Meatless Monday

Hi everyone! What a crazy weekend this has been! I hope your weekend went well : )

My little nephew spent the weekend at Abuela’s*, which is always fun, but he’s teething and was congested, so he was Mr. Cranky Pants Saturday and Sunday. Other than that, I LOVE it when he’s with us. He makes us laugh, he loves playing around with Tio’s phone or watching something on Netflix, aaaaaand my husband and I get to practice for when we have our own kids. 

All I get to hear when he's here is him laughing or crying, toys all over the floor, but when he goes back home and the whole house is quiet, it makes me sad. But I always look forward to his next visit : )

*My husband and I have been staying at my mom’s for 10 months now and we are going to start looking at apartments….AGAIN! It took us a long time to sit down and go over our budget, but we did it and I’m hoping we stick to it. I’m giving everything to God and trusting Him that this will work. I’ll keep you guys posted! : )

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I've been working on a meal plan for a couple of month now and this year I want to stick to it. Maybe tweak it every now and then. So Mondays will be Meatless Mondays, and the recipe I picked was Iowa Girl Eat's Bean Burgers.

I made this recipe last summer and it was delicious! With buns and without, on a salad, or by itself. Sadly, I didn't take a picture, but here's what goes in it:

Bean Burgers

1 can garbanzo beans

1 can black beans

3 T plain yogurt

1/3 c bread crumbs

1 t oregano

1/4 t cayenne

1/4 t paprika

1/4 t cumin

1/2 t salt

1 bunch of cilantro

juice of 1 lime (I used about 1 T of lime juice)

canola oil

1. In a food processor take half of the garbanzo beans and half of the black beans, yogurt, bread crumbs, oregano, cayenne, paprika, cumin, salt, cilantro, lime juice and mix well.

2. Once that's mixed well, add the other half of your beans to that and mash it with a potato masher in a bowl. 

3. Add some canola oil to your pan and let that heat up while you're forming your bean burgers. Cook them for about 10-15 minutes, until nicely browned on each side. 

I like to melt cheese on mine and eat it like that or with a salad. Enjoy!

Angelica

 

Chicken Fajitas

Hope everyone had an awesome Labor Day weekend! Ours wasn't that bad, except that it would've been fun if everyone pitched in when it came to grilling/cooking/bringing the food. I'm the type who loves to plan things out, only because it makes things run smoothly. Plus I don't like waiting until the last minute, which is what happened on Monday. My brother and his girlfriend waited until Sunday to buy the food they were going to cook, even though they said they were going to buy everything on Friday. So that resulted in us having to wait until Monday to buy our half of the groceries.

The plan was to take turns grilling the food, which everyone agreed on doing, but it ended up being us (Hubby and I) cooking EVERY THING. I didn't want my mom doing anything, I just wanted her to relax, but she didn't...lol! Everyone ate, we talked, and laughed, but when it came down to cleaning up the mess my brother and his gf went to their rooms (they live with my mom), so Hubby and I got stuck cleaning up. I mean, seriously??!!! That really upset me, because I wanted to give my mom a day off from doing the cooking and the cleaning, but that didn't happen. I'm just glad that day is over.

So yesterday I ended up making something quick and easy, which happened to be a repeat from last week. I cooked some chicken fajitas, minus the rice, but it was still good : ) Hubby works late on Tuesday and Wednesdays, so I try to cook something quick, only because I don't like eating real late.

Chicken Fajitas
Source: Food Network

1/4 cup vegetable oil, divided
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1 garlic clove, minced
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
Dash hot sauce
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 1/2 pounds meat (I used boneless, skinless chicken breast)
2 medium onion, halved and sliced lengthwise
1 green bell pepper, sliced
*1 red bell pepper, sliced
8 (8-inch) flour tortillas
*1 lime, juiced, for topping
Sour cream, for topping
*Salsa, for topping
*Guacamole, for topping
*Cheddar cheese, shredded, for topping

* = I didn't use these ingredients

1. Using your favorite skillet or nonstick pan, add the veggie oil and lemon juice, and let it simmer for a little. Add the chicken and cook that for about 15-20 minutes. Add the garlic, cumin, garlic powder, onion powder, and hot sauce. 

