Years ago when we had our oldest on a gluten free diet, I quickly learned that the best way to do that diet on a budget is to avoid gluten all together. And bake sparingly, and from scratch. I learned to base our meals around sweet potatoes, potatoes and brown rice. Adding in brown rice pasta, as our budget allowed. At the moment, we have 1 kid off dairy and soy, another kid … [Read more...]
Sweet Potato Black Bean Enchiladas
If you only read the title and you don't read one, you might be missing your new favorite enchilada recipe! You know what you might be thinking... Erin, seriously...sweet potatoes in enchiladas. I can see the look on your face. Because I saw it on my friend Christan's face when I was telling her about these scrumptious enchiladas. She stopped by to drop something off that … [Read more...]
Spicy 15 Bean Chili
You know what I love about chili. Everything, really. The versatility. The simplicity. The "fill-icity." (How filling it is...and how it satisfies the bottomless pit bellies that sit around my dinner table every night.) The cost effect-icity. (Yay for making up new words!) See why I love it so much. So many needs met in just one bowl! This Spicy 15 Bean Chili … [Read more...]
Curried Lentils & Rice with Caramelized Onions
Balance. This dish is all about balance. Balance of flavors. Balance of textures. Balance of sweet and heat. Cooking these lentils in the sauce, as opposed to cooking the lentils, then adding in the sauce, really makes a difference in the depth of the flavor of the entire meal. I thought about adding another teaspoon of curry powder (cuz I love me some curry!), but I … [Read more...]
Spinach Orzo Soup
The pantry sweep out and the freezer sweep are almost complete. I've emptied the freezer and it will be making its way to its new home here in Dayton tomorrow. And I'm almost finished clearing out the "back shelves" where I store most of my stockpile items and non perishable pantry items. My goal is to have that cleared out by the end of February. This moving thing is really … [Read more...]
Slow Cooker Slopp-Beany Joes
Y'all know me. Always stretching our food as far as I can, with as little fuss as possible. I love adding beans to recipes...to stretch the protein and the fill up the bottomless pits that I have been tasked with feeding. My boys love beans...love them! As young toddlers, they would snack on beans. Straight up beans...no nothing. Ryan went through a "no thank you" phase with … [Read more...]
Slow Cooker Batch Cooking Navy Beans
I really love it when my slow cooker can do the work for me. January usually means a freezer and pantry challenge, including rice and beans. So, about once a month I batch cook some beans to tuck away in the freezer. Especially in the winter months, that means navy beans. Using the slow cooker to batch cook takes only a little pre-planning. You need to rinse and … [Read more...]
15 Bean Enchiladas Recipe
Melt in your mouth enchiladas... Yep, these are those. I've made all kinds of enchiladas over the years. But never with a random mix of beans like this. Hurst Beans sent me a few bags of beans to cook with and experiment with...and it took me all over 2 seconds to know that I'd use the Cajun 15 Bean Soup mix to make some Cajun-kickin' enchiladas. The beans are cooked … [Read more...]
Buffalo Chicken Chili
If buffalo wings could be made into soup form, this is it! Chicken. Spice. Celery. Blue Cheese. Seriously. Yum! I decided to double this recipe...some for us to enjoy at home, and some to take a potluck this past week. I only made a slight change to the recipe that I served my family...I added half as much of the red hot pepper sauce. I didn't want the kids to … [Read more...]
Southwest Pasta Skillet
This quick and easy recipe was inspired by mushy salad greens. I had plans to make taco salad and had already started browning the hamburger when I pulled the lettuce out of the refrigerator and discovered it had turned. I didn't have a lot of time to come up with a new dinner plan. I surveyed the cupboards and fridge and decided to use the beans and tomatoes that I was going … [Read more...]