Vegetable Arepa- Spring Edition

Another post about arepas but I can't help myself. All you do is sautee up some stuff and put it on a delicious corn cake and you are set!

This time I really focused on having a lighter more veggie taste to the arepas.

In a large non-stick sautee pan, combine the following on med-high heat...

• 2 tbs of extra virgin olive oil
• 1 cup of water
• 1/4 onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 tbs of vinegar (or lime juice)
• 1 red pepper, chopped

Mexi-repa!

I'm currently addicted to arepas.  They are a corn cake like a thick tortilla pancake.  Many of them are gluten free and they contain almost no fat and low calories.  They are just corn, water, salt and lime.  I decided to make a veggie topping to put on the arepas.

I took a large pan, put on the medium-high burner and filled it with...

• 2 tbs of olive oil
• 2 tbs of chipotle sauce 
• 1 can of chopped fire roasted tomatoes (or normal tomatoes) with juice (do not drain)
• 1 can of corn
• 1/2 a yellow onion, diced
• 1 large red pepper, diced
• 4 medium tomatillos, diced
• cilantro to taste
• 1 container of extra firm tofu, diced
• 1 can of black beans
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 cup of water

Let all of the above hang out in the pan for 30-45 minutes until it the peppers are soft and everything is happily stewed.  Pre-heat the oven to 400degrees.  

Pull a cookie sheet that can fit 4-6 arepas on it.  I like using a crisper pan that has holes in it that helps keep the arepas, well, crisp.  

On each arepa, smear some refried beans, heap on some of the mixture from then, top with some cotijo cheese, pepper jack cheese, and then pop into the oven for about 10-15 minutes.   When they are a little toasted brown, take them out.  Sprinkle on some cilantro and some avocado slices.   If you want, maybe even some sour cream.  

It is a light and delicious meal that can be great with chicken or anything else you want to toss on the arepa!  Bueno!  

My New Favorite Chicken Technique

We have been trying to cut down on meat and are down to only 2 times a week.  When I do make meat, I try to do something lean and not too time consuming.  I'm tired of dry grilled chicken or baked chicken and I wanted a quicker technique.   Though I believe in buying the bigger chicken breasts and butchering them as you need to (and save money while you are at it), those packages of thinly sliced chicken or pork have always been tempting.

I have twice now bought the thin chicken and lightly coated it in seasoned flour mix.  It is delicious, cooks quickly, reasonably healthy and adaptable.   The mix I used most recently was (roughly):

• 1/4 cup of all purpose gluten-free flour
• 1/3 cup of chick pea flour
• salt
• paprika
• garlic powder
• sage
• black pepper
• turmeric

Quinoa-Stuffed Peppers w/ Goat Cheese

yeah...I left them under the broiler too long,
but the were still amazing! 

I'm on a veggie kick lately...it happens from time to time. I always forget how filling a meal can be with out meat.  This recipe is one of those great filling (but not weighty) meals that I always forget about.  And it is easy to make and adaptable!

TIME:  1.5 hours

YOU WILL NEED:

• A Large baking dish with a lid that can go from stove top to oven easily.  I used our large Le Creuset French oven. But you can use a pan for the stuffing on the stove top and a different dish for the oven.  I just like having less to clean afterwards!  
• Rice maker or just a pot.  

First cook the 1 cup of quinoa (red or white) in 1 cup of veggie stock and 1/3 cup of water.  While that is cooking in the rice cooker, prepare the stuffing:  

Sautee in the large pot on the stove, until the onion is translucent and the carrots are soft: