So it's April. Yay! Today felt like Spring is actually going to arrive at some point... but I'm not holding my breath just yet. I'm still craving hearty fare despite today's sunny skies so to celebrate Meatless Monday, I made a big ol' pot of black beans and decided on DIY black bean wraps for tonight's dinner.
I bought these lovely pale fleshed, purple skin yams and decided to roast them, along with some carrot sticks (375 drizzled with olive oil for 30 minutes). On the DIY plate, I included some firm tofu - my kids are not fans of tofu but I like to reintroduce foods every now and then to gauge whether tastes have changed. The avocados I've had lately have been absolutely outstanding! We eat avocado pretty much every night around here. And we have fruit with dinner every night too, so I sliced a mango to go inside of our wraps. My daughter loves cheese but my son does not. The shredded monterey jack cheese is for her. I found these wraps at my local grocery called Mountain Bread Oat Wraps. Man, are these good! They're thin and they roll nicely.

Here's what I did with the black beans:

1/2 large red onion, chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cloves of chopped garlic
2 cans of black beans, drained
1/3 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon white vinegar

I sauteed the red onion with the olive oil in a sauce pan over medium heat. When the onions started to brown along the edges, I added the chopped garlic. After about 3 minutes, I added the black beans, cilantro, salt, cumin and white vinegar. I let this all simmer together for about an hour, stirring occasionally.

Success! The kids were enthusiastic about making their own wraps! Happy Meatless Monday!

Hello Meatless Monday! After the hoopla about Nemo, and the sledding fun we had this weekend, I'm tired! I was left scratching my head for dinner ideas tonight. My daughter complained last night -- apparently we've had chicken too often for her liking lately. Ugh.

Hmm. What to do? We always have eggs in the house. I *love* eggs. And I was pretty excited to read this in Greatist recently about the egg news. Bottom line, and to quote Shana Lebowitz: "It turns out, for non-diabetic people, there was no association between eating up to one egg a day and CHD (Coronary Heart Disease) or stroke."

Awesome.

Frittata for dinner? Well yes, don't mind if I do! I don't have time to shop for the week until tomorrow so dinner will have to be something cobbled together from the fridge. Behold! Carrot Dill Fritatta. This was so easy, I almost feel guilty about it. Actually, no. I don't feel guilty at all. It's mid afternoon and a big part of dinner is already done. Ready to whip this up? Here's how:

Carrot Dill Frittata (serves 4-6)

8 organic carrots
2 onions, sliced
1/3 c fresh dill, chopped
12 eggs
1 T olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 375. Slice the carrots into shreds using a slicer. Put aside. Slice the onions and saute in a pan with olive oil until caramelized. This may take a while - for me it took 45 mins. In a bowl, crack the eggs and add the dill and carrot ribbons to combine. Add salt and pepper to taste. Spread the caramelized onions on the bottom of the pan you'll use to cook the frittata. Pour in the egg/carrot/dill mixture.
Bake at 375 for approximately 40 minutes or until egg is cooked through (but not so much that it's rubbery).

Enjoy!