along with all the remaining ingredients, except sour cream and cilantro in the crock pot, stirring to combine.  Cover and cook on low for 6 to 8 hours.

Top with sour cream and cilantro just before serving.

Recipe made much more interesting from boring original over at  About.com

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