2. Slice the bell pepper and onions, and add that to the chicken, along with some salt and black pepper. Continue cooking until the chicken is cooked all the way through.

3. Wrap the tortillas in a paper towel and warm them in the microwave for about 1 minute. Once the tortillas are warm you are ready to eat!

4. I topped my fajitas with sour cream, which was enough for me, but you can top it with anything. 

Now, with this recipe I made a few changes, only because I wanted to cook something that was quick and easy. I didn't marinate the chicken, I just threw everything in the pot and it was still delicious. If you click on the link you'll see that steak or shrimp can be used instead of chicken. So I hope you enjoy!

Angelica

Hi everyone!

This has been a busy week. I was at my mom's earlier this week, doing laundry and taking her to a doctor's appointment, she's doing well and everything looks good. On top of that I've been making dinner really late (not good!), so by the time I sat down on the sofa to watch tv I was ready to go to bed.

My job hunt is still the same. I took last week off from looking for work because when I start looking I don't stop, and sometimes that can be stressful. So, I started the hunt yesterday. Pray that I get a phone call or an email.

I can't believe today's the last day of August!!! All I've been thinking about is Autumn, tea, hot cocoa, soup...you name it! I LOVE Fall, it's my favorite season. It also makes me think about crocheting. During the summer I'll crochet something here and there, but it's really uncomfortable, so I tend to wait until it's chilly outside. I guess you can say that Fall kind of inspires me a little, so I'm definitely looking forward to making some things (fingerless gloves, scarves, hats, etc.). Do you guys have any hobbies? What are they (crocheting, knitting, making jewelry)?

Now to the good part: dinner! Here's what we ate this week, and let me tell ya, these were some delicious dishes and I'm definitely making them again, especially the Bourbon Chicken.

-Monday: Chicken fajitas with rice (recipe coming soon)
-Tuesday: Chicken stir fry
-Wednesday: we ate out
-Thursday: Bourbon Chicken with rice (recipe coming soon)

Did you guys notice that everything I've cooked this week had one common ingredient? I actually meant to do that. I felt that chicken wasn't going to be too expensive, plus I already had a menu set up that called for a lot of chicken, so there was no backing out. Another thing is that I've been really grateful to have a mom who's been helping us out a lot. She'll either buy us groceries or she'll make dinner and save us some leftovers, so on Tuesday she actually bought us some frozen chicken stir fry. All I did was add more chicken and stir fry veggies. Today I think we're going to have some catfish. How am I going to prepare it? I'm not sure. I usually bake my fish, which is always good, but we'll see what Hubby's in the mood for.

I hope all of you guys have a safe Labor Day weekend. We're probably going to head to my mom's and bbq, that's if it doesn't rain on Monday...lol. Take care!

Angelica

Brainstorming

Today was a laid back kind of day. My morning started with a cup of coffee, which always helps, no matter how hot the day is. The weather today was beautiful, because it was in the 70's and breezy, which I love!

I spent most of the day visiting my favorite blogs and trying to catch up, so it's good to see that everyone's doing good. I also caught up with some of my favorite Food Network/Cooking Channel shows....love Giada De Laurentiis! What are some of your favorite cooking shows?

I decided to take advantage of the weather and bake some cookies this afternoon. I can never bake when it's 80+ degrees outside, especially when we don't have an A/C (we'll be buying one soon, hopefully). I'm trying to use what we have in our pantry/fridge without spending money on stuff that we don't really need, and that's where the cookies came to mind. I've also been working on menus for the week and the past two weeks worked out, but I'm stumped on what to cook this week. So I'm hoping I can come up with something : ) What are your favorite cookies, store bought or homemade, and what kind?

Dinner tonight will be arroz con gandules y pollo (rice with green pigeon peas and chicken) along with a salad. Those are some items I had in the pantry and freezer. So, one day down, four more to go.

I hope everyone's having a great evening and I'll talk to you soon! Take care!!!

Angelica