Refried Beans

My Spanish teacher likes to cook. A lot. When she had to transfer classrooms to the old Pre-Kindergarten classroom, I guess it seemed fitting that there was a kitchenette in the classroom. Especially for the students. We’ve had burritos, tostadas, and quesadillas (so far.) It’s a fun class even without the food, but the food adds so much more. And there is nothing more satisfying than walking into a classroom that smells of refried beans. Sounds weird? No. It really shouldn’t. Refried beans are basically the most important invention involving beans since putting them in a can. My father even went to my Spanish teacher to learn how to make refried beans. Then he found this one on the interwebs that worked just as well, and it involved the use of a crock pot. So here it is. Ole!

 

Refried Beans
Recipe Adapted from Simply Scratch

Ingredients:
3 cups dried quail beans (or pinto beans if you have them)
1 medium onion, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 jalapeno, seeded and chopped
2 tablespoons lard
1/4 teaspoon cumin
1/8 teaspoon chilli powder
8 cups water
2 teaspoons salt

Directions:
1) In a skillet heat lard on medium heat. Once hot add the chopped onion, bell pepper and jalapeno. Saute for about 8 to 10 minutes until soft and translucent. Add minced garlic and cook for an additional 1 to 2 minutes. Remove pan from heat.
2) Sort through 3 cups of dried pinto beans removing any debris or cracked, gross beans. Add the beans and sautéed vegetables to your slow cooker. Cover with 8 cups of water and cook on high for 6-8 hours, undisturbed.
3) After 6-8 hours, remove and drain the beans with their liquid into a colander set into a large bowl. Transfer the beans to a clean bowl and add a desired amount of the bean liquids back into the bowl with the beans.
4) Using an immersion blender blend the beans until just about smooth season with 2 teaspoons of salt before continuing on. Use a rubber spatula and stir the beans to make sure the salt is throughout.

And also, how do you like the new theme? Just opinion wise… I also tried putting the recipe at the end. I guess so I can force you to go through the pictures before you get to the recipe. Too harsh? Here. Eat your beans. They’ll make everything better.

Raspberry Banana Muffins

You know what makes me so happy? Listening to music. Sometimes the chord progressions and rhythms are so magnificent that I just can’t handle it. Some artists have created some pretty awesome lyrics, I might add.

Know what else makes me happy? These muffins. This muffin recipe is something that my mom has been using ever since forever. It’s so flexible. You can put basically whatever you want in it. I didn’t have any blueberries on me, and I added a banana this time, because I ran out of eggs. And it also looks tie-dyed. That is always a bonus. Enjoy!

Raspberry Banana Muffins
Original Nerd With Taste

Ingredients:
1 cup butter, room temperature
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 ripe banana
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/8 tsp. salt
1/2 cup milk
2 cups raspberries (frozen or fresh)

Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 175 degrees Celsius. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
2) Add the eggs, mixing in between. Cut the banana into slices, and add to the bowl, mixing until fully incorporated.
3) Add the flour, baking powder, salt and milk. Mix well.
4) Gently fold in the raspberries, so that they don’t break and turn the batter completely pink. Transfer batter to the muffin-paper lined muffin tins, and bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes.

 

 

 

 

 

Fizzy Limeade

Sidenote: I know it is called a Lime Spritzer, but how much cooler does limeade sound? Slightly cooler, that is the answer.

GUYS YOU WOULD NOT BELIEVE WHAT JUST HAPPENED! If you haven’t noticed, I have been having some pretty significant troubles with my photography. All of my pictures look blue. I read on another post that if your picture looks blue, magenta, yellow or red, then you have to adjust the white balance. I looked at the white balance setting on my camera, and it turns out IT WAS SET TO THE INCANDESCENT SETTING (aka BLUE.) I mean look at those limes! I have never seen such vivid and lime-tastic limes in my entire life!  I don’t feel stupid for not noticing my setting, rather, I am just glad I found out now. That is what blogging is all about, right? Learning.

And, for those of you who have been around a while, you may have noticed the blog design is different. I decided that it was time to have a change, so I switched… with the help of a very technology-savvy sister! Woot! Woot!

I learned another thing too. I tried the manual focus on my camera, and I figured out how to blur the background on my pictures. I don’t have a crazy-big-huge-expensive-lens camera, so I was losing hope in my ever figuring out how to accomplish this. But I figured it out! Now all I have to do is practice and try new things. Let us celebrate this new advancement with some Fizzy Limeade!

Fizzy Limeade
Original Nerd With Taste Recipe

Ingredients:
the juice of 3 limes (approximately 1/2 cup)
1/2 cup simple syrup (or make it by boiling 1/2 cup water and 1/2 cup sugar)
4 cups fizzy water 

Directions:
1) To juice the limes, roll them on the counter top to create some more juice, then halve them and run them through a citrus  juicer (or if you don’t have one, like me, then you can just bite the outside of the lime until the juice is gone. Oprah does it.)
2) Add the simple syrup to the lime juice (or if you don’t have any, you can make it by boiling 1/2 cup water and 1/2 cup sugar on the stove. Allow to cool, then add it to the lime juice.)
3) Pour the lime juice and simple syrup into the desired pitcher and add the fizzy water. If you prefer more watery limeade, add more.

Super Gooey Vegan Brownies

I don’t understand. These brownies. They. Are. The freaking. Gooiest. Mess. Ever. They take my breath away. And they are VEGAN. I guess it just goes to show you that just because it’s vegan, doesn’t mean it tastes bad. I think that is a common stereotype people make. Mainly me. Gosh I really need to branch out. Oh well. I guess it all starts here, right?

My school has an extended weekend, starting yesterday, and I could not be more happy right now. It’s like somebody decided that all of the busy errands and whatnot had to stop. Thank God. Seriously. I was starting to lose my mind. It’s no wonder I wasn’t able to blog much. Or at all. But that’s okay, right? I mean, I made you some super gooey brownies. So here ‘ya go!

Super Gooey Vegan Brownies
Recipe Adapted from Honest Pretzels

Ingredients:
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1 cup water
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. cider vinegar  
1/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips or nuts (optional)

Directions:
1) Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
2) Prepare a 20 centimeter (round or square) with butter and flour. Set aside.
3) In a medium sized mixing bowl, combine the flour, cocoa sugar, salt and baking soda.
4) In a smaller bowl, mix water, vegetable oil and cider vinegar.
5) Add the wet mixture to the dry mixture and stir (I used a whisk, it blended that nicely.)
6) Stir in the vanilla extract and other optional add-ins (chocolate chips rule.) Pour the batter into the pan, and bake for 25-30 minutes, depending on how gooey you want them (because remember: they are vegan and will not give you salmonella! Yay!)
7) Remove from oven and let cool.

Avocado & Goat Cheese on Toast

Avocado is a really popular vegetable. Fruit. Thing. At this point I don’t really know what it is. I, however, have been living under a rock, and refused to try it until now. I mean, look at it! Mushiest thing ever! *insert list of gross mushy green things here*

Avocados are actually pretty rad (people still say that right? No? Sorrynotsorry.) It’s one of the easiest ways to get protein, and it blends so well with other foods that there are virtually endless flavor combinations to try. And it makes you feel like you’re on the beach, with palm trees all around you and a parrot on your shoulder screaming something about “Guaaaaakamole!” I don’t know. Just a vision.

Avocado & Goat Cheese on Toast
Original Nerd With Taste Recipe

Ingredients: 
1 ripe avocado
1 egg
1 slice of an onion, chopped
1-3 cherry tomatoes, cut into quarters
a few cubes of goat cheese
2 slices of bread

Directions:
1) Spoon the avocado into a bowl. Add the tomatoes, goat cheese and onion, but don’t stir.
2) Meanwhile, pop the slices of bread in the toaster.
3) On medium heat, prepare the pan with butter and add in the egg (sunny side up.)
4) Put the avocado-goat cheese mixture on the toast, and once the egg is ready, place it on top of the avocado business (I had to fold my egg in half because my bread slices were tiny.)

 

 

Kale Berry Smoothie

Okay. Let’s talk kale. I know it’s been a really popular thing lately, especially in the foodie universe. So I figured I should see what the big deal was. And I get it now. It’s the healthiest fruit/vegetable out there. Some kale a day keeps the doctors away (that is how the saying goes, right?) And I thought it was going to be gross and leafy and taste so much like regular spinach that it would wash out any other flavor surrounding it.

I was soooo wrong.

Kale is a super-veggie. Not even kidding. It tastes fresh and green, and the color it provides to your plate/cup/bowl/fork/spoon is so vivid that you can’t help but think of how much those colors are helping your body. Especially with all of the other fruits I added to this smoothie.

Kale Berry Smoothie
Original Nerd With Taste Recipe

Ingredients:
4 leafs of kale, stems removed and sliced
1 apple
15 grapes
15 strawberries
10 rasberries
1/2 squeezed lemon
1-1 1/2 cups milk 

Directions:
1) Chop all of the produce.
2) Put it all in a blender.
3) Add the milk, followed by the lemon juice. If it is too thick, add more milk.

Ginger Pear Galette

Ever since I started this blog, I have been dying to try my hand at a galette. For those of you unfamiliar with the term, here it is:

galette: a general term used in French to designate various types of flat, round or free-form crusty cakes.

Well, there you go. It’s pretty straightforward to make (I say that mainly because I hate trying to perfectly fit a pie crust in the pan… not pretty.) As for the ginger and pear combo, I recently acquired some fruits and vegetables that my family normally doesn’t eat. The list includes: ginger root, kale, beets, carrots, radishes and fresh berries (now that they are in season.)

It was like Christmas, but better since it involved food.

And so, the ginger infused pear galette was born. When I was cutting the ginger, I could not stop smelling it. Oh. My. God. Why hasn’t anybody told me to use this before? LIFE CHANGING.

Ginger Pear Galette
Adapted from Shutterbean

Ingredients:
for the crust:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
8 Tbs. cold butter, cut into small pieces
2 Tbs. shortening
pinch of salt
ice water (by the tablespoon) 

for the filling:
8 pears, slightly under-ripe
1/2 cups sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. super-finely chopped ginger root
3 Tbs. butter
2 Tbs. milk 

Directions:
1) Combine the flour and salt in a bowl. Add in the cold butter and shortening, and stir until you arrive at a coarse, meal texture.
2) Cover in cling wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
3) Meanwhile, peal and slice the pears (preferably in larger slices) and put them in a saucepan with the butter, sugar, cinnamon and chopped ginger root. Cook on medium heat for 30 minutes.
4) By this time, remove the dough from the fridge and place on a lightly-floured surface. Roll into a rough, circular shape and transfer to a baking sheet (parchment paper is optional.)
5) Put the pear mixture into the center of the dough, and gently fold the edges of the dough toward the middle. It shouldn’t be perfect and neat, which is the beauty of the galette.
6) Gently brush the dough with milk and put in a 180 degrees Celsius oven for 30-40 minutes, or until the edges are lightly browned.